"Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it." - Steve Maraboli
Have you ever gone to a store and left with a very favorable impression of the company because the representative was outstanding in delivering solutions that fit all your needs? Was it because they were cheerful? Knowledgeable? or something else that stood out?
Whatever the element was it all contributed to building some type of a relationship between you and (indirectly) the brand/company, whether it helped strengthen a positive or negative one.
Recently I observed an interaction between a customer and co-worker that felt "cold". A customer had come in to find out some equipment options for the account. The customer's name was not listed on the account my co-worker stated that his/her name has to be on the account before information and access could be given out.
Questions asked were: "What are you looking to do?" and " Are you (insert account holders name)? No? Whose account is this?"
Any further conversation had potentially ended without any discovery of what else the customer could have come in for. In our industry, privacy is of the utmost concern and customer accounts and information can only be given to account holders and those listed as trusted by the account holder to conduct business in their absence.
I can only imagine the mindset of my co-worker was that if there was no access to the account it would be pointless to continue the interaction. Pretty efficient, right? But this approach also diminishes the possibility of future sales because the interaction was short, it didn't have the chance to go anywhere productive and was "forgettable".
After the interaction was over, the co-worker volunteered a recap of the interaction stating the customers were so uncooperative and mean, not giving the information necessary to complete a "sales" transaction.
Flip to another co-worker that had a similar situation, which the person present was not an account holder or authorized person on the account, but the interaction felt more "friendly and warm". Even though a transaction could not be completed immediately, this co-worker found out why the customer was there, what could be done once proper authorization and access was in place, and laid the groundwork for even more sales in the future. During the interaction recap, this co-worker pointed out how friendly the customer had been and made their day.
What seems to be the difference here is each co-worker went into the interaction with a different mindset-one with an immediate sales-driven outcome while the other had a service-driven outcome (once a sale was not an immediate option). My co-workers mindset influenced the outcome and perception of the interactions and this was conveyed to the customer.
What a company representative is feeling and what their mindset is at the moment then body language, tone of voice, or other elements will be revealed to the customer and certainly influence how the transaction plays out.
The idea is to create a mindset that encourages a company representative to exceed what a customer expects out of the interaction in order to create and convey an unforgettable experience. Once it is discovered (through questioning strategies) what the customer expects, then the company representative can work on ways in which he/she can exceed those expectations (within reason of course).
What are ways in which companies are doing this (exceeding customer expectations) and how are they instilling this mindset into their employees? I intend to find out the best practices and share them here. All contributors are welcome and encouraged.
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