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I
used to refer to 'smile'
training with a bit of disdain, like many others in hotel industry. We likened
it to teaching people to smile without giving them skills in customer service.
I'm having a change of heart.
The other day I had five customer contact
experiences, two of them were problems that were resolved well, the others
fairly routine contact points. Not one of the customer service providers smiled
- not when I approached them, not during the transaction, not at the close of
the transaction.
They said the right things. The cassette
dropped into the back of their minds and they recited what they were supposed to
say but never once smiled. It was not that they were incapable of smiling or had
bad teeth - they just never smiled. However, when they left me to return to an
area where their peers were, they smiled a whole bunch - even laughed.
The ResultsWOW Customer Service Training
system has two seminars, one for associates and one for managers. At the end of
each seminar, I distribute an evaluation sheet that asks "What one thing
did you get out of this seminar that you can use tomorrow at your job?". At
the end of the associate seminar, I invariably receive 20-25% of the responses
that say, "I learned that I need to smile more."
The level of customer service was acceptable
but the experiences were a bit cold. I think that I would be more tolerant of
mediocre customer service and a certain degree of ineptitude, if it were offered
with a big smile.
A
smile says many things:
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"Welcome" |
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"We're
glad you're here - we know that you have other choices." |
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"I
may not know everything, but if I don't, I will try to find out for you." |
Customer
service providers who don't smile are the responsibility of the manager. You can
hire someone who smiles and teach them the basics of customer service and
operations but hiring someone who doesn't have it in them to smile will only get
you a robot who knows the mechanics but has no empathy for the customer.
Hiring
people who can smile is not all that difficult.
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Do
you, the supervisor, smile at the prospective employee when you meet? Does the
prospective employee observe you smiling at other employees and customers? |
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When
the prospective employee arrives for the interview, does he/she smile when they
shake your hand? |
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During
the course of the interview, do they smile and exhibit open body language? |
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In
the training process, when you break down your customer service expectations in
terms of observable behavior, is the first step "Smile"? |
"Smile"
training should not take the place of adequate skills training in
customer service but it should be the first step.
I am not only referring to
customer service providers but also to sales people. When I was in Life
insurance (my first and worst real job but great sales training) we were told to
keep a mirror beside our telephone.
Why??
Because you can hear a smile. |
