That’s against our policy!

I’m a sucker for quotations. And here are a few quotations up my sleeve I want to share with you.

Brian Tracy says: “Whatever your job title, you are in the business of customer satisfaction. Who is your customer?”

“If you make a sale, you can make a living. If you make an investment of time and good service in a customer, you can make a fortune.” Says business philosopher Jim Rohn.

Og Mandino says: “The only certain means is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.”

You can be doing the best job in the world for your client, but if there’s something missing, if the client is unhappy, then all your opinions about your performance are worthless. Great service is a matter of perception. Great service is what the client thinks it is. Says Mark H. McCormak.

Customer’s demands are placed higher upon vendors these days. Customers hate waiting and this is understandable because one of the rarest commodities available today is time.

There is a phrase that customers hate hearing and this is the phrase: “It’s against our company policy.” Companies have rules and policies and I understand this perfectly. But think deeply on this.

The policy is intended to mitigate risk of loss to the bottom line. Most every business has them, but few really understand the risk of using them on their customers. The owner of the business would be more flexible because the interest of keeping the customers is important to him. And so here are my recommendations:

1. FIND A BETTER LANGUAGE: The way you communicate policy can determine whether your customer comes back or tells others to stay away. Try to react in such a way that the customer feels like you understand their challenge. Most people will respect a policy if you try to understand their position and you are willing to try to help. Corporate speak turns off customer.

2. FIND THE CONTEXT: Understand where the customer is coming from. What is his or her unique situation that prompts the customer to make this request? Is it reasonable? Is it logical and is it sensible?

3. FIND THE COMPROMISE: There’s always room for compromise if you are willing to find it. If you’re willing to try to help the customer you will likely find a compromise that helps both of you. Just like what the nice gentleman from the front desk did.

If you have been in business for as long as I have then you know that you are not going to please every customer, but you must understand the true value of the customer is much more than just the transaction. If you need to quote a policy it means you have a challenge that when turned around will be able to create that person into a loyal customer.

Respond to the situation positively. Train every personnel in your organization who have touch points with your customer. Even temps and casual employees need to be trained in the very basics of action and communications.

Again let me remind you. Excellent Customer service simply means inconveniencing yourself for the convenience of others which is based on the Biblical principle, doing unto others… as if you were the others.

(Experience two inspiring days with Francis Kong’s learning leadership skills in this year’s last run of Level Up Leadership Nov. 23-24 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at +639158055910 or call Jean at +639285591798).