CUSTOMER SERVICE.

As part of my continuation on my series on etiquette, I want to talk about something some Nigerians LACK IN EXCESS |(I say this with no apology). This is the lifeline of any successful business or institution. Customer Service according to Wikipedia is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. The perception of success of such interactions is dependent on employees "who can adjust themselves to the personality of the guest". Customer service is also often referred to when describing the culture of the organization. The worst place in our dear country of ours to find such service is Government Parastatals. They work like they are being forced to come to work. I mean, if you are not ready to work, why not just be at home and wallow in your sorrow. Without the following skills i am going to list below, you run the risk of finding your business in an embarrassing situation or you will simply lose customers as your service continues to let people down. So lets look a few ways to WOW our customers:

1.Patience: If this is not in your top list of customer service, you should stop reading this right away. Patience is needed for customers who are already frustrated and confused who need support. If you watch the series Undercover Boss, you will see that people who being rewarded after the Boss Reveal are those who work on the brand with Passion. Someone once said something, Learn to understand before being understood. However, Being patient does not necessarily translate to slothfulness.

2 Attentiveness: Listen they say spelt backwards is Silence.Pay attention to their verbal and non-verbal communication. What are they really telling you. It may be necessary to come up with customer feedback forms from time to time.

3. Clear Communication Skills: Make sure you are getting to the problem at hand quickly. Customers don't need to hear your life story. So spare them that. When it comes to important points. Keep it simple and clear and leave nothing to doubt

4. Positive Language:
Sounds like fluffy nonsense, but your ability to make minor changes in your conversational patterns can truly go a long way in creating happy customers.Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people (especially customers) create perceptions about you and your company based off of the language that you use.

5 Acting:
Sometimes you're going to come across people that you'll never be able to make happy.Situations outside of your control (they had a terrible day, or they are just a natural-born complainer) will sometimes creep into your usual support routine, and you'll be greeted with those "barnacle" customers that seem to want nothing else but to pull you down.

6. Time Management Skills:
Hey, despite my many research-backed rants on why you should spend more time with customers, the bottom line is that there is a limit, and you need to be concerned with getting customers what they want in an efficient manner.The trick here is that this should also be applied when realizing when you simply cannot help a customer. If you don't know the solution to a problem, the best kind of support member will get a customer over to someone who does.

7. Be Calm Under Pressure:
Here's a lot of metaphors for this type of personality: "keeps their cool," "staying cool under pressure," etc., but it all represents the same thing: the ability that some people have to stay calm and even influence others when things get a little hectic. I've had my fair share of hairy hosting situations, and I can tell you in all honesty that the #1 reason I stick with certain hosting companies is due to the ability of their customer support team to keep me from pulling my hair out.

8. Ability To Handle Surprises:
Sometimes the customer support world is going to throw you a curveball.Maybe the problem you encounter isn't specifically covered in the company's guidelines, or maybe the customer isn't reacting how you thought they would.Whatever the case, it's best to be able to think on your feet... but it's even betterto create guidelines for yourself in these sorts of situations.Let's say, for instance, you want to come up with a quick system for when you come across a customer who has a product problem you've never seen before...

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA