Does Your Technology
Investment Outweigh Your Investment in Staff?
By David Saxby
In this rapidly changing economy, one of the
biggest challenges utilities face is how to keep pace with the constantly
evolving business world. Many utilities seem to think the answer is to throw
millions of dollars into technology that will help them “manage” their
business.
Unfortunately, many electric power companies fail to ask one key question:
“How does this investment impact our customers?”
In competitive power markets, including markets where utilities vie to
provide additional revenue-producing services such as cable TV, cellular
phone service and Internet access, customers have a choice of who they do
business with. In today’s world, there usually is very little that
differentiates us from our competition on the pricing front. But your level
of service is one area where you can clearly stand apart from your
competition. Good service means happy customers and happy customers have a
positive impact on the bottom line.
Your employees deliver that crucial quality service. So if it’s easy to
justify a sizeable investment in technology, why do so many utilities find
it difficult to invest in developing and polishing the skills of their
employees through effective training? Employees with the fastest computers
and most recent cutting-edge software systems drive customers away with poor
service.
Oftentimes, employees have not been trained on the most basic of customer
service skills. Let’s take a quick review of the primary areas where your
employees should be using exemplary skills.
Creating a positive first impression – The operative word in this
skill set is “first.” We’ve all heard the saying “you only have one first
impression.” As corny as that may sound, it’s so simple and so basic that it
can’t be ignored! We do have only one opportunity to create that first
impression.
Customers often formulate their opinion within the first few seconds on the
telephone. While a call may be the 50th for your employee that day, it is
probably the first for your customer. Do your employees understand how vital
those first few seconds are to creating a favorable impression with your
customer? How they greet the customer, the tone and volume of their voice
and the words they choose – all of these factors impact the customer’s
perception of your utility.
Active listening - Do your employees listen without interruption? Do
they ask probing questions to better understand the customer’s needs? Do
they provide feedback to make sure they have clear communication? Do they
confirm the details of the customer’s request and does the customer know
when they can expect to have a solution to their problem or have their
service hooked up?
Dealing with customers’ emotions - Are employees trained with the
skills to communicate empathy when a customer calls frustrated or upset?
Through active listening, can they identify the emotion level of the
customer and react appropriately? Do they communicate sincerely that they
care about the customer and their concerns? Does the customer feel like your
employee is really there to help create a solution to their problem?
What to do when things haven’t gone right - Do employees know what to
do with an angry customer? Do they understand how important it is to let the
customer talk, without getting emotionally involved in the conversation?
Asking the right questions to understand the customer’s needs most times
leads to the creation of a solution and, therefore, satisfies the needs of
your customer. Do your employees know what these questions are? Do they
thank the customer for taking the time to call and provide the company with
feedback? Mistakes are opportunities for improvement!
People call companies every day angry, upset and frustrated for one reason
or another. The skills your employees possess can make the difference
between retaining a loyal customer and the customer telling 20 other people
about their poor customer-service experience with your utility. Research
shows that 90 percent of customers with a complaint will still do business
with a company if they feel someone really listened to their problem, even
if they weren’t able to solve it. Are you in this 90th percentile?
Expressed appreciation - Do your employees end every phone call by
expressing sincere appreciation to the customer for choosing to pick your
company to do business with? If the call was for support, do your employees
suggest in a warm and friendly manner that the customer call back again if
they have any additional questions or concerns? Do they communicate to the
customer that they really care about them?
Delivering a consistent level of service – If a customer calls your
utility in the morning and then calls back 10 minutes later, will they
receive the same friendly service with both calls? Do you have a few
“shining stars” and the rest are falling from the sky? Use training to make
sure your galaxy is full of shining stars!
Empowered decision making – Training is important but are your
employees empowered to make decisions on the spot to resolve customer
concerns? Studies show that 96 percent of dissatisfied customers will still
continue to do business with a company if their problem or concern is
handled on the spot.
Motivate, recognize and reward your employees for the behaviors you desire!
The harsh reality is this – you can provide employees with skill
training day in and day out, but what is it that motivates your employees to
change their current skill sets to provide the kind of customer service that
keeps customers coming back? What’s in it for your employees? Do you have an
ongoing program that augments training by rewarding employees for providing
excellent customer service?
Ask your employees what types of recognition would be important to them.
Recognize them in a variety of ways for a variety of skills so that you
demonstrate to them how important it is to provide awesome customer service.
Develop a reward program that recognizes more than just the top performers.
Recognize those who are improving their skills.
Exemplary customer service is not rocket science. But most people do not
naturally possess the skills to deliver it and, fortunately, people are not
computers. We cannot be programmed for performance. We must be taught. How
much money are you willing to invest in training to help your staff develop
the necessary skills to become shining stars?
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David Saxby is president of Measure-X, a Phoenix,
Ariz.-based measurement, training and recognition company that specializes in
customer service and sales skill training for utility companies. He can be
reached at 888-644-5499 or via e-mail at
david@measure-x.com. Visit the Measure-X Web site at
www.measure-x.com.
