Transcript No Slide Title

Managing
Dynamics
Customer Service
What Does it Mean?
Janaki Severy
Managing Dynamics LLC
206-478-7173
[email protected]
www.managingdynamics.com
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Managing
Dynamics
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Customer Service Agenda
What is customer service?
Responsibilities and challenges
Listening
Emotions
Perception
Reframing
Influence
Avoidance
Tips
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Managing
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Customer Service: Definition
Customer service is the provision of service to
customers before, during and after a purchase.
“Customer service is a series of activities designed to
enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the
feeling that a product or service has met the customer
expectation.“
A higher goal is to not only help the customer “have
good experience”, but to offer them
an experience that “exceeds their expectations”
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Managing
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Student Services
SFS Home
Students Home
Tuition Overview
Payment of Tuition & Fees
GET (Guaranteed Ed Tuition)
Student Loan Signatures
Disbursement of Financial Aid
Scholarships
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Loan Repayment
Loan Exit Counseling
Managing Your Money
Bankruptcy Notices
Student Tax Information
Forms for Students
Petitions
“Do they have any idea how much we are
supposed to know?”
“Do they have any idea how things are changing
around here?”
“Do they have any idea how hard it is to “be
nice” when everyone is in crisis?”
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Managing
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Things to Remember
About Customer Service
Remember your customers are the reason you have a job
 Return calls or email in a agreed upon time (24 hours-max)
 Make promises you can and do keep
 Show that you “listen” so they feel see, heard, and valued.
 Manage complaints effectively and respectfully
 Be kind and patient and put yourself in their shoes.
 Be courteous, approachable and knowledgeable
 Help customers to understand and navigate your systems
 Provide consistent and correct information
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Managing
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Who are Your Customers?
“Everyone” involved with the Finances!
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The students
Their parents-grandparents-????
The financial institutions
Funding sources
University
??????
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Managing
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About Listening
Listening is taken it for granted. Most
of us think of ourselves as better
listeners than we really are.
Who we are/what we say triggers other
people’s response to us. That
response affects our psychological
well-being and theirs.
Feeling listened to demonstrates the
difference between believing we are
accepted and feeling separate.
“Auditory listening” vs“ Automatic listening”
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Managing
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Automatic Listening
Conversations based on the past shape your
opinions/beliefs and cause you to experience
things through those beliefs.
Instead practice this….
 Have mindful conversations based on the
outcome you want.
 Listen for their intention and believe the best.
 Ask excellent questions and offer “high quality
information”
 Show how they matter by demonstrating good
“listening”
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Managing
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Emotions Affect Thought
Neural circuits are hardwired to sort 24/7 for danger.
Real or perceived danger triggers our limbic system, causing a
flight/fight/paralysis response.
Perceived danger is screened 80,000 times faster than other
information.
Due to emotional primacy, people hear bad news first and
loudest.
Emotional radar subconsciously screens feedback we give or
receive for real or perceived danger.
If there is perceived danger, the emotional brain overrides the
logical brain and we become “emotionally hijacked.”
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The Emotional Brain……
Can Mal-Adapt and can’t tell real from imagined
Visual Thalamus
Visual
Cortex
Amygdala
From Joseph Le Doux, The Emotional Brain, 1996.
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The Perception Process
 A person’s beliefs determine their selection of
perceptions.
 Those beliefs determine their thought process.
 Those thought processes and perceptions
cause them to “see” what they want to see to
validate their beliefs.
 Therefore, people remember and refer to what
is useful to validate their beliefs.
 A person’s thoughts and perceptions support
their beliefs until there is a reason to acquire
new beliefs.
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Three Brains in One
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Managing
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Principles for Building &
Gaining Rapport
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PACING:
Opening a Window to the Unconscious Mind
 Maximize similarities
 Build rapport
 Establish receptivity
 Prepare way for influencing
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Managing
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Match Behavior in Three Channels
VERBAL
 Phrases
 Words
 Word Class
VOCAL
 Pitch
 Tone
 Inflection
 Pace
 Volume
NONVERBAL
 Movement
 Gestures
 Eye Contact
 Touch
 Appearance
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Pacing Opens Receptivity
Pacing builds rapport by maximizing similarities.
Rapport is the critical ingredient of the persuasion/trust process.
Pacing allows you to gain trust/build rapport with an upset customer.
People in rapport unconsciously allow the other person to influence them.
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Managing
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Pacing Types
Two types of Pacing:
 Direct: Match actual behaviors
 Words
 Voice
 Energy
 Intensity
 Body gestures
 Complementary: Match similar
gestures, intensity of feeling,
similar tone and energy
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Managing
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Everyone “Paces”:
Check “Pacing” examples that you do.
 You talk like someone close to you so even friends say you sure
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sound like________.
You use their terms and language and jokes and have “common
terms” between you
You “read” people you care about and treat them in ways that honors
how you read them.
You “get on the floor” to talk to a 2 year old or “baby talk” to a baby
You might speak in “a special tone” when you talk to animals or
small children.
You order the same food as someone you like when you are out.
You notice the phone voice of someone that matters to you and
change yours accordingly.
You follow the advice of someone you like without challenging it.
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Managing
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Using Key Words and Tie Downs
Customers use favorite words to describe emotional states. These
words have a stronger voice inflection, tone or pitch than their other
words. They are usually more emphasized.
 Note their key words, learn what the word the customer uses means
to them (representational language). Use their words and meaning
when talking with them.
 If the customer says, “I’m looking for a fair treatment”
 First find out what they mean by a “fair treatment”
 Say, “Could you tell me please, what “fair treatment” looks like
to you?”
 Once you have the right meaning…Tie it down with your solution,
next steps, etc
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Getting High Quality Information
Reframing
Principles of Influence
Dealing with Resistance
Managing
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Get High Quality Information
 Use understanding words and phrases
 Support the customer to feel heard and
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understood
Assist the customer to share their concerns in
detail
After they share, ask them if there is
anything else…often you will discover more
Use their exact words, (representational
language) and repeat their words
Make sure they feel seen and heard and that
their needs are taken care of
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Two Principles of Reframing
Principle 1:
 People like people who like them.
Principle 2:
 People have a need to fully express.
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Reframing: Changing the Meaning
 The meaning any event has depends on the
“Frame” in which it is perceived.
 If you change the “Frame” you change the
meaning.
 Changing the meaning is called a “Reframe”
 What beliefs or perceptions could you
“reframe” to improve your work
environment and relationships?
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REFRAMING: 2 LEVELS
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Internal Reframing: Reframe yourself
to generate more options and to
produce greater results.
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External Reframing: Reframe another
to consider other options and make a
commitment to a better one.
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Principles of Influence
Principle 1:
 People make decisions by subjective
experience (unconscious mind) and
validate with logic (conscious mind).
Principle 2:
 People are more easily influenced by
others they perceive as similar to
themselves.
Principle 3:
 People need to feel fully understood.
Managing
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Mistakes in Influence
1. Poor Rapport
2. Low Quality Information
3. Presenting Solutions Too Soon
Managing
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Dealing with Feelings
 Deal with your feelings first
 Deal with the customer’s feelings next
 Explore to understand their Resistance
 Ask questions and offer information so they are
informed and want to learn more
 Remain detached and make suggestions
Managing
Dynamics
Dealing with Resistance
Theirs and Yours
Level I:
Level II:
Level III:
Level IV:
Level V:
Avoid
Tolerate
Accept
Understand
Embrace
Managing
Dynamics
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Use Feeling Words/Phrases
This seems upsetting to you...
You look happy...
Is there something concerning you?
Are you feeling pressured about this?
You sound frustrated...what’s happening?
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Use Minimal Encouragers
Go on
Really?
For example...
I hear you
Then?
Yes
Oh?
Umm...
Right
Interesting
Tell me more
And?
I see
I understand
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Managing
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Tips for Difficult Customers
Listen attentively without interrupting
Make a conscious choice about your response
Acknowledge the other persons feelings
Ask objective questions for clarification
Stick to the subject/take notes
Be patient
Reframe yourself and them
Offer context
Listen for the shift in their voice and tone
Thank them for expressing concerns
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Be Curious
Managing
Dynamics
Ask yourself…..
“What is it about that person that I
cannot see and don’t understand
that might cause them to behave
that way?”
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Managing
Dynamics
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Tips for Excellent
Customer Service
Take notes
Listen now, report later
Learn to want to listen
Be present
Anticipate excellence
Become a whole body listener
Build Rapport
Control your emotional hot buttons
Control Distractions
Give the gift of Listening
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Managing
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Listening: The Key
to Customer Service
When we take the time to listen from our
hearts as well as our intellect, while being
fully present, we give the gift of respect and
tell the other person they matter to us.
In today’s world we all long to be “Seen,
Heard and Recognized” Truly listening to
another is a powerful way to honor this
desire and provide excellent customer
service.
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