An attitude of kindness can make a company much more attractive to customers. On the other hand, it doesn’t even take an act of unkindness to make customers less likely to deal with you, just a sense of neglect or of not being considered as an individual can make customers veer away.
When I talk about kindness in customer service, I’m not just talking random acts of kindness, although they can generate an amazing amount of positive buzz for a company. After all, who hasn’t heard the story about Morton’s delivering a steak to Peter Shankman at the Airport?
What I’m really talking about is operating on a basis where kindness is being used in all dealings with your clients, staff and suppliers. Not just the nice ones that you want to encourage, not just the about-to-blow-up ones that you want to pacify, and not just the ugly ones that you want to get rid of. Absolutely everybody you deal with during the day.
So how do you demonstrate kindness in customer service
- Listen to the customer
- Show empathy
- Be willing to compromise
- Have flexible policies
- Use kindness in your dealings with everybody – staff and suppliers as well as customers
Some points to keep in mind:
- Yes, the rules are there for a reason – but if you and your staff have a good understanding of the reason for the rules. A little flexibility in their application will have little or no effect on the big picture.
- Yes, it is setting a precedent – but you can easily manage that by communicating with the customer.
- Yes, it’s possible that the customer is in a situation because of something they did or didn’t do. But a large part of being kind involves not placing blame or making accusations.
- Yes, you’ll definitely have days when you don’t feel like being kind, and there will definitely be customers who you don’t think deserve kindness. Keep in mind that you’re only responsible for your actions and reactions and decide whether you want to be kind, impassive or petty and vindictive.
- The end result to always be working towards is a win-win result. There’s no point in doing things that hurt you in any way just to have a happy client, but if you can’t do what you do and end up with a feeling of satisfaction and a happy client – maybe you shouldn’t be doing what you do.
You might find that kindness in customer service costs a little more, but if you get it right and be authentic, there will be a return on the investment through goodwill and word of mouth.
