One pet hate of mine is people making excuses about their incompetence. I went in to a large stationary store recently and asked where the folders were. The member of staff replied “Sorry, I’m new here.”
He not only didn’t answer my question, but he changed the subject. Being rather taken aback by him wanting to talk about his ‘career history’, I didn’t want to seem rude so I asked him how he was getting on in his new job.
Whether he was the newest or longest serving member of staff there was always something he could do, including:
- helping me to look for them
- calling a colleague / supervisor over who did know.
Either way I would have been pleased with his help and none the wiser about how long he’d worked there, what his job title was or how much he earned. (I’m being sarcastic here just in case you were wondering).
Remember, a customer isn’t interested in what you can’t do for them, only what you can do.
Some years ago ‘trainee’ badges could be seen everywhere in the service industry, especially in customer facing roles. These badges gave a warning to the customer and asked for understanding and patience. A generation ago customers were more easy going, less stressed and more considerate, so these badges worked.
These days however, you rarely see trainee badges because the British public is less tolerant of incompetence. If a trainee serves me in my supermarket or bank for example, I watch them with eagle eyes because the word ‘trainee’ these days implies that it will take twice as long to get served or I’ll be short changed at the end of it.
Consider the learner driver. That poor leaner has to drive around with a great big L on their car. The L is asking other drivers to pull back and be patient. Do we? No, a large number of drivers do the opposite and drive as close to them as possible, driving from side to side looking for the first opportunity to overtake. Feedback I’ve obtained from newly passed drivers also shows that not many of them will display their P plates after passing their test as they’re treated with disrespect by other drivers.
In summary, customers want to hear positive statement of help from us and not excuses. We need to concentrate on what we ‘can do’ for customers and not what we ‘can’t’ do. If you catch yourself saying any of the following example phrases, you may have highlighted to the customer your level of incompetence.
- “I’m sorry I’m new here”
- “I’m a trainee”
- “I’m just covering the section over the lunch break”
- “Please bear with me, it’s a new computer system and I’m still getting to grips with it”
- “I’m only a temp”
- “This isn’t my section, I’m usually on clothing (or whatever your department is)”
- “I’m just the admin support officer / plumber”
- “I’m new at this”
- “This isn’t my speciality / I’m not very good at this”
- “I’ll try”
I hope this has got you thinking. I think this is a challenging subject to grasp in this country, whether it’s our modesty or fear of getting something wrong that we feel we should make excuses for our lack of knowledge or incompetence.
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