With the standards of customer service leaving much to be desired in the UK, customer expectations have been adversely affected.
Our feelings towards the person or company serving us is directly affected by how much trust we have in them. The more we trust them the more relaxed we feel towards them, the less we trust them, the greater the tension between us.
Our perception of service in the UK is influenced by many factors, for example the media, personal experience, hear-say, company reputations etc. The average customer in the UK does not have high trust in service providers and is therefore cautious, looking out for potential mistakes or problems which could occur.
Put simply, many customers in the UK are suffering from the “low trust high tension syndrome”.
This can be shown visually in a graph as follows:
The more you build trust the more relaxed the customer will be:
Top Tip
First impressions count, therefore within the first few seconds of an interaction you must build trust with the customer and reduce any tension they may have.
However, most employees are trained to identify the customer’s problem first and then solve it. They do this by asking the customer questions, and therefore miss the opportunity to build trust.
For example, I had reason to complain to my stationary supplies company a few months ago, a complaint which had to be sorted out that day or cause me serious problems with a client and the start of a major development programme. After pouring my heart out to the lady on the end of the phone pleading for her to help me she responded by asking “have you got your order number there?” and “what did you say your company name was?” and “which items of your stationary order are missing?” She hadn’t said anything to reassure me that she could help. Instead I’m getting more and more tense waiting for her to tell me it’s my fault, or that I’m
through to the wrong department.
Important therefore, before asking questions about the problem, say something which builds trust in your customer and relaxes them.
What to say to build trust
Customers have 3 major concerns:
- you won’t understand
- you can’t or won’t be able to help
- they will need to control the conversation to get what they want
Therefore to build trust and reduce tension in customers, before asking questions like “have you got your order number there?” and “what did you say your company name was?” and “which items of your stationary order are missing?” we must first reassure the customer by addressing these 3 major concerns:
| Customer Concern | Building Trust and Lowering Tension |
| 1. You won’t understand | 1. Empathise – tell them you understand / appreciate / apologise etc |
| 2. You can’t or won’t be able to help | 2. Reassure them that they’re speaking to the right person i.e. tell them you will help them |
| 3. They will need to control the conversation to get what they want | 3. Take control by explaining what the next step is, which is usually to get more information from the customer to help determine the best course of action |
For example, to create the right first impression and win trust, the lady at my stationary supplies company should have responded with something like:
“I’m sorry to hear you’ve had problems with your order (empathy). I can have a look in to that for you (reassurance). I’m going to ask you a few questions about the order and we can decide the best way forward (next step / taking control).”
This can then be followed with questions about the problem e.g. “what’s your order number?” etc.
The result is I don’t mind her asking me these follow-up questions because she has reassured me she helping. She understands my problem, she wants to help me, and she knows what she’s doing….I’m happy for her to be in control.
This tactic doesn’t come naturally to most people, and staff need specialised training to help them to handle customer situations like this. Companies which invest in this type of training find that call durations and customer visits are shortened, staff are less stressed and customer satisfaction is greatly improved.
The training we provide at CFA Training puts words to these phrases and helps staff manage customer emotions effectively. If this is something of interest to you please feel free to contact us to find out more.
We’d love to hear from you.