| Your
relationship with your customer is at its highest risk, and
highest potential return, during an emotional ‘moment of truth'.
It could be a reaction to something intrinsic to your business
relationship e.g. the phone they bought from you has been
stolen or the holiday they want to book with you is a honeymoon,
or it could be something completely unrelated, e.g. they have
a new job.
In
that moment of contact the emotional charge means the customer's
view of you and the relationship they have with you can be
transformed for better or for worse.
How
can we ensure that we make the most of the Moments of Truth
Regular
opportunities
•
Make sure your teams know what emotional moments are most
likely to occur with your products or services
Eg:
if you sell travel, which travel events are most likely to
be special
If
you sell finance, what are the main reasons people are buying
your
products
•
Develop questions that will highlight the positive ‘moments
of truth' and how should your people respond. Create some
scenarios that your teams can role play
The
difficult moments
Research
indicates that being supportive of customers at very difficult
moments makes a substantial difference to their overall perception
of you. Whether your customer teams handles crises on a daily
or an occasional basis, it can be a stressful situation
•
Role-play key scenarios in the environment that staff will
actually handle the customer e.g. behind a desk, on the
phone, privately or in an open reception area
When
you have to give bad news
Customer
service teams hate giving bad news. Whether it's that the
engineer is going to be late or we can't lend you the money,
many will avoid it. Giving bad news is often likely to cause
an emotional moment of truth and anyone who deals with customers
will face this sooner or later.
•
Think about how you give bad news to customers and practise
a few techniques (maximum of three) to help you handle the
emotional moment of truth in a professional manner.
Investing
in moments of truth can be immensely valuable
Ensuring
your staff handle it professionally could be one of the best
investments you make. It can determine the nature of your
long term relationship with the customer, and most of us are
in businesses where we know our clients could go elsewhere.
We know that most people choose a supplier for emotional reasons,
e.g. they like you, and then use logic to justify their choices.
It
is rare for any business to win every buying decision based
on logic – few of us have such perfect propositions. Build
emotional capital with your clients, and more business will
surely follow.
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