Page 37 - Delivering Authentic Customer Experiences

Principle 2 Delivering Authentic Customer Experiences

rather than looking for faults, and say thank you as if you mean it.
What do you like about them, what do they do well, how do they
contribute positively to you, their colleagues and the business?
When you notice them doing things right…remember to tell them!
Try a compliment, rather than a complaint or criticism.

All this is not quite as easy as it may sound. Firstly, you may not
be used to doing it. Secondly, if your team aren’t used to receiving
compliments, they may feel awkward or embarrassed and not
know how to respond. They may even be suspicious of your
motives, particularly if they are not used to receiving positive
comments or reinforcements from you. A good way to help them
accept what you’ve said is to follow the compliment – question
method. Pay them a compliment then follow it up with a question.
They’ll focus on answering the question and won’t question the
compliment.
It might sound something like this…

Thank you for dealing with that complaint, you responded
really well and diffused a potentially inflammatory
situation. How did you develop such good listening skills?

Following this approach will leave your colleague feeling positive
about their work and properly appreciated, having taken the
compliment in the manner it was intended.

If you value and provide a great service to your team, they’ll feel
entrusted, empowered, engaged and enjoy what they do. They’ll
look forward to coming into work and pass the goodwill on to your
clients, creating an environment that people love. You’ll keep
their valuable experience in-house and benefit from consistency
of service, reduced recruitment costs, lower levels of
absenteeism, engaged staff and improved customer retention,
leading ultimately to better profit margins.

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