Page 88 - Delivering Authentic Customer Experiences

Principle 6 Delivering Authentic Customer Experiences

taught to do it, you’ll default to your learned offensive and
defensive behaviour to protect your position. Neither of these is
compatible with a mutually agreeable outcome.

Trigger points

Customers will present themselves in a variety of states, both
good and bad, which may have been triggered for numerous
reasons. Some states, such as anger, frustration, disappointment,
may have nothing to do with you or your service and could simply
be a result of them having had a bad day, which might make them
less tolerant of poor service. Other states may have been
triggered by someone or something they experienced while using
your service. This is generally caused by frustration with your
systems, processes or procedures, or the result of a bad
experience with someone they feel hasn’t listened. They believe
you’ve over-promised, under-delivered and ultimately failed to
meet their expectations. It’s worth remembering that something
seemingly straightforward and simple to you, because you deal
with it on a daily basis, may be overwhelming to them.

Regardless of how your client reacts to you, it’s worth trying to
diffuse the situation, turn it around and create a WIN-WIN
encounter.

Here are some examples of poor service that cause customers to
complain:
• being passed from person to person when submitting a
complaint
• being asked to call back, or being put on hold
• being on the receiving end of a blame culture – It’s not my
fault…my colleague…the system etc.
• having to repeat their details or the information over and
over again to different people

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