Page 26 - Banking Finance August 2019
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ARTICLE
Six Major People Skills that need to be "I'm terribly sorry you are so upset" does not admit
blame but does establish some rapport with the
Developed customer.
Y Making people feel special.
Y Show empathy by using phrases as: "I can understand
Y Managing the first 4 and last 2 minutes. how I feel", "I appreciate what you're saying".
Y Demonstrating a positive attitude. Y Address customers by name.
Y Communicating clear messages. Y All communication should be in the first person. Use:
Y Showing high energy. "I am sorry" not the royal "We".
Y Working well under pressure. Y Don't make excuses or blame others in your
organization. The customer wants a solution to the
problem, not an inquisition of your internal operations.
Developing Customer Centric Approach
Y Give the customer your full attention and establish eye
1. Customer enrolment (volume based expansion)
contact. Sympathetic nods help defuse situations and
2. Customer enhancement (value based up-selling & cross- many customers feel they are receiving a fair hearing if
selling) Customer empowerment customer enrichment they see someone jotting down a few notes.
3. Customer retention Y Paraphrase their complaint in your own words to
4. Customer grievance redressal determine if you have correctly understood the
situation. Play the situation back to them to check for
5. Customer counseling - financial partnering
understanding: "I just want to check that I have
6. Journey of customer delight to customer Ecstasy understood you correctly?"
Y If you don't know the answer to their problem, don't
lie. Adopt the old teaching maxim and admit you don't
know but make a commitment that you will find out
and get back to them within a specified time.
Y Do call back when you say you will, even if, for some
reason, you haven't been able to obtain a satisfactory
answer by then.
Y Make the customer part of the solution - Not part of
the problem.
Y Tell them what you can do . . . . not what you can't do.
For example, rather than say: "I'm terribly sorry but you
must give 7 days notice to transfer money from a term
deposit to chequeaccount", adopt the following "can
do" approach which says the same thing but in a
different way: "Yes, I can transfer the money from your
Handling Customer Complaints term deposit to your cheque account, with a slight
interest charge of X rupees, since you were unable to
Y Don't be defensive.
provide 7 days notice".
Y Be composed at all times.
Y Find out what it will take to turn their dissatisfaction
Y Don't take criticisms personally. It's not you the into satisfaction. Do they want a refund, credit,
customer is angry with; try to be objective and put discount, replacement? Offer a solution and obtain the
yourself in their shoes. customer's agreement that this would satisfy the
Y Offer an apology even if the disservice is not your fault. complaint. Ask: "Will this problem be solved if we . .?"
26 | 2019 | AUGUST | BANKING FINANCE
