Never Try To Teach A Pig To Sing…
December 9, 2009 by admin
An experience that makes your customers ‘Feel Good’ is an experience that is going to bring those customers back to you. More than that, “Feel Good” creates word of mouth: customers love to tell their friends, co-workers, and at least some of their relatives about the fantastic time they’ve had, so that their friends, colleagues, and family can enjoy the experience as well.
The problem is that not everyone wants your customers (or patients, if you’re in a health care setting!) to feel good. In a book I’ve recently written with two of the smartest people I know (T. Scott Gross and Greg Ayers), we examined the three types of people you’ve probably got working for you, and how they feel about creating a “Feel Good” experience for your customers.
Never Teach a Pig to Sing…It Wastes Your Time and Irritates The Pig!
Not everyone is psychologically capable of extending “Feel Good” to perfect strangers. That’s just a fact of life, and no amount of training, no incentive program, no creative job wrangling or title bestowing is going to change that. As you strive, as an organization, to provide ‘Feel Good’ experiences for your customers, you want to make sure you have the right people — people who are hard-wired to have fun — participating in the effort!
According to Bill Wagner of Accord Management Systems, about 15 percent of the population can be termed Service Naturals. These folks just get it: they’re all about having fun and loving on customers. 70 percent (which we like to call the Vast Majority!) are Service Possibles. They can, and will, with good leadership and training, get with the program and create ‘Feel Good’ experiences for your customers.
That leaves 15 percent. These folks are what we call Service Hopeless. They’re dour, dire, and have no intention of providing adequate service, much less ‘Feel Good’ experiences. Now, there may be redemption for everyone, but if you are in business, there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost by wasting time salvaging the unsalvagable. There’s a job for everyone, but if the job you need done requires great customer service, you need to not have a Service Hopeless person in that spot!
It’s not unlike teaching a pig to sing. Even if you succeed, you’re not going to get a concert level performance out of Miss Piggy! Stack the deck in your favor by hiring (whenever possible!) Service Naturals. Then commit to training your Service Possibles until they too become adept at providing “Feel Good” experiences!
Customer service has been presented many ways and at our bank, we are always looking for different approaches on the same subject. I like this classification. Sounds intriguing. I hope the Service Hopelesses could recognize this in themselves and exit from the service arena. Sadly, this is where many entry level jobs are located…the front line. It’s our first impression to the public, and if they don’t just LOVE people, well, the situation is hopeless!