COVID-19 is having an extraordinary impact on our personal and business lives. The ‘daily grind’ of facing long traffic delays to and from work have given way to hours spent standing in queues outside supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and money transfer agencies, to name a few. All this while we observe the new social distancing protocols with masks donned, in between our curfew hours. When we communicate, we do so guardedly, listening and observing keenly for any signs of tell-tale sniffles, sneezes, watery eyes or coughs! We watch anxiously while walking in populated spaces, giving persons a wide berth so as to ensure no breach of the 6-feet distance (and by the way, have you noticed that we seem to have ditched meters for feet in this new dispensation? When we are in crisis, we revert to the most familiar). These are fast becoming our new ways of operating and standard modes of behavior.
What we are also realizing is that this new norm is severely impacting the way in which we are delivering service. Fear and anxiety for our personal health and safety are fast eroding our veneer of politeness and empathy. In face-to-face interactions, communication is limited to eye contact (when it does occur), muffled voices, and a seriously ‘arms-length’ relationship, making it much more difficult to build and keep rapport. Gone are visible smiles and the warmth of hand-shakes to demonstrate our caring. New approaches seem to emphasize efficiency and the briefest of encounters to keep contact to a minimum. On the extreme end of the spectrum, anyone who ventures too physically close or sniffles or coughs audibly, may incur the wrath of the agent or other customers! We have even witnessed over the past few days, the dire consequences of the fear of not being sufficiently equipped preventing the provision of life-saving services to those desperately in need. Look what we come to now!
Despite this, is it possible, instead, that this extraordinary time we are experiencing could be the RESET button for our relationships, and in particular, for the service we deliver to our customers? Could this crisis of connection be a bridge to new beginnings in how we see and treat others, including our clients? As someone who always sees the glass as half-full, I suggest to you that this is indeed possible, but only for those who CHOOSE to see it this way and to ACT on it.
If you own or manage a business at this time, now more than ever your leadership is in the spot light. How you engage with and manage your staff has always impacted the quality of service delivery, but the strength of that relationship is currently glaringly visible. The caring and empathy with which your staff treat your customers is directly linked to your treatment of them in this crisis and your actions generally as a leader. Additionally, the adaptation of service standards to deal with the safety and protection of staff and customers, as well as ensure that courtesy, connection and caring are not simply maintained, but raised to new levels, is a must. Updating of customer service skills to enable higher levels of emotional intelligence to read facial cues, body language and interpret tone of voice and respond appropriately, are all required competencies in the new era. The ability to self-manage and calm raging emotions such as fear, anxiety and frustration, are critical to successfully leading and operating in these unprecedented times.
Delivering excellent customer service to not just keep your customers, but to delight them as we traverse these rough seas, is not a dream. It can be achieved! But, uncharted territory requires a new map or GPS to guide the way. Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), the science of using your mind to achieve the results you want, is a proven system used by organizations world-wide to up-level all aspects of human performance. With specific reference to Customer Service, one of the most important contributions NLP can make to service improvement is that it tunes the individual into the discovery of inner resources (abilities, talents, qualities, experience) that they didn’t know they had! NLP then teaches you how to use these to firstly, feel good about yourself and then take 100% responsibility for the results you get in your life and career. In other words, it helps you to think, feel and act differently, which is the reason, of course, that NLP is a power-house for transforming your customer experience.
COVID-19 will forever change the way we are doing business but it doesn’t have to ruin your hard won relationships with your customers. It just means we have to step-up our game!