UVA FEAP Mary Sherman, LCSW, CEAP434-243-2643

STRATEGIES FOR ADVANCED CUSTOMER SERVICE

Click icon to add pictureGOALS FOR TODAY

CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS

POWER OF SELF AWARENESS and SELF CARE

POWER OF EMPATHY

POWER OF L.A.S.T. APPROACH

POWER OF AFFECTIVE LISTENING and WISE RESPONSES

WHEN TO SEEK BACK UP

EXAMPLES AND DISCUSSION

CHARACTERISICS OF DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS

Characteristics of your toughest customers?

TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS DESCRIBED

• High emotional charge• Demanding tone• Not thinking straight• Unrealistic expectations• Frustrated, exhausted, • intolerant• Loud• Not wanting to listen• Too many things coming at once• Presses my buttons, stresses me out, makes

me angry

“No one can drive you crazy, unless you hand over your keys”Learning how to manage your own stress response:•serves you well in many ways •helps you diffuse conflict around you

Victor Frankl, MDBetween a stimulus and our response, there is space. And it’s in this space that we choose our response. Our power and freedom lie in our response.

HANGING ON TO YOUR KEYS

SELF AWARENESS

WISDOM OF GOOD SELF CARE

WORK LIFE BALANCE

MANAGING YOUR OWN STRESS RESPONSE – (I.E. Breathing)

REMEMBER THE GOAL

KNOW WHEN TO STEP AWAY

KNOW WHEN TO ASK FOR HELP

Stepping back……

Pausing to regroup or catch your breathe Pausing to make wise triage decisions Passing the baton to a colleague Know and listen for your body clues that

it’s time to pause

The POWER of EMPATHY

WALK A MILE IN HER SHOES

POWER of EMPATHY

How do you feel toward a customer if you think of

them as “Just being mean, OR difficult”?

POWER of EMPATHY

How do you feel toward a customer if you think:

They must be having a very bad day They must be scared They must be exhausted They are out of their element They are feeling discarded or ignored

The Power of Empathy

What do you know is true about most of the upset customers you serve?

The POWER of L.A.S.T

L = LISTENA = ACKNOWLEDGES = SOLVET = THANK

The Power of Effective Listening

Have you ever…. Tried speaking to someone about something

that is really important to you and you weren’t sure they were even listening?

Or by their response you can tell that they didn’t come close to hearing your point

OR they immediately dismissed what you were trying to tell them and “blew you off”?

How did this feel?

TIPS to achieveEFFECTIVE LISTENING

undivided attention Put aside distracting thoughtsAvoid mentally preparing a rebuttal

Make a conscious effort to hear not only the words the other person is saying, but also try to completely understand the message they are sending

non-verbal communication Notice their body language, and expression Awareness of your own body language and expressions

Show you are listening and Interested

Look at the speaker directly Maintain eye contact Nod occasionally Smile and use other kind facial

expressions Note your posture and ensure it is

inviting Minimal encouragers like, “yes”, “uh

huh”, “I see”,

ACKNOWLEDGGE(Provide feedback)

Reflect what is being said by paraphrasing:

, “What I’m hearing you say is”, OR

“sounds like you are saying”, OR

“it seems your biggest concern is “

Solve

After acknowledging their concern/need,FOCUS on what you can SOLVE

Think ahead as much as you can re: how best to respond to the most frequent and most difficult issues

SOLVE– cheat sheet

SOLVE – cheat sheet

WHAT THEY WANT WHAT I CAN DO BEST WAY TO SAY IT

A book from Ivy Stacks (they've traveled on the weekend and we can't retrieve until Monday

Offer to send it to them on ILL (they would need to request it from their local library)

We'd be happy to work with your local library to send the volume to you on interlibrary loan.

Guest computer user - wants to use a computer for longer than an hour for non-research purposes - email.  User argues that "these are state computers and I pay taxes."

Explain that the computers are for academic or research use.  Other uses are secondary.  Explain that our primary users are UVA students, faculty and staff.  The public may use the machines, but for research use.

SOLVE– cheat sheetSOLVE – cheat sheet

WHAT THEY WANT WHAT I CAN DO BEST WAY TO SAY IT

User wants to use a staffphone for a long distance call.

Explain that staff phones are not for long distance calls by our researchers.  If it's a research call we might be able to help, but if it's personal suggest where a pay phone might be.

Two users are in an argument and being somewhat loud and disruptive.

Explain that they are interrupting others and should continue their conversation somewhere where they won't disturb other researchers and studiers.

We can't find a book on the shelves even though VIRGO says it should be there.  User is exasperated and impatient.

We try our best to be sure the books are in the proper place, but sometimes there are problems.  We can search further and notify you when we find the book.  You can put in an ILL request for the book.

Behind the scenes

Behind the scenes planning to address big picture issues

Problems Follow up Time frame

KNOW WHEN TO SEEK BACK UPor move to less disruptive spot

Disruptive to other customersThreatening tone, words or postureEscalating behaviorinconsolableYou feel unsafe at all

Any questions?