By Prabodhanie Wanigasundara
From the day that we come to this world we depend on service from others. A baby depends on the service of her mother to feed her, nourish her, and look after her.
When the mother becomes old, she depends on her daughter who is a grown-up adult now to take care of her. When we wake up in the morning and start our day we seek for whole heap of services, some are within our inner circle, and some are external.
You may depend on the service of the Tuk Tuk driver to take you to your office or to your kids’ school, uber eats driver to deliver your lunch, Pickme flash to deliver some urgent medicines that you have to send to your mother, Flower shop to send some flowers for your girlfriend’s birthday, Service is all around us and society has evolved over centuries with this interconnectedness. However, the genuine passion for serving others is something lacking in the business context as well as in society at large.
As a result of this we witness long queues in many public institutions, uncaring customer service, absence of feedback or a response for a query, long delays in getting even a basic change or a modification and the list goes on.
It’s not uncommon to experience impolite staff, rude answers of public servants, ill-mannered call centre agents, unreliable delivery staff so on and so forth.
If we are not willing to serve a fellow countryman as part of our job, how can we move forward as a country which wants to attract foreign exchange through destination marketing or Tourism as you may call it?
In today’s competitive business environment, success depends largely on how well you meet or exceed customer expectations better than your competitors.
Today’s customers are value seekers, they just don’t buy products. People expect help in making a buying decision, require support to get it delivered, expect expertise in getting the product installed, need training to use the product and support when there is requirement for repair.
In other words, people expect total solutions or a bundle of benefits from the choices they make. To sustain in this dynamic business environment marketers, need to bring in the right level of service along with the products they offer and play the role of solution providers.
In this highly volatile, unpredictable, and dynamic marketing environment we are witnessing today, business survival will depend on how well you serve your customers and add value to their total experience.
What we need to realize here is marketers or the frontliners alone cannot achieve this goal.
It requires an organizational wide service culture and service mindset in each individual working in the company.
According to Ron Kaufman, author of many international best sellers on uplifting service, “A service mindset calls for a special way of thinking, feeling, and acting towards your customers. It’s a state of mind, an attitude, and a way of seeing the world that motivates you to give your very best”.
There are six characteristics of a service mindset which can take your organization towards world class.
1.Abundant Generosity
This calls for a genuine desire to give others or serve others. We can be generous to our customers with many things including our time, attention, sharing our expertise with them to assist them making a buying decision, pricing by offering a possible discount and also by our mood and manner. When a customer walks Into your counter at least be generous to offer a bright smile which can set a pleasing atmosphere to open the discussion with him.
2. Genuine Compassion
Be empathetic towards your customers. When an angry customer makes a loud complaint a compassionate service person will make him calm by offering the helping hand. We all are human beings, and we have our good days as well as bad days. Good times as well as turbulent times. Have patience and empathize with your customers. This will help to create deeper connection with your customers and to retain them with you.
3. The “Can – Do “ Attitude
Positive attitude towards our work, life, is what makes us go. We need to approach difficulties with courage and challenges with interest and commitment. When a customer makes a complaint, we should welcome it as a blessing in disguise to correct our mistakes or the weaknesses. Always keep the willingness to go for that extra mile to help your customers because what they remember is not the finest features of the product but the exceptional service you provide them.
4. Eagerness to Learn and grow
Customers are well updated about the latest products and services because information is at our fingertips now. We need to be up on the game by always keeping ourselves current and updated on the latest developments in the industry that we operate. Customers get the assurance of the product or service they buy from you through the knowledge you display on the domain that you operate.
5. Taking personal responsibility
We are always good at finding reasons for the mistakes and justifying them. This creates unpleasant arguments with customers which can lead to customer churn. Instead, if we take responsibility for the mistake and express a genuine apology it can make a whole lot of difference to customers experience. Sending a letter of apologies with the assurance of preventing similar incidents taking place in the future, can always give a second chance to save a customer who will be lost to competition otherwise. After all its not that difficult to say sorry.
6. See the world from your customers point of view
The world you see is not the world your customers see. They may have different concerns, preferences, circumstances, and priorities. We always see the world from our point of view and judge things. Mastery in developing a service mindset requires seeing world from your customers point of view and get into their shoes. This helps you to deliver a better and a customized service to your customers and to build stronger relationships with them which will ultimately deliver customer loyalty.
Prabodhanie Wanigasundara MBA, University of Wales UK,PG Dip (M), CIM UK, MCIM, FCMI, CMA (Aus), Chartered Marketer Visiting Lecturer – University of Kelaniya , SLIM , ICBT, IIHS , SLIIT Prabodhanie is a Professional Marketer and a Chief Operating Officer with 22 years track record in Sales & Marketing and Operations Management covering Telecommunication, ICT, and Business Process Management industries. Currently she serves as the Chief Operating Officer of DOK Solutions Lanka (Pvt) Ltd one of the leading Business Process Outsourcing service provider and providing the strategic and operational leadership to the organization. She has served under leading Telecommunication service providers such as Sri Lanka Telecom, Dialog Axiata with proven results in corporate sales domain. She brings the expertise of consultative selling including the solution design, implementation, effective negotiations and final delivery. She has the experience of training and grooming over 100 customer service and back-office executives under her initiatives of expanding Business process outsourcing to suit the customized requirements of the clients. She serves as a visiting lecture in University of Kelaniya, SLIIT Malabe Campus, ICBT Campus, and Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing covering different subjects under Marketing Management and Supply Chain Management .