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Respect Your Customer’s Time
by Kevin Stirtz
Kevin Stirtz’s Amazing Service Rule #10
Respect their time.
“Tick tock said the clock.”
It seems the almighty clock rules our lives. With each generation, our society gets busier and busier.
Even though we all have the same amount of time, we use it differently. And we use it the way we want. So, we can get a little testy when we feel someone is wasting our time. It’s even worse when they’re wasting our time to meet their needs.
Customers are no different.
They come to us to accomplish something. And they want it done on their schedule, not ours. They don’t want to wait any longer than they have to. Can you blame them?
How often have you thought, when you’re the customer, “What is wrong with these people?. Why are they moving so slow?”. How many times have you left (or wanted to leave) in frustration because it was taking too long to do something that should have been fast and easy.
I have been in a lot of airports. I know how long it should take to check your bags and get your boarding pass. Even with a line of people it shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes.
But the people working at the airport on St, Thomas in the US Virgin Islands apparently do not understand that. I have never seen such a slow moving morass of chaotic activity in my life. When they said get to the St. Thomas airport early, I didn’t realize they meant several DAYS early.
Since we’re all busy and we all know what it’s like to wait in frustration, it should be easy to remember to NOT do this to our customers. And it should be easy to tell when a customer is getting frustrated at how much time something is taking. (I’ll give you a tip. They look at their watches a lot.)
Be aware of how much time your customers are waiting and how they are reacting. Make sure you’re doing everything you can reduce or prevent their wait times.
A good way to do this is to be your customer if possible. Try to see things from your customer’s point of view. And talk to your customers about this. Ask them if they are getting served in a way that respects their time. If not, find out more details so you can make changes.
Customer service is about putting your customers first. And a big part of that means respecting their time.
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Kevin Stirtz is the Amazing Service Guy, a speaker and trainer who helps companies increase revenue and profits by delivering Amazing Service. Stirtz has been quoted in such major media as BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, Smart Money and the Chicago Sun Times. Get a free copy of his Amazing Service Toolkit.
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