Fact: exceptional customer service is in an Office Ninja’s DNA. Often the face of the company, Admins, Executive Assistants, and Office Managers are there not…
Image Credit: "Serial position" by Obli (talk) (Uploads) - Obli (talk) (Uploads). Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikipedia[/caption]
The serial position effect nicely encapsulates, then, any customer service interaction. Think about when you are on the phone with a customer service rep. You don’t remember exactly how someone is helping you (if they are at all) but you do remember the last impression of the phone call—either they helped you (yay!), or they didn’t (nay!).
Ninjas like Kimi Y. know what’s up with the serial position effect. As she writes, “Customer Service means whomever you interacted with leaves with a smile and had all of their issues addressed as best as possible. I try my best to have everyone I come into contact with just as happy as when they came to me, if not happier.” Well, put!
Word choice that reflects a personal touch has shown to work better than impersonal scripts. As companies have migrated their service efforts over to the internet, customer service must reach more than in-person visits, faxes, and telephone calls. Think: tweets, instant messaging, emails, texts, etc. Careful word choice here can see great results—a study conducted by scientists at Penn State's Media Effects Research Laboratory found that online reps who regularly used emoticons and responded faster were more successful at leaving customers happy.
Office Ninjas know that language is a key part of communication. Melissa S. advises, “Remember to use the right tone and words. NEVER say things like ‘our policy’ [or] ‘I'll have to get the manager’ [or] ‘No,’ etc., even if it's the case. Search your mind to find the words that convey those things in another way like, ’May I have a moment to look at all the options?’ [Or] ‘I want to get another set of eyes involved so we can better serve you.’ [Or] ‘Let me check what I can do for you that would provide the same outcome.’"
Image: Gizmodo[/caption]
As Michelle M. says, “[Office Ninjas] are masters of customer service. We are constantly meeting and anticipating service needs for everyone around us—upstream and downstream. I also feel like I am a flight controller as well—making sure everyone has what they need to be successful in fulfilling their deliverables.”
Adds Karen S., “To me, the meaning of customer service is simple: give what you would like to receive. If society defined it as I do, we would all be in a much better environment. I have always modeled good customer service habits. I have worked as a Customer Service Representative in the banking industry, and giving what I would like to receive was quite challenging. I have also worked in retail, where it was challenging as well. In my current role, as I work with students, faculty, and the university community as a whole; I display professionalism, with a smile, and courtesy, while meeting the requests at hand. I give what I would like to receive.” Part of being an Office Ninja is using EQ to provide exceptional customer experience. You can take an EQ quiz here, if you’re interested. Depending on how you score, you might want to look at these tips for becoming a more emotionally intelligent worker.
