Shep Hyken interviews Jeff Toister. They discuss his book, Getting Service Right: Overcoming the Hidden Obstacles to Outstanding Customer Service, and Jeff offers immediately applicable advice on how to improve your customer service. In Shep’s Opening Monologue... He discusses the importance of caring for your employees so they can better care for your customers. The Interview with Jeff Toister:It’s difficult to not take angry customers personally. The instinct is either fight or flight, neither of which is helpful in a customer service situation. The key is to recognize this instinct, take a pause and a breath, and choose to respond in a different way.Employees are trained to jump straight into offering solutions to angry customers rather than focusing on the emotions at play. Often, angry customers need to vent first. Once they’ve calmed down, they will be more receptive to your ideas for solutions to their problem.Transform your approach from an adversarial stance to the mindset of a partner. If you approach the problem with the customer as a team, they won’t be on the defensive and will be more open to potential solutions.Organization leaders and executives usually don’t spend much time dealing with customers and can therefore be out of touch with their company’s quality of customer service. They may make the mistake of assuming that customer service is both easy and common sense, which it isn’t.People assume that customer service is getting worse when in reality, it’s getting better. The issue is that “good” customer service is what’s expected, and people remember negative experiences more because it’s a deviation from the expectation.When you witness an employee fall short of an expectation, don’t jump straight to conclusions and solutions. Instead, ask “why?” and suspend judgement. Have a conversation with the employee and involve them in problem solving for the present and the future.Quote: “Great customer service leaders make it easy for their employees to deliver great service.” - Jeff Toister About: Jeff Toister is a top customer service and experience influencer and the author of three customer service books. He has also created video-based training courses for LinkedIn Learning (a.k.a. Lynda.com). Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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