| Now, wait a minute. You are not a stage comedian | | | | us who heard it all the time, it sounded almost like a |
| or an actor. Your job is to sell something, not put on | | | | recording, but the first time everybody heard it, they |
| a clown act. How does humor fit into customer | | | | laughed or at least smiled, because he could tell it so |
| service? | | | | naturally. I never once heard a customer complain |
| And that's exactly why this works: Everybody thinks | | | | about this employee; in fact, he got bonuses and |
| just like the above paragraph. Because everybody | | | | good reviews all the time. It was simple, and yet |
| thinks that way, nobody uses humor to ease a | | | | brilliant in its simplicity. |
| customer transaction. This causes the business world | | | | You must always be careful not to have the |
| to take on a droning, monotonous tone: "How are | | | | possibility to offend anyone. Make sure that if the |
| you?" "Would you like a receipt?" "Thank you for | | | | joke must poke fun at a target, the target is you. |
| shopping with us." "Can I get you anything to drink | | | | The shorter it is, the better. People who simply have |
| with that?" "How may I assist you?' | | | | no time or aren't in the mood won't mind that way, |
| It goes on and on, a routine that everybody | | | | but the rest will smile or laugh. You, yourself might |
| sleepwalks through. Clearly, you don't have to be | | | | get tired of hearing yourself say it, but professional |
| very funny to break up the rhythm. Even a little, tiny | | | | comedians do this all the time; they can memorize a |
| bit funny does very, very well in the jet stream of | | | | spiel and tell it naturally and fluidly, from years of |
| flowing consciousness that is the consumer's day. | | | | practice. The point is that you lightened the mood, |
| And they will remember it for the rest of the day. | | | | made somebody smile, they subconsciously like you a |
| Here is one of the best examples I've ever seen | | | | little more, and you have also headed off a potential |
| from real life. Do you like calling a business and | | | | bad mood if the customer was already feeling a little |
| hearing one of those droning phone menus that tell | | | | stress. |
| you to push a button for each option? Well, here's | | | | Computers are a popular target. Stress from the |
| another one: | | | | inadequacies of dealing with computers are something |
| Welcome to International Discount Brokerage! | | | | any of us can identify with. And we all have |
| This call may be recorded or monitored for quality | | | | computers at point-of-sale transactions, waiting for |
| assurance. | | | | them to bring up an account, print out a receipt, or |
| For stock trading, press 1. | | | | get an order loaded into the database. When working |
| To order a new account kit, press 2. | | | | with computers behind a counter, I always took |
| For stock quotes, press 3. | | | | advantage of a hesitation on the machine's part. |
| For other customer service, press 4. | | | | Again, this is just something fast, simple, and silly. Pick |
| If you are a netware points benefits customer, press | | | | up the mouse and talk into it like a microphone, as if |
| 5. | | | | trying to wake the computer up, or move your hand |
| To hear more about our easy-buy program, where | | | | by the side of the monitor as if you were turning an |
| you can secure future stock credits, press 6. | | | | imaginary crank to make it run faster. |
| If you would like to hear a duck quack, press 7. | | | | When it did what I wanted it to do, sometimes I'd |
| If you know your party's extension, press 8. | | | | pat it on top of the monitor and say "Good boy!" |
| To return to the main menu, press 9... | | | | before turning back to the customer. This quick, silly |
| Or stay on the line for the next available customer | | | | gestures help to establish that I couldn't control |
| service representative. | | | | everything, that slowness on my part was due to |
| Thank you. | | | | the machines and not my lack of trying. And it almost |
| By the book, isn't it? This is a real example from a | | | | never failed that customers would launch into a |
| real business. When customers pressed seven, they | | | | remark or story about their frustrations in dealing |
| got exactly what they asked for: a recorded sound | | | | with computers as well. It just helps to lighten the |
| of one, routine duck quack. Then the menu came | | | | mood a little and everything goes more smoothly. |
| back. Believe it or not, this simple, silly trick led to | | | | Sometimes, as in the phone menu example, it is also |
| millions of additional calls and eventually a 75% | | | | helpful to make a little light fun of your company's |
| increase in new accounts! No really logical reason, | | | | own bureaucracy. We all have to deal with filling out |
| except that people tended to view the business | | | | complicated forms: stamp this, staple that, file it |
| favorably if they could be a serious business and yet | | | | somewhere, sign something, and so on. Be sure that |
| still have the grace to make a little fun of their own | | | | you have your manager's approval for this one, and |
| menu. This also helps to alleviate the tension of | | | | be sure you aren't putting down your own employer. |
| customers calling, since many people report that they | | | | The key here is to make a light poke at the system |
| don't like automated phone menus. | | | | itself, so that your customer understands that it's the |
| Another co-worker had an interesting, amusing story | | | | best way you have of dealing with something, but |
| he could tell. It was just something funny that | | | | you realize it's not perfect. Paperwork, like phone |
| happened to him. It took two minutes, tops, to run | | | | menus and computers, is another minor hassle that |
| through, was very simple, and had no possibility of | | | | we all have to put up with, and so this also helps to |
| offending anyone. Those of us who worked with him | | | | identify that you empathize with frustrations the |
| heard it so many times that we got to memorize it | | | | customer might have with the inadequacies of your |
| ourselves. The handy thing was that he could bring it | | | | system. |
| out to keep a customer occupied for two minutes | | | | Surprisingly, humor in customer service isn't actually |
| while they were waiting for a transaction to be | | | | so silly at all. It is serious business, costs nothing to |
| completed. | | | | implement, and in most cases can show an |
| He could use it to break tension, lighten a customer's | | | | improvement on the bottom line. You just might |
| mood, make a new friend, and sometimes he even | | | | laugh yourself right into a promotion! |
| changed it a little in order to work it in. To those of | | | | |