Speaking to Customers in Uncertain Times

 

The business environment is operating on low trust. People distrust the government, traditional media, social media. Companies are struggling to retain customers on issues of data privacy, collection and storage and environment issues. 

The epidemic and the accompanying restrictions have further aggravated the situation. They are restricted from going out, questioned about their health, made to stand in a queue at certain marked spots, reminded to avoid employees and other shoppers. This is intended to protect the customer but it ends up making the customer uneasy and creates mistrust.

Similarly, many front line workers are stressed out managing anxious customers and ensuring safety to self and others and as most of the work is being done from home and only a skeletal staff is functioning in the field there is less help from fellow members. Thus the possibility of customer service falling short of the expectations is high. 

To alleviate this companies can talk to customers over a voice message or text message with specific, dedicated attention. Establish individual connections, conveying care through warm words and generous use of thank you and foster customer confidence. 

Build customer trust and satisfaction

Trust is the key to customer satisfaction and this lockdown and social distancing have taken away the primary method of building trust, namely, face-to-face, non-verbal means like smiles, nods, handshakes.

Provide customers dedicated attention

Without the benefit of face-to-face visual cues, it becomes difficult for members to convey their concern and assure that they are giving full attention to customers. However careful use of words can increase customer satisfaction. Employees could use words that describe the customer's interest in specific terms signal that they are genuinely listening. 

Bridge trust deficit through individual connections

Customers tend to trust one person rather than the whole company. Using a simple "I" instead of a neutral "We" helps establish a personal rapport and improve the trust factor. It also increases empathy as the use of we may make it appear that the employee is avoiding the blame and passing it on to the company. 

Don't just be component - be caring

Warmth and competence are two important qualities that people care about when it comes to trusting others. When they do so is important. Customers appreciate starting the conversation with considerate words and end but spoke with concrete solution-oriented words in the middle.

Caring can also be communicated with a simple thank you during an interaction. Saying thank you shifts the attention away from the company's failure and making them feel more important to the company. It boosts customer self-esteem and increases customer confidence in the organisation.

Finally, How you say it is more important than what you say. Even without direct visual clues, employees can vary their pitch and volume of their speech to convey their concern and also it seems more confident which in turn improves the trust factor.

In this new reality, where face time is minimised and conversations happen increasingly over phones or messages, it is critically important to understand how the customer perceives this. By paying attention to language and tone companies can reduce the anxiety and increase the trust factor.

Speaking to Customers in Uncertain Times

Grant Packard, Sarah G. Moore, and Brent McFerran

MITSMR August 11, 2020