Chapter 8
So What’s the Problem?
In This Chapter
- Understanding that time can be more valuable than money
- Using the power of questions
- Asking the right kinds of questions
- Taking the bite out of your questions
- Listening to your customer
- Remembering to ask, listen, and comprehend
Imagine that you had an account that provided you with $1,440 every day. The only thing is, if you don’t use all the money on a given day, the unspent dollars are lost forever.
You probably wouldn’t have too much trouble spending $1,440 every day, now would you?
But what about time? Do you think much about how you spend the 1,440 minutes you get every day? That’s how many all of us get. And since we can’t store those minutes, we’re forced to spend them on something. Did you use your free gift of 1,440 minutes productively yesterday? The day before?
They’re gone now. To avoid losing those precious minutes in the future, now is a good time to spend a little time thinking about the concept of time.
Time Is of the Essence
You see, in customer service today it’s all about time. Time is a precious, limited, nonrenewable resource. It’s important to you because you’re on a fixed budget of 1,440 minutes a day, and it’s important to your customers because they get the same allotment of 1,440.
Unlike money, you know you can’t get more time. And your customers know they can’t get more. Because we can’t bank time, borrow time, beg time, or steal time, no one wants to waste time. And so, you probably find yourself feeling time pressure on the job. Just about everyone we know does.
At Your Service
Haste makes waste! Remember this phrase? It adequately describes what happens when you don’t take the necessary time to solve your customer’s problem in the first call.
Have you ever heard this old saying, “We never have time to do the job right, but we always seem to find time to do it over again?” Strange, but many people under time pressure believe they don’t have enough time to invest in doing a good job or handle a problem well. It’s a good bet that the people operating in the “get by” or “do it over” mentality never really resolve the problems they help to create.
Dealing with a customer’s problem twice is a double waste of time, for you and the customer.
If you are sacrificing “quality time” with customers in an attempt to help more customers, you’re probably not properly handling the complaints of the customers you speak with. Spending more time with customers up-front in their initial call—to properly diagnose their situation and uncover their needs and wants—will save you time in the end because you will have solved their problems properly to begin with. And you won’t have to waste time trying to appease an angry customer. So how do you do this? You ask questions.
Quote, Unquote
Once you become conscious of the questions active in the moment, you always get some kind of intuitive direction of what to do, of where to go. You get a hunch about the next step. Always. The only time this will not occur is when you have the wrong question in mind. You see, the problem in life isn’t in receiving answers. The problem is in identifying your current questions. Once you get the questions right, the answers always come.
—James Redfield, The Celestine Prophecy
The Power of Questions
Questions are without a doubt the most powerful tool you have as someone providing service to customers. When you ask questions, you wield the ultimate power in a moment of influence. As Ron is fond of saying, the answers to your success lie in the questions you ask. Questions provide you with:
- Information you need in order to service your customers appropriately and efficiently.
- Control over the conversation. Simply ask a question on a particular issue, and the conversation is now centered on that issue.
Asking questions isn’t good enough. You need to:
- Know how to ask the right questions
- Ask enough questions
- Listen to the response
- Acknowledge the responses and act on them
Before we dive deeper into how to ask questions, let’s see what stops us from asking questions to begin with.
Why Aren’t You Asking Questions?
Based on our research and our experiences working with customer service personnel, we have uncovered the following common reasons for what prevents people from asking questions. After each reason, you will find our response.
As you read this part, check off the reasons that affect you and your employees’ ability to ask the right questions and enough questions.
The customer pressures you to stop asking questions and just give her the solution.
Response: If you don’t ask the questions and get the information you need, you might end up giving the wrong solution, which will turn out to be no solution. And then you’ll waste time doing it over again!
The customer will think you are not very knowledgeable if you need to ask so many questions.
Response: Doctor’s are very knowledgeable. Yet they ask tons of questions because they know that if any information is missing, they won’t be empowered to prescribe the proper cure. Do you want service from the fastest doctor in town, or the one whose patients live long enough for a few return visits?
The customer may give you an answer you don’t want to hear.
Response: Let them! You need to hear the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable to get a proper feel for the situation. And if the answer is nasty, think about how you have the power to turn this nasty situation into a successful intervention.
The customer may feel the answers are so obvious that there is no need for your questions.
Response: Never assume anything. It’s when you think you know what’s happening that you are vulnerable to making the biggest, easiest-to-avoid mistakes. And the most embarrassing.
You don’t ask questions because you fear the customer will feel you are interrogating them.
Response: If done properly (and we will show you how later on in this chapter), this won’t be an issue. It’s better to ask the questions and solve the problem than to have a customer who is still unhappy.
Tales from the Real World
As Don was writing this book, he had problems with his computers, including an all-out hard drive crash on one machine and bizarre failures on a replacement PC right before deadline. Can you say heart palpitations?
Gino Tosolini, a wonderfully patient and empathetic service technician on IBM’s technical support line, probed ever-so-gently, asking for diagnostic information he could use to restore Don’s machine and his fragile state of mind. Even when the process—which took well over an hour—bordered on torture as Gino went to get help from more senior level technicians, he always explained what he was going to do, and why, and asked for Don’s permission to take the process to the next step in order to help solve the strangely mysterious problems.
P.S. Turns out that the brand-new machine that appeared to have a highly-unusual power system problem was simply conflicting with a fax device made by Xerox. Don made the discovery quite by accident after several calls to the PC maker offered no hint of a solution, as the conflict had not yet shown up in the IBM technical database. The incompatibility between PC and fax nearly forced replacing the PC and totally wiping out many hours of installing and configuring software before the problem revealed itself. Still, the care, interest, and patience that Gino demonstrated made the horribly disappointing and time-wasting experience almost bearable. He even called back to check on the problem after thinking about it over a four-day weekend break. Gino helped to restore confidence in a company that initially appeared to build a very sour lemon for a guy in desperate need of a sweet solution.
You tend to talk too much and keep others from participating.
Response: Shut Up! It’s not important what you have to say. The important words will be uttered by your customer. If you don’t let them talk, how will you know what to do or say? Sometimes the better part of being friendly and helpful is silence.
After asking a question, you’re thinking about what your next question should be instead of listening to the customer’s response.
Response: You’re thinking too hard. Turn off the busybody part of your brain and listen. When your customer finishes her thought, think about the customer’s response for a moment; that’ll trigger your next question. If it works for you, take notes as your customer talks. That may free you from having to remember all the details.
You don’t have time for questions. You need to move on and take the calls on hold, or you will lose your job!
Response: Guess what? If you consistently fail to solve your customer’s problems, you will definitely lose your job. In fact, if fast-slamming customers is how you operate, you should quit now because you’re making a lot of people miserable. Yes, time is important. And we aren’t suggesting that you waste time on calls. But there’s a big difference between frittering away time with idle chit-chat and task-focused discussion. If you don’t take the time required to solve the problem, you’re failing your customer, your company, your family, your nation, and most importantly, yourself!
If you take notes during an interview with a customer, simply jot down key words that will trigger your mind. Avoid writing down every word that is said. Otherwise, you will be concentrating too much on what you’re writing instead of what you are hearing.
If you checked off any of the boxes above (and believe us, you’ll not be alone), consider what leads you to such actions limiting your ability to give great customer service. The actions themselves may only be symptoms of a much deeper problem. Find out what causes you to stop asking enough of the right questions. Otherwise, you will be severely handicapped in trying to help your customers.
What Types of Questions Are You Using?
Now that you understand why it is to your advantage to ask questions, you’re probably wondering what questions you should be asking. Let’s take a look at the types of questions you should be asking on a regular basis. First, we’ll look at two different question formats—open- and closed-ended questions—that direct how the customer provides you information. Then, we’ll look at different types of questions that are best suited to requesting specific kinds of information from customers.
Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions don’t require specific answers. They’re used to get the customer talking. An example could be:
“Mr. Customer, what happens when you turn your machine on?”
As you can see, the open-ended question is used to obtain detailed information. It’s a common type of question to ask, especially at the beginning of the service call.
Closed-Ended Questions
Closed-ended questions require specific yes/no type answers. They are not for acquiring a lot of detail. Their primary focus is to determine very specific information or to clarify a customer’s perceptions, wishes, or responses. Using appropriate closed-ended questions gets you further in the discovery process, instead of taking up valuable time sifting through long-winded or incomplete diagnostic information. For instance:
Many times customer service departments will request information from the customer to help build their databases for future use. A postservice follow-up call may be scheduled to be certain the customer remains satisfied. The information may also assist the company in figuring out who buys their products. The database also might be used for future marketing campaigns. In other words, information about your customer is golden. The more you know, the more powerful you will be in servicing and marketing products to meet the future needs of your customers.
“Mr. Customer, was your machine on or off when the problem occurred?”
Note that this closed-ended question requires a specific answer of on or off. If you don’t get an answer here, then you know to ask more questions to get to the heart of the problem.
Closed-ended questions usually come in response to details provided in open-ended questions—except for the first few seconds of the call, when you might be asking status questions seeking specific information.
Now, let’s turn to another category of question types—these could be either open or closed-ended depending on the situation. The question types we define below relate to the kind of information you’re asking your customer about, and should help you get the information you need to provide great service.
Status Questions
These are the questions you ask at the front end of the customer service call to obtain information necessary for resolving a problem. For example:
“What is your name, phone number, serial number, and account number?”
While this information is important, most everyone in the universe finds them more annoying than speed bumps. So the way you ask the questions can have a negative or positive impact on the overall customer intervention. Remember to give a reason as to why this information will help you help the customer (because . . .). That makes the questions a tad more tolerable.
Illustrative Questions
These questions are open-ended questions that require a customer to paint as complete a picture as possible about their experience. This is vital for your understanding of what their interest, problem, or concern is. A sample illustrative question can be:
“Please describe for me what happens when you turn the switch on.”
Without answers to such questions, you are in no position to help your customer.
Clarification Questions
These questions are probably the least asked and the most important. Whether or not you ask these questions at the right time dictates whether or not your solutions are accurate. For example:
“Mr. Customer, when you say you want your machine to run faster, please describe for me what speed you would consider to be fast.”
People don’t necessarily use words that fit the definitions found in a dictionary. They use words that they think best describe their feelings, experiences, and biases. For instance, suppose a customer tells you his machine is not working. Does not working mean that the machine does not turn on at all; or can it mean that the machine isn’t performing to specification; or can it mean that the machine keeps shutting down at the wrong times? And after you get past that first level of detail there surely are a few others, so clarify, clarify, clarify.
How many times have you been a victim of or were the supplier of a solution that did not work because you didn’t clearly understand what your customer was really talking about? In your business, you probably hear the same words many, many times a day, day-in and day-out. Yet, if you fall victim to thinking that you understand what your customer means by inserting your definitions for the words they use, you’re going to miss something important.
Even if the customer is an expressive I Style, whatever meaning he has in mind is unclear if you don’t ask some clarifying questions. Just because you may have finished a call in which another customer’s machine didn’t work because the switch was broken doesn’t mean that the next customer’s machine with apparently the same symptoms is not working because of a faulty switch. It may be another problem altogether.
Ask, don’t assume. Clarify your customer’s words, no matter how many times you hear them. It is your customer’s definition and explanation that counts, not the one you initially think you hear.
Ron is known for the “ketchup story” he tells in his programs. The short
version is that Ron stopped at a McDonalds with his wife Cindy and daughter Amanda for something to eat. Cindy gave Ron her order and requested a lot of ketchup with her french fries. Ron came back to the table with the food and at least 20 packages of ketchup. Cindy immediately wondered why Ron didn’t bring back a lot of ketchup as she had requested. Bewildered, Ron looked on in amazement as his wife left the table, went to the counter and came back with her version of what “a lot” of ketchup looked like. It was a little cup filled with ketchup.
Immediately Ron realized what happened. When he heard the request for “a lot of ketchup,” he thought quantity in terms of number of packets. His wife’s perception was getting enough ketchup that was free-flowing in a cup in which she could dip her fries. The plastic packages, no matter how many Ron brought, didn’t solve the problem. Ron knew if he had clarified what she meant by a lot of ketchup, he would have provided it the way she wanted it.
As Ron was writing this book, his laptop all of a sudden stopped holding a charge. This was unacceptable because Ron relies heavily on his laptop battery as he spends a lot of time on planes. He called his computer dealer, Integrated Designs, Inc. Dave Rawley, Service Coordinator, realizing the problem was in the computer itself, asked Ron what would be the consequences if he had to ship it back to IBM for servicing. After hearing that the laptop was also Ron’s main computer, Dave had Ron bring the laptop to him for troubleshooting. After one hour, he called IBM for the parts and gave the laptop back to Ron to use in the meantime. Four days later, he called Ron back to install the parts. Throughout this entire time, Ron never lost the services of his laptop and got the problem resolved. Now that was excellent customer service.
Consequence Questions
These are questions that tell you how the problem is affecting your customer. For instance:
“Mr. Customer, what will happen if you need to send us your computer and not have it for a while?”
This is critical because your role is not only to provide service to your customers, but to do so in a manner they will appreciate.
This focus on really clarifying what your customer is after is what separates people who provide excellent customer service from people who provide ordinary customer service. And excellent customer service is what brings your customers back for more.
Desires Questions
This is the question asked at the end of the customer service intervention that tells your customer you really care about him. It asks whether or not you can do anything else for him to be completely satisfied. For example:
“Mr. Customer, is there anything else we can help you with today”
The Desires Question takes the customer service call to the next level. You may be thinking that if the customer does not bring it up, why should you—especially when you have other people on hold waiting for your help.
Think about it. Your customer calls. You fix his immediate problem and he leaves. Or, your customer calls, you fix his immediate problem, and before he leaves, you ask him if he has any more desires so that you can help to the maximum. Which method do you think will make you memorable in the mind of your customer?
You want to be memorable. For all the money you and your company are investing in customer service, you want your customer to remember your efforts the next time he goes to buy. If you are pro-active and asking a desires question, you have a better chance of having your customer remember you and your company as caring for their business when its time to make the next purchase.
Taking the Bite Out of Your Questions
Earlier, we told you we would give you ideas about how to ask questions that would not be perceived as being interrogative by your customer.
A question doesn’t have to be a statement followed by a question mark. It only has to be a statement that verbally requests feedback from the customer. In the preceding illustrative question example, you will note it started with the words “Please describe” and didn’t have a question mark at the end. It was a statement seeking more information. Using the words “Please describe” is an excellent way to take the bite out of questions you need to ask.
Watch It!
Remember that questions are a powerful tool that help you uncover the information you need to help your customer. As far as your customer is concerned, questions may be considered inconvenient, unnecessary, and accusatory. Be sure to frame your questions in a friendly manner and give your customers a valid reason about why they should answer them. You can’t solve your customer’s problem if they’re unwilling to help you.
Sometimes, all you have to do is make a statement or repeat your customers response. For example, your customer may say:
“It’s not working.”
You reply:
“It’s not working.”
Your customer will be automatically prompted to provide additional information. Try it. It works like a charm.
Give your customer a reason for the questions. In Chapter 6, we talked about the word “because” being one of the most powerful words in the English language. As a refresher course, the word “because” is powerful because it provides a reason, a justification for why you are doing certain things. In asking questions, the word “because” will turn any resistant customer into a participating customer.
In a presentation before a group of customer service representatives at a computer company, one of the participants asked Ron how to get customers to cooperate by giving their serial numbers. Customers are always reluctant to take the time to find it and don’t understand why it’s important. Ron suggested that the participant give uncooperative customers a good reason for the hassle. He said the next time a customer is stubborn, tell them that the serial number allows you to find their record faster and provide them with quicker solutions.
A few weeks later, on a follow-up visit, the participant thanked Ron because that tactic reduced the number of customers who were resistant to giving their serial numbers by 50 percent. The end result: his customers got faster service and he was able to markedly improve his productivity.
In addition, watch your vocal tone. The point of asking questions is not to point blame, but to uncover the necessary information you need to help your customer. Let your tone convey the honestly helpful nature of your questions (see Chapter 6).
Did You Hear What I Told You?
Okay, so now you have asked the right question, but did you hear your customer’s response? There’s a distinct difference between hearing and listening to your customer’s response.
Hearing your customer is the physical act of taking in through your ears what is being said. Listening to your customer is the emotional act of understanding what your customer is really saying.
Customers know immediately whether you’re really listening to them or just hearing their words. There is nothing more aggravating than having a feeling that you are not being listened to. In fact, if you were to offer a solution immediately without listening to your customer’s complaint, the customer may think your solution isn’t proper. Why? Because your customer may be thinking; how do you know the solution you’re proposing is really going to help if you never took the time to find out what was really wrong?
Here are some helpful hints you can use to better hear what your customers are saying:
Be relevant—Is what you’re saying or asking the customer relevant to the overall issue? If it is, you’re more likely to tune into the response.
Be patient—Remember in Chapter 7 we discussed the behavioral styles of customers? Their style may not match yours. So be patient and let them tell you what’s on their mind the way they know how. If you interrupt them, you may be missing some information that will force you to give the wrong prescription for the cure.
Avoid genuinely fake responses—Automatic responses like, “That’s interesting,” “I understand,” and so on, can sound hollow and insincere. Responses that have the right words but lack true listening behind them are as useless as they are obvious. Your customers will hear right through them. And by saying such automatic responses you actually may shut down your listening process. If you tell someone, “I understand” before you really do understand, you may talk yourself into believing you understand when you really don’t understand and therefore you will stop listening to your customer. You understand?
Take your time—Before responding back to your customer, take a few seconds to digest the information if you have to. We know that a few seconds can seem like an eternity. But if you don’t fully comprehend what your customer just said, then it will severely limit your ability to respond appropriately. Just ask the customer, “Could you give me a moment to get the information I need to assist you?” That information is probably in your brain. Wherever it is, take the time to get it, so you can get it right.
A good rule of thumb to effective listening is that you should be doing 80 percent of the listening in the beginning, with your customer doing 80 percent of the talking. If your percentage of listening is below 80 percent at the beginning of the customer intervention, you’re talking too much and you won’t be of much help to your customer.
Remember Your ABCs
Some situations may make it difficult for you to follow all the rules and processes you’re supposed to.
If you don’t mind your communication ABCs in dealing with your customers, you will jeopardize the customer relationship. The ABCs (Asking, Basic Listening, and Comprehension) are essential ingredients for satisfying your customers. They want to know you’re interested, they want to be heard and they want to be understood.
In the early 1980s, Ron was a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and volunteer medic. The certification test for being an EMT included a written test and a grueling skills performance part. In the skills performance section, Ron and his classmates had to carefully manipulate themselves around people acting as accident victims without sacrificing the ABCs of airway, breathing, and circulation. If they made one slight mistake in their maneuvering that could compromise the ABCs of a patient, they failed the test.
In real-life emergencies, they were sometimes forced to make modifications in their procedures. For example, it became impossible to move a patient with a broken back in a crunched up Volkswagen Beetle the same way you would move a patient on a floor with plenty of room. However, the stringent training program left an indelible imprint in the EMT’s minds that no matter what they did, they must not compromise the ABCs of the patient.
In customer service, the communication ABCs are Asking, Basic Listening, and Comprehension (understanding). No matter what you do in the customer service call, and no matter what the situation is, be sure that you have asked enough of the right questions, listened to the responses, and gained a true understanding of the customer’s complaint and needs. If you do this, you will provide your customer with total satisfaction.
The Least You Need to Know
- Time can be more valuable than money. Make sure you spend it wisely in the beginning to understand your customer’s complaint, wishes, and desires. Otherwise, it will cost you more in the end.
- Questions provide you with the information you will need in order to prescribe the proper solution for your customer.
- Understand the reasons why you might not want to ask the customer enough questions. Most of these reasons are excuses and not valid.
- The types of questions you use will dictate the kind of information you will receive. Make sure your questions address the issue at hand.
- Take the sting out of your questions by posing them properly. Questions will either help you or haunt you, depending on how you ask them.
- Asking questions without listening and hearing your customers’ responses is a waste of time. Without truly listening to them, you cannot serve your customer.
- Whatever you do, make sure in each customer service intervention that you ask enough of the right questions, hear your customers’ responses, and gain a true understanding of their issues. Only then can you prescribe the right cure.