This doesn’t happen enough nowadays, but the employee received a long thank you e-mail from the customer. A financial services account manager had taken care of the client during a period of time that was stressful for the customer.
Life was unexpectedly changing quickly, and personal emotions, additional financial responsibilities, and extra work resulted.
The Many Serving the One
The reason for the e-mail wasn’t just about thanking this employee for the great service, but it was also about how the first employee contacted really listened and understood the uniqueness of the situation. How subsequent employees were patient in dealing with the personal emotions as they helped set up new accounts, change account holders, and educate the customer on options.
It was about some staff being unavailable on a given day, but others jumping in. It was about notes being taken so that the customer didn’t have to retell their story over and over again, and – in the end – it was a story of appreciation because employees listened, they documented, they did what a customer wanted and offered options, and they did it all with patience and care.
As the customer said in their letter, the employees were able to balance being “understanding and knowledgeable.”
Our Lessons Learned
More often than not, your interactions with customers are not 1-time transactions. There is a series of conversations and requests and emotions and education, and often it’s not one employee being the only point of contact. Rather, it’s many employees collaborating – sometimes in real time, and sometimes when there are weeks between each individual encounter.
To any given staff person, this may just be 1 customer. So, there’s the risk of 6 different employees treating the situation as 6 different customers. But to the customer, it’s all one company, all one series of needs, and all one long thread of communications.
From the customer’s perspective, their communication with you is part of a long thread that weaves throughout the relationship with your company, with many communications before today and likely many after today.
Make sure the thread is strong, continuous, and seamless for the customer.
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