Professional, Personal, Prompt
While Tony Collins and Carlos DeOro are busy, I thought I’d take a moment to hop onto the blog, officially introduce myself, and tell you about my customer success goals, practices, and processes.
My name is Kim Feth, and I’ve had the honor of interacting with many of you by email, social media posts, or even face-to-face meetings thanks to the internet. My background is in Social Work, and I spent 13 years in that field. Since then, I have been in various industries and settings (now I’m starting to give away my age). I refer to Social Work as “customer success, but without the positive bottom line.” I regularly borrow my listening, active listening, and second-level question tactics from Social Work and bring them into the business field. Those skills, along with my endless curiosity, willingness to ask anyone any question, and organizational strengths, all lend themselves well to customer success.
Pondering Points
Donald Miller and his team at Business Made Simple have defined a value-driven professional as someone in an organization who:
- increases revenue
- decreases frustration
- actively solves problems
I wish I could be that succinct and well-spoken about my professional goals. That’s why I credit Business Made Simple.
As each day winds down, those are the three main points I ponder. While I don’t have the endless scientific expertise of Sameer Patel to explain scientific information and data (and let’s be honest – I NEVER will), my focus for this article is on the last two points. So, let’s break them down.
My customers are both internal and external. For example, my boss, Carlos DeOro, is just one of my many internal customers. However, you are my external customers when you reach out through our Contact Us page, ask a follow-up question via email, or engage with EonCoat by any other numerous platforms. As I make the 30-minute drive home in the evening, I review my day.
- Did I listen?
- Did I decrease or resolve a point of frustration or friction for a customer?
- Did I ask clarifying questions and practice active listening?
- Did I share the latest data, information, tools, and resources so that the customer can make an informed and correct decision?
- Did I offer that customer some good options from which to choose?
- Did I answer the customer’s questions(s) in a format they can understand and use?
- Did that customer leave the interaction feeling like I heard and understood them?
- Did that customer leave the interaction feeling valued?
- Did I help that customer solve a problem – or did I go ahead and solve it for them (it’s ok to do that sometimes)?
All those questions cross my mind before you have even had a chance to purchase and use EonCoat.
If you purchase any type of EonCoat, I ponder additional questions.
- Do we understand your unique needs?
- Do you know and understand the value of our product?
- Can you describe that value to another person?
- Can you use our products correctly?
- Did we follow up in a timely manner?
- Are you a customer for life?
- As you go through your business day, are you thinking of other customers who could benefit from EonCoat’s permanent corrosion protection?
Preserving Perspective
I like to consider myself a student of service excellence. So, I’m constantly looking at how other companies and professionals elevate what some might consider mundane customer service and make it an art form worthy of imitation. Two of my customer service excellence favorites are The Ritz Carlton Hotel and Radar O’Reilly from the T.V. show M.A.S.H.
The Ritz Carlton Hotel is known globally for its customer service. With customer service and employee-promise values of trust, honesty, respect, integrity, and commitment, it is no wonder why they consistently rank so high in customer satisfaction. I’ve adapted part of their “three steps of service” greeting philosophy by doing my best to address every customer by name. While there are days it may feel awkward addressing someone by their first name in an email or social media post – particularly if we have never met – I still do this. To date, I have never had someone take offense at the use of their first name!
I grew up watching originals and reruns of the television show M.A.S.H. One of my favorite characters was Radar O’Reilly. Radar had the uncanny ability to anticipate someone’s needs and meet that need before it was even expressed. While it always made me giggle when I was a kid, I now see the importance of that level of professional customer service. One of our goals is to be able to provide you with the information that we know you will need when you need it. Then, just like Radar that you saw in the clip above, we want to quietly stand behind you and support you while you solve that problem for your customer. We want you to be the hero of your story!
On a personal note, my faith also builds my customer service framework. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus is instructing his followers on how to live and love – or as I frame it for work most frequently these days – how to provide the highest level of customer service. “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” The instruction references the then-contemporary law that if a Roman soldier asked a Jewish person to carry their cloak (a thing of great value), they were required by law to carry that cloak, and presumably all its heavy accessories, for one mile. Jesus instructs Jewish citizens of Rome to not stop at one mile; but instead, to carry that heavy, inconvenient, didn’t-plan-on-doing-this-today load for double the distance. Two miles. That is my prayer each morning on my way to work. Let me carry the load for two miles without anyone else knowing or seeing.
Plug In To People
I welcome you to visit our website, follow us on social media, and engage with EonCoat on its many platforms. It’s my delight to meet and serve each and every one of you!
Ready to Learn More About EonCoat?
