Karima-Catherine

Guest post by Sue Windley – Communicating with customers

Intro:  Sue and I met throught pre-Likeminds conversation and kept in touch after the event.  Here she is :

I am a newbie cat-owner. Although I grew up with pets, this is the first time an animal is actually my responsibility! It’s been a while since I was at the beginner’s stage for anything – and it’s scary! But I’m learning fast!

 Last year I adopted 2 strays who had been rescued and brought back to health by the UK Cats Protection League.  They’re not related but look identical – both have beautiful black fur and bright yellow eyes. I’ve kept the names they were given by CPL – Matisse (self-assured and chilled out!) and Mefistofelees (who acts like a little devil!). Now I have an interest in nominative determinism (the theory your role in life can be influenced by your name), so I assumed the names matched the cats’ characters – see if you can tell which is which in the photo!). [Photo here - Cat_Picture.jpg]

But after 6 months, the ‘joys’ of coping with a “devilish” cat started to wear a bit thin. Luckily I have a friend who is an animal trainer and behaviourist! So I asked her how can I stop my cat acting like a naughty teenager. She asked me to describe his behaviour (only what I actually saw, not interpreting what I thought I saw).  I didn’t have a naughty cat at all – just a nervous one who simply wanted to re-affirm that me as his mother substitute would protect him.  The answer was simple – change my behaviour to respond to what he was actually trying to communicate, rather than assume his behaviour was indicative of something else.  I now have a confident cat who is (nearly!) as relaxed as his house mate!

At the same time as I was getting to truly understand my pets, I was also working with a client who had “problem customers” – “….they always ask for more than we agreed, even though I’ve explained exactly what they will get for their money.” was the main issue. As an outsider, I took an objective view of what was being communicated – and the differences soon became clear.  My client interpreted customers’ questions as “…. trying to squeeze more out of the deal”, whereas the customers were simply trying to find out exactly what was included in the service.  The common trap my client had fallen into was knowing their own service so well, they had not explained it fully enough, assuming their customers would see all the same benefits.

My misinterpretation of the context of my cat’s attempt to communicate with me resulted in the exact opposite result I was seeking (more of the ‘negative’ behaviour that I was trying to stop).  Only when I took a step back and understood the context, was I able to understand correctly.  How often do we misinterpret customers’ questions because we wrongly assume the context for these questions (it sounds like a complaint more than seeking clarification)?

So if I can understand a different animal species, I hope you will find it much easier to understand your fellow human beings! Whenever you communicate with a customer, take a step back and look at the context of the communication from their perspective.  How will this change your response?

Hopefully you will find your customer service a much more positive experience!

Sue Windley is Marketing Director of the Pragmatic Performance Group, a business acceleration consultancy based in south-west England that works with small and medium sized businesses to help them increase their rate of growth profitably and sustainably. You can also visit Sue’s blog Dangerous Marketing or follow her on Twitter as @DangerousMkting.

Tags: small business