You’re Not Broken, Are You?
What is your people’s default attitude about your customers? Do they think of them as capable? Do they think of them as helpless? How is that communicated?
My morning had me filling the role of customer to keep projects moving forward. That involves a good amount of time spent on the phone, exchanging emails, and communicating via chat with customer service. In each instance, I was trying to help a third party (not me) with services that I had recommended. As I sit and think about those transactions, one word comes to mind: broken.
I’m going to say they saw me as broken because it is the opposite of seeing me as capable. As in, “if you were capable, why would you be calling?” Here’s what I mean.
Me: I need X. Are you the person to help me with that?
Them: Of course. First, let’s just figure out what’s happening.
Me: I just need you to do X. Is that possible?
Them: It is, but we need to make sure this doesn’t happen again. So let’s figure out what you’ve been doing.
Me: Ok. I know what I did, and I know X will fix it, but are you telling me that if I go along with you, we’ll move faster?
Them: Yes.
It’s subtle and I may have missed it if it weren’t for the last exchange I had before lunch.
Me: I need Y. Are you the person to help me with that?
Them: Of course. Is this the first time you’ve needed Y or have you called about this before? I ask because I don’t want you to feel like you’re repeating yourself.
Me: I’ve called about this before, but this is for another client.
Them: Oh, I’m sorry it happened again. Let me help you get Y.
I know it’s not the person on the chat’s fault. I know it’s not the company’s fault. Something happened and we need to move on. Here’s the thing that was different about the last call, I felt like they assumed I was capable.
And that, my friends, is incredibly powerful.
All the conversations were pleasant. All of my objectives were met. That last call, however, subtly started with, “I assume you’re capable, so the only reason you’re calling is because you’ve tried things and you’re stuck, let me help,” versus, “I know your type, if you were capable, you wouldn’t be calling, so what did you do this time?”
Encourage your people not to assume the other party is broken.
Innocent until proven guilty or something like that.