Understand the Why: demonstrating empathy
This week we look at how understanding the underlying reason for a customer’s enquiry provides opportunities to demonstrate empathy and improve the customer experience.
We know that our clients and their customers are experiencing unprecedented disruption. At GRIST we have been asking ourselves, “How can we help our clients help their people and their customers during COVID19?” So we decided to highlight a key GRIST micro-behaviour each week that is crucial in helping vulnerable customers and reducing agent stress levels. This week the focus is on the ability to uncover the underlying reason a customer has called.
According to GRIST’s data, if you call a major Australian sales contact centre, you have a 1 in 3 chance of having the underlying reason for your enquiry being uncovered. GRIST gathers this data each year as part of our Top 10 Sales Contact Centre research where we make approximately 1000 calls to 62 of the largest Contact Centres in Australia. Check out the data below in this interactive infographic.
The good news is that it’s possible to improve quickly, using a very simple micro-behavioural approach. In fact the top performing contact centre we assessed nails this behaviour 95% of the time. Here’s how you can be more like them.
Micro-behaviour: Uncover the Why
What is it?
The ability to uncover the underlying reasons for the customer’s enquiry.
Why is it important?
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another or to 'walk a mile in their shoes'. In order to demonstrate empathy effectively you first need to understand the customer’s situation and feelings or the 'shoes they are walking in'. Too often reactive and transactional frontline staff jump to product, system and process questions before developing an understanding of the underlying reason for the customer’s call. This skill, when done well, builds rapport and connection, diffuses tension, reduces call handling times and delivers a much better customer experience.
When?
When customers tell you why they have called they will often mention the product or service they are looking for but provide no inkling as to the real reason for the call. An example would be, “I am just looking to get a quote for car insurance”. Based on this information two thirds of contact centre agents will jump straight into compliance, profiling and process questions.
How?
It's pretty simple really. Good contact centre agents use the initial customer enquiry as a trigger to ask a question that drills down into the underlying reason behind the call. Using the example above, a great question could be, “Certainly you are in the right place for car insurance, can I ask what’s prompted you to call about this today?” The responses to this question will be many and varied but inevitable contain an insight into why the customer has called and how they are feeling. Now you can use the micro-behaviour we covered last week and respond with empathy.
Mini execution plan:
Implementing this in your team is easy and can take as little as a week.
Day 1: Run a focus session to explore the What, Why and How of the Uncover the Why micro-behaviour.
Set a goal: Ask the team to make a list of all the underlying reason customers call (these are the ones that volunteer the information) and come prepared to discuss them as the end of the day.
Day 2: Run a focus session to explore the questions that could be used to uncover the Why with customers who do not volunteer the information. Practise real-life scenarios during the session.
Set a goal: Ask the team to pick one of these questions and to put it into practise a set number of times during the day and record the underlying reason that they uncover for each call.
Day 3 to 5: Review previous day’s learning, identify and discuss the impact on the customer, and share best practise.
Set a goal: Gradually increase the frequency that the Uncover the Why micro-behaviour is demonstrated.
End of the week: Review how far you have come and the impact the team is having on the customer experience (and themselves). Then celebrate because that feeling of success drives habit formation!
Check out our series of our micro-behaviour deep-dives to help your customers and teams:
Empathise and Enthuse: Improve customer experience with empathy
Benefits and Attributes: Letting the customer know how you will help them
[Photo by Florian van Duyn on Unsplash]
