Are You A Coward? I Was

Over the last month, I have come to hate emails and answerphones; not because I get 100 emails every day but because emails and answerphones are fast becoming the tool of the coward. At Beyond Philosophy we worked with a client a while ago whose account managers and sales teams never used to speak to anyone! They just used to send emails. If the customer called in they were greeted by answerphones which were kept on all day. You see the sales teams were all busy doing "real" work. The customers were just interrupting them. Surely this must be the height of "inside out" behaviour.

But why do people do this?

Primarily, it is because we all feel we can say things in emails that we would never say face to face. In my experience this never works how people would expect. No matter how hard you try, you think you have written one thing and the person reads something else. Before you know it you have lost a customer or lost a friend. We seem to forget that that all important 'relationship' with the customer is built on human contact, not emails!

One example springs to mind a few years ago when I worked in a multinational organisation and was involved in a large internal project. Things were not going well. I decided to send a "broadside" to the party who were driving me nuts! I took great delight in constructing the email. It was actually quite therapeutic. I worked on it to get the right message across so they would absolutely read between the lines and understand what I thought. I pressed the button and off into the ether it went. I remember thinking, 'Great I have told them what I think'. COWARD! How stupid I was, how naive, how self-righteous I was, and how wrong I was!

I lived to regret it. The email caused a big argument. I had said things that were misinterpreted despite my best attempts to be clear. I ended up upsetting a lot of people. I ended up regretting sending it. I was wrong. Since that day I now have adopted a few rules with emails that I would like to share with you.

1. Insist that all calls are answered by people and answer phones are banned other than outside office or opening hours.

2. Never reply to an email when you are emotionally charged. DO NOT type a reply and press the send button, until you have had a cooling off period. Put it in your "Draft" emails and look at it the next day. I always end up changing mine.

3. When you think "Shall I talk to them or shall I send them an email? It is at that moment when that little voice in your heads says; "No, just send them an email that'll be simpler, you don't want to talk to them it may be embarrassing?.." That is exactly the time I know I MUST talk to them. So pick up the phone and talk! It's never as bad as you expect and people always appreciate it.

4. Finally a plea. When anyone sends you an email, please reply. Don't just ignore it. Reply even to say "GO AWAY". I find it amazing that you can send an email to someone and they don't even have the courtesy of replying. What's your thought? If you have a view, drop me a line!

Colin Shaw Founding Partner, Beyond Philosophy © Beyond Philosophy 2004 - Ref. QR

Colin Shaw is the Founding Partner of Beyond Philosophy and guru of the Customer Experience Management. He has also produced two most successful books on customer experience which are now available in market. His first book, Building Great Customer Experiences sold out within just eight weeks, is on a third reprint and available in paperback.

Colin's second book, Revolutionize Your Customer Experience released in September 2004 and considered as Bible in Customer managment business world.

Colin has enjoyed over 20 years of experience working in blue chip companies, including Mars Ltd., Rank Xerox and BT. Colin's final position was Director of Customer Experience for one of the world's largest global companies. In his career, he has held senior positions in a number of different functional areas including Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Training.

Ask Colin A Question

View what Colin is saying

---

Caring for Your Customers

You probably think I am going to say something like, "The customer is always right." Right?? Wrong.I have many philosophies when dealing with customers, but I definitely... Read More

Aint We Wonderful!

It may come as a surprise to you to discover that customers don't buy your products or services because they feel that you have a right to... Read More

Customer Service and Call Center Outsourcing, Whats The Buzz?

The buzz is all about customer service and call center outsourcing, also known as BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). According to Gartner, the outsourcing market in Europe has... Read More

Turning Customer Mistakes Into Raving Fans

When you make a mistake with a customer, should you write them off as lost -- never to return again?Nope. There have been numerous studies which show... Read More

Should I Have My Company Mystery Shopped?

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, "Oh, you do Mystery Shopping; I always wanted to do that!" I think most... Read More

Create a Positive, Upbeat, Can-Do Workforce and Dazzle the Customer with Your Caring!

Given the choice of dealing with a positive, upbeat employee with a "can-do" attitude or dealing with a disgruntled, distracted, uninterested one, which would you choose? No... Read More

Why Communication Skills Dont Work In Customer Service

Every time my firm conducts communication skills training, we know someone is going to object."That doesn't work. Everybody's heard of active listening. You can't use that stuff... Read More

One of the Secrets of a Great Customer Experience

A few weeks ago we conducted our annual "Customer Experience Study Tour" in London England. This is where we take delegates to visit a number of leading... Read More

Listening: The Foundation of Communication

Listening is the #1 communication skill for leadership, selling, customer service, and even romance! The problem is, most of us don't listen very well. We're not trained... Read More

A White Paper: Profiting with Kindness

In 2002, there wasn't much interest for Kindness in business, and some business people would question, "What does kindness have to do with business, anyway?" Is this... Read More

Is Your Food Establishment Clean?

Is your restaurant, bar or hotel clean? I mean really clean. I don't mean "do you stick to all the rules and regulations?". I mean, do you... Read More

Clients - What They Want from You

A growing number of individuals are finding themselves called to help others and go on to fulfil this call by training to become a practitioner in one... Read More

The Number 1 Rule for Businesses - Be Professional

Have you ever walked into a store and things looked sloppy? Stores should have nice neat displays, right? Normally, yes, but sometimes they get a bit messy... Read More

Develop Loyal Customers for a Lifetime ? part 2 (11 ? 20)

Traditional marketing strategies encourage business owners to continually grow their businesses by adding new customers. In today's competitive world of business, it is more important than ever... Read More

Marketing as a Spiritual Practice

"Marketing as a spiritual practice." It sounds contradictory ? how can sales and promotion possibly be considered spiritual? But the secret is, once you truly understand that... Read More

Minimize The Pain of Check Recovery

$350 million in bad checks are written each and every week. That fact alone makes bad checks a serious problem for American businesses. It is almost inevitable... Read More

4 Things Your Clients Want From Your Company

Sure, all clients are different. They have different kinds of strengths, weaknesses, cultures and goals. Even what blocks their efficiency and growth (blind spots) is different. Davis,... Read More

Empowering Customer Service Vital

It never fails to amaze me how many companies have employees who are empowered to offer former customers wonderful incentives to lure them back, yet their customer... Read More

4 Easy Steps to Better Online Customer Support

Customer support is very important when you're running a business, whether your business is on or off the net. If your customer support is hopeless, you'll soon... Read More

The Added Value - Is YOU!

If there was a restaurant in your town that was physically attractive and clean, had a pleasant variety of entrées on the menu, served food that was... Read More

From Scowl to Smile: 5 Practical Steps to Instill Exceptional Customer Service

Whether in a restaurant, a retail establishment, or the local post office, we have all experienced a decline in customer service. Rarely do smiling, happy employees interact... Read More

The Consumer Power

While most companies talk about consumer friendliness, customer centricity, customer relationship etc. more often than not they are mere lip service or jargons with little sincerity behind... Read More

Whats The Customer Service Buzz About Your Business?

If you're a regular reader of my column you know that my number one pet peeve is bad customer service. Nothing chaps my backside more than paying... Read More

The Death of the Loyal Customer

One of my classes in management focused on the repeat customer. The course stressed the importance of the repeat customer to the financial welfare of the business.... Read More

First Contact: The Source of Customer Loyalty

With customers being smarter, more cost conscious, more product knowledgeable and more demanding, improving customer service has become a major focus within many businesses. In Customer Satisfaction... Read More

How To Build a Profitable Business

It's never too soon to start saying thanks to your clients, vendors and referral sources for what they contribute to your business. Everyone loves to be appreciated... Read More