Unsuspecting Acts Of Kindness In Customer Service

Stuck at a stoplight at a busy intersection, I notice a homeless man standing on a corner. He holds a sign asking for spare change as well as a can to place it in.

A frail old lady with a walker and carrying a shopping bag on her shoulder slowly approaches the same corner. 

She is clearly having trouble with the bag. 

The homeless man puts his sign and can down. He walks over to the lady and reaches out his hand. 

She nods and he takes the bag. He puts his hand on her shoulder then guides her across the street when the light turns for her to cross.

When she is safe across the road, he hands the bag back to her, pats her on the back and she waves as he runs back across the street to his corner. 

He picks up his cardboard sign and can then faces the busy street again.

My light turns green and I move on.

While this random scene of kindness will linger in my mind long afterward, I can’t not connect this to customer service now.

When you call into a support center, you typically are prepared to wait on hold a long time, talk to a robot or an unhappy agent who may not even speak your language. These are the stereotypes we believe. And, that we more often than not, experience.

To be in a position where we can help with issues and throw in genuine kindness on top of it is a struggle, especially when some customers may not be so kind.

Imagine if every support call, even highly technical calls, had one or two U.A.O.K.s? What is this you say?

Unsuspecting

Acts

Of

Kindness

This is the knock your socks off sort of customer experience.

Unsuspecting Acts Of Kindness are truly powerful ways to help your customer:

• Trust your brand
• Tell others about your brand
• Stay loyal, long term customers

You want the customers you have to stay your customers. You want to encourage new customers to dive into your brand.

How do you even begin this?

• Discuss your most basic service encounter in a chat with your team.
• Map out the steps of your most general customer experience. Write each step on a white note card.
• Place each white note card on a large table in order of the experience.
• Get a stack of neon note cards. Have your team come up with possible U.A.O.K.s and write them on the neon note cards and place in between each of the basic steps on the table in front of you. Think: What can we do to take the basic to unbelievable?

This experience may open your eyes to limitless possibilities!

[custom_author=jenny]