“If you’re not serving the customer, you’d better be serving someone who is.” – Karl Albrecht
In his book At America’s Service, Dr. Karl Albrecht identified a number of attitudes and behaviors that he referred to as the 7 Sins of Service.These are the ways that customer-facing employees often drive customers away.
These sins, as expressed by Albrecht, are: Apathy, Brush-off, Coldness, Condescension, Robotism, Rulebook, and Runaround. Let’s take a closer look at the types of attitudes and behaviors these terms describe.
Apathy
The clerk’s fingernails are tapping at the keyboard as the customer approaches her window. The clerk doesn’t look up, but keeps typing. After a moment, the customer clears her throat. Still getting no response, she finally ventures, Excuse me, can you help me?The clerk finally shifts her gaze to the window, and stares without speaking. Ah…? falters the customer, Is this where I should turn in this form?
The clerk glances at the papers. Yeah, but you’ll have to wait for a minute. I’m going on my coffee break.”
Apathetic customer service is characterized by slow, unresponsive, or inattentive behavior toward the customer. Apathy may be reflected by the representative showing no actual interest in the customer, by a lack of speed or energy devoted to the customer’s issue, or by body language that communicates only extreme boredom. A very apathetic customer service person might avoid eye contact, and respond to customer concerns or questions by shrugging, or simply responding I don’t know. Any of these apathetic behaviors clearly communicate to the customer that the representative simply doesn’t care about the customer or their needs. Given the option, customers who encounter this attitude are unlikely to return for a second helping.
Brush-off
“Excuse me,a retail customer says, Can you help me find this? The floor rep shakes his head. Nope, that product’s not in stock. He then walks away from the frustrated customer without offering any further guidance or assistance.
The brush-off is an effort by a service person to rebuff the customer and to avoid engaging with their question or problem. When the service person makes no effort to connect with or help the customer, it sends a clear message that they are uninterested in the customer as a person – or as anything other than a nuisance interrupting their day. This attitude leaves customers baffled, frustrated, and ready to take their business to the competition.
Coldness
A customer and her friend enter a bridal store and are greeted by looks of surprise from several employees. One moves to intercept the customer as she starts looking at a rack of bridesmaid gowns. Excuse me, does your party have an appointment? she asks skeptically. The startled customer responds, Oh! No… I didn’t know I needed one. Well, you do, the sales assistant huffs. If your party is not on our registry, you’ll have to leave.
The behaviors associated with a cold customer service attitude can range from merely brisk to unfriendly, harsh – even hostile. The service person is unwelcoming, and seems to be disinterested in the customer’s situation or needs. Icy, clipped speech, a distant or hostile expression, or an unfriendly attitude all tell the customer, “Please go away.”Don’t worry – they probably will, and they aren’t likely to come back.
Condescension
“And how would you like that steak cooked? asks the waiter.”
“Medium, please.”
“Ah”, says the waiter with a disapproving frown. Ahem. “Sir, the chef prefers to prepare this cut quite rare.”
“Okay, but I’d like it medium, thanks.”
“I will inform the chef, sir”, the waiter sniffs disdainfully.
Robotism
“Good morning and welcome to FedBank do you have your deposit slip?” intones the teller expressionlessly. The words seem almost without meaning; she must say them hundreds of times a day.
She takes the forms, types on the computer for a moment, thumps a date stamp down on the slip, then shoves a printed receipt back across the counter. Without ever glancing up, she concludes the exchange by tonelessly reciting, “Thank you for banking at FedBank have a very nice day NEXT.”
The robotic service representative not only fails to acknowledge the customer’s individuality, but barely seems human themselves. Reciting canned instructions or responses, mechanically going through processes, and repeating the same information over and over again, the robotic customer service person does not distinguish between individual customers or make any effort to connect with them. The customer is left with the unsatisfying, dehumanizing feeling of being just a faceless number in a sea of other numbers.
Rulebook
A mother and child enter a gas station and make a beeline for the restroom. An attendant stops them. “Sorry, ma’am, restroom’s for paying customers only”. As the child moans, “Mama, I need to goooo!” the flustered mother tells the attendant, “I promise I’ll buy something before we leave!” “Nope, gotta pay first”. The attendant grins and points at a hand-lettered sign on the door. “Buy something, and then you can go in”.
Throwing the rulebook at customers who are making reasonable requests rather than accommodating them is an indication that the service person cares more about rules than about people. Customers who are subjected to “rulebook” treatment usually leave with the impression that they are not valued by the customer service representative or by their company.Chances are they won’t come back.
Runaround
A phone service rep picked up a connection from another department. “Hello, this is Lisa, can I help you?”
“Lisa?” the customer said in a confused voice. “This is Ernie… didn’t I just talk to you?”
Ernie… “oh, yes, I sent you to accounts receivable, didn’t I?”
“Yes”, sighed Ernie, “and then they sent me to the warehouse, and the warehouse sent me to order processing, and order processing said they were escalating me to management, and connected me to you again…?”
The “runaround” treatment often involves passing a customer issue off to someone else, or otherwise obfuscating or delaying a solution until the customer isn’t sure who they should be talking to, what the problem is, or whether anyone will be able to find a solution. It’s frustrating for the customer and makes them feel that no one is willing to actually take the time and effort to really help them instead of passing the buck.
Avoid the Customer Service Sins
These 7 Sins all have one thing in common: they demonstrate a lack of concern on the part
of the service personnel – and, by extension, the company – for the customer as a person. As Dr. Albrecht pointed out, the customer doesn’t distinguish between the organization and the customer service representative; in their eyes, whoever they are talking to IS the company.
We can probably think of even more ways to turn customers away, but the 7 Sins as described by Albrecht provide a good outline for most of the problematic behaviors we might see in customer service environments.Most of us recognize that none of these attitudes reflect true customer service – after all, it’s not called customer processing, customer judgment, or customer deflection!To serve the customer, we must treat the customer as a person – and always remember that in customer service, the word customer comes first.
Baker Communications offers leading edge customer service training solutions that will help you address the goals and achieve the outcomes addressed in this article. For more information about how your organization can achieve immediate and lasting behavior change that will uncover new opportunities, drive revenue, and boost your bottom line, click here.
