Raccoons and Customer Service

 

Recently, a good friend of mine was urgently in need of fast, effective customer service. Specifically, a family of raccoons had broken into his weekend house out in the country and ransacked his family room before climbing out the chimney. Not only was the room a Hurricane Ike-style disaster area, but my friend wasn’t certain what to do to keep the raccoons from coming back for a repeat performance. He made call after call to pest control services and handyman companies, none of which were interested in talking to him. The words, "raccoons" would just barely escape his mouth and he would hear responses like, "We don’t do that kind of work," or "You are not in our service area." Some people laughed when he described the mess, but no one was willing to take the job. In the meantime, the raccoons were plotting their next attack.

Finally, out of desperation, he called the local sheriff’s department and they recommended a trapper who lived in the area. My friend made the call and 30 minutes later the trapper was standing on top of his roof. It didn’t take him long to find the likely place the raccoons had entered – a very small hole under the eaves of the old house. From there it looked like the coons had made their way through the attic until they fell through some old ceiling tiles over the family room. They were able to scramble out the chimney because the flue had been left open, creating a narrow but very serviceable exit for the raccoon family.

While the trapper was working, he carefully explained raccoon behavior to my friend, describing their amazing strength and dexterity, and their ability to squeeze through tiny spaces and climb up brick walls. He also pointed out that this was the season when raccoons are looking for places to create a den for the winter. In a matter of a couple of hours, the trapper plugged the holes, capped the chimney, cleaned up the mess in the family room, and set some live traps in the back yard close to where the eaves had been broken. It seems that the best way to make sure the raccoons don’t come back is to trap them and move them to a more remote location where they can’t find their way back.

My friend was so grateful, and so impressed, that he added a 30% tip to the trapper’s invoice and promised to sing his praises to the neighbors all around.

So the story has a happy ending, but what does it have to do with customer service? Here is what you can learn from a raccoon trapper:

1. Listen sympathetically instead of laughing hysterically. The other guys my friend called really didn’t care about his problem. The trapper clearly cared about my friend’s need from the very beginning and took him seriously.

2. Respond promptly. The trapper understood that my friend’s need was urgent, so he didn’t check his calendar and promise to get back to him next Tuesday. His response was aligned with the need; my friend had an emergency so the trapper responded quickly.

3. Be thorough. The trapper carefully and professionally diagnosed the situation, rather than just throwing out a random, sloppy solution.

4. Educate the customer. The trapper went step by step through the process, explaining what he was doing and why. He even provided extra background about the habits and needs of raccoons, so my friend could understand why this situation developed in the first.

5. Do the job right the first time. The trapper not only plugged all the holes, he set out traps and came back later to remove the raccoons to make absolutely sure the customer’s problem was solved.

6. Do more than the customer expects. My friend didn’t ask the trapper to clean up the mess in the family room. Insulation from the attic, broken glass, shredded cushions and broken ceiling tiles were scattered every where. Before my friend even realized what was happening, the trapper had scooped it all up and tossed it into the back of his truck. "I’ve got the time and you don’t need any more aggravation," was all the trapper said.

If your success depends in any way on the quality of the customer service you provide, then here is the part you should be most interested in. In exchange for listening sympathetically, responding quickly, explaining thoroughly, doing the job right the first time, and doing more than was expected, the trapper got a 30% bonus plus a lifetime of free advertising. It will work just the same way for you.

 

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Customer Service Quick Tip – Clarify and Confirm

In customer service there is nothing more important than carefully listening as the customer explains his needs to you, but part of listening is making sure that you properly understood what you thought you heard. To do that you must first clarify what you think you heard. This is as simple as saying, "Let me make sure I understand your situation; if I heard you correctly, you are having a problem with (X) and you think (Y) would solve the problem. Is that right?" After you have clarified the problem, then confirm the solution, like this; "If I do A, B, and C, and get it done by next Tuesday, would that solve your problem?" Taking these two extra steps will prevent both you and your customer from making killer assumptions ("but I thought you meant?") so you both walk away happy.