Customer Service Skills Are Part of Leadership?

One of the biggest misconceptions about leadership is that it has something to do with authority. It doesn’t, although we should all look for authority figures to show good leadership.

Good leaders themselves look to see leadership throughout the ranks. When they see it, they tend to reward it by moving the person who’s showing leadership upward toward more authority.

So what’s the connection between leadership and customer service?

Customer service skills are leadership skills, and they let you lead your customer to a mutually better place.

At the point of a customer service interaction, it’s a little hard to say who is the leader. And it’s not entirely clear who has the authority.

I think there’s a fair amount of fear on both sides of the customer service experience. Both parties have reason to fear the other side, and either may see themselves in the “weaker” position, maybe even viewing the other person as an opponent.

Customers have uncertainty as to whether or not the agent will give them what they want. It can seem that the agent has the power and the authority to leverage the system toward helping more or helping less. They feel they’re at a disadvantage because they don’t the system and its loopholes.

Customer service agents have uncertainty too. They don’t know what problem is going to walk through the door. They have little if any say about when it’s coming, or how bad it’s going to be. They may be asked to bend the rules and make exceptions beyond what the system allows. Plus, they are often told “the customer is always right,” which gives the customer a kind of authority.

The reality of customer service is that either side of that equation can show leadership and move the ball in a self-serving direction. I’m an advocate of leadership – with or without authority – in order to move the ball forward in a direction that serves everyone involved.

I’m not just looking at customer service as phone support for products and services. I’m looking at customer service wherever you work. SagePresence coaches and trains within legal, medical, architecture, engineering, pharmaceutical, I.T., consulting, construction, and other industries. They all have customers, internal or external, and customer service is a core component for all of them.

What does leadership look like when you’re serving customers?

Leadership has a lot to do with spotting a need. It’s not hard to spot when it marches through the door and proclaims itself. It’s a question of defining it. So step one is to define the problem.

It’s not a tag team effort – it’s all on you. One of the biggest failures of customer service leadership is to let the customer state the problem and you offer the fix. You have to say the problem back to them, and make sure that you have all of it. Many customers have compound issues, and the challenge comes out in segments. If you don’t ask, “Do I have the whole picture? Is there anything else?” you may be sending an unintended message that you just want to find a quick fix and get them off the phone.

Next, you have to clarify what “fixed” looks like, so that you have a complete story to operate within. This is the next biggest failure of customer service – leaping to the fix without defining the end. I define the end of the story to make sure I know where we have to go together. I speak it out loud, even when it’s obvious.

Then and only then, can you embark on resolving the issue. At that point, I do what needs to be done to resolve the customer’s issue, and both sides can feel our progress toward resolve, because our story structure serves as a map of the journey we’re on together.

The simplest route to leadership in customer service is to story structure each interaction.

1. What’s the problematic situation now for them (beginning)? Define it and speak it back.
2. What’s the resolved situation for them (end)? Define it and speak it back.
3. What can I do to get them from problem to resolution (middle)?

One More Time With Feeling

You want to make sure that you emotionally follow the story you crafted intellectually. Empathize. Feel with them the feelings they have at the beginning and end, and name them. “Wow. That’s frustrating. I would feel that way too,” and later, “Having that resolved would be a big relief!”

Suddenly, the intellectual process is emotional too – in other words, a human experience. Human experience is head and heart. Defining the whole story appeals to our intellect. Naming the feelings and feeling them with the customer appeals to our emotions. When both are present, it’s a great customer service experience.

There’s a lot of intricacies to customer service, and I don’t know your customers specifically. But we all serve somebody, and I’m inviting you to try packaging those intricacies into our simple leadership format. Don’t just fix their problems. Lead them away from the position of an “opponent” and into a collaborative win-win story that serves you and them mutually.

Story structure your customer’s experience, name the emotions on both ends of the story arc, and feel them with the customer. That’s how customer service skills are leadership – they lead the customer from where they are now, to where they want to be, with feeling.

What do you think of this? As someone who interacts with your own clients, or clients of your company, do you see how your service is a form of leadership? Share your thoughts below!

Customer Service Skills Are Part of Leadership? is a continuation from Customer Service Skills are Part of Selling? This post series will continue with one more post in about a week.