OK, it’s time to summarize everything we’ve covered today.

Call the customer

The competent approach: “I really don’t want to deal with claims. I wish someone else would pick up this claim, if not… I will mail them tomorrow.”

The outstanding approach: “The customer is the most important element in this problem, so I am going to call them immediately and get this process started.”

How does it impact you?

The competent approach: “I need to focus on the problem first, so the customer can wait until I have gathered as much information as I can. I’ll talk to them tomorrow.”

The outstanding approach: “This a chance to help the customer. They need my support, and they need to hear from me now.”

Recognize the customer’s perspective

The competent approach: “In my view, this can’t be a board problem. This is what the specification calls for, so this is what you get.”

The outstanding approach: “I understand this is causing you problems, so I want to work with you on fixing the problem, and preventing it from happening again.”

I got this

The competent approach: “This is a stupid factory! I will mail the customer and tell them exactly how stupid this stupid factory is!”

The outstanding approach: “Let the customer know I am going to own the problem, and work with them on achieving the best solution.”

Solutions

The competent approach: “This is all we can do. It’s company policy – I can’t do any more.”

The outstanding approach: “Be positive. Be happy to negotiate on what we can do and what we need to look into before committing. And be brave enough to ask for a second opinion from a colleague.

Now, if you remember all this then… OUTSTANDING!