Dr. Gary S. Goodman - 

Dr. Gary S. Goodman has been awarded a "5-Star" interview rating and can be booked as a motivational speaker via CMM. contacting CMM

Want Better Customer Service? "Become A Better Customer!" Urges Consultant

When Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of his own consultancy, conducts training sessions for customer service providers he jokes that he's going to make sure his tips pan out by training customers to respond favorably to what reps do.

That always gets a laugh along with the comment that he should run seminars called, "How To Become A Great Customer." He's planning to, but in the meantime, he writes articles bearing this title for his web site.

"Customers need to take some responsibility for the quality of the service they receive," Goodman says. "And if they want better service, they should try becoming better customers!"

Goodman, the best-selling author of 12 books, including Monitoring, Measuring, & Managing Customer Service and Please Don't Shoot The Messenger!, asserts that "It takes two to tango, or to tussle," and customers can get much better treatment by employing certain strategies.

"First, customers need to understand that reps have a lot to do, and their psychological contents, so to speak, are always under pressure." So, he advises, don't stress them out even more by starting a conversation with the accusatory words, "You People," as in "You people really blew it!"

It's much better, Goodman points out, to show empathy toward the helper.

Recently, he was able to get a same-morning doctor's appointment because he started the conversation with the words, "I know you're going to do your best for me and I appreciate it." Next, he inserted a brief reason he needed to be seen right away. After holding for about a minute, the receptionist gleefully asked, "Will 10:45 work for you?"

While most of Goodman's consulting is aimed at elevating the quality of service provided by companies, he offers an opportunity for customers to Rant & Rave at his own consultancy. "We need to listen closely to customers and give them a forum where they can praise good service providers while alerting us to those who fail to meet expectations."

At the same time, he points out that "Customers need to be sensitive to service folks and improve their communications to consistently get the best possible assistance."

Goodman observes that customer service reps have a lot of discretion over the quality of treatment they dispense. "If they like and respect you, they'll go out of their way. If they don't like you, look out!" he warns.

He cites a story that comes from his consulting experience in the shipping business.

"Shipping insiders joke that there are three levels of service that customers are given, largely based on how nice they are to company representatives," he says. "There is 'Standard' and there is 'Priority' and then there is an unpublicized, but occasionally invoked, lowest level of service called, 'D.F.L.' "

"I can tell you that the 'D' stands for 'Dead,' and the 'L' stands for 'Last.' With a little imagination, you can figure out what the 'F" stands for," he quips.

When Goodman isn't presiding over his own consultancy, he teaches in the Entrepreneurship and Marketing programs at UCLA Extension, and runs a worldwide consulting practice. A professional keynote speaker, his clients include a number of Fortune 500 companies and trade associations.

Goodman holds five, earned degrees, including a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC; a law degree from Loyola of Los Angeles; and an M.B.A. from the Peter F. Drucker School, Claremont Graduate University. More than forty universities offer his seminars throughout the United States.

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