Have You Got Your Name With You
It's hard to believe that the first point of contact when you telephone a business would ask such a laughably silly question.
"Have you got your name with you?"
What!
What on earth are you meant to say to that?
"I had it here a moment ago. Oh. Where's it gone now?"
"Yes. It's perched on my right shoulder…instead of a parrot."
"Yes I have got my name with me. Have you got yours with you? Perhaps we can swap...see what happens?"
Good grief!
She sounded lifeless over the phone too and humourless. And yet when I got through to the person I needed to speak with, she couldn't have been more informative. Although she too was of the same ilk when it came to sounding humdrum and humourless.
Then shortly afterwards I had to speak to someone who deals with ISBN numbers.
The woman had a wonderfully warm and, at times, cheeky sense of energy. She was very helpful and even jokingly threatened to "shoot" me if I didn't follow her instructions carefully!
Banter ensued and, for such a dry and functional business, she was the perfect embodiment of intelligent and charming customer service.
This was because of the way she chose to communicate.
And Eleanor never once asked whether I had my name with me.
So, no matter how dry or complicated your business is and no matter how you feel, you can make the customer experience so much more colourful.
Even the most simple sense of fun in the way you communicate, when speaking or writing, can have a most profitably profound effect on your customers. I look forward to dealing with the ISBN woman, but not the other two…whether or not they have their names with them!
posted: 8 Feb 12






