Everyday I walk into a store, a restaurant, a hotel, airline etc. and I encounter someone who obviously does not want to be there. And while the customer service consultant part of me gets irritated at those people, the truth is I do empathize with them as well. Dealing with customers is not easy because dealing with people isn’t always easy. When you add on the customer aspect of it, it can take the difficulty to a whole new level!
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After being in customer-centric jobs for a few years I started to get jaded. I noticed that I assumed that customers were:
- Selfish
- Ungrateful
- Dishonest
- Demanding
- Pushy
- Bossy
- Looking to take advantage of every situation
- Stupid
- Ignorant
Care to add anything else??
When this happens it becomes very easy for us to start making it difficult for our customers to work with us. You know what I’m talking about right?
Scenario One: A resident walks in at two minutes to closing and you just give them the “stink eye.”
Scenario Two: A resident lets you know that you’re out of cookies in the main lobby and you sarcastically ask, “Haven’t you been in two times today to grab cookies and coffee? Why don’t you go to Starbucks??”
Scenario Three: A resident has a problem and comes to you for answers-but you’re tired, frustrated and you don’t really like that resident anyway … so instead of getting creative you just let her know, “I’m sorry-there’s nothing I can do.” OR, “I’ll have to talk to my manager tomorrow morning.”
Scenario Four: Upon moving-in your new resident insists on reading every word of the lease before signing anything. Every. Word. You have stuff to do so you say, “Mike, it’s a standard lease. If you don’t like the terms you can’t move in!”
The truth is, I have done all of the above during my multifamily career. And unfortunately the results have not always been pretty! I would often regret when I let my emotions get in the way of making it easy for my residents to want to do business with us, especially when my actions escalated things. Ugh.
Make it easy on yourself!
The truth is making it easy for your customers to do business with you, interact with you, communicate with you, lease with you, want to talk to you, make a service request etc. makes your job easier! It really does. If your residents have to do meditation before calling the office because they hate their interactions with you, that’s NOT a good thing! It just makes them more cranky, demanding, less patient, less understanding and more critical … which makes your job HARDER!
Why not pause and reflect right now and ask, “Where have I been making it hard for customers to want to business with me?” Then listen to the answer-and yes, be honest with yourself! Then start with ONE of those areas where you realized you’ve been making it difficult for customers and take a positive action step to make it easier!
It’s worth it!
