We all know Incept’s clever acronym of values – Integrity, Never satisfied, Compassion, Everyone’s a customer, Present, and Tenacious. But how often do you really stop to evaluate if you truly live them?
Each of these values is very important to the way Incept operates and to many of our personal lives, as well. One of my favorite values to recognize my coworkers for is “everyone’s a customer.”
It is a high and often difficult calling to live as if everyone is a customer. It often means putting others’ problems ahead of your own and making sure you care about those around you. When you live as if everyone around you is your customer, you will often find that the joy you spread to those you care about also seeps into the way you live.
Treating everyone as a customer is very important for your phone calls too. Customer service can really make or break your calls. When you talk to a donor or a customer on the phone, you are the voice of the client for whom you’re calling. You want to make sure that each of your calls shows the donor or customer that you are speaking with that you are knowledgeable, kind and able to help them. Treating everyone as YOUR customer will take their concerns and needs into account, strengthening the relationship between you and them on the phone call.
Here a couple of easy ways to make everyone your customer in your calls:
- Ask how they are doing, and respond to it. You want to make sure you are catering to them, even their mood.
- Find a place to donate that is most convenient for them, rather than you.
- Make sure they have all of the information they need, including the address of the donor center.
- At the end of the call, ask if there is anything else you can do to help them.
What other ways can you make sure to treat everyone as a customer?