Dr David Cliff explores the issue of intended versus received messages amongst customers.
I remember in my public service days a very busy chap. He always was giving off the emotional equivalent of 10,000 volts, always telling us how busy it was, how mad it is and how almost impossible the task was. It always struck me if he deployed as much time into his work as he deployed into describing its challenges, he may have been ultimately more efficient and delivered more. Instead, he preferred to ventilate both from an egocentric position, and from a position of institutional stress the workplace would never address, his personal angst. The message received, was this person was best avoided rather than an effective person to work with.
The same is true in the private sector. There are so many businesses telling us how busy they are, how involved they are, how we will have to wait long periods of time before appointments. These things are actually repellent for potential business and devaluing to potential customers. Using automation and other systems, and this includes something as humble as the diary booking system, is a depersonalised way of creating a customer interface and whilst the scale of one’s operation may ultimately require some of this perforce, one should never lose sight of the importance of the personal.
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) tells us that we are responsible for the messages we transmit. We cannot expect the listener to intuit what we are meaning. If our behaviours, verbal, non-verbal and process based, communicate that we are simply too busy to be properly involved in something, the perception is one of devaluation to the person we are in any particular given transaction with. Worst of all is complete silence, although recent years have seen a step beyond this which is the automated response, that goes on and on before you actually get to speak to another human being.
My clients know I constantly refer to the ‘relational space’ between the business and the customer. What we put into that needs to be authentic, valuing and demonstrate human interest in subtle, often subliminal ways. These communications reflect not only what is on offer, but the value base and integrity of those making that offer. It is a vital part of cementing transactional processes, but more so relational spaces that are durable, and engender mutual trust, respect and ultimately, are good for business by adding to trust, customer tolerance and customer lifetime values for the organisation.
This is often difficult to achieve in a target driven, sales focused environment where the results of ‘now’, transcend what may be happening in a year’s time with the same customer. Of course, people often pay lip service to this, as targets tend to be in a sales sense, very short term. Short termism can then easily permeate right through an organisation and result in sales processes dictating the entire culture and pace of the rest of the organisation and the interrelationship of different systems within it.
So, we all need to be careful out there, we need to think about how we are coming over to folk and how they feel. We need to view people less as targets and prospects and truly start seeing them as humans, whether part of a large organisation or simply an end consumer. Honouring humanity is important, it builds relationships that can last.
As 2024 closes and 2025 ensues, my heartfelt good wishes to all at Gedanken, its clients, its associates, the Northern Insight team and all its readers.
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