WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — It doesn’t take a lot of extra effort to give customers next-level service, but owners and counter staff need to have the mindset of remembering that customers will remember how they were treated, perhaps even more so than the results of their cleaning.
Jen Whitmarsh of The Route Pros and Snappy Dry Cleaning recently conducted a webinar, “The Front Line Advantage: Elevating Everyday Service,” hosted by the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI). Whitmarsh stresses that it only takes small steps to have a big impact, but customer service must be part of the company’s culture to be successful.
In Part 1 of this series, we examined how important first impressions are, along with the three pillars Whitmarsh believes are necessary to make that impression a positive one.
Today, we’ll look at some advanced listening techniques and strategies for transforming difficult customers into loyal advocates.
The Art of Professional Listening
The difference between good customer service and exceptional customer service, according to Whitmarsh, often comes down to one critical skill: listening. Not just hearing words, but truly comprehending what customers need and feel.
“Listen to understand, not respond,” she says. “This is really important, especially if we have a tough or upset customer. We are so busy thinking about what we want to say that we aren’t listening to them.”
This distinction is crucial, she says, because customers immediately recognize inauthentic listening: “If we’re not listening to them, they’re going to see right through it. And that’s going to elevate them from being unhappy to even more unhappy.”
The solution might require fighting natural impulses. Rather than formulating responses while customers speak, effective service providers focus entirely on comprehension. Even with pleasant, talkative customers, interruption damages the experience.
“Don’t interrupt,” Whitmarsh says, “even when they’re super-happy and want to tell you everything about their story. Their experience is based on them telling you what they want to talk about. As soon as they get interrupted, that experience is diminished.”
Visualization Techniques
Whitmarsh advocates a specific listening enhancement technique: mental visualization.
“Picture what they’re saying when you’re listening to them,” she says. “Say you’re talking with an upset customer and they’re talking about how they took these pants out of the closet for a really important meeting, but there were double creases, so they couldn’t wear them. Picture the double creases. Picture the closet. Picture them getting ready for an event.”
This approach serves multiple purposes. It demonstrates genuine engagement, improves information retention and helps service providers communicate details accurately to supervisors or production staff later.
Understanding Empathy vs. Sympathy
A critical distinction in professional listening, Whitmarsh says, involves using empathy rather than sympathy.
She defines empathy simply as “the ability to understand their feelings — to understand their point of view. Whether you agree with it or not isn’t relevant right now. You have to just at least empathize with them because it is the most important thing to them at that moment. Legitimate or not, it’s important.”
Employees should not accept abusive behavior, though.
“This does not mean that, when we have those really nasty customers, we just have to empathize and to put up with it. We do not encourage that.”
Most upset customers, however, “are not a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10,” Whitmarsh says, making empathy both appropriate and effective.
Four Types of Upset Customers
Through her 20 years of experience in the industry, Whitmarsh has identified four distinct categories of challenging customers, each requiring specific approaches.
The “Offloader” simply needs to vent: “They’re the ones who are just going to basically word vomit on you,” she says. These customers often resolve their own frustration through expression alone.
The “Vulgarian” presents more intensity: “They’re very easy to identify. They’re swearing, they’re ‘mother trucking,’” she says. Despite the colorful language, these customers typically respond well to calm, professional handling.
“Threat Makers” represent a common challenge that most service providers recognize. “They’re the ones who say, ‘Well, I know the owner,’” Whitmarsh says, adding that at her company, Snappy Dry Cleaning, “our team knows that if someone comes in and says they know the owner, they don’t know the owner because they would know that does not fly here at all.”
Finally, “Legitimate Ones” are the customers who have genuine grievances requiring substantive resolution rather than just emotional support.
Transforming Problems into Opportunities
The key to handling any upset customer lies in three fundamental approaches, Whitmarsh says: staying calm, never arguing, and providing solutions.
“Never argue,” Whitmarsh says. “Often, when there’s an upset customer, when there’s a problem, we might start to get a little defensive inside, start to get a little hot. Don’t do that. Don’t argue. Don’t be defensive. It’s OK. You made a mistake.”
She illustrated this with a recent real-world example from Snappy Dry Cleaning: “We pulled out a pair of pants from our drycleaning machine and there was an issue with our machine. The pair of pants got stuck and eaten, and now there’s damage.”
Rather than making excuses, her team provided immediate solutions: “We contacted the customer and said, ‘This is the problem we have. If you need these pants now, we are going to get them. We are going to go buy you new pants right away. If we’ve got some time, we’re going to repair these pants because that’s what we could do if the time’s allotted.’”
The Power of Follow-Up
Perhaps the most underutilized tool in customer service is what Whitmarsh calls “FU” — follow-up: “The No. 1 thing we can teach you, especially in a negative situation but in any situation, is follow up with the customer.”
Whitmarsh has found that, even when there have been problems, this practice can yield remarkable results.
“You are going to knock the socks off of Mrs. Smith because not only did we get that situation taken care of,” Whitmarsh says, “but we care enough as the front-line team member to follow up, just to make sure everything’s good.”
The long-term impact of handling negative situations well and then providing follow-up can prove substantial.
“Some of our very best customers come from a previous problem,” Whitmarsh says. “Think about this in your own world. Who are some of your really good customers? And then, think to yourself, ‘Did we ever have any issues with them?’ Odds are, you’re going to be able to say ‘yes.’”
Come back Tuesday for the conclusion, where we’ll explore creating memorable experiences and developing your personal service superpower. For Part 1 of this series, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
