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THE CUSTOMER’S
FIRST IMPRESSION
Customers form first impressions about
you and your office the very first time they
come in for help. Therefore, it is important
f o r y ou
to create a positive, lasting
impression. You may handle many customers
in the course of a day. Remember that every
customer deserves the same courteous
treatment. Take care of each customer in a
professional manner. The fact that you must
handle many customers during the course of
a day may affect your mood. If you are in a
bad mood, the customer will sense it and feel
very uncomfortable around you. Therefore,
you should learn to control your moods and
your temper.
If you feel that you cannot provide the
service a customer needs because you are
having a bad day, get someone else who will,
and excuse yourself.
This is in the best
interest of you and the customer. A
customer’s impression of you will usually
extend to the entire office. For example, if a
customer has a particularly complicated
problem, and you are able to help him or her
solve it by looking up the applicable
reference, the comment from the customer to
shipmates might be “That YN3 John Doe in
the admin office is on the ball.” It is even
more likely that the customer’s comment will
be “That admin office is on the ball. They
solved my problem because they know what
they are doing.”
YOUR APPEARANCE
Just like your image, your appearance is
the first thing the customer notices and uses
to form an impression. You must look good,
feel good, and act accordingly. It goes
without saying that you should be in the
prescribed uniform of the day. But this by
itself is not enough. You should present not
only a correct but also a neat appearance. Of
course, no one is expected to look neat and
fresh at the end of a hard day. You can,
however, start that way in the morning.
ANALYZING THE CUSTOMER
We have been analyzing your actions as
the customer service representative so that you
may see some reasons, within yourself, why
you may not be providing as good a service
as you are expected to do. To do this, we
have assumed that the customer was in a good
mood, had trust in your ability, and was
willing to accept your solution. This is not
always the case.
There are several factors that often stand
between you and the customer. They can
complicate the customer’s problem and your
efforts to provide a solution. In the following
paragraphs, we will take a look at some of
these barriers.
State of Mind
Regardless of the nature or seriousness of
the customer’s problem, certain negative
factors may serve to complicate it. The
customer may exhibit the following behaviors:
l Be angry, worried, or frustrated
l Lack confidence in your abilities
l Be unwilling to accept anything less
than the desired solution to a problem
However, if you can recognize these
factors and make appropriate allowances for
them, you may avoid further complicating the
customer’s problem.
The customer who is emotionally upset
(angry, worried, or frustrated) may have
difficulty in stating a problem accurately or
completely. Significant information may be
omitted; opinions may be confused with facts;
or there may be a feeling that the information
you are requesting is too personal. Usually, it
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