In industries with a high proportion of one-to-many
direct customer contacts, not enough attention is paid to training
people to observe and interpret non-verbal customer cues.
To
explain, here is the scene. You are in an upmarket restaurant with five
friends and family. You have enjoyed the glass of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon
Blanc with the big bowl of mussels in white wine sauce you all ordered
to share. It is obvious from the discussion at the table that everybody
loves mussels, especially you.
There are a few plump, delicious
mussels left, and as you ordered your wine by the glass, you look
around for a waiter to order another glass to go with those last few
tasty mussels.
Waiters pass by, but you fail to catch their eye.
You wait a moment more; not wanting to call, "Waiter!" as you think
this is a bit demeaning for the waiter.
In the meantime your
friends and family enquire as to why you are not eating. They have
deliberately left the remaining mussels for you, knowing it is one of
your favourite dishes.
At last you attract a waiter's attention and order another glass.
Not
wanting to upset your friends and family, you begin to eat the few
remaining mussels. The glass of wine arrives some ten minutes later. As
much as you try though, you cannot eat slowly enough to enjoy the wine
with the food, completing the entrée well before the wine arrives.
You
have not completed your glass of Sauvignon Blanc before main course
arrives; rib eye steak, medium-rare. You drink the remaining half glass
with your main course before attempting to order the sommelier's pick
of Cabernet Sauvignon "by the glass". Again your attempts to catch a
waiter's eye are fruitless until the rib-eye is almost bare.
What's wrong with this scene?
The
obvious is poor table service by the wait staff. The less obvious is
why the service was poor. In most cases like this, it is the inability
of the wait staff to read customer cues that causes the poor service.
The waiters missed:
- The collective enthusiasm from the table for the food - a natural occasion to sell wine rather than wait for people to buy
- Your sauvignon blanc glass being empty
- You stopping eating
- You looking around
- You eating the last few mussels
- Your main course deserving a red wine accompaniment
- You stopping eating for a second time
- You looking around for a second time
What is the result of such a scene unfolding? A less
enjoyable eating experience than you would have had if customer cues
were observed. Also, the loss of income from selling two glasses of
wine for the restaurant.
People in professions with a high level
of customer interaction receive customer cues all the time. However,
many only consider verbal cues. The customer cues they tend to miss
include:
- Avoiding eye contact - the customer is not ready to buy
- Standing in the middle of a restaurant looking around - they want to know where the wash room is
- Putting on coats and jackets at a restaurant table - the air conditioning is too cold or they are in a big hurry to leave
- Spending time looking at one product only - they need advice or want to buy
- Making eye contact - they want help
- Moving about and peering towards the front of a queue - they are worried about how much time they are spending in the queue
- Looking at their watch repeatedly - they are in a hurry
- Stopping eating in a restaurant - they want some attention
- Menus are closed - they want to order
Giving good service is about meeting the customer's
needs. Great customer service is about exceeding them. When customers
only give us non-verbal cues to those needs, it is our job to observe
and interpret the non-verbal clues so that we may know their needs.
Observing non-verbal customer clues is reliant on our peripheral vision.
Humans
process vision through the receptors on their retina. There are more
receptors in the centre of the eye than there are at the periphery.
This means your vision is better when you are looking directly at an
object than when you are using your peripheral vision.
The human
eye contains two different types of receptors: rods and cones. Cones
can distinguish colour and detail well and are concentrated in the
centre of the retina. Rods tend to only be able to distinguish shape
and motion and work much better in low light. Rods are distributed
almost evenly across the retina.
This means that you are able to
process objects in your peripheral vision very differently to objects
in the centre of your field of view.
The easiest thing to detect
in your peripheral vision is motion. Rod receptors are able to
distinguish motion fairly easily, which leads to the phenomenon many
people experience of seeing something "out of the corner of your eye".
The next easiest thing to detect is colour and shape, which is detected by a combination of rod and cone receptors.
The hardest thing to detect by far is letters and numbers, which can only be distinguished by cone receptors.
So
what does this all mean for business owners, managers and supervisors
in industries requiring a high degree of one-to-many direct customer
contacts?
Test the peripheral vision of your staff. At least then
they will know if they need to deliberately look (central vision) to
observe non-verbal cues.
Teach your staff about the non-verbal
cues particular to your industry. Coach them and give them feedback
when they observe and interpret the cues well or badly. Make it
something you care about. Make it something your people know you care
about.
The result will be higher customer satisfaction and sales.
