The Good Boy Philosophy:
This week, a co-worker of mine was having difficulty with someone on the phone. A very unpleasant woman was being, well--unpleasant. When she finished with the individual, she stated that the woman was unkind. Another individual overheard her complaint and said that she should apply the Good Boy Philosophy. Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was intrigued. He stepped out of his office and began to tell us the story of the Good Boy Philosophy.
But first, some other vital information:
With 'Customer Service Week' just around the corner (October 3-7), we should be beefing up our service rep teams with ideas in which they can better relate to and help customers with their needs.
The International Customer Service Association began Customer Service Week in 1988. In 1992 the U.S. Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week a nationally recognized event, which is celebrated annually during the first full week in October.
The leading associations in the fields of customer service and support, the International Customer Service Association (ICSA) and the Help Desk Institute (HDI) have joined the Customer Service Group in sponsoring this year's event. Also, as another point of interest, HDI is holding it's third annual www.ITIM2005.com).
According to www.CSWeek.com:
Some 68% of participants in the Customer Service Newsletter’s 2004-2005 Salary, Incentives and Benchmarking Survey say they use some sort of incentive program for customer contact employees. The top three types of incentives are:
- Recognition programs
- Merchandise awards or certificates
- Customer Service Week celebrations
Across all types of incentive programs, the average amount of money spent per rep was reported at $600.
Now, back to the Good Boy Philosophy story:
So, this man, Tom, said that his children used to run everyday. And on their daily run, they would run passed a house with a fence. Inside this fence, there were some very unfriendly dogs. As the kids ran by, as you might imagine, the “mean” dogs would bark and run up and down the fence, just begging to take a bite out of their swift legs. When the children would return home from their run, they would complain about the snarling dogs and the mistreatment they had received from them. (At one point, the dogs were loose and had chased them on top of a car until the owner could retrieve them.) These were seriously nasty dogs. At this point of the story, my instinct is to call the Animal Control and tell them to put these worthless dogs in a place they cannot hurt others, but there is more to the story. It was asked of the children, when they returned home, what they did to the dogs when they barked at them. Of course, they had thrown rocks, dirt and the like at the dogs in retaliation. So, Tom decided to run with his children the next day. When they came to the dogs, he stopped and dropped inside the fence a little bit of meat and said, “Good boy,” with a soothing voice. Tom continued to do this for about a week. At the end of the week, the dogs were sitting and wagging their tails while they eagerly waited for this band of do-gooders to arrive with their treats. At this point, they could reach inside the fence and pet the dogs without fear of any harm being done to them. They no longer needed to have treats available, just their hands atop the heads of their new furry friends while saying, “Good dog.”
Moral? Come on--can't you guess?
Customer service is nothing more than the 'Good Boy Philosophy'. I am not saying that our customers are animals, it is just any breathing thing will respond to kindness. It is a philosophy that we all should embrace--not only with our customers, but with all our fellow man. (Please pass the tissues...) Make it a code phrase. When others are having difficulty dealing with others, just say, “Good boy…” If you want to actually pat them on the head, that one’s up to you.
LP