Inspirational business vs business as usual

In the world today, there are several ways of making business. We can see all the different ways used by entrepreneurs to keep up the struggle to find on a daily basis to help improve their businesses, despite the size of it.

Local businesses struggle to stay alive in the modern days, surviving the competition with the giant chains and larger companies on the same area, seeking ways to attract their target customers to their stores.

Multinational businesses fight against each other for similar product implementation, trying to float on the surface of a more demanding and challenging market.

Customers are changing, going along with the evolution of markets, requesting the development of more technological and simplified products, things that would hopefully improve their quality of life and the way the day-to-day tasks are performed.

In today's world, people want efficiency and fastness at a low cost and speed results.

Another thing that is changing?

My work area. Customer Care.

The way we interact with customers is developing as they become more instructed, more and more orientated to their businesses, tasks, products. Customers are soaking up more knowledge.

I remember when I started working in Customer Care, at the time in a completely different area that today, several guidelines where previously given to me - even in school:

• The customer is always right;
• Do not use a monotonous tone of voice;
• Forget everything that you were doing when you are talking to a customer;

I retained one thing: Your job depends on the customer.

And for me, this is still the major point of my job. If I do not please my customer, the person that is indirectly responsible for me to hold the position I hold, I'm lost. As everybody in the world, I need a job. And I'm passionate about my it.

With the years, I became better and better in what I do and now I am normally pointed as an example of a Customer Care employee by excellence. And there's a trick in that: I love interacting with people.

I think that more important than providing an excellent result when trying to solve an issue is to provide the best possible experience to the customer.

I've experienced several types of calls, several types of people, cultures, expertise. And in all of them - not even one exception - what matters is the way the person on the other side is treated.

Be patient with them, put ourselves to their level (that can go from 0 knowledge to top knowledge), be kind and don't be afraid to ask questions are, in my view, the rules to follow.

There is a simple thing to remember: it doesn't matter how skilled is your customer, how demanding he might be. He's still a person. Be firm and confident and at the end of the day... It's just business as usual.