One day I’ll write a book called Everything I Know About Customer Service, I Learned from Watching The Sopranos.
Case in point: The Artie Bucco Syndrome, which I named after the tragicomic character who starts the HBO series as a successful restaurateur. Slowly, though, things begin to fall apart for Artie. Finally, his wife, Charmaine, has the painful job of telling him what’s going so wrong: that his customers come to the restaurant to be with each other, not with him. Their special moments are for them, not for him, and interrupting them with what he thinks is important is
driving them away.
Artie never does get the message when he interacts with customers. If he had learned to listen between the lines, he could have picked it up, as his wife did.
She was listening.
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One thing I try to accomplish in a customer service initiative is to align your organization to the value of listening. To help your team learn to adjust the
flow of your comments to match each customer’s interests and mood.
And to practice shutting up sometimes.
© 2011