CX Training: Above and Beyond Culture and the Day-Maker Dopamine

There is an idea called “Day-Maker Dopamine”. You know that feeling you get when someone is so thankful for your help, or so impressed with your service, that you get home at the end of the day and you’re still thinking about it? That’s Day-Maker Dopamine. The client feels great, but we might feel even better. Some of the ways we can do this are so easy, they can be referred to as low-hanging fruit.?

We can do this by staying aware of our clients - their responses to us, their typical reactions, their needs and their expectations. It’s not always possible to meet an expectation, but the effort to do it, each time, is impactful. This is how we can surprise and delight our clients - by knowing them.?

Taking the opportunities to go above and beyond will always help to create a strong connection with our clients. Each time our client sees that their faith in us was warranted, it solidifies their decision to be a B4 Networks client.?It costs nothing to provide exceptional customer service.??

Taking time to share how you surprised and delighted a client with your colleagues is very valuable. One of the things that holds people back from going above and beyond is not knowing how or feeling that they haven’t had the opportunity. This isn’t to suggest that each time you make a client smile or express being thankful, that you should tell everyone, every time. BUT when you are chatting with colleagues, allow them the opportunity to hear from you exactly what worked with a particular client. The customer wins, every time! Ultimately, when we are prioritizing the experience of the customer, they benefit from the interaction. Every. Single. Time.??

There are three categories of going above and beyond.?

1. Spontaneous: we see an opportunity and we take it, like when someone calls in and they are expecting a long wait for something, we can coordinate something that same day because we know a colleague lives nearby or is heading to a client close by that day. When we see the opportunity in front of us, to blow the expectations of the client out of the water, we must try and take it, each time. This takes awareness and time. You need to be paying attention, and you need to take the extra time. If someone asks you something that isn’t in your wheelhouse, do your best to answer (like if someone calls and asks about the weather while talking to you about a ticket).
2. Anticipatory: when we can plan to go above and beyond. Everything we learn about our clients can be used to help maintain the bonds we have. If someone on the phone tells us that their child graduates next week, when we talk to them next, it’s a great opportunity to congratulate them. We can make it important by noting it or adding a private note to a ticket so that the next person can share well wishes, for example.
3. Service Recovery: making it right by doing something extra. How can you impress a client when something has gone wrong? Going above and beyond for a client when a mistake is made on our part is, in our opinion, the most challenging way to go above and beyond. It means we must brainstorm how we can repair the trust after the client may believe we have broken it. This could be something like escalating a ticket because they didn’t get the service they needed in a time frame that was reasonable, or it could be something more complex, like advocating for a reduction on their bill because you believe (for one reason or another) that they shouldn’t be charged for something that happened.?

By taking the time to stop and think about how you can go above and beyond for your clients, you just might experience Day-Maker Dopamine!

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