It's Not Your Father's
Customer Service Anymore!
By Anne
M. Obarski
"Tell me about your employees who are 25 years of
age and younger", is a favorite question of mine during
one of my workshops, "Communicating and Managing the X
and Y Generation Employees". The reaction from those
significantly over the age of 25 is one of head shaking
and frowns. I consistently get the following replies: no
work ethic, always talking on their cell phones, want to
work their schedule not the one that is posted, sloppy
appearance, and most of all, no communication skills.
How did you answer that question?
I recently read the following statistic," 72% of
retail employees enjoy customer interactions. But that
satisfaction level drops to just 55% among employees
between the ages of 16 and 24."
Interestingly, the research reported 74% of
workers between 35 and 44 years of age claimed they were
pleased with dealing with customers and a whopping 83%
of those polled between 44 and 64 years old said they
enjoyed the time interacting with customers.
So what's going on with the young employees and
yes, the young customers? I predict that dealing with
the "Y" generation, those born after 1980, will be the
biggest wake-up call businesses will need to address,
and soon.
If you have children born after 1980 you already
realize some of the signs that the people in my
audiences have addressed. However, their "baby boomer
parents, who are currently 40-60 years old" have written
this behavior off to just that, behavior of young people
as they ponder their Woodstock days. Ah, it will pass
and these fresh faces will conform to our management and
customer service training. Think again.
Let me share some information from Eric Chester,
author of the book, "Employing Generation Why". Eric's
book has really made me take a closer look at my own Gen
Y kids but also take a totally different look at the
expectations we have for this age group when it comes to
their first real jobs and not only how we are going to
manage them but how will we deliver service to this
instant gratification generation.
Eric says, "Generation Why has never known life
without cell phones, pagers, fax machines and voice
mail. Their world has always included minivans, bottled
water, cable television, overnight package delivery, and
chat rooms....And sadly enough; Gen Whys have never
known a world without AIDS, without crack or without
terrorist attacks. They've never known a world where
kids didn't shoot and kill other kids. He goes on to
say, "Gen Why has grown up in an instant world and they
don't buy in to the old "patience is a virtue, and "good
things come to those who wait" axioms".
The scary thing is that we "Baby Boomers" created
this fast paced, technology savvy, multi-tasking
generation and I think what we see, sometimes frightens
us.
Research shows that the Gen Y group is over 60
million in size, just about the size of the now
"retiring" Baby Boomers. The "Gen X" group who were born
between 1965-1980 is a little over one half the size of
the Baby Boomer numbers. Why is this
important?
Well, when the Baby Boomers start to retire there
is not going to be enough "Gen X'ers" to replace them.
The next people up for promotion are, yes you guessed
it, the Gen Y's!
Do I have your attention yet?
We are dealing with a generation who has a
different set of values and attitudes and beliefs, most
of which we helped to create. We were the ones that
scheduled those little tikes every night of the week
with baseball or soccer practice, dance lessons, voice
lessons, tutoring for kindergarten and heaven knows what
else would fit into their tiny schedules. No wonder why
my kids never had a problem sleeping at night, they were
exhausted.
Here's how to kick up your expectations of Gen Y
and look at them an important part of your business
instead of a hindrance.
1. Recognize their
intelligence.
This
is a group of young people that have been eager to
learn. They grew up with technology and it is an
important part of them. While the boomers are still
trying to program their VCR, the "Y" generation is
watching videos on their ipods that they have 5,000
songs downloaded to. Harness their creativity and their
knowledge of technology to make needed changes to your
business. Request their feedback when trying to solve
business problems as they may come to the table with
unconventional yet very smart solutions. Make sure that
you acknowledge their accomplishments publicly since
this is a group that has grown up with trophies and
certificates and awards as feedback for a job well
done.
2. Recognize their
impatience.
Chester
calls this group, "stimulus junkies" and that title
makes sense. This is a group of multi-taskers that can
have an IM conversation with 8 people on their computer,
text message someone else on their cell-phone, while
listening to their i-pod and downing a burger and a Red
Bull! Lists don't intimidate them so provide them with
enough work to keep them busy and don't waste time in
the explanation. Be direct and to the point because that
is how they have learned to communicate. When you hold a
meeting, stay to the point and use visuals if you can as
they have been used to stimulation during their learning
processes.
3. Recognize what customer
service means to them.
This is the area I believe businesses will
struggle with the most. The Gen Y group has been able to
get whatever they want, whenever they want at lightening
speed and they don't really see a need to be loyal to
anyone. They have been used to employees at Old Navy
with headsets and roller skates to bring them whatever
they wanted while they were in the dressing room. They
don't think twice about Googling a business and
purchasing on the internet. To them, speed is a way of
life. My son has worked for McDonalds for a number of
years and his experience with giving good customer
service is getting the correct order into the hands of
the customer as quickly as possible.
If you want them to build a relationship with a
customer, you are going to have to explain "why" first,
and then deal with the how. The Gen Y's don't make eye
contact very well because they tend to be focused on
screens of all sizes and not a human face. Maybe that is
why only 55 % of that age group actually likes
interacting with the customer. When you are training,
try using video or web training or even roll playing to
explain exactly what your customer service should look
like to your customers.
But what about Gen Y customers and what they want
as far as customer service? It's no different from your
Gen Y employees. These "customers" will probably make
very little eye contact, probably engage in very little
chit chat and want to get what they want and get out of
the store in a short period of time. They won't really
care if you ask them about their day or what they are
wearing or if they have been in the store before. They
will get frustrated very quickly if you don't know the
answer to their question immediately and they can smell
BS a mile away and they don't need it or want it.
As you can see, it will be even more important to
educate your Gen X and Baby Boomer employees on how they
should be greeting and treating this new customer
instead of making the assumption that they are cold,
uncommunicative, young punks.
On the contrary, they are our future. This group
of fresh faced young people will embrace change, they
will find the answers to curing AIDS and breast cancer,
they will teach society how to reject prejudices and
they will demand ethical behavior in business and those
they choose to do business with.
It's not your father's customer service
strategies anymore. Frankly, it's not your father's
business anymore. How will you change what you are doing
to embrace the Gen Y's in your business as employees and
as customers? The future of all of our businesses rests
on that answer.
