{"id":2170,"date":"2016-01-26T17:05:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T22:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=2170"},"modified":"2016-01-08T17:38:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T22:38:06","slug":"follow-the-p-a-i-r-method-of-customer-service-for-more-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/follow-the-p-a-i-r-method-of-customer-service-for-more-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow the P.A.I.R. Method of Customer Service for More Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: Jim Cucinotta is a very senior executive, with over 20+ years of experience in leading sales, marketing, and operations teams. \u00a0He is also an author on Flevy. \u00a0You can\u00a0view his firm’s business\u00a0training guides\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

\"happy-customers\"We hear a lot about customer satisfaction, servicing the customers\u2019 needs, and being customer centric.\u00a0 But what we are finding out, these terms mean different things to different people.\u00a0 Without a clear understanding of what service means, all parties involved will be disappointed.<\/p>\n

When we discuss service in our company, we focus on P.A.I.R., realizing that the buyer and seller need to be coupled in order to achieve mutual success.<\/p>\n

Proactive<\/strong><\/p>\n

The key to being a star in the service world is to anticipate what your client is going to need.\u00a0 You need to truly understand who your customer is, what they like (dislike), and how you fit into their lives.\u00a0 Then make sure you have what they want ready when they want it.<\/p>\n

Attentive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paying attention to your clients\u2019 needs is another important skill to establish a culture of good service.\u00a0 You need to \u201ctend\u201d to your client.\u00a0 Listen and interpret what they say.\u00a0 Focus on your customer when they have a concern and follow up with them even if you think the matter is closed.<\/p>\n

Interactive<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best companies know that the client experience needs to be interactive.\u00a0 You need to take the time to talk with (not at) your customers to understand how, when and why they use your product or service.\u00a0 You also need to provide tools to help them learn about the ways your product or service helps them live better.<\/p>\n

Responsive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reacting to a situation and turning it into a positive experience is another key service feature.\u00a0 This could be as simple as returning a phone call, email, or tweet.\u00a0 The key is that your customer receives a response.\u00a0 Respond promptly within an established timeframe (ideally within 4 hours) and discuss the situation in layman\u2019s terms to ensure your client understands the resolution.\u00a0 Too many times, one side is disappointed because they do not understand what they agreed to.<\/p>\n

The P.A.I.R. method of customer service works with internal and external customers.\u00a0 It is vital to understand that you need to service your colleagues with as much or more vigor than your customers.\u00a0 Without your company working cohesively, there is no chance that you will deliver on your promise to your customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: Jim Cucinotta is a very senior executive, with over 20+ years of experience in leading sales, marketing, and operations teams. \u00a0He is also an author on Flevy. \u00a0You can\u00a0view his firm’s business\u00a0training guides\u00a0here. * * * * We hear a lot about customer satisfaction, servicing the customers\u2019 needs, and being customer centric.\u00a0 But… Follow the P.A.I.R. Method of Customer Service for More Success<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":2171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[456,455,1019],"class_list":["post-2170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-operations","tag-customer-satisfaction","tag-customer-service","tag-customer-success"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2191,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170\/revisions\/2191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}