How to Avoid Negative Cues

Your customer service has many legs and pockets. It is not only the way your employees interact with your customers, but it’s all the messages being sent to your customers in countless ways. Everything speaks: verbal cues, systems, technology, physical signage, uniforms, etc. It is imperative you take a step back and review any negative cues that are making your business appear less than world class.

Verbal

Medical practices are the leaders in negative cues of all kinds. First, negative verbal cues: When a patient is checking in and the receptionist says, “We need to verify your information.” Verify makes me feel like they don’t believe who I am, that maybe I am trying to use someone else’s insurance information. How about saying, “We need to confirm your information?”

Another example is when a patient is being seen by a doctor and a nurse comes into the room during the exam and says, “Your 10:30 is here,” or “You have a call on line two.” At that point I am convinced the doctor is now rushing and more concerned with the patient waiting rather than focusing on me. Some great medical practices have created both verbal and non-verbal codes for this.

Signage

Signage has, by far, the highest occurrence of negative cues. I have collected so many examples over the years and am constantly receiving more each week from all of you.  Businesses are so concerned about getting taken advantage of by 2 percent of customers that they end up insulting 98 percent with threatening signage. Here are just a few examples:

This is an actual sign on the glass door at the entrance to a high-end wine bar located in a beautiful shopping area.  There are 12 things they tell you that you cannot wear. But they have a line underneath it all that says, “Business casual or business attire is suggested.”  Couldn’t they have just put that on the door?

This one is so popular that Amazon.com actually sells it!

I was recently speaking to a group in Sydney, Australia, where a partner of one of the most successful real estate companies in Sydney approached me. The partner confessed that he has some negative cues. When they have an open house for potential buyers, they display the following sign on the door that reads, “Conditions of Entry,” and it proceeds to tell you that you cannot enter with food or drink or shoes or unaccompanied children or a slew of others barriers to viewing the house. I was so excited when this gentleman said, “I realized we could position this notice in a more positive way by saying, ‘Out of respect for the homeowner, we appreciate your removing shoes…’”

He got it!

On Stage vs. Off Stage

Do your employees really know what is considered on stage and off stage? I recently worked with some QSRs (quick-service restaurants) and after touring some of their locations, I repeatedly saw their employees on break, standing in front of the restaurant where customers were walking by, smoking. This goes back to last week’s service aptitude article. This is not their fault. To them, they are on break and can do what they want. It is management’s responsibility to make them aware that even though they are not interacting with customers while on break, if they are in uniform where customers can see them, they are “on stage.”

This can apply to all our businesses. I worked with a hospital and found nurses chatting behind the nurses’ station, forgetting that they still can be seen and heard by patients and their visitors.

It is critical that you do a periodic review of the negative cues that can be expressed in numerous ways and can project a less than world class image.