Four years ago, you would never have used the word “spiritual” in an article for executives. Four years ago, Prince Harry was still a prince and Corona was beer. The world has changed. And we’ve known for centuries that meeting emotional needs in customer service is important. I am always reminded of the words of American philosopher John Dewey. “The deepest impulse of human nature is the desire to be important.” Of course, with the saturation of consumerism;
Materialism and materialism have led many people to believe that being important means being liked, being successful, or having power. But in fact, Dewey was saying that to be important is to be meaningful to someone or something. One of his ideas was that human mental processes are characterized by the ability to create meaning from actions. In the context of customer service, I define spirituality as “the purposeful and unexpected fulfillment of a need for meaning.” Customer service is a meaning-making field. Every action that a regular customer service agent takes has meaning that is worth ten times more to him. So what does a meaningful service interaction look like? And how does having meaningful interactions with your customers help them spend more? Get a deeper understanding of the product or service you’re selling Making Sense In every customer service interaction, there are deeper, less conscious needs beneath the surface. A popular business adage is, “No one wants a drill.” What they want is a hole. People he doesn’t want a quarter-inch drill bit. They want his quarter inch hole. ” What is the deeper need beyond the customer’s initial request? Why do we need a hole? Be clear about the benefits of the hole, not the benefits of the 1/4-inch drill bit. This sales tactic provides a clever way to talk about the deeper meaning of your product, making your customers feel seen, heard, and important. If your customers feel important to you, they’re more likely to keep coming back. Science proves it: The more you love what you do, the more your customers will love you. It’s better to be served by someone who loves what they do and exudes an energy of love to serve you. , it’s a rare and special experience, but when you experience their passion, you become more personally invested in your product or service. Science has shown that such shared experiences lead to the activation of “mirror neurons,” or neurons that fire when we observe another person’s behavior as we ourselves perform that behavior. Masu. For example, it can reflect someone’s pace or energy, or the emotions they are displaying. We saw the effects of Miller’s neurons in action during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, when the Matildas of the Australian national team showed the world how to sell women’s football. Previously non-fans became emotionally invested in a sport (product) that exceeded all expectations. A total of 1.7 million tickets were sold across the cup competition, against the stretch target of 1.5 million set by FIFA. Matilda’s semi-final was described as “the most streamed event in Australian history”. Breaking down Matilda’s winning formula reveals many valuable lessons for high-performing teams and customer-focused companies, but one of the most obvious is that in order to sell a product, you have to believe in it. is. When your customers feel your passion, dedication, and deep connection to your work and the parts of it that make you feel energized and happy, it’s contagious. If you believe you’re doing important work that makes a difference (even if it’s serving coffee or helping someone pick out a product), that’s contagious too. Not only will people not want to take their eyes off you, they’ll keep coming back wanting to know more. Loyalty. When you bring more meaning, more passion, and more purpose to your product or service, you’ll find that your customers spend 10x more time with you because they come back for more. They may not suggest that service professionals being more spiritual is the reason they keep coming back to your business, but service staff are human when providing service. They would say that showing sexuality makes them feel important and that is important in today’s world.
