A: Hi Trevor.
T: Hello, Andy.
A: Thanks for being willing to come online and be interviewed about my book.
T: Oh, you’re very welcome.
A: And so really the conversation is for the benefit of anybody that might be thinking of buying the book or looking for a bit of help around this whole subject of customer service.
Overall, obviously you’ve left a nice review for me. What was your overall impression of the book?
T: Well, there’s a couple of things come straight to mind. I mean, one is that it’s obviously written from a deep knowledge base, a deep experienced level that you have. I know that because obviously I’ve known your work before, but in terms of the book you’re drawing on lots of real life examples, stories, real people, and that really adds depth to it. It’s certainly not a superficial treatment of the subject.
Well, you say in the beginning, in the intro, that you’re passionate about this topic and that passion comes through. It’s clear that you have a huge amount to offer and it’s all there for the taking.
And related to that is the way you’ve structured the book because that, in my mind anyway, makes it very accessible. You’ve got 30 chapters, but then within that you’ve got the three sections and that makes getting around the book and going back to particular topics, very easy. Although each chapter, they’re all related, it’s all in the same book and there’s a certain progression, also you can look at each chapter as a particular aspect of customer service and that really means that if there’s a particular interest you have or you’ve had a particular situation with a customer that you want to reflect on and refer back to, it’s easy to do that too.
A: Thank you. And was there any particular part of the book that stood out for you?
T: Well, personally speaking, I’m particularly drawn to this later section which really is about what’s going on inside me or someone who is working with a customer, what’s going on for you, not just what’s going on for the customer. I mean, we are talking about a relationship here. In fact, I picked the book up again this morning and it reminded me. The strapline on the book is ’30 ways to transform your customer experience and your own.’
So the thing that I particularly like and the thing really, I suppose, that’s made the biggest difference to me reading it is to really wake up the fact that by being better at customer service, by serving customers better, by giving them a better experience, your experience gets better as well. So the scope here is to have more enjoyment in your job, to even have fun doing it. I love that. That’s really great.
A: Great. And so who do you think’s going to find this book useful?
T: Well, I think the short answer is anybody that works in any role where you’re with customers, and of course they can be external customers outside your organisation. They could even be customers within your organisation.
As I said before, really we’re looking at relationships here in a particular professional setting. I mean, my immediate thoughts are for people who are in front line retail or some kind of help facility or help desk type situation. It could be people who are doing online customer service, not just face to face as well. There’s a lot in the book that would apply in that situation which of course is a growing sector, isn’t it? There’s more online sales, more that sort of thing.
So there’s that answer, but there’s also the answer about anyone that wants to understand more the dynamics between two people and how they can either spiral down or spiral up. In fact you’ve got some diagrams in one point in the book which show both of those situations and of course if you want to improve customer service you want the spiral up rather than the spiral down.
And I think one other element, since you asked the question, is what the book keeps doing, for me anyway, is to question assumptions. I’ve done this. You come to a customer interaction with certain assumptions. “This is a difficult customer” for example, and actually that isn’t true. It’s just your perception and when you actually dig under that, you can find out there’s a huge scope for change and a difficult customer can become a loyal customer – somebody who you really get on well with. I guess, anyone who’s done this type of work for any length of time will have examples of that. So it just shows you the potential.
A: Yeah. Is that something that you have applied yourself? Was there anything else in the book that you’ve been putting into practice yourself?
T: Yes, I think the big thing for me is really getting a sense of the service part of customer service. In other words, to really give good service is about understanding the customer properly, not about what you think the customer should have or ought to have, or even assuming what they want. There’s a big piece there for me about – and I think for anyone – to really good open questions without any expectation there and listening carefully and getting into their world because only then can you really provide service for that person, that customer. That’s a really important part of my work, for me individually, as well as for people I work with.
A: And tell us a little more about what you do then, Trevor, and how people could get in touch with you if they wanted to.
T: Okay, thank you. I work with individuals or groups, teams, sometimes who want to get better at what they’re doing and to enjoy it better. Now that can be also going into things like with less stress, greater resilience, higher performance and greater understanding. That’s under the Inspiration at Work. Inspiration at work. So my website, if you just want to find it, just look up Trevor Hill Inspiration at Work and you’ll find me.
A: Brilliant. And as you say, we’ve known each other a little while and I know what an excellent coach you are, so I can certainly give you an endorsement for the quality of what you do.
T: That’s very kind of you. Thank you.
A: Have a great day then Trevor. All the best.
T: Thanks, Andy. It’s been great talking to you. Bye for now.
A: Thank you. Bye.
Here’s a link to Trevor’s website: