Customer Driven: Want to Help Your Clients? Stay Calm!

You probably know this scenario. You are enjoying a walk along your favorite lake or stream, and pick up a stone to skip it across the water. Where the stone impacts the water, you can see the ripples fan out from the impact spot. The ripples start close to the stone with a big wave, and as they get farther out, the waves get dulled and smaller until the waters are calm once more. Just a few moments later, all is calm again and you can’t detect the stone was thrown in the first place.

Throw the same stone on a stormy day, with rougher waters or a rushing stream, and you don’t see any of your ripples in the already turbulent waters. Your efforts go unnoticed…just another bump in an already bumpy environment.

Distractions Disrupt Customer Service

Put yourself in the place of that stone impacting the water. What is your impact? Do your clients hear you when they are distracted? Do you hear your clients when you are distracted? How can you increase your range of how far those ripples fan out and the impact you make?

Distractions, or disruptions, go beyond topics that we have discussed previously about cell phones and other forms of technology. We are distracted by cost savings pressures, concerns for the safety of our drivers on the road, and business conditions in various industries and companies. And if you aren’t distracted by those common themes, we certainly all face how to manage the dynamic disruptors in the fleet industry with the progression of autonomous vehicles, changing regulations/taxation, innovative ways to consume the abundance of data we all create…a very exciting time for us fleet geeks!

My advice is be calm. No one can hear you or feel your positive impact in disruptive waters.

My experience is that our clients want us to be those calm waters and guide them through the turbulence to smoother waters ahead. They may not be able to control their waters, but you can certainly control yours and your reception to their issues. Call it calm, focus, dedication, whatever your favorite word is to describe it. I call it Customer Driven.

Join the conversation! Share your favorite way to make personal connections. Email me at [email protected].

This article was originally published on Fleet Management Weekly.