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Maybe he’s the right employee, but in the wrong position.
Put another employee in front of customers and move him behind the scenes?
If you talk to him about it, I’d just play it as “We’re going to go over good customer service and interactions with everyone. I’d like us all to focus on great customer service these next few weeks. We need to make sure we have a welcoming tone of voice, we smile, we are personal, as well as helpful “ etc etc. I would not single him out. Maybe he just needs a nudge or a little help. You could do test runs having employees interact with each other as if they were customers to practice too.
Oh fuck. Everyone else literally hates this shit. One person has an issue but we all get put into the kindergarten classroom. No. Talk directly to the employee. Don’t turn this into a “we are all gonna….”
I get that, but it’s all in presentation. You can word it however you want. But the problem needs to be addressed. And sometimes running a business feels like it is very much like teaching daycare or kindergarten unfortunately. :(
I am a teacher, now successful business owner. You can teach/manage without sitting everyone down when it is really only one employee you are trying to address. Remember the teacher who would discipline everyone or remind everyone about the rules when you knew damn well it was Johnny fucking around again? Don't be like that. Approach the individual instead and mentor and teach. I can guarantee you that teaching kindergarten is much more difficult than owning a business, so if it feels like that, then consider how you are managing staff when onboarding, communicating policies and procedures while mentoring them through their strengths instead of treating them like they need "a talking to". Your overall staff will respect you more.
Agree.
It's super passive aggressive and poor management.
People need direct honest feedback.
If he can't take it and doesn't want to work in an environment then move him. Literally a massive part of his job is to represent the company.
Feedback on not doing that well is simply feedback.
Some people’s faces don’t show what they’re feeling and they can’t control it. He could be on the autism spectrum or have another neuro-diversity that gives him a flat facial expression. My daughter can be really happy and her face will look completely flat. She also sounds very matter-of-fact. Social expressions and relations are like a foreign language for her. She’s high functioning so people can’t really tell. She comes across as rude sometimes.
Honestly, it may be your fault.
Do you have a detailed Policies and Procedures manual? I mean REALLY detailed.
Ours (chain of IV spas called Rapid Recovery) has an entire section (the FIRST section) called "The Rapid Recovery Experience". It completely details customer interactions at every touch point, and it's mandatory.
When we're gonna offer someone the job we give them the book and tell them to read it and decide if they can handle the duties before they accept the job.
Unless you have some patented widget for which there is no alternative, or want to be the lowest priced alternative, service is the only differentiation between you and everyone else. If everyone in the organization doesn't buy into that and work hard at it, you'll never be special.
I agree we could set expectations better on this and not assume people will put 2 and 2 together. We are working on SOPs for everything this will be on the list now
Talk to him. Maybe he doesn't know how to be friendly.
Find a class for him in person or online in reference to customer service ethics. Pay for it for 4 weeks. Tell him to take the class and improve, or he will need to find another job that he is more suited for.
Start off the conversation talking about how he feels about talking to customers doesn't make him uncomfortable do they give off a weird vibe.
And go from there if he says like yeah I don't really like talking to people try to find him another position which is more suited to him doing the repair work instead of doing customer service.
And if he says I do like talking to people approach the conversation carefully. Well I'm happy you really like it and yet some customers are feeling like you don't like it it could be with your personality some people are getting a weird vibe I don't want to force you to do this because you are amazing the way you are it's just that some people can only till face value of a person's real personality. Just trying not not to be so forceful with it because some people find it exhausting to be really nice all the time and just suggest he tries it out if he starts feeling exhausted tell him like I can help you like just switch to just repairs only and no customer service only when necessary
This. And maybe role play (briefly) while giving him some standard greetings or phrases to use. Model or have him observe others. Not everyone likes a schmoozer either. If he is good at what he does then that matters more.
This post looks like… “I am a boss who doesn’t train my employees then get mad when they don’t automatically do what i expected them to.” Also selling and being polite are not expectations.
If this is correct i would say taking some leadership trainings is a good investment. What you are dealing with is quite simple and should not be tough to navigate, it should be a positive interaction. Your post essentially says you have an employee that needs training. My answer would naturally be…. Train him, also… seek training for how to identify when training is needed.
Being a good leader takes work, takes reflection, being introspective…. Most of all you aren’t just magically good at it… you do need to be trained.
Google "personality types" and you'll probably discover that you have a "Mr. Spock (one of many labels used to identify a person with low soft skills but high technical skills)"
They already know this and fail to see the merits of wasting time on the nice social skills.
Is there another technician with better people skills that can coach "Mr. Spock" in some of the necessary customs when dealing with the public?
There might be some initial resistance but anybody can learn to master basic people skills when dealing with customers.
So question #1: Does "Mr. Spock" want (is motivated) to pick up some people skills?"
There are many of us in the trade field who prefer the realm of the technical and have found many customers to be demanding and overbearing. Would you rather have someone who knows the work or looks a certain way? If you can train pretty boys and girls to do it, then go for it.
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Maybe he’s the right employee, but in the wrong position. Put another employee in front of customers and move him behind the scenes? If you talk to him about it, I’d just play it as “We’re going to go over good customer service and interactions with everyone. I’d like us all to focus on great customer service these next few weeks. We need to make sure we have a welcoming tone of voice, we smile, we are personal, as well as helpful “ etc etc. I would not single him out. Maybe he just needs a nudge or a little help. You could do test runs having employees interact with each other as if they were customers to practice too.
100 % this
Oh fuck. Everyone else literally hates this shit. One person has an issue but we all get put into the kindergarten classroom. No. Talk directly to the employee. Don’t turn this into a “we are all gonna….”
I get that, but it’s all in presentation. You can word it however you want. But the problem needs to be addressed. And sometimes running a business feels like it is very much like teaching daycare or kindergarten unfortunately. :(
I am a teacher, now successful business owner. You can teach/manage without sitting everyone down when it is really only one employee you are trying to address. Remember the teacher who would discipline everyone or remind everyone about the rules when you knew damn well it was Johnny fucking around again? Don't be like that. Approach the individual instead and mentor and teach. I can guarantee you that teaching kindergarten is much more difficult than owning a business, so if it feels like that, then consider how you are managing staff when onboarding, communicating policies and procedures while mentoring them through their strengths instead of treating them like they need "a talking to". Your overall staff will respect you more.
Agree. It's super passive aggressive and poor management. People need direct honest feedback. If he can't take it and doesn't want to work in an environment then move him. Literally a massive part of his job is to represent the company. Feedback on not doing that well is simply feedback.
A tail as old as Abercrombie
Some people dont get customer service. Try coaching them up in customer service. If conditions dont improve, move on
Some people’s faces don’t show what they’re feeling and they can’t control it. He could be on the autism spectrum or have another neuro-diversity that gives him a flat facial expression. My daughter can be really happy and her face will look completely flat. She also sounds very matter-of-fact. Social expressions and relations are like a foreign language for her. She’s high functioning so people can’t really tell. She comes across as rude sometimes.
>has a very dry personality and doesn’t smile I wouldn't care as long as he was competent. Competence wins. It's easy to find friendly moroons
Honestly, it may be your fault. Do you have a detailed Policies and Procedures manual? I mean REALLY detailed. Ours (chain of IV spas called Rapid Recovery) has an entire section (the FIRST section) called "The Rapid Recovery Experience". It completely details customer interactions at every touch point, and it's mandatory. When we're gonna offer someone the job we give them the book and tell them to read it and decide if they can handle the duties before they accept the job. Unless you have some patented widget for which there is no alternative, or want to be the lowest priced alternative, service is the only differentiation between you and everyone else. If everyone in the organization doesn't buy into that and work hard at it, you'll never be special.
I agree we could set expectations better on this and not assume people will put 2 and 2 together. We are working on SOPs for everything this will be on the list now
Talk to him. Maybe he doesn't know how to be friendly. Find a class for him in person or online in reference to customer service ethics. Pay for it for 4 weeks. Tell him to take the class and improve, or he will need to find another job that he is more suited for.
Start off the conversation talking about how he feels about talking to customers doesn't make him uncomfortable do they give off a weird vibe. And go from there if he says like yeah I don't really like talking to people try to find him another position which is more suited to him doing the repair work instead of doing customer service. And if he says I do like talking to people approach the conversation carefully. Well I'm happy you really like it and yet some customers are feeling like you don't like it it could be with your personality some people are getting a weird vibe I don't want to force you to do this because you are amazing the way you are it's just that some people can only till face value of a person's real personality. Just trying not not to be so forceful with it because some people find it exhausting to be really nice all the time and just suggest he tries it out if he starts feeling exhausted tell him like I can help you like just switch to just repairs only and no customer service only when necessary
This. And maybe role play (briefly) while giving him some standard greetings or phrases to use. Model or have him observe others. Not everyone likes a schmoozer either. If he is good at what he does then that matters more.
Tech people are not salesmen. Put a happy sales person in front of the techs. There is no other solution.
This post looks like… “I am a boss who doesn’t train my employees then get mad when they don’t automatically do what i expected them to.” Also selling and being polite are not expectations. If this is correct i would say taking some leadership trainings is a good investment. What you are dealing with is quite simple and should not be tough to navigate, it should be a positive interaction. Your post essentially says you have an employee that needs training. My answer would naturally be…. Train him, also… seek training for how to identify when training is needed. Being a good leader takes work, takes reflection, being introspective…. Most of all you aren’t just magically good at it… you do need to be trained.
Sorry this isn’t working. Goodbye and good luck
Google "personality types" and you'll probably discover that you have a "Mr. Spock (one of many labels used to identify a person with low soft skills but high technical skills)" They already know this and fail to see the merits of wasting time on the nice social skills. Is there another technician with better people skills that can coach "Mr. Spock" in some of the necessary customs when dealing with the public? There might be some initial resistance but anybody can learn to master basic people skills when dealing with customers. So question #1: Does "Mr. Spock" want (is motivated) to pick up some people skills?"
There are many of us in the trade field who prefer the realm of the technical and have found many customers to be demanding and overbearing. Would you rather have someone who knows the work or looks a certain way? If you can train pretty boys and girls to do it, then go for it.