NB The article is originally produced in Danish
The smile is the shortest distance between two people, Entertainer Victor Borge said. But it's hard to feel the dimples on the phone.
And the smile may also be a little stiff with Andreas in customer service, while Mrs. Frederiksen sheds all her accumulated outrage. Over the weather, her bad hair day, and the frustration that the slow juicer she has waited almost 10 days to receive is not in the color she has ordered. Andreas listens, holds his patience, and explains how Mrs. Frederiksen returns the item in order to get a new one in the right color … The missus gives her thanks, hangs up. And then everything is fine. Or?
Andreas believes the conversation went well, he solved the customers problem and rates the conversation an NPS score of 9. Mrs. Frederiksen rates the experience a 6 and clearly has a different view of the course of the conversation. Although the distance between the two numbers may not seem very significant, the employee and the customer have two different perceptions of the course of the conversation. And if the difference is not made clear to Andreas, the situation will repeat itself. Because Andreas is not aware of what he is doing wrong and thus does not understand that the customer does not have the same perception of the conversation as himself. The difference between the two numbers is P-GAP.
When numbers show emotions
P-GAP is short for perception gap and is a method that measures the emotional distance between two people in a particular touchpoint. P-GAP calculates the difference between the customer’s and the employee’s experience in the situation and generates a report with the result. This report can then be used both in relation to the individual employee and for analysis and optimization of the entire department. The purpose is to give the employee a greater emotional understanding of the customer’s situation, and insight into what parameters to work on, so that he or she becomes better at showing the dimples and empathy through the phone.
The P-GAP method was invented by Anders Rønnebech. It is targeted towards and used by companies that want to educate employees on delivering higher quality in the sales process and/or in customer experience. In addition to increased customer satisfaction, the benefits are also greater employee satisfaction, as the individual employee experiences a more significant personal contribution to making a difference through self-development.
Employee training that shows results
At nps.today, we are already implementing P-GAP at the postal service company PostNord and Norlys, Denmark’s largest energy and telecommunications group. These are two examples of companies focusing on ensuring the best possible customer service, and therefore actively engage and support customer service representatives in developing their potentials.
The starting point is an active focus on improving their own performance and increasing self-awareness in what parameters they should work on. The individual follow-up after the end of a case will give employees an insight into how they can deliver on the given parameters. The training typically takes place over a period of two weeks, where employees are measured by how well they do at putting themselves in the customer’s shoes and how high-quality service they provide. The training program is there to provide employees with the necessary guidance on how to optimize their work and thus help improve the company’s overall performance.
Facts:
Anders Rønnebech, who has developed P-GAP, is a trained sociologist and has always been interested in human interaction. Anders is the author of the book “Herregud – det er jo bare kundeservice!” (Christ – it’s just customer service!), and behind the provocative title lies a desire to make the subject more methodical and tool-based through tools like P-GAP. For several years, he has worked intensively with customer service and sales. Together with Peopleteams, Anders Rønnebech acts as a consultant and supports the implementation of P-GAP at nps.today.
