Cautions

This entry is part 9 of 13 in the series SNAP - Draft

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” — George Washington Carver.

As you use SNAP use it with purpose and intent. Use it thoughtfully. And, make a point not to abuse SNAP.

You might be asking yourself how you could possibly abuse SNAP. Here are some ways.

SNAP is not an excuse machine. Do not use it to give excuses or updates on failures. There are other tools designed specifically around service recovery for these types of situations. This is beyond the scope of this book. Use SNAP to set and reinforce expectations, to provide updates that demonstrate fulfillment of expectations and to answer questions for the customer before the customer develops anxiety.

SNAP is not a spam machine. Do not use SNAP messages in a way that mimics or simulates spam. It is not about how many times you share a message with your customer. It is about how you connect with your customer specifically about their current relationship with you.

SNAP is not about quantity; it is about quality. While being consistent, constant and frequent (as dictated by your specific situations) are important concepts, it is critical to keep in mind that doing SNAP just to be consistent or just to be constant or just to be frequent is not sufficient. It is key to use those concepts to connect with your customer and to keep your customer focused on your relationship, to form and reinforce expectations and to share statements about your deliverable. You measure your success using a business metric or rubric – measurements will vary for each of us. You don’t measure success by how many or often you SNAP.

SNAP is not about explaining your work process details. Your business is your business. Your customer wants a service or a product from you. Do not use SNAP to explain the inner workings of what you and your team do. Your customer does not care. They are not an expert on your work flows, your process, your machines, your equipment or your internal decision making process. So, don’t use SNAP to involve them. Treat your customer with respect; respect their desire to get your service or your product.

SNAP is not about over explaining. Do not use SNAP to share blow by blow accounts of what you are doing. This is similar to the caution above, however I note it separately. I have noticed that less experienced workers who don’t fully understand SNAP will use it to share minute by minute or day by day details and sequencing with a customer. Don’t do this. The customer does not care. In fact, it is counter productive. It sends the wrong message to the customer. You want to send the customer positive messages related to expectations, what you are doing for them, preparing for them — you want to keep them focused on the prize, the outcome.

SNAP is not about you being a hero. It is about the customer.

As you use SNAP make a point of using it with purpose and intent. Use SNAP to improve your customer’s experience.

© 2012, Philip Espinosa. All rights reserved.

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Philip Espinosa

As a strategic human resources leader, Philip Espinosa partners with people to deliver value: People | Partnerships | Value serves as his tag line. He believes that service starts with the customer. His book "Deliver Excellent Customer Service with a SNAP” helps others drive customer engagement using simple and consistent communication strategies. A second book titled "Focus On Your Success - 24 Simple Insights To Drive Daily Achievement" (ebook) helps working professionals view their daily choices through a different perspective. In addition to his writing, Philip works with strategic human capital initiatives and has delivered successful results over a career spanning more than 25 years. 

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