As an RTO leader you need to be looking at ways you can give and support and remain in business. This means looking at the customers and your community. Here at RTO Mentor we want to do everything we can to help you get courageous leadership skills. Panic is contagious. So is leadership.
Customer service is still key in even when we seem to be deep in solving other issues, and working through ways to move forward. When you build your customers trust, then you sell more, and be well positioned to provide the services and products your customers are seeking.
Everyone around the world are solving new problems at this very point. Some are doing it in manic chaos, others are doing it calming:
- How to get the call forward message so remote workers can answer
- How to connect the team
- How to still meet customer service requirements whilst being remote
You are not alone.
When I reached out to my network of RTO businesses, I found that many of these training providers are doing all they can to keep their teams (including independent contractors) employed and to make sure they have food, shelter and all kinds of other support.
Even when the whole game has changed, and survival of the business is paramount. Some are also finding ways to give back to their communities on top of this. 
In today’s business environment, you must begin thinking differently in order to grow (or retain) your client or customer base. Here are 3 tips from RTO Mentor to assist you with customer service:
- Consider ways to find the time needed to step outside your world and into theirs.
- Reach out via the phone, internet or whatever medium you have to ask them how they are going. What changes they are making, and how your services can fit in with that. You never know what comes from these conversations – maybe some ideas or some extra business.
- Accept you are an emotional being, and they are normal. Keep it personal, not transactional. Build trust that you can supply, you are worth the wait, and that you care.
Remember; Sometimes when a customer shares their pain points, it can be an opportunity.
Brene brown says in her book “Dare to Lead” Experiences that make you feel vulnerable, like losing a job or putting yourself out there emotionally, can bring feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and a desire for self-protection. However, there is not a single piece of empirical data to suggest that vulnerability is associated with weakness.
In fact, the opposite is true: acts of courage are impossible without first putting yourself in a vulnerable position.
Right from childhood, we seek to shield ourselves from vulnerable feelings like disappointment, hurt and diminishment. By building a wall out of our behaviours, emotions and thoughts, we protect ourselves from the big bad world. But to live and lead with courage, as we already know, we must let ourselves be vulnerable. This means letting down our walls and recognizing protective thoughts and behaviours for the defence mechanisms they really are.
Forget the status, titles and power plays.
As a leader in these times, you’ll need to forget all about status, titles and power plays.
Instead, engage your heart and your mind to think, feel and behave like a real leader. Someone who displays trust, honesty and shares failure so that they can grow from it.
Panic loves company.
And yet calm is our practical, efficient, rational alternative.