Good Cop - Good Cop: Customer Service Teamwork
It’s not unusual to find yourself in situations where you and another colleague are working with the same customer on the same project or issue. You might be bringing in a coworker to get some additional information. You might be escalating an issue to a customer service manager or supervisor. You’re possibly having to connect your customer to a different department.
In these situations, one of the best practices you can use is the “Good Cop – Good Cop” strategy.
Good Cop - Good Cop sets your coworkers up for success
You’ve no doubt heard of the “Good Cop – Bad Cop” approach to police interrogation (at least on television!) It is where one person asks the tough or unpleasant questions, and a second person plays a more conciliatory and friendly role. The “Good Cop – Good Cop” scenario is similar in that you’re still playing off of a coworker, but in this case you’re both playing a positive customer service role.
The purpose of this practice is to give your customers greater confidence with the your colleagues, and to establish that their needs are not just important to you, but to everybody in your organization.
Here's a Good Cop - Good Cop example
Here’s an example of how it might work in a telephone conversation where you are connecting a customer to somebody in a different department:
YOU (on a 3-way call with your customer and co-worker):
“Mr. Smith, I have my colleague, Susan, on the line. She’s with our logistics department. She’s the best there is, and if anyone can figure out how to get this done for you, it’s Susan.”
“Susan, Mr. Smith needs to get this item within the next four days, and our standard shipping time is two weeks. Is there a way we make this work?”
5 huge benefits from this one simple action
Using this approach has a number of very powerful benefits.
1. It sets your coworker up for success by ensuring the customer of her expertise.
2. It positions you as a champion for your customers, and as someone who is genuinely interested in getting things right.
3. Because you’ve explained the situation to your coworker, you’ve prevented customers from being annoyed at having to repeat themselves.
4. Your customer will perceive the organization as one that is committed to its customers.
5. Your colleague (Susan) will appreciate the compliment – which helps to create a positive working relationship.
It’s a great way for achieving both an outstanding customer experience, and an outstanding internal customer experience – and should be a part of everyone’s customer service training.
“The more important customers believes they are to you, the more important you and your company will be to them”
