There are countless ways that video has been used in Customer Service. From training videos to television commercials and everything in between, video is the perfect medium to connect with your customers over and over again.
Perhaps without realizing it, we have witnessed countless customer service moments on TV and in movies. Some of our examples on this list are famous pop culture moments!
1. Chill Out With the Bureaucracy
This clip depicts Ben Stiller’s character Greg Focker in Meet The Parents. Here we see what the poster describes as the “perfect exaggeration of how some companies rigidly hold on to their policies and protocols.”
Of course, the company in question doling out the less-than-stellar customer service is an airline. Albeit a fictional one, but hey, we’ve all been there.
Every airline employee that Focker meets along the way is apathetic.
2. Play on Words
Any 90s kid – or adult – will recognize this instant classic. The Orbit “Dirty Mouth” commercials were just about as fun as tv commercials can get. Hilariously, one of the actresses in the commercial, Jesse Meriwether, posted the link herself and had this to say about it:
“The writers were on set all day giving us different things to say. It was a lot of fun. The Orbit people were in the back room and they kept calling via radio “We want more chewing! More chewing!” It was pretty hilarious. My jaw was about to fall off by the end of the day. There was a lot of laughing on this set. As you can imagine.”
3. What Customer Service Does NOT Look Like
No list of funny customer service videos would be complete without examples of what not to do. There are just so, so many of them.
Listen, you’re going to want happy employees if you want to provide great customer service. Think about it: employees who despise their jobs or managers won’t be motivated to promote that company in any way. Quite the opposite.
Employees with a sense of pride in their work, who feel heard and well-paid, will be proud to work for that organization. It will show in how they represent the company when the manager isn’t around!
4. Dealing with Difficult Customers
Every. Single. One. of us in Customer Service will deal with crazy customers. It’s just the name of the game. When in this situation as the CSM we can choose how to react: we can calmly use what is at our disposal to make the situation better, or we can let others’ poor behavior infect us too.
Rise above it. It’s hard not to see the humor in things with this next clip.
The concept of difficult customers is depicted hilariously in the 2011 movie Bridesmaids. In this scene we see Annie, played by Kristin Wiig, intoxicated and acting inappropriately on an airplane. An understandably irritated flight attendant handles the obnoxious Annie with… we’ll call it stern grace.
5. Read the Room
Customer service means being reactive while doing your best to anticipate the customers’ needs. Think about some everyday situations you’ve been a part of, even if you’re not in customer service.
For example, if you walk into a bar and see a achelorette party at one table and an elderly couple at another, most would deduce that these different customers will have different needs. They will be looking for a different experience, despite being at the same place (or purchasing the same product).
Hailing from Saturday Night Live, this is one of our most funny customer service videos. It depicts a front desk employee (Kumail Nanjiani) frustrating a man (Mikey Day) trying to check in to a hotel.
Rather than anticipating, or even simply listening to what the customer wants, the employee is pushy and insistent on what he thinks the customer should do. It’s a cringey situation that unfortunately most of us have been in.
6. Practice Makes Perfect
Before working with customers one-on-one it is helpful to practice with your colleagues. You can create case studies and role-play scenarios where a colleague is posing as a customer. The “customer” will ask questions and proceed through the mock sales process to gain insights into how it works.
Next is our most famous funny customer service videos, from a little show called The Office. In this scene we see Dwight, Michael, and Jim practice a mock sales call for practice. Of course, things go awry and chaos ensues.
7. Be Clear & Concise
There is an imbalance of information between every salesperson and customer. Obviously the salesperson or CSM will know more about the product, service, price, discounts, problems, etc.
Your job as the customer-facing person in the organization is to represent the company and product to the customer. You want to communicate with clarity and effectiveness. Don’t let the customer feel confused and defeated when you have all of the tools to help her!
For this funny customer service video we had to bring back Kumail Nanjiani, this time from one of his many stints on the always-hilarious Portlandia. Here Nanjiani plays a an unconcerned cell phone store employee who does everything in his power to be the least clear and concise he can be with his customers.
8. Be Nice!
This should go without saying, but we should always be nice to our customers! Even if you are having a bad day, or are frustrated, never take it out on the customer. It would be better to take the day off (mental health days are real and very necessary, people!) and step away than to treat customers badly.
This next on our list of funny customer service videos is a classic example from Seinfeld. In this clip we see George and Jerry legitimately afraid of a business owner after being berated publicly. They return back over and over only because the soup is so good, but always at the cost of stress and usually embarrassment.
9. Do Everything in Your Power to Improve the Situation
Customer Service teams often have varying degrees of flexibility to help customers out. Perhaps you are able to discount certain items or provide free express delivery. Whatever the case, use these tools when necessary! They can save customer relationships.
Things do go wrong in any organization, and it’s the CSM’s job to discuss that with the customer. Be prepared to do all you can to help them.
Conclusion
Funny customer service videos give us so many great examples of what to – and not to – do in customer service situations. Use these, along with your own expectations of how a customer should be treated, to have fun with guiding your own customer experiences!