Hey All! Einstein again…
Never thought I would turn into a road warrior but now I’m day four into an extended business trip. Today I caught up on email, some reading and thinking about customer service.
Customer Service has changed methods of delivery or attempted delivery many times over the years but has always come back to the same thing. Companies keep trying to do more with less and sometimes they think that giving the appearance that they care is cheaper than actually caring. If their customer attrition rate is acceptable and saves money then fantastic? No, that is neither the case nor the vision of great customer service for a company to last and to be a leader .
Giving fantastic customer service means you have to be weird, you have to be different, you have to forget what you learned in business school and remember how you felt when…
- You walked into your local cafe and the waiter knew your name and favorite drink after only been in once before
- The flight attendant brought your child a blanket and a toy knowing that it would be needed shortly into the flight
- Your trip back to the mall to return a gift without the receipt ended up like they said – 100% satisfaction guaranteed
- Going to a full service gas station really was full service. Didn’t need to ask for it and was at no extra charge (if you are old enough to remember full service gas stations )
- You called a customer support line and a real person answered the phone by the second ring and stayed with you until your issue was resolved. No transfers, no auto-attendants and no “I’m sorry I’m not authorized to do that”
You felt like they were in business for you, you really did matter. You felt like if they were going to make a change at the company or restaurant or office that they would call you first and ask what you thought.
And really what did they do differently from all of the other places that you have been to?
They under-promised and over-delivered on what they said they would do. You always got what you expected, plus 1%.
They gave you consistent high quality service from caring people. They were informed and enjoyed what they were doing.
Their people were empowered to make decisions on their own. The person in front of you could make your experience positive.
It goes back to the saying – What’s the difference between a hall of fame baseball player and an average player? One extra hit every twelve at bats. That’s the difference in having a batting average in the .200 and in the .300. That’s a little extra work after practice. That’s starting spring training a little early. That’s not a lot especially if you look at the rewards.
Each person on your team is customer facing at some point. They have the ability to make or break a relationship at every single customer touch point. So you have to be careful who you hire. You can train someone on the skills they will need to do the job required, but customer orientated / customer focused employees are gems and grab them when you can. You need to train them – give them the knowledge they will need to exceed in their position and show them where to go to get answers. Now get out of their way – let them know where they fit in your organization and that they have the power and authorization to make your customer’s experience positive and one where they will remember, come back, tell others and defend you in public and online.
Oh yeah, I went cross-country skiing today as well. Off to Seattle, WA tomorrow
-Einstein
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