I was just reading John DiJulius’ recent newsletter in which he shares the latest statistics on customer service. In the past (survey from 1997-2007)38% of companies ranked a “3″ on a 1-5 scale in terms of customer service. One representing the worst possible experience and “5″ as World Class.
That’s a “C” on my report card. I don’t know about you, but there wasn’t a whole lot of celebrating going on at my house if I brought home a “C” on my report card.
Average
Neither Here nor There
Not that great, not that stinky
What was expected and nothing more
NOT memorable
Think about your customers – is that what you want their view of your company to be? Just okay? Average?
So what has the recent economic climate done to those results: John spells it out:
“…the shockingly bad news is that more organizations have gotten worse. Levels 1 and 2 have spiked 15% combined, while Level 3 has dropped from 38% to 21%. Level 3 used to be where most companies lived, but today is shrinking.
Companies are making a conscious decision to remove “customer service” from their to-do list. Just like “employees should be happy they have a job” customers should evidently “get over themselves” and forget about being VALUED and CONSIDERED and NURTURED in the selling experience.
O.M.G.
Just like a coin, there are two sides and John spotlights the fact that some companies – albeit very few – do get the value of building customer relationships:
The good news: Level 4, Above Average, customer service companies actually grew 2%, and the 3% of companies that were World Class are still World Class. That did not drop off like some feared. So that tells us there has been an increase (2%) in companies that have seen the value of improving their customer service level in order to compete in today’s economy. The 21% (original Level 4 & 5) have not compromised on their commitment to superior customer service.
My take on the whole thing? THIS IS OUR CHANCE!
We all have way too much competition, but this is our chance to really shine in the customer’s eyes. If we put more, not less, focus on the customer, we have the opportunity to be the leader in our industry:
Understanding and exceeding customer’s expectation
Actively listening
Making recommendations based on uncovered needs
Building a relationship – establishing trust
Following up
The economy is going to get better. It is! And when it does and when consumers have more confidence in spending – where do you think they will return? To the company who saw no value in the customer when the chips were down or the company that did everything in their power to build customer relationships, establish trust and work hard to exceed their expectations every time?
Are you on e-Harmony? Do you know someone who is? Well, if so you know that during the initial communication stage each party has the opportunity to share their relationship must-haves and can’t-stands. You can pick from a set list of options or make up your own. For example, must-haves might be:
Must love animals and my children (in that order)
Must have a motorcycle and know how to use it
Must have experience as a roadie for the Grateful Dead
Can’t stands might be:
Liars, cheats and bigots
Brussel Sprouts
Long walks on a short pier
Okay, you get the idea. So now let’s think about our customers. If they put together a list of must-haves and can’t stands, what would they include?
Must Haves:
Honesty. Including when you’ve made a mistake or can’t make a deadline – just be honest.
Quality. Experience, product, service.
Listening skills. Not just to what I say I want and need but what is left unsaid – the ability to read between the lines is a plus.
Knowledge. As a customer, I may think I know what I want, but if you ask the right questions and listen carefully, you’ll make recommendations based on what I need
Can’t stands:
Over enthusiastic sales people who start selling before I’ve told them what I want.
To be treated like a dollar sign instead of a person.
Boosters who don’t deliver.
People who say disparaging things about the competition.
If you were to ask your customers for their must-haves and can’t stands would you be surprised by their answers?
It all comes down to thoroughly understanding the customer’s expectations. As a freelance writer, I assume people want content that is accurate, polished, compelling and on time. But I recently heard a writer say her boss just wanted it written: “don’t worry about getting it right, just get it written.” Wow, that was a surprise.
It would be an interesting exercise for you to make the list and then ask your staff to do the same. Would there be any surprises? Compare those answers with those of your customers – are there disconnects?
I had an aha moment a few months back. In all this talk about customer service and building relationships and earning customer’s loyalty I suddenly asked myself:
“Who decides what great customer service looks like?”
In every company I’ve been with, a team of executives and operational leaders will sit around a room and decide how many rings the phone should go before answering and how many seconds a customer coming into a store must be greeted within and what greeting the employee should use. But has anyone ever actually asked the customer what is important to them?
Do they care if we answer the phone by the third ring if, when we answer, it is with a curt “Hello, Burger Town, what do you want?” or worse yet “Hello and thank you for calling Burger Town, home of the double stacked burger made just the way you want it where for a limited time only you can get two burgers for the price of one, how can I help you?”
The more I thought about it, the more I wondered how often businesses ask the customer what is important to them. We may be establishing policies and measuring success for our employees against something the customer could care less about.
In this article, How Do You Define Customer Service, I expand my thoughts on customer service and determining what we should be striving to do based on what the customers finds valuable.
But in the meantime – HOW DO YOU DEFINE CUSTOMER SERVICE? As a customer does great customer service vary depending on the type of shopping/business transaction or are there a few basic must-haves. As a business executive – what do you expect every customer to receive and how did you determine those criteria?
The final step to ensure long lasting and profitable customer relationships is to incorporate post-sale servicing into the overall process. The sale does not end when the contract is signed. It is the customer’s experience – and, in many cases, the experience of the customer’s customer – that develops the long-term relationship. Only if the customer is satisfied that he has received all that was promised, and that the solution does indeed address his financial concerns, have you succeeded. And that success is not an end unto itself, but rather just another step in a long journey of working with your customer to continue to solve problems and develop new approaches to doing business together.”
I was talking with my friend yesterday who shared a story about a company he knows that has incorporated into their selling process the sale of an on-going service package. Unlike most companies who focus on the initial sale, this company starts the sale by explaining the value of an on-going relationship. They use this as an opportunity to say in touch and make sure that the customer’s ever changing needs are met.
Establishing a need for an on-going relationship gives you the chance to continually meet/exceed expectations and keeps you in the forefront of the customer’s mind. In the case of the customer relationship – absence DOES NOT make the heart grow fonder.
I’m reminded of a mortgage specialist who told me she can quote right down to the person’s name the number of mortgages she has closed that went into foreclosure. How can she do this? After the contract is signed, she keeps up the relationship; calling to see how things are going, sending little notes and emails to keep in touch. On the front end, she works very hard to ensure that the right people connect with the right mortgage product so they don’t go into foreclosure. In an age of unpaid mortgages due to loss of income or buying too much house for their budget – she starts off by being open and honest and continues the relationship long after the boxes have been unpacked.
Selling is a finite task.
Building relationships that last long after money has changed hands, leads to life long opportunities to serve the customer’s needs and referrals that grow your business.
Do you have a process in place that encourages continued communication after the sale is complete?
Yesterday I was sharing Jeff Nischwitz’s thoughts on networking to build relationships in which he said it is more important to be INTERESTED than interesting.
I was reminded of that fact when thumbing through an old, worn copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, copyright 1936. In the section Six Ways to Make People Like You, the first chapter is called Do This and You’ll be Welcome Anywhere:
“Why not study the technique of the greatest winner of friends the world has ever known? Who is he? You may meet him tomorrow coming down the street. When you get within ten feet of him, he will begin to wag his tail. If you stop and pat him, he will almost jump out of his skin to show you how much he likes you. And you know that behind this show of affection on his part, there are no ulterior motives: he doesn’t want to sell you any real estate, and he doesn’t want to marry you.”
Imagine if we greeted every prospect, every customer, every new connection as if we were a happy dog wanting nothing more than to please? Put yourself in the shoes of the customer. How would it feel to be greeted so warmly and with such genuine interest?
Dale goes on to say:
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
Give it a try today. Greet the next person you meet with enthusiasm and see if it isn’t contagious. Remember, people buy from those they like and trust.
Do you still view networking/after hours events as a race to see how many business cards you can gather? I just recently went to such an event where the host gave a gift to the person who’d obtained the most cards. How can you build relationships when all you really want is the card. And then what do you do with the card?
Jeff Nischwitz of Think Again Coaching shares his thoughts on how you can turn a networking event into a relationship building experience in this short but helpful video:
He offers three main points:
Be committed to helping others or giving back to the person you are talking to. Learn enough about their business that so you can offer a lead or a suggestion that can help them grow.
Be interested not interesting. I love this point and how he expands. It reminds me of those times when I’ve been having conversations with someone and asked them one question and they proceeded to talk for the rest of the evening. At the end they say “wow you are the best conversationalist.” I barely said a word, just listened, interjected occasionally and was genuinely interested in what they had to say.
Get rid of the question “what do you do for a living” and instead ask the person to talk about themselves. Jeff says “change the question to ‘what do you do for your customers.’”
Great ideas.
How do you build relationships at networking events?
Have you heard of the new pop band opening for the Jonas Bros? Honor Society.
While in Phoenix I heard them interviewed on the wildly popular morning talk show John Jay and Rich and they were fun, quick and talented. But the thing I took away the most from their interview was that they “got” the importance of being easy to find and being EVERYWHERE on the Internet.
They have a consistent brand. Their name: Honor Society.
When asked where fans could find them to purchase their records they said:
We are on Twitter @honor society, on MySpace/honorsociety, on Facebook/honorsociety, on YouTube/honorsociety. Then one of the band members said, “yeah we are pretty much everywhere – just type in Honor Society.”
I thought – man, these little 20something (if that) have nailed a critical branding fact that I’m still struggling with. Pick a brand – stick to it – use it everywhere. I’m on all of the social media sites but some times I use my name, other times, my tag line and still others, my company name. How can anyone find me? How can I be known one for thing?
How about you? Are you easy to find? Are you visible on the web with just one brand name?
My mom recently had knee replacement surgery and when she left the hospital, she selected a live-in skilled nursing facility for her rehab therapy.
One of the added bonuses has been the friends she’s made of the other patients during her two week stay. What do they talk about? Their surgery and their recovery.
They compare notes.
They observe and brag about their accomplishments.
They notice when one receives special treatment and they don’t.
“I feel like the red-headed step sister,” said one of my Mom’s new friends. “The physical therapists sit with you and encourage you and no one ever does that for me.”
“Yeah,” adds her other friend. “The doctor seems nicer to you than he is to us. What’s up with that?” Okay – maybe these 70-something patients didn’t say “whadddsup” but you get the point. My Mom was receiving special treatment the others didn’t benefit from. Her customer service exceeded that of the other patients.
During her discharge meeting with the doctor she asked if it was her imagination or if it was fact.
“No – it’s true,” he confirmed. “The surgeon that operated on you is a favorite of ours and we know he likes us to treat his patients with extra care.”
Wow. Imagine if your customers/clients/patients sensed or observed such inequity. Luckily for us – my Mom was on the good end of the stick – but what if it was the other way around.
Should there be a separate policy of customer care for t hose we like more than others? Certainly it is EASIER to take care of someone who is friendly and meets you half way in the building relationship process. And when a customer is irritable or difficult it can be more challenging to be positive and friendly.
But should we offer different levels of customer service based on who we like and who we don’t?
Customers talk. Word of mouth advertising is the number one way to brand your business. If your customers talked would they all have the same story of great service?
The best way to discover the answer is to ask. Call your past customers and ask about the service. See what kind of answers you get. What are customers saying about your service?
I recently bought a WiFi card for my PC at Radio Shack, only to get home to find our son had one that he purchased and couldn’t use on his MAC. So, of course, I used the ‘free’ one and the other one sat on my desk a number of months. When I looked at the receipt, it clearly stated they had a limited time for returns, but I took it in anyway to see if they would at least give me a store credit. Price: about $35. They pleasantly took it back, credited me credit card account and kept a customer.
About this same time frame, I had ordered a $30 telephone amplifier as my 91-yr.-old was moving in with us and has hearing problems. When I contacted the company…who also had a strict 30-day return policy. In spite of the fact that the item had never been opened or used, the customer service woman repeated the policy to me (via e-mail). I responded to her with a message thanking her for her prompt, although disappointing, response and informed her that I would certainly remember their policy when looking for their products in the future and share it with my widening group of friends and colleagues with elderly parents.
Lesson learned: Radio Shack was more interested in keeping me as a customer, the others cared only about that $30 sale. Radio Shack customer experience: 100%…’other guys’ customer experience: 0%. Radio Shack: brilliant..’other guys’ really, really stupid!
Terri reminds us of a simple truth: Companies who live by their POLICIES will die by them as well. Are your policies more important than the customer with whom you are dealing?
More important thought: YOU as the manager/entrepreneur/owner, certainly understand that rules were meant to be broken and are there to serve as a guideline, BUT DO YOUR EMPLOYEES?
One of the things that makes the Ritz Carlton so customer friendly – all of their associates understand the power they have to ensure each guest has a great experience and the associates are challenged with making that a reality.
Do your employees understand that although you have policies in place, there are times when those rules should be bent just a little when appropriate?
Drew McLellan of Drew’s Marketing Minute is at it again! For the third time he’s bringing together marketing and business professionals from around the world to share their thoughts, tips and techniques and profits benefit a charity.
This time Drew has invited 300 authors to participate and share their views in ten different areas. There are already 137 of the original authors signed up to contribute again (me too!) but effective TODAY, Drew has opened up the opportunity to YOU!
Go RIGHT THIS MINUTE – to complete this Survey Monkey survey and sign up to be a part of Age of Conversation 3. Only thirty people will be selected for each topic so you need to go right now and sign up so you can get the topic of your choice.
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