Being treated with the attitude of indifference is as bad if not worse than being treated with rudeness.
Now usually someone will post a discussion point and there will be comments for a few days and then people move on to the next topic but this discussion has been continuing as one of the top items in the group for the entire three months. Everyone agrees that indifference is just as bad as outright rudeness. The discussions have talked more about the root of the problem. Some blame the economy or a lack of training or a lack of motivation or hiring the wrong people or bottom line management but the general consensus is that there is a growing problem with the attitude of our nation’s employees and how they treat customers.
My take? It is a culture thing. If the company culture is one that focuses on sales and profitability before customers – then sooner or later the customer becomes a distraction or an interruption in the day rather than our reason for being.
However, if everyone is dedicated to uncovering and resolving the customer’s needs then the sales and profitablity will take care of itself. Customers remember when they’ve truly been seen as important rather than cash in the register.
So I ask you – what do you think? Is it just this younger generation that doesn’t understand the value of the customer? Is it a lack of training and focus? Are we hiring indifferent people?
I normally focus on the customer at Make or Break Moments, but today I’d like to shine the spotlight on our NUMBER ONE ASSET – our employees.
How we treat our employees and how we make them feel directly impacts how they treat our customers.
I remember a store visit I once conducted with Pearle Vision. The franchisee owned three stores but worked primarily out of one of them. This store visit was to a store he rarely visited. It was a small store in size and sales volume and only had three employees. On this particular day there were two associates working. As was my practice during my visit, I kept an open ear to the customer conversations to see how the customers were treated and to critique the sales conversation.
Were they asking questions about lifestyle?
Were they making recommendations based on those facts?
Were they suggesting a second pair purchase?
Did they recommend lens treatments like scratch protection, tinting and ultraviolet ray protection?
During a lull in the afternoon, I mentioned the fact that they really just filled out order forms. They didn’t ask any questions and they made no recommendations. For me it was an “ah – ha” moment. This is why sales are so low in this store. The opportunities were incredible. Until I heard the associates response.
“Oh sure, we know what we could be doing to improve sales but why should we bother? The owner clearly doesn’t care about this store or these customers. He certainly doesn’t care about us – he never visits or calls or asks us questions or allows us to attend training. If he doesn’t care – why should we? We get paid either way.”
Talk about the real “ah – ha” moment in this store visit.
Yesterday during the sermon, our minister, Rev. Dr. Peter Wiley, shared a letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians in which he likened our body to that of the Body of Christ – each part has a role, each role no more important than any other but without the whole – we don’t function. As part of the sermon he talks about how people each carry a bucket. And we can respond to each other’s bucket in one of two ways:
1. We can fill each other’s bucket with words of praise, recognition and encouragement.
2. We can drain their bucket with criticism, negativity and judgemental comments.
That really hit home for me. At the end of the day, Peter asked, can we look back and say we spent more time filling buckets or emptying them? On any given day, for me, it could go either way. I find that the people I am closest too, the ones who mean the most, I spend more time being critical. I assume they know their value and how important they are to me and how proud I am of their accomplishments.
Do we do the same with our employees? Do we assume they know their value and therefore, we spend the most time finding things wrong that they could be doing better/differently? Or do we ignore them entirely which is another way of emptying their bucket?
How our employees feel is directly related to how they treat our customers. If they were asked – would they say you spend more time FILLING their bucket or EMPTYING it?
p.s. we need to ask the same question of ourselves with all our relationships.
CBS just announced a new reality television show scheduled to hit February 7, 2010 called Undercover Boss. The premise is a series of high level bosses donning their regular duds and rubbing elbows with front line employees.
Let’s hope that means we’ll see CEOs interacting with customers. In the recent edition of Entertainment Weekly, the article shared what we can expect to see:
“Each week the boss of a big American company goes undercover on the front line of their business,” says Stephen Lambert, who was also behind the similar-themed reality show Secret Millionaire. “Because the companies are large enough, the workers don’t know what the boss actually looks like. They’re not dressed in a suite-they’re dressed like all the other workers.”
In the first episode an executive from Waste Management works on the front line, picking up trash, cleaning toilets and may even end up getting fired!
The premise is a good one, my hope is that in future weeks we’ll see executives meeting their actual customer face-to-face. Set your TEVO (or in my case, VCR) to February 7 to see how executives do when they come face to face with the customers that support their business.
I’m shopping for a new refrigerator and stove – have I told you? Two really big expense items. Last year it was the dryer and dishwasher – man, it is expensive owning a home.
So after researching on the Internet, I decide that Best Buy has the best prices. I walked in the other day and was greeted by a smile. He says “What can I help you with?” I told him and he said “So what color do you want?”
Of all of the features and decisions when appliance shopping, I thought that was an odd place to start. It made me smile – it was so unexpected. So I laughed and said “That’s where you want to start?”
He said – “No – how about we start by saying, I’m Paul and you are?”
He reached out his hand and smiled.
I was immediately won over. I’m going to be spending a lot of money. It’s nice to know that I will be buying from someone who knows my name and begins to use it.
It turns out there is a question as to whether or not I have a drop in stove and he recommends that before I spend a bunch of money, I should have a professional come measure and check out the situation and he can take care of that for me. We get to talking and learning more about each other and he learns that I will be giving a speech on Customer Service and he says:
“So how am I doing?”
“You’re doing great,” I assure him.
Paul Has Ideas For Customer Service
He proceeds to tell me that he has all these ideas for improving customer service above and beyond. He wants to take a sign language class so he can communicate with those who have a hearing disability. He wants to create an “in home” shopping program for those who are unable to leave their home but want a more personal shopping experience than just shopping on the Internet and he wants to start a blog about shopping for appliances.
Now Paul is not the owner of Best Buy. He isn’t the Manager of the Macedonia, Ohio Best Buy. Paul isn’t the Department Manager. Paul is a hard working sales person in the appliance section with dreams and ideas for how to make Best Buy better.
When was the last time you ASKED your employees what ideas they have for making your business better? The employees that actually talk every day to the customers are probably your greatest source for ideas on marketing, sales techniques, customer service, merchandising and purchasing. Have you solicited their ideas? Have you listened to what they have to say?
I hope someone within Best Buy has a Google Alert set up so they see this post and then follow through and talk to Paul about his ideas. He’s got a lot of them and they are all good.
I bet your employees have a lot of great ideas too.
Have you shopped Wal-Mart? When you check out, the credit card machine asks one of a series of random questions. “Was the store clean today?” “Was your cashier friendly?”
I’ve shopped there enough to be aware of the question. I am assuming the answer ties to the person at the register and with today’s automation, I imagine a report is published with the results for the manager to peruse. Being a friendly sort myself, I’m usually quick to say hello as I put my purchases on the conveyor belt and today was no exception.
However, I was greeted with…
NOTHING.
No eye contact. No smile. No response to my opening comments. I was surprised as this is not the norm for my local Wal-Mart staff. As I approached the machine to swipe my debit card I noticed the question was about the friendliness of my cashier.
Sadly, I pushed the “no” button. She continued to ring and bag my purchases and I transferred the bags to my cart – all in silence. Until the transaction was complete.
She looked up – handed me my receipt and became Chatty Cathy!
“So how are you today? Enjoying the wonderful weather?
“umm, yes and how are you?” I responded, taken back by her spirit.
“Fine but I’m looking forward to my break.” ahhhh – understanding dawns.
However, I had already pressed the button labeling her as unfriendly. I wanted to take back my vote – get a second chance. But then I thought – she must know about the button on the cash machine. She must know she is being measured. Is a customer friendly attitude only required some of the time? Sadly, her friendly, welcoming spirit came too late. Timing was everything and today she was found lacking when it counted.
Are your employees customer friend consistently? Are you? It is a hard task to take on. We all come to a point in our day when we are counting the minutes until we can put our feet up and take a break. In those few moments our smile may falter. And yet the customers we encountered during those tired moments may be visiting us for the first time. They may get the impression that the tired, non-engaged attitude is how all customers are treated.
Can we afford to let our guard down? Whew. It is exhausting.
I was just reading the latest newsletter from John Tschohl, customer service trainer, who talked about the fact that the need for customer service training is just as prevelent today as it was thirty years ago when he wrote his first training program:
Customer service frankly is not much better today than it was 30 years ago. The objections are still the same. If I train my employees they might leave. The solution is to put a big sign on each door to your business that says, “None of our employees have been trained”. In realty, that is what most organizations do.
Companies still have unlimited marketing money. Very few organizations understand it is 10 times cheaper to keep a customer than get a new one. Empowerment does not exist. Employees are NOT allowed to make decisions that might keep a customer. Their decision might be wrong. Waiving a $39 late fee is too expensive, but the same organization will spend $300 to acquire a new customer. Few companies know the lifetime value of their customers.
There are two great points in that short portion of his newsletter:
1. The fear of losing employees keeps some employers from providing training
2. Employers fail to understand the value of their existing customer base
In my most recent newsletter I ask the question Do you build marketing plans or customer relationships. Nurturing our existing customer relationships is a critical component to growing our business in today’s competitive environment. Failing to recognize the value of those who have done business with us – adopting an attitude of “Oh – WE HAVE THEM – must move on to gaining new faces” is setting us up for failure.
Customers can tell when we assume that they will stay loyal. They can tell when we’ve lost interest in wooing them. How many marriages fail because the couple fails to look their best, act their best and put their best foot forward. Is it so different with our existing customers?
Now compound the problem by not training and TRUSTING our employees to do the best for the customer.
One of the reasons people point to the Ritz as an example of customer service is because they:
Train their people
Give them the tools to ensure a great customer experience
Trust their employees to do what is necessary to fix a problem
Empower their employees to represent the brand in a positive way
Do the powers that be worry about losing their staff? Maybe. But that doesn’t stop them from doing what’s right with respect to their customer.
Here’s a wacky thought:
What if every employer trained their employees to treat every customer as they’d like to be treated.
What if we treated our existing customers like a new love interest – doing everything we can to be the one they keeping choosing year after year?
Have you ever noticed that associates treat customers – not always how they’d like to be treated – but rather how their boss treats them.
Interesting.If we are encouraging, positive and informative with our associates – they’ll respond positively and in turn, treat their customers with the same open, honest attitude.
So when assigning a project to your team – keep in mind that they’ll respond more in line with your desires if you take the time to explain the “why” behind the task.
Think back to when you were a kid. Remember when your Mom would tell you to do something? Sometimes it was a random request; you are playing with your toys and she sticks her head in the door and says, “Come on, get your coat on.”
Well, you don’t remember any appointment.Nobody told you there were plans to go someplace. You are right in the middle of intense play! You look up to find your Mom has already left your room and you holler, “Why?”
“BECAUSE I SAID SO.”
Oh, many times, she pulled the “because I said so” card. Grudgingly you drag yourself off the floor, looking longingly down at your dolls and slowly you turn towards your door.
“NOW!”
You hear your Mom yell at you to move faster.
You know where I’m going with this, right? How many times have we done the same thing at work? Oh, maybe we don’t say “because I told you” but it’s the impression we give.
So how does that make our associates feel?How many communications have you read or even wrote that spelled out mandatory edicts without an explanation? I know, who has time to bring everyone up to speed.
But how quickly do you achieve 100% compliance without clearly communicating the “whys.”
What if Mom had said, “Hey, come get your coat on? I can hear the marching band practicing at the high school – let’s go watch them practice.”
Or
“Grandma called, she’s not feeling well and she asked us to come for a visit.Go get your coat.”
We’d leave our toys a minute, right?
As the former Director of Communications for Cole National, I often had to communicate messages to associates that would require change or additional work. Most frequently my writing went under the signature of the President or Vice President of Stores.Their goal was a communication that achieved results. My responsibility was to ensure the message was read – understood – and acted upon.
To that end, I always included the why behind the information. It doesn’t need to be lengthy or complicated, in fact, if it is – it won’t be read.
When communicating with your associates remember these tips:
?If there is an action, task or deadline for the reader, state it early and often
?Explain the why behind the message – it should be as simple as a sentence:
o“In response to competitor’s recent advertising we are…”
o“Due to changes in our vendor supply capability you will need to…”
o“In response to requests from your peers we are changing…”
?Tell them how their compliance will impact the company. When associates realize that the request isn’t busy work but will actually impact the overall company results, they are more likely to comply.
?Thank them in advance
?Reinforce any specific task and/or deadline
?Give them a contact in case they have questions or comments
Create a partnership for success by being informative and providing associates with the “who”, “what”, “where”, “why”, “when”, and “how”.You are letting associates understand the value they provide to the company’s success.That makes everyone a winner.
It is a scary time. Companies are laying off hordes of employees. Businesses are closing. Sales are down.
Now is not the time to scare off those employees you’d like to keep around.
Your boss calls and says “I need you to be available for a conference call with the entire sales force next Monday to talk about the state of the company. Think you can make it?”
What is your first thought? Are you feeling warm and fuzzy? I don’t think so.
So you call your buddies on the sales force and spend countless hours debating what the call could be about.
You spend the weekend looking over your personal finances – what can you cut out? Maybe you even update your resume because who knows what will be said on the call. How productive are you in the days that follow the request leading up to the actual call? Not very.
Are we loosing our job?
Will commissions be cut?
Are they stopping our health plan – eliminating the travel reimbursement? What could it be???
How many companies are calling conferences just like this and putting their employees through stressful anxiety?
Management just wanted to give you a heads up so you didn’t book an appointment, not realizing the pure h-e-double tooth picks they would be putting you through.
So how did this particular call go?
“This call is to talk about the state of the company and the economy. I don’t have any agenda. Any questions?”
After a few brave souls opened the discussion it turned out that the company was doing fine even though sales were down and the boss had no intention of making any cuts. Whew!
I asked one of the members of the call if it had ever occurred to him that the call would go that way?
“No,” he said. “It never occured to me that the purpose of the call was to reassure us. The way the call was scheduled and with the economy and the automotive industry the way it is, I just assumed the call was about cutbacks of some kind.”
So how could that situation have been handled differently?
1. If you need to give your employees significant notice before having a conference call, give them a scoop of the call or at least anticipate what their greatest fear might be and reassure them: “Although we’ll be talking about the state of the company, there won’t be any position eliminations or major cuts announced.”
2. As management, prepare for the call by thinking through what questions your staff may wish to ask but may hesitate because of the venue. Formulate answers and lead the call by saying: “Before I open it up to general questions, I have a few answers to the questions that I’m sure are on your minds. Let me take a minute to answer those first.”
3. Offer to answer additional questions offline. This boss did make that offer and it is a good way to allow people to ask questions they might be embarrassed or hesitant to ask in front of the group.
4. Thank them for their efforts. As a manager, you are only as productive as your sales team. Make sure they know how much they are appreciated for without your sales team you are very likely without sales!
Conference calls and staff meetings about the state of the company are truly MAKE OR BREAK MOMENTS. You have the opportunity to be honest, gain their trust and enlist their assistance with collectively being successful in the future. Make sure you handle these moments with an understanding of how the information may be received by the employee. Put yourself in their shoes.
One last note – even the tiniest details matter. When I worked for Pearle Vision we would frequently receive announcements or sale coupons in our pay envelopes. One time the announcement came on pink paper. People began to panic even before reading the notice (which was a dollar off coupon to a local establishment) believing they had received PINK SLIPS.
I’m reading another idea in the Care Packages for Your Customersbook by Barbara Glanz and this tip suggests that managers get out of their office and be visible both to employees as well as customers.
The technique is called Managing by Walking Around but essentially it is just being visible to assist, encourage and participate in the daily business.
I’m reminded of a story I heard about Anne Mulcahey and her bid to turnaround Xerox in 2000. When she took the position she spent the first two months in the field visiting Xerox locations, managers and employees to learn about the business. She asked questions, she was visible, she got involved and her actions spoke volumes about the depth of passion she feels for the company, the customers and her employees.
Leili McKinley just wrote about Anne in a recent post called the Secret of Leadership.
What would you do if the company you work for were 18 billion dollars in debt facing imminent bankruptcy with debtors dragging you to court and your boss quits?
Well you might choose to run from the obvious train-wreck. But, Anne Mulcahey is different. Anne chose to step up. She became CEO of Xerox and faced doubters, debtors and critics head on. In a few years she cut the debt in half, raised revenue, and inspired her company’s employees, customers and vendors.
How?
In the words of Bill George Harvard Business School Professor, she is an authentic leader. She leads from her own “true north”. She understands the purpose of her leadership. She is also conscious of the “true north” of the company, it’s soul, so to speak. She understands the entelechy of the company. She knows where the two intersect and where she can add value.
Anne’s method of managing by walking around gave her the opportunity to hear from employees and customers just what it would take to turn around Xerox.
By being AVAILABLE as managers we have the opportunity to witness make or break moments between employees and customers and between peers. How we use those moments and the knowledge we gain from them will be what sets us and our business apart.
Barbara Glanz lists just a few of the benefits of being available to our business:
Be available – don’t hide behind your cell phone
Do more listening than talking
Make eye contact
Ask questions
Be honest
Show appreciation
Do it regularly
Use the time to praise rather than criticize. Use the time to share and direct rather than lecture. Use the time to learn rather than assume.
Good stuff. What experiences have you had with managing by walking around?
In my newsletter this month I ask this question and then share a shopping experience I had with a big box retailer over the holidays. I was returning two, unopened DVDs for a store credit. I already owned the DVDs and wanted to pick out something different.
The scenario went something like this:
The sign behind the Customer Service desk boldly informed me that without a receipt I was out of luck.
“These were gifts,” I explained.
“But you need a receipt,” the clerk informed me.
“I didn’t purchase them and so I don’t have the receipt,” I explained.
“No receipt, no refund,” she said.
“I would just like to exchange them. I’m not looking for cash and they haven’t been opened,” I insisted, pointing to the two, unopened DVDs.
A manager had to be called to settle the matter.
“Oh, yeah. Joe said this would happen,” she told the clerk. (Joe must have been a District Manager.) “Just give her a gift card.”
The manager never looked at me, never acknowledged my presence.
The clerk huffed and puffed and struggled with the cash register until the manager had to be called again.
I was a distraction. I was a trouble maker. I was being difficult. Or so I felt.
As it happened, I had additional purchases to make and in fact spent more than the gift card with my two replacement movies and WII game for my brother’s birthday.
However, I didn’t feel good about my purchase.
They didn’t give me the benefit of doubt.
I had to work to exchange the product.
I had to work to be a paying customer.
I won’t be back.
My newsletter goes out to about 500+ and even though it arrive in e-mail boxes on January 1st, people started responding. The most common question was “did you send the newsletter to the manager of the store?”
I haven’t but I’m considering it. However, I also received a couple other comments that I’d like to share with you:
WOW!! Good one. I could identify. Received a pink roller clock as a gift from Brookstone’s. It did not work. Took it back, told them it was a gift. I had no receipt, but it did not work. They say “Okay. I’m sorry. Did not open the box to check it. Did ask if I had taken out my batteries, which I had. They got me another pink one, but I said, “oh, by the way, could I have a black one instead?” ”Yes you can, no problem”, and swooped up a black one, put it in a bag for me and said, “hope this one works great for you”. I WILL DEFINITELY GO BACK TO THAT STORE AGAIN!!
The sales associate at Brookstone’s made it easy to return a product. No questions.
Remember calling in sick when you really weren’t? You worked up a great, detailed story, made your voice sound a little scratchy and prepared for the on-slaught of questions. Did you boss ever give you the benefit of the doubt and say “not a problem, just take care of yourself.” Here’s a thought – if they were the kind of boss who would give you the benefit of the doubt – I bet you didn’t feel the need to call in “sick.”
Here’s another comment that was sent to me – a different perspective that perhaps shines a negative light:
Your newsletter/emails are really nice and obviously targeted at “sellers”.
Now I’m going to get cynical and you probably already know this.
Most people are not good customers. For all their complaining about poor service, all they really care about is price.
Lower prices usually force lower paid and less motivated workers.
Your gift giver didn’t go to a specialty shop, maybe because the only job they could find was low paying (see above).
Interesting perspective. The lower the wage the lower the motivation. What do you think? Are larger retailers burdened by their workforce and destined to never give great service because of the pay scale? Is wage-an-hour the only motivator?
I disagree. I believe you can have someone working at minimum wage who is trained and motivated to provide superior customer service. However, I believe it begins with the company culture. If the employees are given the benefit of the doubt and treated as valuable assets – that will translate to how the customer is treated.
Lots here to think about. Do your employees give their customers the benefit of the doubt? Do you give your employees the benefit of the doubt?
Be the First to Comment 
I’m a member of the Customer 1st LinkedIn group and about three months ago Teri Yanovitch posted this discussion starter:
It is a scary time. Companies are laying off hordes of employees. Businesses are closing. Sales are down.
In my newsletter this month I ask this question and then share a shopping experience I had with a big box retailer over the holidays. I was returning two, unopened DVDs for a store credit. I already owned the DVDs and wanted to pick out something different.
