Is Your Company Delivering Good Customer Service As Usual?

If your answer is,” Yes”, we need to talk or at least, please read on…

Any company can deliver customer service; in fact any company can deliver even good customer service. But delivering good customer service just like every other company will not set your company apart, ahead or above the other zillions of companies out there trying to get your customer’s dollar. Exceptional customer service is founded on a couple of non-earth shattering and basic premises.

Attitude, behavior and training. (I told you they were non-earth shattering and basic).

Ahhh attitude. Maybe since you own your company or are at least the CEO of a company you have an entrepreneurial attitude. Your employees need to adopt this same attitude. Each employee needs to realize that he/she runs a company called, I, Inc. Do your employees understand and operate under this concept? And furthermore, why should they? Here’s why, Brian Tracy, a top motivational speaker, tells us that the top 10% most successful people in any organization think and operate as if that organization were their very own. It doesn’t mean that your employees should come up the president’s office and say, “Hey Bob baby, you know those budget allocations you just issued? They are way off base for my needs and we’re going to restructure them.” It doesn’t mean that your employees will be going to the head of IT and making demands such as, “Every employee here must have a laptop if we are to operate at peak efficiency, so get those funds allocated and make it happen!” Nor does it mean that your employees are going to run down to Human Resources and insist, “Those policies and procedures in the handbook are way too strict for our tastes and some changes are going to be made.” What it does mean is that each employee takes pride and ownership in everything they do. It means that certain attitudes and behaviors must be identified and implemented. These are attitudes and behaviors that create positive relationships with your customers. These attitudes and behaviors are transferred to employees via training. Let’s explore these concepts.

Outdo the Competition

In order to do this, you must first know who your competitors are and how they are serving their customers. Recently I had the privilege of listening to a fellow speaker, Joe Calloway, present. He told the audience about a tire company in the northwest that greets their customers in a unique manner. When the customer drives onto the lot, the employees don’t just saunter out to greet them, the employees don’t just walk out to greet them, the employees run out to greet them. How many places do you do business with that run out to greet you? Not any that I deal with do that. Some of them don’t look as if they would even have the energy to crawl out to greet me much less run out to greet me. Those of us who have purchased a Lexus know, how they make you feel like you are the cream of the crop in customers. You feel like you are the smartest, classiest most important customer they ever had. The Ritz-Carlton makes you feel like you are as rich as Bill Gates and deserve the type of service reserved only for royalty. How do your customers feel after having transacted business with your company? My dentist, Dr. Stephen Carter, calls after a procedure, other than regular cleaning, to make sure that everything is all right. How about calling your customers after a business transaction to make sure everything is going well, or how about just sending a brief thank you note? These are both very inexpensive to implement, but carry a high impact on customer relations. Implementing these actions as policy and procedure and training your employees to carry them out are well worth the effort and the increase in your bottom line. And don’t forget this can work wonders for internal customer relations as well. To get the ball rolling, have a brainstorming session on ways to make your customers feel like they were smart enough to make the right choice by doing business with your company.

Be Proactive

Even this year, many e-commerce web sites crashed and stalled due to large user volume. It seems that these types of faux pas could be prevented with just a little look at consumer buying history and knowing that holiday “traffic” is going to be heavier than normal. Companies have some of this information readily available or at least should have it tracked throughout the year. Losing sales dollars can be prevented by a simple report on buying habits of customers.

Another example is in the building industry. Often times a builder will build a brand new house. When the house is purchased it is discovered that water is seeping into the basement. The builder will claim that building codes have been met. Sometimes they have and sometimes they haven’t. But any builder worth his weight in nails should know the principles of landscaping. If the builder knows that there is a problem with the landscape and builds the house without addressing the issue at hand, catastrophic results occur. Even though the house may be built well, landscaping problems can cause walls to cave in and foundations to collapse. Then the builder may just use the excuse, “It was built to code.” This is neither standing behind your product nor serving your customer. Being proactive and addressing issues before they occur is the best interest of your customer and your business. For more information on how to protect your home investment go to www.simminspect.com.

Being proactive involves knowing your customers needs and perceptions. What do you see in the picture below?

Some people will see the duck’s bill as rabbit ears and some people will see the rabbit’s ears as the duck’s bill. Some people will even see three animals. Here is the point. Giving excellent customer service is not rocket science but it can be tricky. Each one of your customers has a different perception of what is and is not good customer service. Each one of your customers has a different perception of what quality is and isn’t. Your job is to know your customer, who they are, what they need in the way of products, service and price. Ask yourself what do my customers perceive as quality value for the money they spend. Better yet, ask your customers!

Take Responsibility

Training your employees that exceptional customer service is everyone’s responsibility is essential. No one employee, company officer or shareholder can develop or execute an exceptional customer service program alone. Customer service, period requires a team effort. Again, training plays a role here. One of my clients had me take a personal accountability program I teach and incorporate it right into the second day of Orientation. Employees get the idea right from the start that they share the task of good customer service. Further this program helps dissolve the problem of blaming and finger pointing. This idea is one that helps to enhance creativity and creativity is an important tool in problem solving. A personal accountability program helps eliminate excuses. For example, below are some actual excuses that were sent to insurance companies to explain accidents:

1. “An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished.”

2. “I was on the way to the doctor with rear-end trouble when my universal joint gave way, causing me to have an accident.”

3. “The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him.”

4. “I had been shopping for plants and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision.”

5. “The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intentions.”

Finger pointing, blaming and making excuses are counter productive. These actions waste time, cost money and lose customers. Your company cannot afford these attitudes and behaviors. Companies need to nip these behaviors in the bud, in Orientation, and personal accountability should become a major part of your company’s operating procedures. Furthermore, being accountable helps your employees to think and operate like leaders.

Think Like a Leader

This is part of instilling the entrepreneurial attitude in your staff’s psychic. Remember that establishing each employee as the head of I, Inc. makes each a leader regardless of the position he/she fills within the organization. How do leaders think? Leaders have a vision. Does your company even have a vision? If it does, has it been communicated to the employees? Have they bought into that vision? Making sure that your vision is known and shared by your employees is part of your responsibility as a leader. Leaders take a hard look at reality. If problems are a reality within your company, sweeping them under the corporate rug does no good. They will eventually crawl out from under their dark hiding place and mutate into monstrous gargoyles for the entire world to see. When problems occur, address them; get your employee’s input on how to solve them. Denying that problems exist will not enhance the bottom line. Further, your employees will sense that something is wrong, that honesty is lacking and their performance levels will decline. Every leader, every company and every employee needs to have a sense of mission. Mission statements look great on plaques, but do they mean anything? Make sure your employees know and believe in your mission statement. Let even potential candidates know your company’s mission statement. If they cannot live by, meet and believe in that mission, don’t hire them. Encourage your employees to write their own mission statements. This helps them know that your company is serious about yours. Leaders know how to fulfill missions, achieve goals and develop employees. It’s called strategy. Develop a plan to implement your mission, decide the best way to achieve your goals and train your employees. And don’t neglect to train-the-trainers!

Learn From the Past and Create Your Future

Take a hard look at what has and has not worked for your company and other companies as well. Take a hard look at the peaks and valleys in your bottom line. When profits were up, what was your company doing? What programs were in place? Was there more training? Were there less customer complaints? Why? Was there enthusiasm present that seems to be lacking now? Was there a great marking plan in place? Did your people have excellent leadership skills that have been neglected now? You see, regardless of outside influences such as the economy, trends or even that most scared cow, location, location and location, there are a myriad of things you can control to increase your profits. Can you say e-commerce? Can you say mail order? I purchase items all the time from companies that are located nowhere near where I live. Can you say make it a real experience for customers to come to you? This happens in the restaurant business all the time. How many of us know that one special restaurant that we drive miles to get to that we just happened upon one day? We go there for the “double your pleasure” experience of good food and service. Sounds like this would be a good place for a brainstorming session. Get your employees involved in ways to make purchasing your products and services an exciting, enjoyable and winning experience for your customers. Learning is in intricate part of this process.

“Life long learning” has become the catch phrase for the century, but it applies to business in a big way. Your customers will benefit from the life long learning of your company and your employees. Life – and business – is a series of changes. Constantly learn the trends in your industry and the needs of your customers. Learn how to be your own competition. What can you do today to top the best that you delivered yesterday? Learn to educate your employees to look for ways on how best to serve your customers. Educate and train your employees on how to use proper phrasing when speaking to customers.

Teach your employees that not only do other people, both external and internal customers, hear them all day long, but they also hear themselves as well. For example, eliminate phrases such as “You’ll have to…” or “You’ll need to…” or “I don’t have that information.” Or “I can’t do that here.” These phrases are examples of negative talk. When employees use negative language, they don’t sound professional, they have less energy, they don’t have a positive attitude, and they even wind up not liking the job they are performing. Instead help them to learn to say. “I’ll be delighted to help you with that.” Or “It will be my pleasure to get that for you.” OR “I’ll be happy to have Betty call you back.” Teach employees that using positive language enhances their energy, helps them to maintain a positive attitude and to even like the job they are performing.

Love a Complaining Customer

No matter how hard we try, things will go wrong. I promise. When customers complain about the things that go wrong, they are giving you valuable information. Information you can take to the bank. They are, in essence, giving you the opportunity to make it right. The customers that don’t complain are the scary ones. These people stop using your products and services and you have no clue why. How can you make things right when you don’t know they are wrong? Encourage your employees to view the complaining customer in this light. This will help reduce defensive behavior that only serves to anger customers further and helps eliminate finger pointing and blaming – remember our discussion on responsibility? The person that receives the complaint owns it. That person may not necessarily be responsible for solving the customer’s problem but they should be held responsible for follow through and follow up. Helping your employees to view complaining customers as an asset as opposed to a pain the neck encourages increased customer satisfaction, develops good problem solving skills and helps build your company’s good customer service reputation. This will also help build leadership skills in your employees and make them feel valued. When employees are valued, they stay with a company far longer and this serves to reduce those pesky turnover expenses. Furthermore, solving customer problems quickly is an essential ingredient in reducing customer loss. Look at these customer service statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor:

96%	Do not complain
One out of 20	Do complain
19	Do not complain
9 to 10	People hear of the problem
10%	Tell 20 to 30 people about poor service
54% to 70%	Return if complaints are resolved
95%	If problem is resolved quickly

Notice that almost 100% of your customers are likely to return to your company and give you their hard earned dollars. One way to help employees to solve customers problems quickly is to establish a set of polices and procedures as to how to handle problems, how to compensate customers and who has the authority to implement those compensations. When customers are kept waiting while employees run around trying to find someone who has the authority to reduce fees, replace products and upgrade services only serves to incense the customer.

While incorporating these attitudes, behaviors and training into your company’s culture won’t totally eliminate errors, they will serve to reduce errors, develop your employees into leaders and increase your bottom line. Remember that keeping both customers and employees greatly reduces your operating costs. The attitudes and behaviors discussed here serve to do just that! Incorporating these ideas will keep your company from delivering good customer service as usual. They will help your company and employees excel above the rest.