Service Untitled

Here in sunny South Florida, real estate is booming again, but there are definitely new rules when it comes to new construction. Builders who have been lucky enough to survive the economic real estate plunge are slowly emerging again with new and improved products. Home buyers are more concerned with advanced energy, the use of efficient materials, and builders who understand their desire to conserve the environment. Builders and realtors alike are concentrating on “Green” building using recycled and energy efficient materials, heat from the earth, recycled rain water and solar heat as alternative and environmentally friendly power sources. The best “Green” builders will welcome independent inspectors who rate energy efficient homes – the top rating “5+ Stars.”

Considering buying or building a home is one of the biggest financial decisions a person will ever make in their life, home buyers want to consider a builder’s mission statement committing themselves to building quality construction, a builder’s reputation, and more than ever now customer testimonials assuring home buyers the builder will deliver the best product for the amount of money a consumer is able to spend.

So what does customer service look like in the home building business? Customers want a builder to take the time to understand their wants and needs, the builder to ask the right questions, to understand a buyer’s style and to be responsive, understanding, and considerate through the entire experience. Builders now need to exceed the needs and expectations of a customer and focus on building a rapport so as to tailor a new home to fit within the monetary budgets while delivering a beautiful product.

Nowadays successful builders work on maximizing area, creating a modern openness in the living space, upgrades in such areas as the kitchen cabinetry, appliances, trim, and landscaping. Home buyers want their builders to be quick to respond and to provide them with timely updates. Consumers want the builder to be there with their realtor to sign the contracts, to understand the deposits needed, to be assured that the same contractors used by the builder are dependable, reliable and have been with the builder for years – a profound indication that a builder is respected and fair in all of his professional relationships.

And finally – when the big day arrives and the builder proudly hands over a set of house keys to the new homeowners, the after care service will never be overlooked. What was once an industry wide issue of builders neglecting follow-up care after the check had been cashed is no longer tolerated since buyers have so many options to choose from and so many builders who want to consistently be asked to build another home.

Even nice customers get angry. It can happen to any organization, and figuring out the best ways to respond and satisfy your customers can mean loyalty and continued business. One of the common problems however, is getting a complaint satisfactorily resolved with the least amount of frustration, anger, and time.

Traditionally large companies do not pay their first line of customer service representatives high salaries. Many new employees read from scripts and seldom deviate from the question and answer page. Where the run-of-the-mill problems might be easy to solve according to the prepared customer service “cliff notes,” what happens when a customer’s problem or service complaint isn’t in the “one-size-fits-all” category?

Let’s begin with having all of the pertinent information on hand before making any inquiries to the company. Be prepared with receipts, names of service representatives called, a narrative of what was discussed, and a reliable time line showing when emails were exchanged, phone calls were made and any other points of contact. For those of us who have figured out the 1-800 number rarely gets us where we want to go when our complaint hasn’t been addressed properly, it might be time to escalate our sphere of influence and climb higher onto the help needed elevator.

Once you have passed from the floor person to a supervisor, head in a positive tone. It’s more than likely the supervisor has no idea why you are angry and frustrated, so why not put a positive spin on your conversation and build a rapport based on a person now with more authority to be able to step out of the box and make amends? Also, try to make a point not to insult the original customer service representatives. Often their behaviors and responses are required and thus considered appropriate answers to customer inquiries and concerns.

It’s my experience the earlier in the day you call with a complaint, the more likely you will get an answer and a resolution. Have a positive solution in mind. For instance, do you want a replacement of the product, a different product with a better track record, a refund, or free products or perks to make up for all the trouble and time you have had to endure? Again try to be positive and pleasant; human nature always responds better to a smile and a few kind words over snarls and insults. Don’t expect however, a supervisor to give away the store; make your requests reasonable.

If by this time you have not progressed to a satisfactory solution, you still have a few viable options. Facebook and Twitter bring a lot of attention – both good and bad. Many times social media representatives are quicker to act than working one’s way through the maze of automated telephone responses and customer service representatives. Then there is always the option of calling a company’s sales department. You might not get your refund yet, but often the sales representatives can point you to someone in the know.

Still can’t get anywhere? Google the CEO of the company and send them a respectful letter or call. Chances are you will attract someone’s attention and may very well find yourself working your way  up to an executive who is interested in why you were not satisfied with customer service. By the time you make your way to corporate, chances are these are the people who want to keep you as a customer and will make sure your needs are properly met.

photo credit: mStreetPhoto

Beyond the long arms of social media where we frequently address our complaints to organizations that have “done us wrong,” enters another new kid in town who stretches beyond the 140 character Twitter or the full time media Facebook guru, and claims it can connect you directly to the top decision makers. In the media age when companies know too well the firestorms that can be created from negative events and a failure to respond in a reasonable amount of time, perhaps Gripevine.com promises some good results.

Just a month out into the public venue, the site Gripevine emerged offering dissatisfied customers the ability to “amplify their online voice.” Started by singer David Carroll of Nova Scotia, Carroll’s own negative experience with United Airlines made headlines when baggage handlers threw the singer’s band equipment and his own $3500 guitar haphazardly into the baggage compartment on the plane as Carroll watched helplessly from his airplane window. Despite all of his efforts to thwart the carelessness of the actions, nothing worked. When Carroll wrote a song entitled ‘United Breaks Guitars,’ it became a sensation. Obviously the negative publicity didn’t fare well for the airlines.

Most organizations know not to argue on Facebook with customers. No matter what the problem, other sympathizers are sure to join into the conversation and before long the complaint turns into a fray. Nothing gets resolved, but chances are the organization already lost customers. Twitter complaints can also present a problem because an organization does not always know who the unhappy customer is; it is always better to directly contact the person and have a private conversation to solve problems rather than to let it grow via social media. Sometimes other people will arbitrarily join into the conversation – not always what a business needs to hear.

Gripevine offers companies the opportunity to be automatically notified whenever someone has a complaint. Right now the most popular complaints center around phone companies and airlines, but Bank America and several debt resolution organizations have been solicited by consumers with unresolved issues.

Gripevine is free for the consumer and extremely user friendly. The customer begins by writing about their gripe, but first it is suggested by Gripevine to begin one’s gripe with a catchy title. It does ask that one clearly describe the problem and use professional decorum while writing. Complaints are then categorized into sections like billing complaints, contracts, misrepresentations, and poor service. Next the consumer is asked what they are looking for – perhaps an apology, compensation, refund, etc? Finally the unhappy customer has the ability to post photographs, receipts documents or any other information which will help lead to a satisfactory resolution. When all is done, the link says, “Plant it!”

Gripevine.com encourages those who participate to rate a company on their customer service once a company responds, and that will be added to their own customer satisfaction index. A person wrote into Tampa General Hospital with a complaint about customer billing, and the hospital did respond asking the writer to contact them personally about the problem. Ironically United Airlines, despite several written gripes has not responded.

Customer service should be a priority if organizations expect to expand their businesses with new customers while still retaining their current loyal clientele. Businesses are so inundated with such automated services as paying bills online, balancing bank accounts online, pressing  14 digit account numbers followed by  pin numbers, our first pet’s name, our mother’s maiden name and the last four digits of our Social Security number, it almost seems that we all too commonly accept poor or no customer service as part of doing business.

Then through all of the haze of online “efficiency” appear companies like Enterprise, Zappos, and Ritz Carlton Hotels which present beautiful rainbows of personalized customer service. Surveys tell us that only one in three customers will actually tell you how they feel if there is a problem with your organization which creates the possibilities of losing two-thirds of your clients simply because something went awry and there was no way to figure out why these customers were even unhappy. When something goes wrong the first time a new customer deals with a business, chances are they will be heading to the competition next time. Nowadays customers have the Internet at their fingertips – plenty of other places to go in hardly a nanosecond.

So what do we need to do to keep our customers coming back? Why not start with learning from the service champions? Some people are just better at addressing customer needs and complaints than other representatives. Let the service champions be the guides and practice winning, proven methods to please customers. Practice fast and efficient service, but make it easy for customers to connect to a real person.

Shoppers between 25 and 44 years-old use Facebook, Yelp and Twitter to ask questions and complain about services, lack of services, lack of products, and the overall dissatisfaction with an organization. Companies who strive to improve their customer service can turn unhappy customers into happy customers and subsequent advocates by being readily available and responsive when an unhappy client posts his complaint. Have a helpful staff ready to make the bad things that have happened right, and sort out the problem in public before it becomes a real problem.

What do people look for when they shop? Two-thirds of customers choose where they shop based on their own personal experiences with the organization’s customer service. A business has to be easy to access, quick to respond, and be knowledgeable about the needs of a customer. Customers value expert advice, a helpful staff, and personal service. Organizations must continue to track disgruntled customers to make the situation right, be able to connect customers to that out of stock item Dawn M. really wanted, or find a customer service agent without having to play musical chairs through a maze of Press One to answer, Press Two to respond, and Press Three to return to Press One and Press Two again.

In the words of Winnie the Pooh, customer service is still all about successful businesses being able to “think, think, think.”

photo credit: typexnick

Market Watch issued a press release earlier today about studies done by Intellishop and Rate Watch citing credit unions and small community banks missing their market share of banking business due to sales efforts. The mystery audit services sent 120 anonymous auditors out who posed as new checking account prospects, and even though small banks were seen as pleasant, the criticism of having a too “laid back” approach regarding selling the benefits of their bank were losing these organizations business. It seems larger banks are more proactive.

Mystery shopper results documented large banks to be four times more apt to find out about other types of banking relationships, two times more likely to ask a new customer to sign up today, two times more likely to collect a prospect’s contact information, and two times more likely than the smaller competition to strike up small talk conversations as someone enters the bank to engage a new customer at a personal level.

Now this is where surveys commonly get confusing. J.D. Power and Associates just released their survey which may or may not parallel big banks versus smaller institutions signing up new business practices, but a 5,000 customer survey results found a deflection rate of one in ten customers leaving large institutions last year because of high fees and lousy customer service. Surprisingly small banks and credit unions only lost 0.9 percent of customers compared to 8.8 percent of customers lost in 2010.

So if we are to assume more customers are attracted to bigger banks because personnel is better trained to concentrate on the positive attributes of larger banks and use more initiatives to attract customers, then we might also assume those very customers are leaving big banks at an even higher rate? Of course, there is  always more to consider.

I doubt many customers have forgotten the Bank of America announcement of charging a monthly fee for debit card users last year. The firestorm took off in the media full force ahead, and the “Bank Transfer Day” when customers emailed, tweeted, and blogged everyone to leave big banks and switch to smaller banks and credit unions left quite an impression. Already adding to the malcontent of big bank customers, newer and higher banking fees from checking account charges to higher credit card interest rates  compared to piddly rates on Certificates of Deposit and savings accounts, customers didn’t look back when the hightailed it for the smaller institutions. Of the 50 percent of customers surveyed who changed banks, they also claimed poor customer service then became the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Not surprisingly Bank America scored the lowest followed closely by Wells Fargo, Citibank, Sovereign Bank and Chase.

People haven’t forgotten the debacle of the large banking institutions and their significant roles in the state of the economy. Big banks still make loans and mortgages more difficult than many of the small banks. When I walked into Chase Bank the other day to deliver a document for a real estate closing I was attending, the pleasant woman at the door greeting customers told me she loved my shoes! No one has ever said that at the smaller institution I use, but I doubt that will be the reason I will choose to change banks.

photo credit: Fibonacci Blue

The trade industry organization Airlines for America has reported customer service for airlines  improving in three different areas. Travelers are always interested in improved customer service, so therefore any news in the airline industry is always considered good news, but alas have there really been improvements or is it just better defined as happenstance?

CNN states mishandled baggage was at an all time low for 2011 – 3.39 bags misplaced per 1,000 which registered a 3.51 drop from 2010. Airlines chalk it up to improved baggage handling, however let’s face the reality of travelers checking less luggage because of the outrageous baggage fees. We now pack much more efficiently, and just travel with less “stuff.”

The Department of Transportation reports the number of passengers bumped from flights decreased to 0.81 per 10,000 passengers – a decline of 1.09. The airlines contend better planning, but the Wall Street Journal attributed the decrease to DOT doubling airline penalties to passengers who are involuntarily denied boarding.

And finally the report states that U.S. airlines have had the best on time arrival rates – up by 85.07 percent. One has to question whether the airlines have changed and improved employee policies, improved maintenance on planes thus avoiding long delays, or has the lack of inclement weather this winter just been a greater part of that improvement? Never mind that there is less sky traffic, oil prices are way up and less people are traveling by air because of the weak economy.

We do know that traveler complaints continue to apply pressure to the airline industry forcing them to make improvements, however consumer complaints on both domestic and foreign airlines have risen in the past year. The Department of Transportation received 11,545 complaints – up 5 percent from 10,988 in 2010. Many of the complaints arose from foreign carriers, and an especially high amount of complaints concerned the apparent lack of  customer service for passengers with physical disabilities.

We of little faith periodically wonder if airlines will ever succeed in doing it better. With so many variables to consider for every flight, mistakes are bound to be a reoccurring pattern, however more personal considerations need to be addressed at the ticket counter, check-in, on the aircraft and at the terminals. It is how the human factor handles many of these problems that make the frustration and ultimate anger resulting in the constant multitude of complaints.

Do you want to know the best airline considered the number one on-time carrier for the eighth straight year? According to the Department of Transportation, Hawaiian Airlines scored 92.8 percent on-time performance. When asked how the airlines achieved such a remarkable achievement, the company heartily thanked the dedicated Hawaiian employee performance. Let’s hope the other airlines follow suit.

photo credit: redlegsfan21

Customer service isn’t an easy task, and for the representatives who successfully calm angry customers, soothe irate tempers, and are able to solve consumer problems in a polite and reasonable manner are those employees any great company should consider giving a raise in salary. Staying calm isn’t always the easiest task to do, especially when the attacks are often met with rudeness and unprofessional behavior on the part of the customer.

Angry clients, customers that feel a product is defective, poor service, an insecure co-worker  may be all in a day’s work for an experienced customer service representative. Now what makes one representative so much better, and what are some of the traits successful agents all possess?

One of Charlie Sheen’s most memorable Two-And-A Half Men stories centered around Allan’s former wife Judith being frustrated and angry with life’s turmoils. On one particular afternoon, Judith was ready to lay into Charlie’s lack of respect and whatever else was bothering her, when Charlie immediately diffused Judith’s anger. And how did he do that? Charlie assumed a natural, relaxed posture, softened the expression in his eyes, and as Judith shot off her frustrations and anger, Charlie shook his head in agreement and repeated “I understand.” As much as the sitcom is designed for pure enjoyment, isn’t how Charlie acted and responded those very traits a seasoned customer service agent utilizes when dealing with angry clients?

Breaking it down, the primary initial response is to stay calm, be reasonable, and let the client vent. Of course, there is no need to ever be subjected to rudeness, unacceptable behavior or profanity, and in that case inform the customer that their behavior will not be tolerated. If it is a phone call, then warn the customer you will hang up, or perhaps they would like to call at another time when they have calmed down. If you are in a face-to-face confrontation, excuse yourself and ask that person to get herself under control.

Never resort to anger yourself, because the situation more than likely will become explosive, and then nobody wins, and nothing gets solved. By now the anger should be waning, and the real problem is most likely somewhere near the surface. Listen carefully to the customer; don’t interrupt but assure the customer you are on their side and will do everything you can to rectify the situation to the best of your ability. At all times, remember you are speaking just like Charlie – both calm and engaged. From there you and the client can work on an amicable solution.

Remember however – if the problem was your fault, the first necessary protocol is to apologize. Customers will forgive you if you make a mistake, you apologize, and then rectify the situation. Don’t embellish your excuses with blaming other people; you represent your organization, and you need to fix the mistakes.

Whereas every company has their own standards and procedures for customer service, the ABC’s of staying calm, knowing your product, and having the ability to right those wrongs in a professional and satisfying method which suits your customers’ needs, is the key to a successful organization. And at the end of the day, that same professional wipes her hands, grabs her purse, and leaves the day’s complaints behind her as she goes home to her family.

photo credit: Victor1558

Brands Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index sets Dunkin’ Donuts as number one in customer loyalty for the coffee category. Second only to oil production, coffee is the largest commodity sold. The coffee category included ratings on consumer preferences, the consistency of meeting customer expectations for taste, quality, service, and brand value. This is the sixth year in a row the quick food coffee shop has been recognized with the award.

Dunkin’ Donuts has more than 7,000 restaurants in the United States and District of Columbia and another 10,000 restaurants in 33 countries. Their products are also sold in grocery stores and other specialty shops thus giving them a much broader shot at international brand recognition through a larger variety of different venues.

So what makes “Ameica Runs on Dunkin’” so popular? Most Dunkin’ Donuts are franchises, and their core values include honesty, transparency, humility, integrity, respect, fairness, and responsibility. Franchise applicants are required to have liquid assets of $250k and a net worth of $500k. Experts in the field provide extensive learning and training opportunities. Much of the organization’s success has been attributed to the dedication of the franchises and their ability to create an outstanding customer experience.

Perhaps the hardest part of meeting customer expectations however, lies with brand value and delivering the product to customers to make them happy. Actually the superior guest experience happens when customer expectations are exceeded. The company’s Dunkin’ Donuts Perk and Rewards program translates into free beverages as well as emails informing customers of the latest news, special offers and new store openings. Every year a participant receives a free medium beverage on their birthday. People remember – and couple the marketing with fast service, a smile from the person behind the counter, and 100 percent Arabica coffee beans, a recipe for success seems to have been achieved.

You may be a loyal fan of Starbucks where customers contemplate a more comfortable setting, a wider array of coffees, frappucinos and smoothies, having an employee inscribe your name on the cup and that small convenient table for sugar and spice – but “America Runs on Dunkin’ ” is less expensive and still makes the consumer feel as if they are appreciated.

In a company that serves more than one billion cups of hot coffee and iced tea annually, clever marketing has made people feel more engaged. The company’s green policy began in 2008 when the first green store opened in St. Petersburg, Florida, and on January 20, the second green store opened in St. Petersburg using eco-friendly LED lighting, recycled water for landscaping, coffee grounds for area farmer composting and even an electric car charging station.

The company supports veterans and donates coffee to the USO and provides grants for the welfare of the hungry.

When Nigel Travis, president and CEO of the organization was asked how he saw his company’s menu evolving in the next ten years he replied:

“I think we’ll be selling a lot of doughnuts. I think we’ll be stronger in our beverages, because that’s continued to grow steadily over time. We’ll continue to test things. We have more ideas than we can cope with.”

photo credit: craigemorsels