Service Untitled

It’s no coincidence that National Customer Service Week is celebrated this late on the calendar; it’s the unofficial launch of the biggest shopping experience of the year as the holiday season closes in and shoppers start counting down the days to family and friend celebrations. And in anticipation of the “happiest time of the year,” customer service demands rise to the top of the leader board.

Statistics reflect over two-million employees working in the customer service industry, and this week long celebration serves as a reminder to businesses the importance of recognizing those representatives in the front lines who tend to the business of the day by successfully interacting with customers and clients. Why not use this time of the year to develop new customer service ideas that can reward, recognize, and help to advance the talents of these critically important employees?

In the overwhelmingly successful business called Zappos, their philosophy, culture, and obsession with customer service has changed the 1999 Internet shoe business to shoes, clothing and more with annual revenues of over one billion dollars. It’s a company that listens to the voices of the customers and uses the feedback to help train team members become successful which in turn boosts morale, and at the same time motivates employees to want to do better – all in a positive atmosphere where employees enjoy coming to work. So what has made Tony Hseih’s Zappos’ experience so popular and successful?

Without a doubt, Zappos delivers “WOW” service. Although the commercials and advertisements may appear a bit quirky, they make you smile. From the moment you visit the website, you are guaranteed free shipping, immediate delivery, 365-day return policies, and a host of good-natured and efficient customer service personnel right at your fingertips or on the phone should any part of your shopping experience go awry. Of course, the cream of the crop associates don’t just pop out by filling out a job application, and after an extensive training program coupled with the obsession of the organization’s core values and culture, new associates become part of the “family” and even share in the future success by profit sharing.

One may find it interesting that Zappos is not known for their competitive salaries; in fact salaries are considerably lower, but factor in free food, a comprehensive medical plan, and a place where employees share the pride and professionalism of a business where even managers are encouraged to hang out with their employees in a happy place, the motivation for coming on board certainly becomes attractive. Where employees are encouraged to voice their complaints, where learning experiences are based on following other good examples, and where employees are encouraged to volunteer and have fun when not working adds up to a working environment that revolves around happiness. Perhaps the most fun a visitor might notice as you go on a tour of the Las Vegas Zappos facility are the delightfully creative decorations at each employee’s cubicle – ranging from someone’s fanciful interest to Tony Hseih’s jungle theme cubicle thickly decorated with plastic palm trees and hanging stuffed monkeys.

It’s a place to be adventuresome, learn, and grow. It’s a place where humility and passion have just the right mix, and it’s a place where National Customer Service Week and the appreciation of customer service representatives is surely celebrated.

There’s more to sustaining and building a business than just providing products or services. Our competitors are always within inches of grabbing our customers and clients with a better presentation, a better product, or a better service. It’s not about just selling; it’s about presenting our best employees and our sales teams who possess not only positive attitudes, but who are attentive listeners and problem solvers.

So how do we build and maintain customer loyalty? We all know to keep accurate records of our clients’ purchases, their history, and their buying trends, but making improvements and constantly staying in touch can make a profound impression on any client. In the age of advanced media choices, use email, blogging, and twitter to a company’s advantage. Even negative feedback can help to bring about customer loyalty. When a product fails or a service isn’t to a customer’s satisfaction, a company’s reputation is out there “laying on the line.” Use negative experiences to revamp procedures, update products, improve services, and help a customer find the best and most efficient solution to their complaint. Those are the customers you will have dazzled with your customer commitment, and in essence these are the very same people who will be your walking billboards for loyalty and attracting new customers.

Always strive to improve your customers’ lives; in other words “own” the customer. Here are some suggestions to build customer loyalty:

• Always make sure customers receive prompt responses to their complaints or negative comments. Make sure the mistake isn’t repeated.
• Survey customer satisfaction and encourage feedback by surveys, polls, emails, and personal correspondence if needed.
• Offer reward programs for loyal customers. Businesses can offer special preview days, exclusive discounts, or prizes appropriate to the product or service offered.
• Provide genuinely useful information to your buyers and clients. Newsletters, timely advice on update of products, as well as information about recalls and discounts will keep customers focused and satisfied that the organization they deal with really cares about them and is just not out there to make a sale.
• Never take a client for granted and how a business acts before the sale, during the sale, and after the sale are all indicators how a client or customer will feel when the time comes to use your business again.
• Make customer feedback a priority. Show how improvements have been made. Accept positive feedback graciously, change negative feedback to show improvements, and constantly watch out for new trends to make every customer confident that you are there for them.
• Reward key employees and staff who have gone above and beyond for their customers. Use financial rewards, promotions, prizes, and peer recognition to congratulate the best and inspire those who have yet to achieve their full potential.

Customer loyalty may at times seem like a daunting task, but in an economy where only the strongest and the best survive, shouldn’t we all remember to place our customers at the very top of the list?

Years ago when contractors were so busy building houses, supply giant Home Depot paid a lot more attention to the builders than to the do-it-yourself home owners. After all, the economy was booming and a realtor could scarcely keep any home inventory available for new buyers, and so the prices kept climbing while customers lined up at the cash registers. But then the economic bliss balloon burst, contractors removed their magnetic signs from their trucks, and people once again began to pay more attention to their budgets; thus a new chapter in do-it-yourself home improvements was reborn.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times told the story of a 53 year-old Burbank postal clerk woman who decided to do some home improvements to upgrade her bedroom. Off to Home Depot she went, and much to her pleasant surprise was greeted with immediate attention. In fact, the woman stated she was asked by three different orange-aproned  associates if she needed any help. The same good news emerged about Lowe’s. Whereas the smaller Ace Hardware organization who has always been customer-centric towards the homeowner and known for their exceptional customer service, the larger companies have now joined in to improve their own customer service scores.

Home Depot scored an overall ranking of 95.81 – ranking number 30 out of 553 companies that have a Customer Service Scoreboard rating. Both Home Depot and Lowe’s sales, profits, and shopper satisfaction scores increased; Home Depot stock shares rose 74 percent while Lowe’s stock shares rose 35 percent.

So what are these home improvement giants doing to improve their customer service? Well-trained employees who have relevant information from their own experiences and who are given the advantages of the latest learning resources add to the value of a customer experience. Inexperienced employees are trained and empowered to make customers happy. Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot owes the success of the organization to the thorough knowledge of trusting business relationships and excellent customer service.

Perhaps the most famous story of Blank’s commitment to customer service and its vital importance began when the company was still quite young. An older woman walked into one of the Home Depot stores and wanted to return four tires. Home Depot never dealt in tires, but the woman insisted she purchased the tires through Home Depot. Blank refunded the woman the money for the tires:

“Refund the woman all of her money for the four tires. Although those tires weren’t sold to her by Home Depot, her satisfaction of returning those tires is worth the life-long customer relationship that we will create with her,” stated Blank after speaking to the confused employee who didn’t know what to say to the determined woman.

Those four tires still hang above the door in one of the Atlanta Home Depot stores. And then there’s more to pleasing customers. When someone walks in who doesn’t know the difference between a round wire nail, an oval wire nail or a brad, experienced people in home improvements are there to help. Managers, assistant managers and department heads are all included in training programs, and these are the people out on the floor who help customers find what they need, but also help to determine whether it’s really what they need.

And with the latest innovative ways to help and reach customers using WiFi computer services in stores, improving do-it-yourself instructions, YouTube videos and workshops, Facebook, and the photo sharing of Pinterest replacing catalogs and brochures, customers have at their fingertips more conveniences and tons of helpful information to make those home projects turn out as if they were done professionally.

Although it is very convenient to shop online, many customers still enjoy the experience of touching merchandise and browsing in a brick and mortar store; hence the popularity of small neighborhood businesses. There are few things more pleasing to one’s “soul” as when the owner of a store knows your name and offers you a cup of coffee or a croissant as you inspect the latest arrivals. In the neighborhood deli, your favorite flavor of coffee cream sits waiting for you in the refrigerator, and at the office supply store the owner knows the brand of your copier and offers you a 10 percent discount because you are a regular customer.

Whether a customer spends $10 or $1,000, chances are at some time they are still going to have a question or an issue with a product. How an organization handles the situation can differentiate you from the competition. Although someone who loves your service may only tell one or two new potential customers, the flip side of dissatisfied customers can wind up with the loss of 20 customers – both current and in the future.

Customer service is no longer regarded as “business as usual” since the competition wants your customers as badly as you want to keep them. It’s no secret that building loyalty and keeping customers are the longtime ingredients to success, but many of the rules have changed as the economy has left only the strongest to survive. Couple that with the popularity of social media, businesses and especially small businesses are under even closer scrutiny than years ago. For instance if someone is angry with your business, it’s likely to appear via a Tweet or on Facebook. Even though all complaints are not always valid, angry people no longer have to wait “on hold” to voice their complaints. An inflated sense of customer entitlement continues to blossom as competing organizations step “out of the box” to build their brand and hence increase their loyalty from their customers.

So what’s a local merchant to do to cultivate their customers’ loyalties? Customer service has to be proactive. Many local businesses promote their services on Facebook. Regularly keeping up with customers, offering exceptional personal services, and keeping up with community events and humanitarian causes attract positive attention. Don’t wait for customers to come to you since it’s so easy for people to forget. Stay in contact. In the real estate business, we use “farm areas” which are the communities where we are solidly educated and familiar as to home prices, sold homes, community efforts, schools, and local available services. Once every few weeks, interesting and helpful marketing information goes out to each of the areas informing residents of any changes, but there’s always more. In Florida for instance, the early summer months are popular for sending out hurricane preparation information. As the weather gets cooler, there’s advice for planting flowers. Other times there are local notifications of popular events in the area or even some advice on how to wrap a beautiful gift or where to take your dog for a frisbee contest.

The bottom line to outstanding customer service is to reach out and provide every employee with the motivational tools to want to please customers. Use the examples of exceptional service by such organizations as American Express, Ritz Carlton Hotels, and Zappos. Incorporate the best of the best into affordable but meaningful ways to please customers. Make them feel important and deliver outstanding customer service.

Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn no longer maintain call centers claiming the costs are too high. Do these powerful organizations therefore view customer service as an operational cost rather than a marketing investment? In a  study from CRM Guru, bad customer service accounts for 70 percent of customer attrition followed by poor quality at 30 percent, price at 25 percent, and functionality at 15 percent.

Banks, telephone services, Internet services, and insurance companies tend to closely follow these customer churn rates and especially dealing with the rigors of the current economy, try to diagnose and repair some of the causes of customer dissatisfaction and subsequent departures. Even in huge industries, the cost of keeping existing customers is still far less expensive than recruiting new ones. Of course the root causes of some of the problems might never be totally eliminated, but that “stepping out of the box” thought pattern as to excellent customer service will still increase the net profitability at the end of the year as customers maintain their loyalty and continue to spend their hard-earned money.

Long term customer retention strategies may vary from company to company, but the voluntary churn of customers continue to be a key business factor. When a voluntary churn occurs, which is a customer’s decision to switch services, the lack of customer service personnel available to work out the problems and convince the customer to reconsider becomes expensive. Long term customers are valued thereby making long term strategies sound business decisions; otherwise an organization is at risk for a sharp decline in business.

Today’s highly competitive business venues across the nation and abroad call for giving customers multiple avenues for customer service. The youngest population of buyers and potential buyers are growing up with more technological ways to communicate with a company, but there still continues to be a growing  demand for phone service call centers as well as email and of course social media contact methods. Whereas a young buyer may not spend a lot of money initially, he becomes much more valuable as he makes more money, has more money to spend, and recommends your company to his friends.

As an example, the change from Directv to Comcast was a decision based primarily on the lack of quality of the company’s customer service. From the frustration of trying to find a qualified customer service representative without spending extra-time winding the way around the obligatory, endless maze of phone queues, to the mandatory standard procedures of starting from step one for service problems, individualized customer service for extenuating problems never happened. Less than six-months later, however an endless amount of phone calls and invitations to return to Directv most likely has cost the company far more money and time than had the customer service procedures been effective.

The quality of customer service paves the way for loyalty, revenue and happy shareholders.

British Airways has initiated a new customer service program called “Know Me.” The company claims the iPad based system is intended to proactively recreate “the feeling of recognition” a customer often delights in when they walk into their favorite restaurant and the maitre d’ or the owner of the establishment knows their name and greets them personally. Most of us remember the popular television program “Cheers” – the Boston bar where “everyone knows your name.”

The airlines will be searching Google for photographs of their customers in order to recognize them as they enter the airport or aircraft and claim it will be a proactive approach in case a customer’s flight is delayed or to just thank a repeat customer for their “continued patronage.” The search system to be employed will also be able to pull up information about a customer’s previous travel arrangements, prior complaints, meal requests, and Executive Club status.

According to the British tabloid Evening Standard, privacy issues are becoming a hot topic. Passengers purchasing tickets argue that buying an airline ticket doesn’t give the company permission to hunt for one’s personal information. Other passengers seem to care less. Let’s face it; how many organizations that we deal with in our day to day business lives already have our personal information? My favorite Italian restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens knows where I live, my son’s birthday, and even my favorite Bordeaux. My personal shopper at Nordstrom knows my favorite color, my favorite perfume, my eye color, and a cellphone number I only use for my personal use.The difference is however, that I have voluntarily offered the information to the restaurant and to the department store.

Still British Airways state they hope to recognize 4500 customers per day by the end of the year, but it seems rather illogical that customer service agents are going to be able to recognize and recreate that “welcome” feeling most of us associate with the personal touch. After all British Airways have quite the extensive global route. Will the representatives just be specifically using Google to identify First Class passengers? What happens to all of the John Smith passengers of the world? Will they be overlooked, or will customer service representatives use birth date information to get even more personal? What if Susan Smith is no longer a blonde when she next travels to London? Will a customer service representative ask her if the photograph on Google is really her?

The “Know Me” service should be a voluntary program for those passengers who want that extra level of service. With so many people having been victims of identity theft, consumers need to think twice before subjecting themselves to arbitrary Internet stalking just because they need to fly from Miami to London. What do you think?

In one of the most successful self-help books, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen Covey identifies the elements truly effective people use regularly as tools towards their success. No matter how quickly technology continues to dazzle us with innovative ways to contact our customers, understand new products, or strive to make purchasing convenient and quick, satisfied customers and our future relationships with them are what keeps our businesses growing. Might we just build trust and more satisfied customers by getting back to basics, and using  proven methods of success? Here are Covey’s habits as explained in his book. Read how easily they can be related to the core values of effective customer service:

1. Habit number one calls for us to be proactive or to take the initiative to realize the decisions we make will ultimately determine the course of our businesses. No matter how far technology takes us, people still want to speak to real people when they are having a problem or expecting excellent service. Customer service has always been a top priority for American Express as compared to the endless prompts and procedures of other credit card companies. It’s interesting to note that more credit card companies have recently been reaching out to the public stating that real people are now readily available when a customer calls.
2. The second habit is to begin with the end in mind or picture where you would like your business to be in the future. Amazon, Zappos, and the Ritz Carlton hotels pictured clients and guests having access to every amenity, guaranteeing satisfaction with unquestioned return policies, and hiring the most effective agents who could bring a dream to reality.
3. Put first things first and prioritize your tasks as to your customers. Keep promises, work on your company values, and above all concentrate on the most ethical and respectful ways to promote better relationships with all of your customers. Sometimes it isn’t just about the sale, and people remember when you go out of your way to help.
4. Can you think win-win? Outstanding customer service calls for everyone to win. Can you solve problems and still be fair? While you may not make a customer happy all the time, the win-win situation still counts if there is value and respect for both sides. If one can concentrate on long term solutions and still come up with a reasonable compromise, all parties can maintain their dignity.
5. Habit five says to seek first to understand, then to be understood. Communication is a two-way street. The most important part of excellent customer service is the ability to listen. We can’t solve problems if we don’t understand.
6. Next we synergize which is to join forces with our teams and work together to encourage the best possible customer services. We just cannot depend on the front desk agent who answers the phone or who replies on Facebook. Customer service includes every department from CEO to delivery. The best customer service oriented companies encourage employees to learn, join together to teach each other, and work where the “whole” complements the “parts.”
7. And finally the seventh most successful habit is described as sharpening the saw. The analogy pertains to the man who kept sawing through a piece of wood, but his saw was too dull to finish the job on time. When asked why he didn’t just stop and sharpen his saw, the man replied he couldn’t because he wouldn’t be able to finish his job by stopping. All of us need to take  time to energize ourselves whether we choose to spend time with our children, run ten-miles on the beach, or relax in the mountains of New York State. Take some time, and learn from our mistakes.

The valuable time we spend honing our best talents and helping our colleagues to be the best they can be will help to establish the  most successful companies.

It seems that even the TSA is under scrutiny as to their lack of customer service, and passengers who have encountered problems trying to navigate through the woes of 21st century airport security have a valid argument. TSA Administrator John Pistole stated in a recent interview on CNN that less intrusive rules have been implemented lately. For instance, passengers over the age of 75 are no longer required to shed their coats or take off their shoes while going through security. Also 1.5 million passengers have gone through TSA’s PreCheck which is a pre-screening investigation which expedites security clearance.

In a recent Congressional hearing, Representative Mike Rogers (R-Ala) of the House Homeland Security Transportation Subcommittee stated the TSA is a huge bureaucracy that pays little attention to citizens. Customer service, even at its most basic qualifier demands an individual be treated respectfully. Is there something awry with TSA customer service when recognizable individuals such as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger are patted down at the entrance to airport security?

The subcommittee’s new efforts will now concentrate on their “poor customer service image and become a leaner, smarter agency,” according to Rogers. It’s profoundly understood that the job of the TSA is to provide airline passengers with safe transit, but the long lines, the less than pleasant attitudes of some agents, removing belts, coats, and shoes, and having to acquiesce to “striptease” in certain arbitrary situations aren’t the ways to satisfy passengers. Where most people will agree that many of the procedures are necessary to insure the safety of Americans and all travelers, others cite the hypocrisies of some regulations that no longer apply. Not too long ago, passengers had to turn on their laptops nor were cigarette lighters permitted. Now smaller laptops don’t have to removed from a passenger’s backpack or carry-on.

If people are outraged and disgusted by TSA agents for their inefficiency or their callousness to addressing tenuous situations with expertise and professionalism, the media can easily multiply the assumed bullying and defiance of the TSA officers. The story went viral when a four-year-old child was searched on the suspicion of having a firearm possibly given to him when hugged by his grandmother. Fortunately none of it was true, but the less than professional behavior sent unflattering criticism from one end of the planet to the other end.

On the plus side, Pistole states that TSA personnel are now being trained and retrained as to respect for passengers as well as treating people professionally. There are just too many different rules, and Americans have legitimate concerns over radiation incurred during body screening or of nasty agents bragging about having made passengers cry.

Meanwhile the prices of flights continue to rise, but still the planes are 82 percent filled to capacity. Many passengers do opt to no longer fly. Let’s just hope the retraining of the TSA agents help them to add customer service strategies to their job descriptions.