Service Untitled

There’s less than one month until April 15th when taxes are due. This year more people will qualify for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, which provides a free service for taxpayers who meet specific income guidelines which includes some of the hardest hit individuals and families. Needing the most help will be:

1. Those taxpayers who didn’t have taxes withheld from their unemployment checks (Yes, there is income tax on unemployment.)
2. Those taxpayers who tapped into their IRAs and 401Ks before retirement age in order to feed their families and pay the rent.

There is an IRS toll-free assistance service for taxpayers, but only 2 out of 3 taxpayers will ever reach a human. IRS admits they are striving to answer 71.2% of the calls; therefore 28.8% are obviously just out of luck. That’s a bleak reflection on customer service especially since all Americans are required to participate.

TIGTA General J. Russel George states that IRS will increase the number of assistants during the fiscal year, have six applications in which to handle Recovery Act call volume, and develop a Web base for certain taxpayers.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service within the IRS helps taxpayers resolve complaints that are not resolved through normal channels. The service protects individual taxpayer rights and helps to reduce the taxpayer burden. Within the department, the Taxpayer Advocates represents your interest and concerns within the IRS.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman assures us that agents will have more flexibility this year to settle with newly unemployed individuals and those who have had their incomes drastically fall. This is somewhat of a dubious promise however since last year’s tax enforcement by IRS for liens and judgments increased by 26%. In 2008, IRS received 52,000 requests to settle and only 11,000 requests were approved; a paltry 20%.

In order to provide better customer service, the IRS needs more toll-free lines. Taxpayers who have financial difficulty need to be dealt with differently. Levies and seizures can be detrimental to employment as well as credit scores. While the government pushes a tax payer into abject poverty, the American dream of home ownership and enjoyment of life are lost forever.

In 2008, leadership training was the only type of training companies spent more money on than customer service, yet even the government displays highly ineffective methods addressing perhaps the one “Service” that affects every American. Isn’t it time the government addressed customer service?

photo credit: numberstumper

Just check Terminal 5 at New York JFK airport for the state-of-the-art facility geared for efficiency and customer comfort. In 2009, JD Power & Associates, a global marketing information service which measures customer satisfaction based on millions of consumers annually, rated Jet Blue ” Highest in Customer Satisfaction” among low-cost carriers in North America.

Jet Blue serves 60 cities with 600 flights daily. All passengers have assigned seats; all fares are based on one way and an overnight stay is not required. They provide the most non-stop departures from JFK to Florida and rank as the 7th largest carrier in the US.

Jet Blue delivers service differently than most low-cost carriers. Where other companies have decided to cut back and charge passengers to use blankets and pillows while flying, Jet Blue, in the quest to become America’s Favorite Airlines, boasts their Customer Bill of Rights aimed at ” bringing humanity back to air travel.” On Valentine’s Day, 2007 an ice storm in the northeast set the venue for a customer service disaster when hundreds of passengers were held captive on the tarmac and thousands of travelers were stranded in airports. In order to regain their credibility,  instituting a Customer Bill of Rights now offers full refunds, re-accommodations due to Jet Blue cancellations within 4 hours and even refunds due to “controllable irregularities.” There is now compensation for departure delays,  overbookings  and on board ground delays. If a customer is involuntarily denied boarding because of a Jet Blue overbooking, the company claims to reimburse a passenger $1,000. The airline brags about “lots of legroom” and for a small additional fee promises to provide ” even more legroom.”

Attention getting promotions last week celebrating Jet Blue’s  ten years of service included $10 thank-you fares on all remaining seats between NY JFK and the airline’ s first ten destinations. Complimentary in-flight email and instant messaging known as “Beta Blue”,  first checked bag free, 36 channels of Directv, 100 channels of XM Radio, and unlimited named snacks are advertised on their website. On overnight flights, the airlines supplies a “snooze kit”  that contains an eye shade and earplugs.  Before arriving at the morning destination, airline attendants hand out hot towels, coffee, tea, orange juice or water.

Jet Blue’s promise of  “Happy Jetting” may indeed be a reality.

photo credit: albertopveiga

There have been 8 million Toyota vehicles recalled. There are car manufacturer meetings, government meetings, blog entries, and water-cooler discussions, yet brand loyalty has not dropped as much as expected.  The Consumer Reports 2010 Car Brand Survey shows Toyota only down by 10% with Honda now in the lead.

Depending on which survey you read, it is difficult to discern if Chevrolet and Ford have surpassed Toyota or still lag behind in sales. According to Edmunds.com, a popular automotive network newsletter where you can also buy and sell new and used cars, Ford increased 35% this past month. Snowstorms in the Northeast kept many buyers out of the showrooms in February, so the numbers may not be accurate.

So how are the Toyota representatives putting the giant back together again? After all, Toyota has had the most complaints about rogue gas pedal car acceleration over a 5 year period, and 52 people have died in sudden acceleration crashes in Toyota vehicles since the year 2000. Jim Lentz, President and Chief Operating Officer of Toyota Motor Sales stated, “We’re committed to doing everything we can – as fast as we can- to restore consumer trust in Toyota, and these recalls are part of this effort.” Toyota has promised more stringent quality control, more investigations into customer complaints, and a quicker response time when identifying safety issues, and has apologized to consumers and loyal customers repeatedly. Car dealerships have staff working 24/7 to repair and replace parts, and local and national television commercials have been launched reiterating customer loyalty.

Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager of Toyota Motor Sales, USA stated, “We launched this program to expand the focus on our customers, and thank them for their loyalty by adding value to our products.” And with that promise, Toyota introduced new financing programs and incentives offering 0% financing on popular models, low lease rates, and complimentary 2 year premium maintenance programs.

It will be interesting to follow Toyota’s rise and fall; will they be able to regain their giant market share and their once stellar reputation as a car manufacturer that provided reliability, durability, and safety? It’s not over yet; the hypersensitive press and public are waiting.

photo credit: ThreadedThoughts

The two most important functions for a web host is to keep the servers running smoothly and provide quality customer service. Like all technolog,y there is always a chance the customer’s web site could go down; it’s how the complete process is handled that ultimately makes the difference. The customer can get over the site being down, but he will not get over being ignored, and response time needs to be immediate.

Being kind is the one of the most important aspects of customer service. If you are a techie and you only like dealing with technology, do your business a favor and hire a “people person.” Even though they might not have the technical skills, people do business with people they like and not always the most experienced. The more technical problems can be handled by a separate department. Try to keep the customer service representatives in the house; in other words do not outsource.  Of course, the company might save labor costs, but it could end up costing the company customers. Training employees with efficient programs, using mentors to help employees handle customer service requests, and learning the culture of the company can provide the tools to keep the customer as the top priority. HostGator, a leading web hosting company based in Houston, tried outsourcing for a year, but language and cultural differences created such a gap that the company felt they were losing their “personal touch.”

Listen to what your customers are telling you. What company doesn’t want free advice? After all you might spend hundreds or thousands of dollars attending seminars on customer service, but listening to what customers have to say might make a difference. Always let the customer finish speaking, and take their suggestions seriously. Never rush a client through a service call; that is the easiest way to send your client packing to one of your competitors. Put yourself in their shoes and give them what you would expect.

Show respect for your customers, and don’t give a customer a reason to leave unhappily. If a customer wants a refund despite everything that you have done to rectify and solve their problem, by all means return their money. It’s not worth the bad publicity. Also make sure that your staff is familiar with new promotions and sales. Increase the staff when needed and anticipate the high volume times so customers don’t have to wait on “hold” or have to wait for “live help.” If the host company deals with international clients, have service representatives who speak foreign languages.

And by all means, show respect by your actions. If a customer leaves a phone message or an email, get back to them quickly. If you can show you appreciate and value your customers, then you are delivering customer service.

photo credit: schoschie

A successful commercial is no easy task, but what a value it is when it can deliver your message to an audience and entertain as well. Humor seems to always appeal to the masses, and the new Zappos commercial successfully calls attention to the company by creating the perfect juxtaposition of funny puppets speaking over the phone and cleverly incorporating a customer service message. The best commercial is one that can be viewed over and over and still elicit the same laugh.

The fine line between creativity and communication makes the message memorable. The offbeat humor fits the quirky culture of Zappos.  After all, CEO Tony Hsieh encourages his customer service representatives to make a Personal Emotional Connection. The culture of the company is what the company is all about, and as new employees train with two weeks of classroom training and two weeks of practical knowledge answering customer calls, they are offered money to the tune of $1000 to quit if they feel they do not fit with the culture. Employees who decide to stay within the company are much more invested in their loyalties, and with Hsieh’s mission which is to “provide the best online experience possible,” employees are better able to think independently in order to achieve the goal. Every year each employee is required to write a short essay about the culture of the company. All of the writings are entered into an unedited book and distributed to the staff.  It is a place where employees want to come to work.

This same commercial that has probably made all of you smile by now was able to communicate who Zappos is, what they want you to do and makes you want to do it.  If Hsieh can encourage managers to goof off with his staff for 10 to 20% random time, have interviews over “vodka shots,” and paint the bathrooms “urine colors” just to be weird and funny, two very unusual puppets extolling the virtues of an unusual customer service phone call can only add to the uniqueness of a tremendously successful company.

The puppets bring home the concept of being humble, having fun and being a bit weird. It’s Hsieh’s mantra, “Deliver WOW through service.” The video is after the jump.

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How any business handles complaints and returns defines customer service. Since the benefit of any product or service is realized once the sale is made, it is imperative that an exchange or return be made easily so as not to make the buyer feel pressured. Customers will buy more with good policies and refer new buyers as well. A bad experience is likely to end the relationship and result in the loss of business; not a desired effect with today’s economy and competition.

So what is the best return policy? If you model your business plan after Nordstrom’s slogan, “Even if you’re making an exchange or return, we make it easy,” the policy should be whatever keeps the customer happy which is getting their money back with the least resistance and work. Of course the store owner gets stuck with extra credit card fees, repackaging, restocking, and reselling the returned item, but the loss of a customer is far more expensive.

All return policies need to be visible. Post them on cash registers, on receipts and if online, post prominent links. Staff should be trained when checking customers out so as to mention the policy and how many days a customer has to return merchandise. Nowadays it is obvious how many stores have extended the return time period, and some have no limits at all. Any exceptions to the return policy should be clear, and an upfront approach perhaps by the sales representative at checkout could reinforce the reminder with a statement such as, “Sales items cannot be returned.”

All employees should be trained to handle returns, exchanges and refunds. The staff should stay friendly and proceed as quickly as possible with the least amount of paperwork and questions. A return is not the time to ask customers for more data than necessary since the customer is likely not happy. Try to turn the transaction into a pleasant experience by staying friendly even if the customer gets rude. Online return policies often include prepaid return labels, which is a great way to gain the competitive edge by reversing and reducing the risk for consumers. Again, making sure that the policy is clear reduces confusion.

Lastly, don’t treat 99% of customers like the 1% who are dishonest and who try to take advantage of generous return policies. Most customers just want to be happy with their purchases and ensure they have spent their money wisely.

photo credit: Bitman

Branding is about that logo we wear on our cross-trainers, the polo pony on my shirt, and the signature leather on my French made purse. It sets products apart from the generic and with some branding shows the world “we have arrived.”

It’s important to set customer service apart by creating a strong brand which in turn can give a business the competitive edge. Since the reputation of a company is based on the experiences of their customers, it is important to give them positive experiences. Remember that bad experiences are emotional also, and customers may not come back, but that can cost a company the loss of many new clients because now friends, neighbors and co-workers have all been told about the negative experience. Also consider that the neutral experience a customer might have is almost as bad as the negative experience because it has no emotional ties and thus is not memorable at all.

In customer service, the process usually involves multiple steps. For instance, there is the initial call routing, interaction, resolution, and then finalizing the resolution. Human assisted services are here to stay since not all customer service requests, complaints, orders, procedures, etc. qualify for the one-size fits all. Emphasizing the human assisted customer service over self-service can brand a company with a positive memorable experience. Some people just prefer the human touch.

Team representatives can be matched with the brand of the company. It’s much more of a positive memorable experience perhaps to have an athletic looking person providing customer service at the running store. A brand aligned agent creates the consistent and repetitive visibility since the public’s memory is very short. It is much more effective to expose your brand to a small audience numerous times than it is to advertise your business only once a year to a large audience.

Finally when branding your customer service, it is most important to have  unified objectives so customer experiences stay consistent. If clients have to experience different communication channels and are forwarded from one representative to another, it is crucial that the training and education of the staff be logical and consistent with the branding of the company. Simply stated; make sure the left hand always knows what the right hand is doing.

photo credit: vancouverfilmschool

Based in Southwest England, broadband provider Eclipse Internet was awarded the Best Customer Focus prize by Best Business Awards 2010. Praised for their quality of customer service, the award celebrates the best public and private excellence. According to Andrew Areoff, chair of the judging panel, the company “embeds important customer service into its operation.”

Eclipse Internet is known for its fast fiber-optic connections, its reliability, and, its support team. According to their website, the “team” gets a financial bonus for giving exceptional customer satisfaction. Happy customers stay longer and become loyal, and they go beyond what is expected to deliver the best customer service. The company’s claim for reliability is 99.9% uptime for broadband and web hosting. Their support calls claim to be answered in 60 seconds or less, and 70% of their faults are fixed at the first call.

The web site lists their November, December, and, January performance with the heading entitled, “How Are We Performing?” Included is a list of performance criteria:

• Availability of our core services
• Orders fulfilled on time
• Customers needing technical help
• Customers faults fixed at first call
• Fault rate compared to average
• Spam/virus blocked

This all made me ponder if money is indeed the motivational tool for employees to render better customer service? The company’s support team seems to have some impressive values listed. If so, how much and how does it influence employee productivity? Motivation is a huge part of the formula, but how does one evaluate the happiness level since happiness goes way beyond the job. People tend to be happier when they make more money because money is purchasing power, and the ability to purchase more plays an important part in happiness.

I am convinced that money does play an important part in employee motivation, but the key is to find the right candidate for the position. Capability, professionalism, patience, knowledge, and personality to fit the company marks the spot for success. Once the candidates are well-trained and given the tools to conduct business with the company’s success firmly implanted, the added monetary rewards for jobs well-done do seem to make a difference.

photo credit: europealacarte