Service Untitled

My son was raised using the Internet and whenever we talk about buying a new product, he’s already on the corresponding website and has a wealth of information before I even find my car keys. In 2010, Forrester Research stated that retail online sales had grown 11 percent and expected increases of 10 percent a year through 2014. By 2014, consumer purchases using e-retail is expected to exceed $249 billion.

Blame it all on a stressed economy and an increase in Internet shopping, many commercial strip malls are begging for retail clients and are taking a financial beating. What we need, therefore is to return to basics and plan innovative methods to win back some of the sales from the Internet. Primarily the best defenses against customers sitting in front of their computers and buying products is to compete in price, selection, and customer service. While I agree a brick and mortar store can not always compete in the wide selection of products available on the Internet, shoppers still trust local brands and knowing the people who own the businesses.

Even though shoppers like to take advantage of the latest technology, nothing replaces human contact and those sensory experiences of actually going shopping. Customers like to touch, feel, and taste; it’s all part of the retail experience. Brick and mortar stores need to only take advantage of the human need and integrate expert, seamless customer service experiences to build loyalty. Offer those tactile experiences that can’t be matched on the Internet, and develop relationships with customers by follow-up and offering good prices, good value and outstanding service.

Educate your sales force and enable all employees to be so efficient and comfortable with their knowledge of the product or service they are selling to help educate buyers. After all 70 percent of United States consumers research online before they ever go to a store. Consumers know prices, know products, and know good service. Deliver good service in person, and show that customer how much better it is to deal with you in person, and build your client and customer list with referrals and beaming testimonials.

Never forget that the Internet is also your friend. Develop a website; that’s where the shopping begins. Use media to your advantage such as online discounts, photos of the latest merchandise, newsletters offering knowledge and interesting community events, or even send text messages announcing new merchandise. Just this morning I received a picture and text message from my favorite shoe store with the latest designer shoes the store knows I love. That’s the reason I stay loyal to a particular shop; they provide the most outstanding customer service anyone could imagine  while keeping it all low-key, professional, and not excessive.

In today’s market, a brick and mortar establishment needs to do it all!

photo credit: sancho_panza

Today in the Jonesboro, Arkansas Regional Chamber of Commerce presentation, franchised restaurant operator and owner of Chick-fil-A, Mike Fullington explained to his audience how customer service can have an impact on a person’s day and even his life. He explained those who really do it well have a certain “spirit,” and that is not something that is trained; rather it comes from the heart with the desire to serve and help others.

In the world of fast food, there has to be a special talent to prepare fast food and still be able to pass out a survey asking a customer to rate taste, speed, attentiveness, courteousness, and cleanliness. That sounds more like the upscale restaurant we visit once in a while, but the Atlanta-based franchise is well-known for its passion and service. Instead of a “thank you” at the end of a customer’s purchase, the more genteel “my pleasure” is used. Truett Cathy, founder, chairman and CEO stresses “servant leadership,” meaning managers treat employees how they want employees to treat customers.

It’s not the extra mile of service franchises bring to Chick-fil-A; it’s been described as the second extra mile. It’s where new franchise owners can take up to a year to come aboard. They have worked in the restaurant, gone through countless interviews, involved their families in the business, and identify with corporate values. All Chick-fil-A’s for instance, are closed on Sundays as a day of rest and prayer. While it’s not mandatory to be Christian, all owners must have demonstrated a special passion, humility, and genuineness Cathy finds mandatory. He places families first, and is a firm believer in strong family units.

Innovative ideas to promote the Chick-fil-A culture for outstanding customer service is rewarded. Contests for competitiveness are rewarded as teams show exemplary work ethics and ideas. Technology and training assist employees in attaining goals of efficiency and speed; 90 seconds for service at a drive through and 60 seconds for counter service.

As an incentive to heighten customer loyalty, coupons, restaurant openings, and special community occasions bring forth new opportunities for “ambassadors” to spread the word to someone not familiar with Chick-fil-A.

And to constantly keep a check on the best ingredients for Chick-fil-A, Cathy spends $1 million dollars on quarterly evaluations which questions customers about their experiences. Respondents receive a free sandwich for answering twenty questions about their experiences. Each location is then forwarded a two-page report.

Excellent customer service is adding that special recipe people just don’t expect to receive. With over 1200 restaurants and $1.5 billion in sales, there’s a lot to be said about integrity taking first place as has been shown via Truett Cathy’s philosophy.

photo credit: Carl Black

A recent survey conducted by American Express shows Americans demanding better customer service as compared to last year. Statistics showed 70 percent of consumers willing to spend 13 percent more for “WOW” service as compared to 2010 when only 55 percent of consumers were only willing to spend 9 percent more.

Jim Bush, executive vice-president for American Express World Service stated:

“Getting service right is more than just a nice to do; it’s a must-do. American consumers are willing to spend more with companies that provide outstanding service, and they will also tell, on average, twice as many people about bad service than they are about good service. Ultimately, great service can drive sales and customer loyalty.”

In a personal comparison between credit cards, the American Express Platinum Card customer service far exceeds any other upscale credit card I have in my possession. There are comparatively little computer generated obstacles to overcome before touching base with a live representative, and each customer experience is handled with professionalism and that personal touch is so important when large organizations have to try extra hard to stay connected to their clients and customers. Other premium credit cards from Bank America or Barclay do provide several perks, however their customer service departments are much more mechanical and in several instances have transferred me to other representatives. An admirable asset of American Express customer service; the agent a consumer speaks with “owns that problem” until it is resolved.

The general discontent among consumers show that many businesses just haven’t picked up the pace for customer service, and many have scaled down because of the state of the economy. Perhaps that is the worst choice any business can make at this time, because statistics also show that a great majority of consumers have backed out of purchases because of poor service.

In an even broader arena of consumer unhappiness are the problems with airlines slowly inching up their prices despite an obvious lag in travel. Airlines are trying to win customers back with all kinds of great deals, but the quality of customer service is so disappointing that travelers are asking for federal government intervention. Imagine that? Consumers want plain language for disclosing fees to make it possible to compare airfares and optional fees, a consumer complaint hotline, and require airlines to email or send text notifications of flight statuses.

Sure, customers are now regarded as high-maintenance, but isn’t it about time that we all get to feel we’re truly getting our money’s worth and being treated as valued consumers?

photo credit: La Citta Vita

The best customer service representatives focus on people. They are good listeners, good communicators, and convey to us a positive and patient demeanor. These amazingly reliable people provide business owners with the competitive advantage over their competition, and it doesn’t matter if the economy is dragging – successful organizations continue to recognize the importance of their employees.

For anyone considering a career in customer service, one must initially be able to handle stress, handle pressure, maintain friendly interactions with customers, and follow through on tasks. It’s not always easy to maintain one’s focus on serving people, so an employer needs to identify and invest in the right people for the job. Most of us as consumers can probably remember some unfortunate experiences we have had with customer service agents who have lacked the ability to deal with stress and were easily excitable. How many of us can summarily figure out those agents who were just there for their pay checks and lacked the sensitivity needed when we needed a patient ear to listen and someone capable of resolving our frustrating company issue?

Organizations can depend upon recommendations from other employees, online research, or evaluations which may involve personality assessments to evaluate basic employability, honesty, reliability, and competency when the search is on for the best agents. The American Psychological Assessment has been recognized as an ethical and statistical guideline, however there are a variety of  other acceptable evaluation techniques used by employers and their respective evaluators.

No matter what criteria an employer uses to choose the best candidates however, the most successful customer service representatives always seem to display the following traits:

• The best customer service representatives I have ever met live to serve and can spend time with others on the phone or in person as interesting and knowledgeable individuals.
• The best customer service representatives I have ever met are versatile and can read others while adapting to their style and personality so as to find a common ground.
• The best customer service representatives I have ever met are interested in learning about their product, service, or sales and are always interested in improving their abilities.
• The best customer service representatives have set standards and are consistent.
• The best customer service representatives make the most of their time and are willing to help out in other areas if the demand is there.
• The best customer service representatives are team players.
• The best customer service representatives have personal accountability and stellar interpersonal skills.

The best customer service representatives don’t just happen; employers are responsible for providing the best training, career development, and recognition for a job well done.

photo credit: La Citta Vita

Self service popularity has taken a major role in airports kiosks, movie theaters, and even libraries, but in supermarket technology interest seems to ebb and flow – depending on the customer. There are always going to be some customers who want the traditional checkout person while other consumers prefer to do it themselves.

Albertsons, a Boise, Idaho based supermarket chain is removing their self checkout lanes; the biggest complaint – slow lanes because someone is having trouble with their self checkout. The supermarket, in the interest of providing the best customer experience, therefore is going to revert to staff checkout lanes with more lanes open during peak shopping times. The spokesperson for Albertsons, Christine Wilcox stated;

“Our customers are our highest priority and we want to provide them with an excellent experience from the time they park their car to when they leave.”

Supermarkets who are more concerned with customer experience contend that customers miss that one on one interaction with a cashier as they check out. Stella Overton, a Florida resident who often shops at Albertsons stated;

“I like that the cashier says hello to me, and if I have a problem with the price of a product, I just stop her, and we check it out. When I tried to do the self-checkout, I’m not that good on the computer, I don’t always scan the product right, and I get confused trying to get my change. I have to bag the groceries myself, and so I rather would use a live person.”

The more customer service oriented formats include the personal touch with technology in order to speed up the process to help customers get out quicker and still cater to the individual that very well may set one store apart from another. Some supermarkets are considering European style checkouts where an organized format queues customers from one main line into multiple staffed express lanes. Called Metro Lanes, Whole Food Stores is trying it in some of their establishments. Customers move through the lines much quicker and still have a personal connection with a staff member, if even for just a few moments.

Kroger Foods is trying a new advanced system, hoping to improve customer experience and at the same time eliminate loss due to theft or misringing the product. The machine resembles an airport luggage conveyor belt, and scans the items as they move through a tunnel. An employee mans the machine, and the groceries are bagged by an attendant which still provides the customer with a full service experience.

Let’s face it; everyone goes to the supermarket, and we all want to get there, do our shopping, and get out as quickly as possible. Why not have a good customer experience too?

photo credit: thetalesend

Front-line customer service representatives impact our everyday lives. Whether we are returning sour milk to the local supermarket or our new car with only 6,000 miles has been in the repair shop more than it has been on the road, representatives who deal with the public are significantly important to each organization. Why then, are service people often treated as among the lowest paid in many organizations? After all, business owners and senior management need customer representatives to make a positive impact on “social media-savvy customers.”

Customer service representatives often bear the brunt of a customer’s anger; therefore it’s mandatory to hire agents with excellent dispositions so they are able to maintain the helpful attitude needed to resolve problems. We want our agents to show genuine interest and concern when helping customers and clients, and take the initiative to solve problems; not just turn the problem over to another department. We want an experienced customer service agent to “own the problem,” and thus convey to the customer they have the capability and responsibility to see the task through for a satisfactory resolution.

Unfortunately there is no magical solution to prepare agents to be exemplary at their professions. Organizations that help their employees succeed don’t judge their agents by how quickly they get people off the phone or the number of calls they handle within an eight-hour shift. Here are some suggestions an organization might consider:

• Have a training program that helps customer representatives deal with people. Help new agents incorporate people skills with their technical knowledge.
• Be watchful of social media, however Twitter isn’t really the way to solve customer service issues. Of course, it can have an immediate detrimental effect on an organization, and customer service agents need to be familiar with customer engagement so as to neutralize negative publicity, and contact the customer to resolve the situation in an appropriate manner.
• Give customer service personnel the authority and training to resolve conflicts. Praise jobs well-done and new initiatives that were successful. Use positive experiences to help other professionals learn.
• Employ personnel who genuinely like their jobs and who want to progress in their careers.
• Offer competitive pay packages and compensation plans to attract the best candidates. You do get what you pay for.

photo credit: CUS Visual Media Team

Entrepreneur magazine writer Micah Solomon stated there are several important elements retailers need to concentrate on in order to gain customer loyalty. A successful organization must anticipate customer wishes, provide fast service, and dedicate themselves to acknowledging each returning customer. Solomon also contends businesses need to perfect the ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ for customers, develop the customer service vocabulary, and work very diligently to hire the best personnel who will enhance their organizations, and not merely just answer the phone with stock replies, or pass a complaint on to another representative.

So how does a business show customers they really care? Many retailers have recognition and reward programs. Of course the reward programs were started to collect customer data and track spending habits, but don’t we all get tired of our key fobs full of little plastic attachments we need to scan at every store? While unpacking after my recent move, my assistant counted nearly 200 discount cards that I have accumulated these last few years. I don’t use them; unless there is some significant value or some kind of emotional connection to a particular organization.

In my own experience, when I shop, I know what I want to buy, I know the quality I can expect from the money I plan to spend for the product or service, and I know how I want to be treated when I shop for that particular product. Those become the retailers who win my customer loyalty.

Specifically reward programs like PetSmart where I save a few dollars off a bag of dog food is not a bad thing, but wouldn’t it be more significant to some of us if we purchased 20 bags of Wellness Dog Food and then qualified for a free dog grooming? On a larger scale, hotels that have reward programs may discount a room, but discounts are all over the Internet these days and many times it becomes very confusing as to whom is offering what and where. I contend it’s the personal connection that wins my loyalty, and if a hotel dispatched a limo at the end of my stay to take me back to the airport, that would significantly make a bigger impact on me than the $50 off of my room tab.

Bottom line – it’s about feeling a connection. In a very popular Palm Beach boutique that admittedly we all spend too much money at – the owner frequently hosts delicious luncheons when she introduces a trunk show or a new line. There’s no doubt about it – a Mimosa and a credit card and a businesswoman dedicated to making her customers happy stands out among the crowd.

photo credit: variationblogr

Maybe it’s just a coincidence associated with moving that brings me to wonder how customer service representatives relay their particular war stories of having to deal with difficult customers? Perhaps it is that I have had to make more than an average  number of phone calls to various organizations directing new phone, electric, cable, and gas services than most of us regularly have to deal with, or maybe poor customer service is just average, and just more concentrated because I’m dealing with everyone in a compressed time period.

Nonetheless, a writer from the New York Times once called customer service representatives out on their self-reported experiences dealing with angry customers stating that the objective, actual experience differed greatly from the representative’s version.  These perception “deficits” made for good lunch room or cocktail hour stories, but didn’t seem to serve any constructive purpose. The report also brought out that customer service representatives commonly overstate the frequency of angry customers and the number of conflicts they handle in a typical work day.

Of course, negative experiences tend to be more memorable than the routine calls, but when fellow employees dominate conversations with the war stories of the clients from Hell, isn’t that a preamble to growing negative perceptions for other employees? And how does that make other employees deal with angry or dissatisfied customers?

As an example, I called DirecTV and instructed them to turn off my television service as of the end of the month. Yesterday, after a long day, I turned the television on to find out that DirecTV had turned my service off prematurely. What was obviously their mistake and what should have only taken moments to correct turned out to be a drawn out debacle until I finally was fortunate enough to make contact with a customer service agent who immediately figured out the problem and reinstated my service. So was I a client from Hell? I don’t think so, but I am sure the perception “deficit” of the two previous agents who were unable to solve my problem because they had no idea what to do in this particular circumstance, will embellish the story to make it more significant as their own cathartic experience.

So how do we help our customer service representatives be more productive and constructive? From my own experience, representatives need more front line classroom training. Supervisors need to raise the bar on performance, but that’s impossible without giving employees the tools, education, and experience to be able to deal with the unusual. Once an employee is empowered to identify problems, trained and educated to delve a little bit further into possible problems and solutions, customer perception “deficits” are eliminated.

Customer service personnel learn from being monitored, measured, managed, and rewarded. Those who will rise to the occasion have the confidence and desire to help clients and customers solve their problems with a minimum of drama. Perhaps the worst statement I heard yesterday was, “I’m sorry I understand why you are angry, but I can’t help you.” Fortunately I mustered up the stamina to call back and luckily connected with a customer service representative from West Virginia. That wonderful lady saved my evening so I could watch the finale of  Dancing with the Stars.

photo credit: pcutler