The receiving side of customer service
We buy on emotion, and we justify those emotions with our own particular logic. Yesterday was my day; it was Saks Fifth Avenue calling to me with one of their huge shoe sales. I think it’s important to be on the receiving side of business to know what great customer service really entails, and purchasing a designer pair of shoes at a significant discount doubles the pleasure.
Everyone has their own passions, and in the world of selling merchandise from Apple computers to xylophones, none of us want to admit making poor purchases. We expect to buy good products, and admittedly good products with lousy customer service still sells, but good service can steal away the competition in just a flick of the manicured toenails.
My first encounter with the sales person set the pace. She smiled; she was helpful, and she knew her product. Other customers were engaged in conversations with the sales staff attending to them, and there was a general lilt of camaraderie recognized by those of us who share the “shoe passion.” Sales representatives were having as much fun as the customers. Sales personnel were zipping in and out of the stock room and returning with boxes upon boxes in lightning speed. They knew their colors, styles, manufacturers, and sizing tendencies. (some designer sizes run smaller or larger than others) No one was rushed, and it was all about my feelings yesterday and how the staff at this store made me feel.
Of course you may not understand the pleasure some women get from buying shoes, but the customer service experience we personally encounter can be a barometer how others perceive service, except those of us who write about it or train are more critical in our observations. That first impression is what I looked for when I entered the shoe department. I smiled when she smiled at me. I wanted to see how helpful she would be without hovering over me while I inspected the attractive display of every upscale designer shoe known to women around Palm Beach County. She knew instinctively to let me browse on my own until I turned around with a shoe in my hand, and there she was ready to help me find my size. I’m sure as with most customers I would not have told her if she had made me unhappy had she ignored me, smothered me, took too long to find the shoes, or didn’t know her product; I just probably would not have come back.
From the beginning to the end, my experience was seamless. After she rang up my sale, she asked me by name to sign my credit card, and stepped out behind the counter, smiled, thanked me profusely, and handed me my package. I will be back.
photo credit: M_Shahab
About two weeks ago, I interviewed Doria Camaraza, who is is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fort Lauderdale Service Center for American Express. This was an interview I was excited a lot about because I’ve written about American Express a number of times and in pretty much any customer satisfaction or customer service ranking, American Express makes the list. As an American Express cardmember myself, the workings behind the 160 year old company were also personally interesting to me.
US Airways ranked first on reliability after three consecutive months during April, May, and June; showing statistics of 83 percent of flights arriving within 14 minutes of their scheduled time in June. They also ranked first in customer service for May and June with complaints listed at 1.87 per 100,000 passengers. All 31,000 employees will be rewarded with a $100 bonus each, which represents a $3.1 million payout.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about mission statements, principles, and other sorts of defined, high-level goals in customer service and business in general. To build a culture of customer service, you need to have the inspiration and the guidance come from the top. Additionally, people within the organization need to be constantly reminded of the company’s focus on customer service.
I’m originally from the coastal mid-section of New Jersey, and when we had to brave those daunting Nor’easter storms and trudge through the parking lots of grocery stores with our shopping carts, moving to Florida and the customer service experience of Publix made quite an impression on me. I never could imagine someone actually taking my shopping cart out in the parking lot to my car – rain or shine, and tipping was never required.
A JetBlue flight attendant made all the headlines yesterday when he freaked out on a passenger. It seems the passenger refused to remain seated while the plane was taxiing to the terminal. Sources revealed that the passenger stood to remove his baggage from the overhead compartment while the plane was still moving, and the flight attendant asked the passenger to return to his seat. The passenger refused and continued removing his baggage, when the luggage presumably hit the airline attendant. The attendant demanded an apology, but the passenger would not oblige; instead the passenger called the attendant a derogatory four letter word. The flight attendant retaliated by calling the passenger a four-letter word, and announced via the intercom that he was quitting. The attendant grabbed a beer, deployed the emergency chute, and slid away until the Port Authority police arrested him later that day. The attendant has been charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, and criminal trespassing.
The best way to become customer-centric is to prioritize the value of your customer. It’s not just about what you sell, your marketing strategies or even the value of your products or services. To be profitable and successful, the focus goes beyond the obvious, and filters down to the manufacturers, the product designs, how the merchandise is supplied, and eventually down to the cost of manufacturing.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index conducted by ForeSee Results ranked Facebook with a 64 based on a 100 point scale for customer satisfaction. This is the first time that ACSI, a national economic indicator of customer satisfaction has ranked social media sites. Google came in with an 80 score, Wikipedia scored 77, YouTube scored 73, and MySpace came in at 63.