Service Untitled

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.

This is a pretty lengthy interview, so I’ve divided it into four parts. Part one includes an introduction to Doria and her background with American Express, a quick overview of the different service centers that American Express has around the country, and some information on how American Express hires and trains its customer service representatives (called Customer Care Professionals).

You can see part one of the interview by clicking “read more.” A preview of part two is also included at the end of this part.

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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.

Most airlines operate on the same air routes, and every day packed planes travel the same routes, so is rating arrival times and customer service just splitting hairs? Statistically the airlines with the best on time records operate out of less congested airports and have less planes. For those of us who have to travel to the busiest destinations, on-time records seem nothing more than myths. After all the country’s arrival times are only as good as current air-traffic technology.

On-time percentages may say something, but not everything. For instance, for some carriers to improve their on-time percentages, why not board passengers earlier? How many times have we all been seated on airlines close to the moment of scheduled take-off when passengers are still finding their seats, still finding space for their baggage, and still having to check baggage because there is no more room on the over-heads or under the seats? Wouldn’t airlines benefit a percentage point or two if passengers boarded five minutes earlier, or if there were no extra fees to check bags? Delta, which Douglas flies on a regular basis, starts boarding 40 minutes prior to departure instead of the standard 30.

Airlines could also save a percentage point or two if employees were scheduled to arrive earlier.  How many passengers have waited around airport lounges extra time only to see pilots and support staff arriving late? Airlines could employ more fleet service workers to load baggage at peak travel times to help maintain schedules.

And finally, one of the basic customer service policies is to accept blame, apologize to the consumer, and correct the mistake immediately. When a flight leaves late, the airline personnel should discuss the problem, figure out a solution, and avoid the problem from happening again. After all it is the expectation of the customer to arrive at their intended destination safely, in comfort, on-time, and with minimal inconvenience.

I do congratulate US Airways for their achievement this quarter, and assume they have succeeded because of their customer service policies, but how many passengers take on-time percentages into account when buying airline tickets?

photo credit: asrusch

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.

The way that most organizations approach this is to have a mission statement, set of principles, or something similar. Some companies call it a credo, others have fancier names. For example, Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group refers to his company’s set of operating principles as Enlightened Hospitality (see this post for more information). The Ritz-Carlton has its Gold Standards.

I recently conducted an interview with a senior customer service leader at American Express (look for the interview to be posted over the next two weeks) and during the interview, she mentioned American Express’s Customer Care Principles. American Express was nice enough to share a copy of their principles, which I liked a lot.

I like the American Express Customer Care Principles because they’re separated into three simple categories (Easy, Recognize, and Solve) and within each category, there are three to four very actionable items that make it easy for a representative to provide great service. For example:

• I communicate knowledgeably, clearly and correctly. (Easy)
• I care about my customers and connect with them. (Recognize)
• I own my customers’ problems and see them through to resolution. (Solve)

The document (and the principles in general) is easy to follow and most importantly, easy to practice. Tangible goals and mission statements that can be translated into real action are essential to seeing high level service and business goals gaining any traction.

If you want to see the American Express Customer Service Principles, click here. If you’d like to share the customer service principles or mission statement that your company or another company you know of follows, contact us. If I see a couple submissions, I’ll feature them in a follow-up post.

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.

Now the Lakeland-based company is experimenting with a new service where customers place their food orders online, and the customer can select their desired pick-up location with a guaranteed 30 minute window. The customer actually gets a personal shopper, and they can call in an order using a computer, fax or telephone. An estimated total is given after the order is taken, but the exact totals may vary depending upon the weight of produce, meat, and deli items. Sales prices for that day are in effect for the customer. A $7.99 service fee is charged, no matter if a customer is picking up a gallon of Haagen-Dazs or a week full of ingredients and grocery supplies.

The service officially began on Monday at the Atlanta site, and a dedicated drive-through has been provided. No longer do we have to imagine food shopping and not having to get out of our cars! Another site in Tampa is expected to open by the end of the year, and at that time, Publix will be able to review the success of the program.

“Publix Curbside is a natural extension of our service commitment, especially for time-starved families,” states Marla Brous, Publix director of media and community relations.

Searching back, I did notice that Publix Direct, a similar service began in 2001 but closed in 2003, and listed insignificant volume as the reason it failed. This time, however Publix is including the instant gratification of curbside pickup, and allows for orders to be selected by in-store personal shoppers. Publix Greenwise, which is an organic version of Publix has a to-go service for prepared foods and meals right here in Palm Beach Gardens where I live, but we have to get out of our cars for pick-up.

Publix has been recognized as tops in the grocery business, and has received continued awards for excellent customer service. Let’s see how this next step in decadent service does to the world of grocery shoppers.

photo credit: cdsessums

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.

So what is the customer service lesson to be learned here? Let’s start with no matter how angry a customer gets, every customer service agent must remain calm and never yell. Training is based on practice, practice, practice. The unique and effective skills needed for managing heated confrontations need to be reinforced with role-playing and again – practice, practice, practice. Training should concentrate on ways to stay calm when an angry customer lashes out, how to choose the response action that will best suit the situation, and innovative ways to bring those volatile interactions to a polite and positive close.

According to the recent news reports, the flight attendant had years of experience, and had been dealing with a personal stressful situation, but he let the customer make the problem personal, took the bait and from that point on, there was no winning. The focus should have been kept on the problem; not the person or the conversation. Immediately upon asking the passenger to be seated until the plane came to a complete stop, the passenger should have been warned it is a FAA regulation subject to criminal prosecution.

The “customer is always right” may have created some high maintenance people, but airline passengers know there are consequences for FAA violations. Customer service agents, and in this case the flight attendant escalated the problem, took it as a personal attack. His last resort and best choice in this situation should have been to let another attendant handle the situation.

Let’s hope that JetBlue treats this sad situation as a learning experience, and hopefully another flight attendant on the verge of a similar outburst can be shown how to best resolve issues in a polite and positive manner.

For more on this situation, see this article from ABC News.

photo credit: gordontarpley

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.

There’s a plethora of “buzz” words out here to describe true customer engagement; some prefer the use of customer-centric, customer experience management, customer profitability or even customer value, but the bottom line, no matter what your description, is to place the customer needs in front.

Some companies believe that customer-centric only applies to service industries and only for those service representatives who directly have contact with consumers. Some companies are even convinced that high scores on customer service surveys are true evaluators of a customer-centric organization, but that is not necessarily true. Actually a successful customer-centric organization has figured out how to prioritize cost and quality to a customer, but also works with every other aspect of the seemingly endless process of manufacturing and delivery to assure the maximum service to someone with the least amount of disappointment.

Let’s use the example of Zappos since few of us can argue that this customer-centric organization doesn’t present an exemplary experience for their customers. This high volume organization uses customer service agents who have had extensive training and can inform, delight, and deliver that “wow” experience both online or by telephone. The price of their merchandise meets the competition, and customers know they are receiving value, and the latest trends, all of which are carefully monitored. Customers can track the quick and reliable delivery. In today’s world of social media and especially Twitter, delivery woes can play havoc on a branded image. Even the condition how merchandise arrives makes a profound influence on customer satisfaction, which again filters down to the high standards of the distribution chain of Zappos.

At Zappos the customer is always the focal point, and their technology creates convenient online ordering, and there are few contingencies to preclude any customer from returning, for free, merchandise that doesn’t fulfill their expectation. Combine that with a social web of team members who filter complaints, questions, and compliments, the company provides a stellar example of prioritizing the value of their customers.

photo credit: Torley

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.

So putting these scores into perspective, Facebook ranked lower than IRS e-file, airlines and cable companies. They averaged a 66.

Facebook has had their share of problems this year. After the Instant Personalization opt-out, Facebook members tried to organize a protest for everyone to leave the social media site on May 31. That never happened because too many people think of Facebook as part of their social lives.

There were other factors that affected customer dissatisfaction with Facebook. Too many policy changes to the site resulted in a lot of confusion and turmoil. There have been many complaints about too much advertising and the privacy issues; even though the mass exodus never happened, the overall satisfaction dropped drastically. Still people are willing to put up with the lousy customer service because there is no strong competition, and it’s an extremely popular social site.

I did refer to the Customer Satisfaction page on Facebook, and with 290 people signed up, the site stated:

“Our goal is to make this Community Page the best collection of shared knowledge on this topic. If you have a passion for Customer satisfaction, sign up and we’ll let you know when we’re ready for your help. You can also get us started by suggesting the Official Facebook Page.”

Stay tuned for founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s interview with Diane Sawyer this evening.

photo credit: ralphhogaboom