Service Untitled

If you have ever tuned into the CBS show “Undercover Boss” where owners and corporate executives work undercover to examine their own companies, it is indeed an interesting concept that has aroused some significant awareness and changes in organizations. Of course, there’s always some interesting drama associated with the television production, but it’s that individual attention and demand for fair treatment and loyalty that sustains success and growth for all of us.

While it may not be necessary to don a disguise with a fake beard, hair dye, and bushy eyebrows, why not use the idea and do some anonymous shopping of your own to determine what customers want, what customers get, and how skillfully and competently customers are getting what they want? For instance, if it’s a big company and you’re rarely in “the trenches,” maybe it’s  time to go shopping? For a brick and mortar establishment, buy something, ask for help, and ask some difficult questions. Are employees knowledgeable about their products? With an Internet based business, order off of the website and check how efficient the ordering process is and how efficiently orders are handled. Ask a friend to order something; get an objective opinion.

So let’s assume the staff is well trained, industrious, customer service oriented, and all around great employees in the sales or service department, but what happens when a customer isn’t satisfied? Most employees deem it much easier to make the sale, or contribute to the desired service, but when there’s a problem, the solutions too often go awry.

Most customers begin the complaint route with the telephone. The job of keeping people calm after they’ve been on hold for what may seem like an extended amount of time can set the pace for impatience and short tempers. If I’ve had a pleasant experience buying a product and I was treated fairly, chances are I will remain loyal and pay more because it has made my life easier, but that’s rarely the end of the transaction. The real test of time comes somewhere down the road if the product breaks, fails, or the customer needs to reach out for extra service or assistance. Customers aren’t going to call you if everything is fine, but be aware the protocol for pleasing customers far more than they expect will exponentially lead to more referrals, more business, and faster growth.

Customer service, therefore is a department not to be decreased because sales are down. Look to the problems being reported and document each and every issue. Here is the time to identify problems, fix them, follow up, review and apologize. Here is an event that can show a customer that you care, and through careful monitoring by rectifying problems in a timely manner, show customers they really matter.

It’s a win, win situation which most likely will leave a smile on someone’s face.

Whether it be hurricanes, blizzards, fogs, or floods, inclement weather has its own way of leading an otherwise civilized society into moments of rage and unacceptable behavior. Spend a few hours in a busy airport and listen as a few narcissistic and petty customers scream profanities at service workers in fast food establishments, airline employees, or transport personnel as if the adverse weather and all of the complications that frequently occur during such times are the fault of the employees.

For airlines at least, and of course in my business of real estate sales, force majeure, or an act of God as contracts state, parties are free from liability when an extraordinary event or circumstance prevents them from fulfilling their obligations. Of course this rarely excuses them altogether, but at the same time airlines are not required to compensate passengers for hotels or other expenses during the delay, and hence something seems to click negatively in the human brain of a few, but no matter how upset we may all become, maybe a “teachable experience” can remind us of what we teach our children.

It is the responsibility of airlines and other services to safely operate during severe weather and emergency  conditions. Businesses that stay open during harsh conditions often have employees who have risked their own safety and comfort to provide necessary services. So instead of telling the person behind the desk she is a “blithering fool,” please learn how to treat people with decency and respect.

For employers who need their staff to brave serious weather conditions, be flexible and realize the difficulty of the situations. Employees are not automatically entitled to being paid if they can’t get to work, and those policies should be clearly explained in staffing contracts or the company handbook. Maintain fair and consistent employment relations with employees before emergencies and have an “adverse weather” policy in force for the continuation of services in case of such emergencies. If employees are able to work from home using remote devices, it maintains stability of the business as well as an important morale booster in times of stress for both employers and employees.

And for all of my fellow travelers in the airports of the world, although airline companies can be a challenge all of their own, use these simple suggestions to ensure a better experience during inclement weather:

• Check online before your flight or call ahead when adverse weather conditions are expected.
• Call reservations. While most delays do not require rebooking, some do.
• If you are expecting to board a connecting flight, see the reservation personnel for additional help.
• Maintain your patience.

Check the website of the airline carrier for their policies concerning inclement weather. For instance, United Airlines has some extremely useful and informative information.

Maybe your medical insurance didn’t pay for a service you thought should have been covered or that manufacturer’s guarantee should have included repairing the rip in the leather carrying case you overpaid for last year, but acting like a petulant brat on a preschool playground isn’t the way to handle the complex world of customer service representatives and real people in support positions. Companies are not inherently evil, nor are they always wrong. Our mothers told us when we were very young that we wouldn’t always get everything we wanted, and we must learn to be fair with everyone we deal with in life.

So carrying all of this along to adulthood, let’s assume there is something that compels a person to complain about a product or a service. Let the primary focus begin with becoming educated and a thoroughly informed consumer. In any dispute, there is always another side, so the better one knows “their enemy” perhaps the better to ask questions and come out with a reasonable solution. In the old days, customers didn’t have the advantage of the Internet to research issues. Possibly the organization has had issues with the precise complaint currently in dispute. Research how the company handled it; they may have visited this particular problem in the past. How was it resolved?

The cardinal rule is to never back oneself into a corner or act like an ass. Play the devil’s advocate and be prepared, however never lose one’s temper and make your bad day a bad day for everyone.

As an example, on Sunday evening, I was at JFK International Airport in New York at the Sky Lounge when an older woman called Amazon to complain about a package that obviously had not arrived in time for Christmas. There was a crowd of people sitting around since we were all weather delayed from getting home, so a few light cocktails, soft music, and comfortable chairs created a welcome respite over the blaring announcements, plastic chairs, and unruly children screaming around the other parts of the airport. That is, maybe we all spoke too soon, as the woman shouted obscenities, and slammed her expresso cup down upon the table actually flinging liquid onto someone’s James Patterson latest novel.

So may I now offer some age-old suggestions on how to act when one needs customer support?

• Do not assume everyone is having a bad day, and don’t take your bad day out on the customer representative. Maybe the representative’s child is gravely ill, or his dog just died.
• Do not exaggerate to the point when it is reasonable to assume you are lying. The absence of that new Kindle Fire didn’t ruin your daughter’s Christmas completely.
• Don’t lose your temper and raise your voice in public. Bad enough the customer support person has to listen to you being an ass; is it really necessary to bother 35 other people seeking a moment or two of peace in an airport lounge?
• Take a deep breath. Calm down. Not every customer service representative is trained in conflict management and getting angry is surely not going to solve the problem.
• Be reasonable, and ask the representative what they would suggest if placed in your position?

Be prepared to compromise; be prepared to act like an adult. And if you can’t …please carry on like an ass in the privacy of your own home.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is known worldwide for it’s “legendary service.” So much so, Apple uses the luxury hospitality brand as a model for its owner customer support traditions. Part of their success can be credited to one simple mantra – “Radar On – Antenna Up.” This means seeking out the customers unanticipated and unvoiced needs. This could be as simple as replacing an empty tube of toothpaste while a guest is out on business, or handing Roarie the stuffed Ritz-Carlton lion to an crying toddler.

These practices have not only increased word of mouth and brand loyalty. Ritz-Carlton also boasts among the best employee retention rates around. To create raving fans, they start with inciting brand enthusiasm from their team.

Recently, I sat down with Ritz-Carlton Vice President Diana Oreck to see if she could share any more secrets to the company’s customer service super sauce. She heads up the company’s executive training program, The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center. Here is what she had to say:

The answers in this article have been modified from the original transcript of Diana Oreck’s interview with Software Advice.

Q: One of the Ritz-Carlton Gold Standards is “anticipate unexpressed needs.” Why is this important to customer service success and how do you train employees to recognize and act on unexpressed needs?

A: It’s very important because legendary service is about surprise and delight. It’s not robotic, it’s not scripted. And the way we teach it is through a class called “radar on, antenna up.” Golden nugget: You cannot give legendary service if you’re on autopilot. We have a daily lineup everyday in every [Ritz-Carlton] hotel around the world where we provide scenarios and discuss the best approach in the class. For example, we might go to a room and see you have one drop of toothpaste left in your toothpaste tube, so we are going to replace that tube of toothpaste without you asking and that’s a nice surprise when you return from business.

Q: What metrics or qualitative data does Ritz-Carlton use to measure customer service training success (How do you know it’s working)? How do you collect this data? 

A: Oh yes, we poll our guests once a month. The Gallup organization sends out a survey to 38 percent of guests that stayed the month before. It’s done randomly with the hope we will get 8-10 percent return. We live and die by that guest engagement number. This is the sum of responses to about 30 questions, including How likely is that guest to recommend Ritz Carlton? Were they delighted and satisfied with their stay? If there was a problem, did we take care of their problem? We know that if that guest engagement number goes up, we know that our training programs have been successful.

Q: Retention is a big issue for a lot of customer service teams. Is the same true for Ritz-Carlton? What does the company do to retain talent?

A: We’ve got a vast list. Rewards and recognition is huge. Ranging from our first class card, which is the most popular form of recognition at Ritz Carlton. It’s just a card that we give it to one another as a thanks. It can be peer to peer, peer to manager, employee to president, president to employee. And then we have things like birthdays, where we give gift certificates. Employees can become ‘five-star’ of the quarter. We don’t do employee of the month, because we find it’s much for meaningful if it’s the quarter. We are also one of the only hotel companies that still provide meals for their staff.

Q: What are the biggest mistakes companies make when training customer service staff?

A: They’re not being specific enough. They’ll say things like “Give great service.” Well that’s nice, but people need a road map. Never assume anything, make sure you have your service standards written down and allow people to observe you in action. Don’t assume that their mother or father, or previous employer taught them what really great service looks like. Have a written service strategy.

Q: What other successful customer service strategies have companies adopted by studying Ritz-Carlton?

A: It’s all about empowerment. The thing that our guests are most wowed about is that every single employee has $2,000 a day per guest to delight, or make it right. But we never use the money because that money is just symbolic. We are saying to our employees – we trust you. We select the best talent. Just help the guest. We do a lot of training around empowerment. So I would say this – you need to empower employees. You also need to make sure that you are inspiring employees to bring their passion to work everyday and to volunteer their best. And you do that by reinforcing their purpose, not their function.

About Diana Oreck: 

Diana leads The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center – a corporate university created to provide opportunities to leadership and learning professionals wanting to benchmark human resources, leadership, quality and training practices. The program has twice won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1992 and 1999. Diana has more than 30 years experience in hospitality and customer service expertise.

About Ashley Furness:

Ashley is a CRM Market Analyst for Software Advice, where she writes about customer service, marketing and sales strategy. She has spent the last six years reporting and writing business news and strategy features. Her work has appeared in myriad publications including Inc., Upstart Business Journal, the Austin Business Journal and the North Bay Business Journal. Before joining Software Advice in 2012, she worked in sales management and advertising. She is a University of Texas graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

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.

This is the fourth and final part of my interview with Rob Siefker, the Director of the Customer Loyatly Team at Zappos. In this part of the interview, Rob talks about performance reviews, how Zappos encourages employees to further their knowledge (and pays them for doing so), what he thinks about seniority and tenure amongst call center agents, how Zappos handles scheduling, how the company encourages “personal emotional connections,” and finally, what Rob thinks companies can do to deliver Zappos-like service.

You can read part one of the interview here, part two here, and part three here. To read this part, click “read more.”

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Customer service isn’t an easy task, and for the representatives who successfully calm angry customers, soothe irate tempers, and are able to solve consumer problems in a polite and reasonable manner are those employees any great company should consider giving a raise in salary. Staying calm isn’t always the easiest task to do, especially when the attacks are often met with rudeness and unprofessional behavior on the part of the customer.

Angry clients, customers that feel a product is defective, poor service, an insecure co-worker  may be all in a day’s work for an experienced customer service representative. Now what makes one representative so much better, and what are some of the traits successful agents all possess?

One of Charlie Sheen’s most memorable Two-And-A Half Men stories centered around Allan’s former wife Judith being frustrated and angry with life’s turmoils. On one particular afternoon, Judith was ready to lay into Charlie’s lack of respect and whatever else was bothering her, when Charlie immediately diffused Judith’s anger. And how did he do that? Charlie assumed a natural, relaxed posture, softened the expression in his eyes, and as Judith shot off her frustrations and anger, Charlie shook his head in agreement and repeated “I understand.” As much as the sitcom is designed for pure enjoyment, isn’t how Charlie acted and responded those very traits a seasoned customer service agent utilizes when dealing with angry clients?

Breaking it down, the primary initial response is to stay calm, be reasonable, and let the client vent. Of course, there is no need to ever be subjected to rudeness, unacceptable behavior or profanity, and in that case inform the customer that their behavior will not be tolerated. If it is a phone call, then warn the customer you will hang up, or perhaps they would like to call at another time when they have calmed down. If you are in a face-to-face confrontation, excuse yourself and ask that person to get herself under control.

Never resort to anger yourself, because the situation more than likely will become explosive, and then nobody wins, and nothing gets solved. By now the anger should be waning, and the real problem is most likely somewhere near the surface. Listen carefully to the customer; don’t interrupt but assure the customer you are on their side and will do everything you can to rectify the situation to the best of your ability. At all times, remember you are speaking just like Charlie – both calm and engaged. From there you and the client can work on an amicable solution.

Remember however – if the problem was your fault, the first necessary protocol is to apologize. Customers will forgive you if you make a mistake, you apologize, and then rectify the situation. Don’t embellish your excuses with blaming other people; you represent your organization, and you need to fix the mistakes.

Whereas every company has their own standards and procedures for customer service, the ABC’s of staying calm, knowing your product, and having the ability to right those wrongs in a professional and satisfying method which suits your customers’ needs, is the key to a successful organization. And at the end of the day, that same professional wipes her hands, grabs her purse, and leaves the day’s complaints behind her as she goes home to her family.

photo credit: Victor1558

It used to be the only way to make a profound impact with a consumer complaint when no one would listen, was to send a registered letter to the company headquarters. Before the days of Google however, it wasn’t easy to figure out the name of the right level of executive. Now the average customer can get immediate gratification; no phone calls to the organization to find out the CEO’s name and no waiting weeks for a response as the letter snakes itself around various departments looking for a solution.

Social media, namely Facebook and Twitter get unhappy customers attention. Businesses are paying more attention to tracking complaints because they want to mitigate negative effects against their product or service. New software has been developed where specialized social networking modules can track what is being said. From there, representatives can weed out the serious posts, trace the origin to see if there was previous contact, and answer posts that are worthy of follow-up.

There are some responsible and effective ways to use social media to resolve your problems. Here are a few suggestions to make sure you get to the higher tiered customer service representatives:

• Social media should not just be used as a platform for complaints. Use your real name so a company can find out who you really are and therefore will have the ability to respond in a timely manner.
• Start with the traditional customer service steps first. I understand that it can be frustrating, but having your name and your problem on record is the best way to build credibility with a company.
• Check a company’s reputation and how they handle customer complaints. Check the local Better Business Bureau for complaints about the organization if it is local, or check social media sites to see how they have handled complaints in the past.
• If you decide to use Twitter, be nice. Ask the company to get in touch with you, and send the message during regular business hours.
• If you have a blog which is respectable and well-read, tell your story in detail. Come up with a clever title; try to stay away from sarcasm, bad language, and questionable humor. Use spell check, and check your grammar.
• If you feel the need, use Digg, Reddit and Delicious to make your complaint. Plan a video, but again; do not use profanity and most of all keep it professional.

Organizations want to keep their image upstanding and professional. A public relations team wants to keep business moving smoothly, and it is likely someone will respond to you and work out a mutual resolution.

photo credit: angermann