There are many companies that have put real teeth and accountability into
their employee training to insure they get the consistent results they say
they desire. Unfortunately there are many more companies who have only given
this customer driven philosophy or approach lip service.
I would like to share with you what I feel are some of the reasons that words
do not often become deeds, in the area of customer service.
At the end of this article I will share what I believe are the Twelve Laws of
Effective Customer Service. These concepts must be integrated into any
customer service attitude, philosophy or program to insure integrity between
policy and procedure and customer perceptions.
Let's begin with some of the reasons or causes that contribute to a lack of
accountability in the employee customer service area. Before we begin,
however, it is essential that we get a working definition of, Effective
Customer Service.
Effective customer service is not a slogan, advertising program, button that
everyone wears or a banner touting a, "We Care attitude". It is a
consciousness or attitude that penetrates every nook and cranny of the
organization. It is a philosophy that is understood and embraced by every
employee, that's every employee, regardless of position, length of service or
vocation. It is consistent regardless of the period in the week or month,
market pressures, department or branch, current sales results, current cash
flow, management philosophy of the day or market position. It is not a
program that is funded for the short term, but a corporate lifestyle that is
on-going regardless of the whims of management, the fickleness of customers
or the dynamics of the marketplace. Long definition I know, but necessary.
What prevents an organizations from building this consciousness into the
fabric of its management team and employees?
One. If the corporate culture has been traditionally profit and/or
earnings driven, then it will be difficult to shift gears to a customer driven
philosophy. Two. If communication is heavily weighted in a top down
direction, you can bet that it will take lots of time and follow-through to
re-focus to a bottom up style. Three. If the management style is
closed, authoritative and or hierarchical, upper management will, unless they
are totally and completely committed to changing the attitudes of the
organization as a whole, generally sooner or later abandon this new and
challenging change in philosophy. Four. If the attitude exists among
middle management and employees is, "here we go again", few members of the
organization will be able to fight the internal tide of apathy. Five.
If employees have too much on there plate, because your business style is to
run "lean and mean', it will be difficult to consistently enforce the
policies and procedures necessary to maintain the integrity of actions
consistent with your stated objective.
An effective customer service philosophy requires constant vigilance and
dedication to see it through regardless of how it may hurt to maintain the
integrity of your customer commitments.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. Lets say that you have a no
questions asked, money back guarantee. A customer, who has purchased a high
ticket item from you, for whatever reason, changes his or her mind and returns
the product. You tell them that you will take the product back but you have a
restocking fee. Hmm. So you penalize the customer for their return. I
purchase a product from you and write a check. The check clears and I decide
to return the product. You tell me I will have to wait fourteen days for my
refund because the refund has to come from corporate headquarters. Hmm.
Customer driven or company convenience driven, you decide. And here is my
favorite. I purchase a piece of equipment from you for several thousand
dollars. It has a 30 day warranty, so you recommend I purchase a service
contract for several hundred dollars a year, to insure that when the equipment
breaks I will be able to get it serviced without additional cost. Hmm.
Customer driven or organization driven? You decide.
These examples do not reflect a customer focused philosophy. And yet your
corporate mission statement says, Our customers are number one. Hmm. I don't
think so.
One way to determine the effectiveness of your customer service philosophy is
to regularly solicit customer feedback in a variety of ways.
Have you ever had this experience. You are at a restaurant and the food is
less than average but you don't have time to send your meal back. When paying
your check. the cashier asks, how was your meal. You tell them you were
dissatisfied and they say they are sorry. I am sorry to. I will never return
to that establishment again and you can bet I will tell a number of my
friends, clients and peers.
I could go on and on, but I am sure you have as many or more stories than I
do.
Effective customer service requires consistent behavior from every employee I
encounter in every situation when I do business with your firm. There are no
excuses for: "I didn't know that was on sale, I am new, this is my last week
in this joint, we close in ten minutes could you please hurry, I don't know
when your order will ship, its been on back order for several weeks. etc. etc.
etc."
I don't want to kill a fly with a hammer, so let's get to the Twelve Laws of
effective customer service.
Law No One. The customer is not always right. However, the goal
is not to discredit, embarrass, belittle or challenge them in a destructive
way. What we need to do, is discover what is the source or cause of their
incorrect perceptions, beliefs or attitudes. The next step is to determine if
the organization has contributed significantly to these incorrect feelings or
if their source is the competition, the marketplace or uncle Harry.
Law No Two. The customer is never always completely wrong. There
is always some element of their perception that is a true reflection of
reality as they see it. The customer can be a teacher for us if we will keep
an open mind and receptive neutral demeanor. They can mirror back to us
where our advertising, distribution methods, pricing strategies,
administrative policies or marketing or sales methods need improvement,
refinement or a major overhaul.
Law No Three. The customer deserves your best regardless of the time of
day or day of the week or the month of the year. Working late last
night because it was your monthly inventory or your annual sales blowout
should not become my problem. The fact that you just returned from a week on
the road working trade shows, although I have empathy for you, is not my
problem.
Law No Four. The customer deserves your best regardless of your
training, length of service, inventory philosophy or any other prevailing
corporate attitude. So you are sixty days away from retirement, and
just filling time, waiting to get behind the wheel of your RV. Or, you are a
brand new sales rep whining that manufacturing just doesn't understand, or,
you are on the first week of the job and still can't master this new piece of
equipment, or you are overstocked on a particular item so you cut back on
stocking the items that I use regularly and ask me if I will accept a
substitute. These and thousands of illustrations like them, if they become
my problem, will cause me to seek out your competitor.
Law No Five. Don't pass the buck. Whoever hears a problem owns
the problem. How often have you been transferred several times before you
finally get to the right person? Have you ever heard, "its not my job,
problem or function". Don't get defensive or upset when I bring you a concern
or complaint. Accept the fact that the problem exists and help me get it
solved.
Law No Six. Don't be too busy for your customers and don't make it
difficult for them to do business with you. How many times have you
gotten the feeling that you are an interruption in an employees day or
workload. Have you ever been made to feel like you shouldn't be having a
problem with a product or service, that it is your fault that the item broke?
Law No Seven. Employee are customers too. Every employee that
ever does anything within an organization ultimately is doing it indirectly
for the customer. That makes every employee an ambassador, spokesperson or
representative of the customer. When an employee fails to serve another
employee in an effective or timely manner, sooner or later the customer will
fell the repercussions.
Law No Eight. If you must use technology, make it user friendly.
Within the past week I have had five voice mail systems hang up on me. When I
called back to get a person I had to spend several minutes of my valuable time
wading through endless recorder dribble. I finally called another supplier.
Law No Nine. Say what you will do and do what you say. Follow
through, keep your promises, honor your commitments, keep me informed of your
progress. Customers will tend to be more understanding, patient and tolerant
if you communicate with them with integrity and in a timely manner.
Law No Ten. Be interested, care and act like you are glad I am doing
business with you. People like doing business with people who
appreciate their business. People are willing to give more of their business
and money to businesses that are friendly, accommodating and interested.
Some of the ways to show you care is, by having up to date product knowledge,
knowing who does what in your organization so you don't have to keep me on
hold for ten minutes trying to find someone to solve my problem, smiling, even
if it hurts.
Law No Eleven. Keep private things private. I am not interested
in your personal problems or corporate politics. I do not have the time nor am
I interested in hearing about who did what to whom and why in your
organization. I don't want to know that you are looking for another job.
Sharing private, confidential or personal information whether you are the CEO
or receptionist is in poor taste and unprofessional. It also makes me wonder
how much of my business do you share with other customers or suppliers as
well.
Law No Twelve. Think ahead of the customer with a problem solving
attitude. To survive and prosper in the balance of this decade and
century as well in the new century will require that organizations and their
employees, all of them, think well ahead of their customers and their
potential future desires, problems and needs. Waiting for the customer to
bring their problems to you or to communicate there future desires or needs
with you will be too late.