Nip it in the bud

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Problems happen. Sometimes the company is at fault and sometimes the customer is at fault. Sometimes no one is at fault but there is still an issue to be resolved.

When a customer calls customers service with a problem, it does not matter who is at fault. The customer is already upset, and trying to lay blame for the problem does not help. It also does not help to further aggravate the situation.  If you can fix the problem or at least try to fix the problem, while being professional and efficient, then you will have gone a long way in repairing any damage the initial problem may have caused to your image with the customer.

Nip the problem in the bud. Do not exacerbate the problem by making it difficult to the customer to get help. How?

• Make it easy for the customer to reach a person who can help
• Make the exchange pleasant
• Be efficient
• Don’t make the customer wait for inordinate amounts of time
• Provide the information the customer requests

Seems obvious yet many companies are cutting back on human help so that it is hard to find someone who can help without having to jump through hoops or wait long periods of time.

If you don’t help someone when they need the help, the problem will grow from something fixable to an image problem. You will seem unhelpful and uncaring. In the long run, that will hurt your business. So remember to nip it in the bud!

Tags: efficient customer service, helpful customer service
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Speak to the machine?

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

In an attempt to lower costs, many businesses have turned to automation. It is rare to call a business and get a live operator. Generally, you must navigate a phone tree. The phone companies and cable companies direct you to their websites to get more information or so that you can learn to deal with whatever the problem is on your own.

Sadly, we all know that machines do not understand. Their computerized logic is not always in tune with human logic, and more importantly, machines do not have sympathy or empathy. Most customers not only want to get a problem resolved, they want to be listened to and understood.

In the airline industry, the trend has been toward installing check-in kiosks and getting rid of agents.  When they work, kiosks can really expedite your check-in. But when you have a problem, you must wait for an agent. On the blog Consumer Traveler, a post entitled “Delta: We need more humans in customer service” details the problem:

In short, if there is any kind of a complicated itinerary involved or a bad travel day with weather or a lot of other delays, the kiosks get overwhelmed pretty fast.

Since airlines have cut airport staff because they expected the machines to take over much of their jobs, overwhelmed kiosks turn into overwhelmed customer service agents and airport chaos develops pretty fast.

…

But now it appears as if Delta at least is realizing that the savings in personnel costs may be costing them more in the long run. How else to explain the report in a newsletter for retail travel agents this morning that the airline is adding 700 airport customer service employees, and 300 additional reservations agents, primarily to deal with flight disruptions.

In the end, you can’t make a machine understand your issue. You need to speak to a person who can translate your needs into something resembling a solution.

Automation has its place, but should not remove the human element altogether. People are not machines and generally prefer dealing with other people.

Tags: human customer service, pitfalls of automated customer service
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How are you training your employees?

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Although some organizations have a specific customer service department, ALL employees are in the customer service business.  Many businesses seem to forget this and don’t train their employees properly.

Most everybody has walked into a retail store, and asked an employee about something (where to find an item, how much something costs, and so forth). How that employee responds to the query often determines if you buy an item or not.  If an employee is unhelpful or unwilling to find help, chances are good that you will walk out of the store, not buying anything. If the employee is helpful, you may purchase something or if the store doesn’t have what you want, you will still shop there in the future.

Here’s an actual situation, with commentary in italics:

Shopper: Excuse me, could you check to see if you have this shampoo in a smaller size? You only have the bigger size out here.

Employee: Well, we just got a shipment, and everything is not labeled, and there are tons of boxes back there. (Making excuses for not helping)

Shopper: But I need this one brand.

Employee: Do you want to see if there is another brand that would work? (Not listening)

Shopper: No, I want this brand, just a smaller size.

Employee: Well maybe come back tomorrow. (The customer is here right now, ready to buy).

Shopper: I can’t come back tomorrow.

Employee: I am sorry. (No attempt to salvage situation)

Could this situation have been fixed? Yes, had this employee been trained to do something specific when a customer asked a question.  For instance, she could have been trained to get a store manager. Or to say, let me check for you.

Unfortunately, many businesses don’t seem to train ALL employees on how to respond to customer queries.  Training should be required, and should include common scenarios for that business.  If you are a business owner, and are in the position to hire and train staff, you should think about what you want your customers to think of your business. Do you want to be perceived as helpful, polite, friendly? If so, you must train your employees on how to project those attributes.

We’ve talked before about how hiring the right people can make a difference. If you haven’t hired the most customer service savvy employees, you can salvage the situation by giving them good training.

Tags: customer service training, training employees to deal with customers
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Can customer service be too polite?

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

We came across a post at Consumerist.com that claimed that Geico’s customer service representatives are too polite.  Should we even complain about this? Usually, we complain about rudeness.  However, Laura Northrup, the post’s author, has a point: too much politeness can interfere with efficiency.  Too much politeness (thanking someone after every interaction, being excessively apologetic) can come off as being fake. It’s like being complimented too much–we suspect that those compliments are not genuine.

Customer service should definitely be polite, but it should be genuine. Too much comes off as smarmy, obsequious, and just doesn’t feel right. It also can interfere with efficiency. Generally, customers want to solve a problem or get an answer as quickly as possible. Customer service reps can’t spend lots of time with small talk and chit chat. They must deal with the issue at hand, while still being pleasant.

The opposite of too polite is not rude. It is efficient, down to business. Rudeness is never acceptable in customer service. Customer service reps should have enough common sense to understand to know where to draw the line. In the Geico case to which Northrup points, it seems the customer service reps have been instructed to say thank you after every single interaction. There is no need for that. That is not how we normally deal with people.  This may also be a case of teaching people to follow a script rather than to use their natural people skills.

Being polite cannot be scripted. Good manners can be taught  but common sense, and knowing how to treat people may be an innate skill. Perhaps that is what hiring managers should be looking for.

Tags: common sense in customer service, genuine customer service, polite customer service
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Leaving a legacy of courteous service

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

This past weekend, The Washington Post ran an obituary for a local businessman and gasoline station owner, who, as the headline said “was a stickler for perfect customer service.”  Bob Eastham, who passed away May 27 at the age of 71, was the owner of a Bethesda, Md. Exxon gas station that became known for superior service and was one of the top grossing Exxon stations in the country.

Mr. Eastham was so devoted to customer service that he had eight rules of customer service that were printed on a card for each employee to carry. Among  Eastham’s customer service instructions to his staff were these, according to the Washington Post:

– “Run, do not walk to cars. 2 men on all cars!”

– “Greet customer with a smile and a cheerful ‘Good Morning.’ . . . NOT ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘Yes,’ OR anything else.”

– “Never discuss personal things — where you are going to eat dinner, your sex life, or anything else unrelated to my customer or his car.”

Clearly Mr. Eastham devotion to customer service paid off in many ways. First, it helped the bottom line of his business. Second, it helped the reputation of his business. And third, it made him stand apart and be remembered in a positive way.

Perhaps if business owners thought about what kind of legacy they will leave, they might want to be remembered for having a business that put customers first.

Tags: Bob Eastham, customer service legacy
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Should customer service be government legislated?

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Government legislation is essential in addressing many issues in society, from civil rights to highway safety. But should the government be involved in legislated customer service standards? It seems the answer has to do with the industry being regulated.

The U.S. government is proposing new rules regarding the airline industry. In effect, the new rules would set a minimum customer service standards for all airlines, domestic and foreign, that fly in and out of the United States.  Traveler advocate Christopher Elliott has written about his extensively on his blog Elliot.org. Elliott writes the following:

But what’s likely to cause airlines the most pain — and their customer the most pleasure — is a proposed rule that would set minimum customer service standards. Until now, the existing rule has had an enormous loophole: It wasn’t specific enough (DOT’s words, not mine) for a consumer to have realistic expectations of the types of services a carrier will provide under its plan, or that some carriers may not be living up to their customer service commitments.

Although most of us will benefit from this ruling as passengers, we need to wonder why this is being mandated from the government. It points to an industry where the customer has lost a battle, and the only way to regain footing was for the government to step in.  We have seen the rise of many non-customer-friendly fees and service cuts from the airlines. Of course, part of it is that airlines have been trying to protect their bottom line. But there would be no airline industry if there were no passengers, and many passengers have been increasingly getting fed up with the poor treatment they receive from airlines.  For instance, passengers are being asked to pay to have their baggage accompany them on a trip, yet if the airline loses said baggage, its liability is at a minimum.

What sets the airline industry apart from other industries is that there is a lot fewer choices available for the customer. If you are shopping for a product, and you receive poor customer service, you simply shop elsewhere. However, if you must get to Tulsa for a funeral, and driving would take too long, you are at the mercy of one or two airlines servicing that airport. You have fewer choices and less control.

The take away from the new government legislation of airlines is that customer service is important–in effect it validates the importance of customer service.

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Happy employees=happy customers

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

As a customer, when you deal with someone who is not happy in their job, you know it. This person does not make you feel good about whatever you are asking him or her to do, even if it is routine. You walk away from the interaction feeling unsettled.  This happens a lot at airports where you often encounter harried counter agents who are aggressive or unhelpful or aboard the airplane, where flight attendants barely greet you.

What happens if, on the other hand, you deal with someone who is happy with his or her job and company? You are treated well. That employee feels good and wants to help you. Happy employees want to do their jobs, and moreover, do them well.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, the online shoe retailer, believes that happy employees will help the company with its bottom line. Hsieh and Zappos were profiled on CBS Sunday Morning, when viewers were shown in how many ways the company is different.  Because Zappos only wants dedicated employees, the company offers a cash reward if someone wants to quit.

On the customer service end, Zappos is truly remarkable. Customer service reps do not have any time limits on calls. They will spend as much time as necessary to make a customer happy. According to CBS, the longest customer service call at Zappos lasted more than five hours!

Interviews with Zappos’ CSRs revealed that they are happy with their jobs,  and not because they are better compensated then anywhere else. It is because the feel ownership, connection and satisfaction. They have leeway in working with customers. They are happy working at Zappos, and customers know it.

Hsieh has recently written a book based on his company’s experience: Delivering Happiness: A Path to Passion, Profits and Purpose. It should be a worthwhile read for anyone who sees the connection between employee morale and the bottom line.

Tags: benefits of happy employees, Tony Hsieh, Zappos customer service
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