Presidential Customer Service Advice

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Back in April 2011, there was an executive order issued that indicated a new commitment to customer service in the federal government.  The order’s key requirements were an increased response to customer feedback and more efficient customer service that utilized modern technological channels. 

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to improve the quality of service to the public by the Federal Government, it is hereby ordered…”

The order notes that “the public’s expectations of the Government have continued to rise.  The Government must keep pace with and even exceed those expectations.’  This is a best practice worth making into a mantra — the best customer service isn’t a practice that fixes a problem but one that prevents problems from occurring. 

At GovWin, Kevin Paschuck discusses the results from the Federal Customer Experience Survey, some of which seem quite promising and inline with the above executive order.  In particular that, “the percentage of very satisfied Americans grew from 27% to 39% and 24% to 35% over the past year” in regards to agency responsiveness and information consistency.  Check out the discussion for more information and Kevin’s thoughts on cloud-based solutions.

At GovLoop, they share some of the feedback that they received at their 1st Annual GovLoop Symposium, which focused directly on how the government can fulfill the April executive order.  They came up with a number of concrete ideas for improving customer service that dovetail with the order’s expectations.  One favorite include the deployment of not only FAQ (frequently asked questions), but “also SAQ – should have asked questions – what questions should your customers be asking you.”  We also like the idea of visually mapping out the actual process that a customer might go through and making that “map” or “blueprint” available to them, presumably on websites or in print format.

What parts of the executive order seemed noteworthy or important to you?

Tags: Customer service, executive order, federal
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Customer Service #Bizquotes

Monday, September 26th, 2011

“All of the inconveniences and hassles had been erased by that one simple act which was unexpected and exceeded my expectations.”

At ARMA, we believe that its about people first.  That’s why we love this post where Stephanie Holland tells a story about customer service at her blog that emphasizes the importance of a human touch in the midst of serious business.  In her case it was a hospital visit, but at ARMA we feel that the application is universal.  For B2B companies, that can just mean breaking out of the administrative process for a moment to do something personal — like send a thank you letter or make someone tea.

What are ways that your business, B2B or otherwise, works to personalize the customer service experience in a meaningful way?

Tags: ARMA, Customer service, personal touch, stephanie holland
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Contracting News

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

We’ve been tweeting about a few of them, but there have been valuable posts written about the ins and outs of federal contracting in the last few days that are worth highlighting.

At Brazen Careerist, Elliot Volkman from GovWin writes a quick treatise on Government Contracting 101.  He addresses some common misconceptions, lays out what he wish he knew before he got into the business and finishes the piece with some great networking tips.  His first tip reminds us to always provide the person with something of value in a timely manner, something that ARMA strives to always do as well.  Check out the link for the rest.

GovWin, incidentally Volkman’s home base, today featured an interview with Alex Doñé, Associate Director for Business Development with the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).  Doñé answers the question of “How do you grow your business at a time when your main client is looking to cut expenses?”  His advice, especially about teaming up with other businesses in order to pool resources, rings true.

Doñé also plugs the National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Conference happening next week in DC.  See the flyer below.  Some exciting panels happening there, and we look forward to hearing the talking points once they make their way onto the web.

Tags: Contracting, minority business, small business
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Responsiveness is priority #1

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Have you ever called a company just to have the phone ring endlessly? Have you been placed on hold for what seems like hours? Have you sent an email with a question that never received an answer? If so, you have experienced the frustration that comes from a lack of responsiveness.

If nothing else, customer service should be responsive. A customer prefers a response, even one he or she doesn’t like to no response at all. Silence is never golden when it comes to customer service. A response does not have to comprehensive–it can be something like “we need to investigate this further, and we will get back to you.”

Train customer service representatives–and by this we mean anyone dealing with customers (sales, reception, and so forth) to respond to customer outreach withing a set amount of time. If an email arrives, the response should be within X number of hours and so forth. A phone should never ring more than X times.  Hold times should be limited to X minutes.

Companies need to create a responsiveness policy in order to make sure the customers are not frustrated. Avoiding customer frustration may put your company on the road to customer satisfaction.

Tags: responsiveness and customer service
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Avoiding the perils of bad customer service

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Steve Adubato relays a bleak picture of customer service at a hotel where he was giving a talk…on customer service! You can read about his travails in “Bad customer service can alienate clientele” in the New Jersey Star Ledger.  He tells of unhelpful bell captains and front desk people who made him wait for service either because “it wasn’t their job” or “they were too busy.”

Clearly, in customer service, or at least in customer service that excel, the phrases “it is not my job” or “I am too busy” should never come out of anybody’s mouth. If you read the article “8 Things You Should Never Say to Customers” by Jeff Haden, he doesn’t include those because those are the most obvious examples of  not wanting to do a job or wanting to serve a customer. Haden’s list has more to do with the attitude you communicate to your customers by your choice of words. Saying things like “are you sure?” to your customer means you don’t trust him or her.

Perhaps the first step in avoiding bad customer service is to ban phrases like:

• It is not my job.
• I can’t help you.
• I am too busy right now.
• You can wait until someone is available.
• What YOU should do is.
• It is company policy and therefore I can’t help you.

Bottom line is that customer service reps need to be aware that their role is to HELP the customer —either by doing what is requested or finding a way that works.

Tags: bad customer service
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How is your company perceived?

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Some companies are disconnected from the way they are perceived by the public. This is usually because the company operates in silos-where each department is separated from the rest and operates practically independently.

Take for example the company that sells training seminars. The C-suite wants increased enrollments. The marketing department is promoting only one of the seminars. The enrollment department knows which seminars draw more people and which fewer. The seminar trainers create their own curriculum without consulting the marketing department or the C-suite. Bottom line-everyone is working for themselves without seeing the bigger picture. In this case, the bigger picture may be one where the training company is seen as offering too many classes and lacking focus.

How does this affect customer service? It affects customer service in two ways. First, if the company has a perception problem, customer service may be spending time correcting the perception. And second, it could be that the way customer service is handled is contributing to the perception problem.

To find out how your company is perceived you will have to do research.  On the do-it-yourself side you could search Google, Twitter and other social media to see what people are saying about your company. You could also hire a market research firm to conduct focus groups and surveys.  Either way, it is important to discover how you are perceived and see if it matches what you want to be known for.

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Customer satisfaction

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

One could say that the main objective of customer service is customer satisfaction. It is not the only one, of course. Since it is so important, companies should have a way of gauging customer satisfaction.

On OpenForum.com Suzy Frisch writes “Are Your Customers Satisfied?” and suggests the following steps to find out:

1. Develop a strategy to measure customer satisfaction.

2. Provide a way for customers to give feedback: surveys, Facebook pages, etc. and be responsive to it.

3. Survey your employees

Remember too that customer satisfaction is also expressed in return business. Keep track of whether customers purchase more than once. If you have a high rate of return business, chances are your customers are at least partially satisfied with something you are offering. You may want to follow up with customers who have not dealt with you a second time. Are they simply not needing your product or service or are they unhappy with something that happened during the sales process?

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Internal communications and customer service

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Internal communications–meaning the communications with your internal audiences such as employees, board of directors, and other stakeholders—is key for customer service. Customer service can be performed by anyone who deals with customers, whether an accounting department staff person or a salesperson.  Therefore, it is crucial that every employee be well aware of what the company is doing.

Often, companies expend lots of energy informing their outside constituencies (customers, media, public at large) about their news. Perhaps a new product is being offered or there is special pricing.  Although this is important, companies must inform their internal audience BEFORE they inform the external audience.

Internal communications is important for company morale–employees and other internal stakeholders should feel that they are at least as important to the company as customers. Also, if an employee does not know about something the company is doing, he or she can’t respond to questions if a customer or the public at large asks.

To improve your overall customer service be sure to have a robust internal communications strategy in place. You could have a weekly email bulletin or newsletter. You could have staff meetings on a monthly basis. However your company informs its internal audiences, be sure it is done in a consistent and timely fashion.

Tags: internal communications and customer service
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Do you stonewall your customers?

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

As a customer, have you ever had the experience of dealing with a company that just wouldn’t budge? Chances are good you have. In the blog post “Big Companies Abide Strict Customer Lack-of-Service Agendas,” author Kevin Wolf opines that certain companies actually have such policies in place in order to wear down customers.

Clearly, wearing down the customer as a business policy will result in a poor business image. Perhaps the only companies that could get away with this type of behavior are the monopolies. In fact, Wolf discusses a cable company that made him do a complete runaround, speaking to more than 12 people and not resolving the issue, resulting in his nearly giving up a quest to rectify a billing error.

Companies that have the philosophy that the customer is always wrong are the ones that tend to stonewall.  But a quick examination of this policy proves that it is misguided. If a customer believes he is being overcharged or mischarged, and the company’s first instinct is to say no, he will call again. He may call several times more (people will go to some lengths to protect their money). Each additional call has a cost in customer service time, which is a real monetary cost. But the larger cost is image-wise. The company now becomes the large behemoth that won’t bend. It becomes the enemy, and it is hated.

So ask yourself if you stonewall your customers, and if that is worth the cost.

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Dealing with disgruntled customers

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

Customer service is often about rectifying errors and fixing problems. Sometimes it is about soothing customers. At times, and this is human nature, people are disgruntled. Not only do they have the problem at hand to deal with (the billing error, the missing product, etc.) but a host of other problems relating to their personal lives. When a person has stress or unhappiness, they often become disgruntled.

How do you deal with it?

Emotional competence is a crucial skill for customer service, and it is particularly necessary when dealing with disgruntled customers. Being able to “read” the emotions the customer is displaying and responding appropriately will go a long way in resolving the situation.

Recently, one of our team members had an awkward interaction with a customer service provider. The provider was leaden. She talked slowly, with no inflection or personality. Our colleague was in a hurry and the provider was not going to accommodate that.  Having little or no emotional competence, the customer service provider ended making a situation that was easily resolved worse.

On the Harvard Business Review blog, Rosabeth Moss Kanter writes about the “Nine Dos and Don’ts for Dealing with the Disgruntled.” Here are a few suggestions that customer service can apply:

• Don’t use an angry tone
• Make a small gesture to show empathy
• Don’t sound defensive
• Focus on the positive

The sooner you disarm a disgruntled customer, the sooner the situation will be diffused.

Tags: customer service and disgruntled people, dealing with disgruntled customers, disgruntled customer, disgruntled customers
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