There are hundreds of articles written about customer service; how to attract them, how to impress them and how to appease them when they are mad. But this article is about how to be a good customer!

When I am the customer and I have a problem that I need help with I get varying levels of service. I figure that I usually get great customer service 5 % of the time. I get good customer service 20% of the time. I get poor customer service 50 % of the time. I get horrible service 25% of the time.

However when I make contact as the customer and I am happy and friendly the above numbers change. The happier I am the nicer the person is who is servicing me. If I am anything less than happy and friendly it is reflected in the attitude of the person dealing with me.

Try this for yourself and see. Next time you call a customer service number and finally get to speak to a person start the conversation in the friendliest tone you can muster.  If you then explain your problem or complaint, no matter how big, in a generally friendly way you will notice that the staff member you’re speaking to will be friendlier. And helpful. When I am calling with a complaint and I am seriously pissed off I start the conversation by saying: “George (or what ever the customer service person just told me their name is) I am calling because I am not happy with ___________. And from the start I want to make it clear that I am not mad at YOU. So, please as I explain how angry and upset I am don’t take any of it personally.”

What does this tell me? Well for one it tells me that if I want good service then I have to be friendly and kind. Not always an easy thing to do when the repair technician is 6 hours late in getting to your home or business or when you discovered that your credit card company just increased your interest rate to 28%.

One of the most important things to remember is that is almost all cases the person you are speaking to is NOT the person whom is “guilty” of whatever ill deed has come your way. Yelling at the receptionist because the doctor kept you waiting for 45 minutes or being nasty to the cashier because the ATM doesn’t work right are likewise wrong. No one likes to be wrong-targeted.

Now if we can convince all customers to be kind and patient then all of our customer service problems will be solved! However this is not very likely!

I have written many articles and trained hundreds of customer service staff in handling of irate customers. The first most important rule is: don’t take it personally; never get angry with the customer.

Unfortunately we all tend to mirror the emotions that we get from others. Do you get irritated when someone is angry with you? Defensive? Do you ever get teary eyed when talking to another who is crying about a loss? This is a normal reaction when dealing with people, but is not a good thing when dealing with angry irritated customers. The only way to remain effective is to not let their anger or irritation have any effect on you.

But it works both ways, doesn’t it?

The next time you are irate and want to get a problem solved try being nice to the person who answers the phone. I can almost guarantee that you will get your problem solved faster.

One of the hallmarks of free market capitalism is deregulation.

The idea is to do away with all those pesky, confining rules. A company should be able to follow whatever course it deems profitable. The theory is that if the company veers too far astray it will go out of business because customers will avoid it. So in place of government regulations we have the consumers “setting the rules” by deciding where to go to buy products and services.

This doesn’t sound too bad at first. The idea of “freedom” and “no rules” is alluring. But in practical application it is not a very good idea. It tends to be rather hard on the customers.

If you have a company with large customer base and let’s say that they implement a policy to automatically sign up every customer for a service that costs $9.00 a month. They decide they won’t ask the customers, just start billing them for the service. Of course this is unethical and possibly illegal. But that does not stop many large companies from doing this exact thing. Some of the customers don’t even notice. Some call to cancel the service. Some are very irate. But the company’s bottom line improved and that’s what it is all about!

How long does it take for this action to drive them out of business?  It could take a very long time. And how many customers will be cheated out of $9.00 a month in the meantime? It has been quite clear for many years now the tobacco companies falsified their “scientific studies” about the dangers of smoking costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, yet they are still there making money selling cigarettes. Banks and credit card companies are guilty of calculatingly cheating their customers. They purposely change the due dates on credit cards hoping that the consumer will be late and so be charged a late fee. They arbitrarily raise your interest rate to its highest limit.

Many companies driven blindly by a desire for bigger profits come up with more and more brazen ideas to rip off their customers. Companies that “have you over a barrel” tend to take more liberties because they know that you don’t have any place else to go. Or it’s hard to change service providers. Cell phone companies and banks both often practice predatory customer policies designed to make more profit knowing that it’s difficult for the customer to jump ship easily.

There have always been airlines that charge extra for each bag checked. But more and more you see bigger airlines resorting to this sort of mis-representation to get sales. When you go on line to check for flights and prices you see the price, decide to buy, and when you get to check out you find out that there will be very substantial additional fees for each and every little thing. These “extras” used to be included in the price (as they should be!).

Buying services or products on the internet is often a tricky game. For example with camera gear there are many sites that advertise name brands at very low prices. You try to buy, and soon find out that it was all lies. They ship a different product. They change the price. They pull a bait and switch. Many of these companies will send you the most basic part of the product, in the case of a camera, just the body. Then if you want the battery, or a strap, or a memory card, or a lens, etc these cost WAY more than they should.

So, in the end really what does it mean “Free Market”? Who is free? Who benefits? Certainly not the customer, that’s for sure! The customer is stripped of any protections and basically fed to the wolves! Only the corporation benefits from this system. They are free. Free to do what ever to make a profit. Yes, the customer is free to go somewhere else, that’s true. But the question is how many customers will have to suffer before the market forces in changes?

What does all of this have to do with customer service? All of the companies who engage in these anti-consumer acts, large or small, have plenty of customer service staff. They try to be friendly when the irate customer calls or comes in. They have to listen to the same complaint over and over again from customers who find the company is ripping them off. But the customer service employees cannot change any of it. The decisions to take advantage of the customer come from the top. When the customer service staff make it known at the top what is causing the customers to complain it all falls on deaf, uncaring ears.

Most of the regulations needed to afford protection are simple. In most cases you wouldn’t think that you HAD to regulate against this or that action. You would think that common sense and the desire to deliver the best possible service would have been enough.

Companies that take part in misleading, predatory or dishonest practices should not be allowed to use the term “customer service” at all! Because obviously if they had intention to provide good service then they would never have engaged in those practices to begin with!

In the end the “free market” system is not customer service friendly. It’s simply back to the old “buyer beware” policy.

Many of your worst customer service experiences stem from this exact situation. If you take a look at your most nightmarishly horrible customer service experiences I bet you trace it back to this source.

When you walk into a store (office, hospital, restaurant etc.) how often are you given a friendly greeting with a sparkly smile and real interest? Half the time? No, that’s too high. More like 10 to 20% of the time. This means that 80 to 90% of businesses are missing on the initial greeting.

That’s not good!

The first greeting when you first arrive is SO important.

If you’re going somewhere for the first time you may be anxious, upset, nervous, worried, who knows? What’s your mindset when you go to see a doctor or dentist for the first time? Are you happy and positive? How about the auto mechanic? Some people walk in half expecting something to go wrong, or maybe wondering if they made the right choice to come to your business.

But if you walk in and someone gives you a real genuine friendly greeting it brightens a person up. You tend to have a more positive attitude towards the business, possibly even become more agreeable. Just a simple warm greeting can change someone from LOOKING for things they don’t like to looking for things they DO like. It tends to change your state of mind.

A warm first greeting:

• Sets the tone for the rest of the interaction
• Disarms the customer
• Shows the customer that you have an interest in them

The rule that “everyone must be greeted in a very friendly way” is known to everyone. Its not like you go to some store or office and the people don’t greet the customers because no one ever told them that they should.

So then why is it that sometimes we are not greeted right? Here are some real-life common reasons:

The greeter/receptionist/person-in-the-front was:

• In a bad mood
• Busy filing, typing, scanning, etc
• Just had a bad experience with another customer (or employee) (or the boss!)
• On the phone or with another customer
• Suspicious of strangers
• Distracted from more important work
• Waiting to see if the customer will be nice first
• Busy thinking, snoozing, gossiping, etc.

What to do?

Nothing is more important than simply getting someone out there greeting people who actually LIKES people and is a genuinely happy person. Its not impossible to find people like this, you just have to set your sights high and keep looking until you find the right person. Of course KEEPING the person is important. A great receptionist is worth their weight in GOLD to any business. If you do find a person like above you should pay them well, give them benefits and do what ever to keep them!

And any one who is out there working with customers, patients, or clients should be given some version of the following job description:

Prioritized list of duties:

1. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
2. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
3. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
4. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
5. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
6. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
7. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
8. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
9. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
10. Take care of your other duties such as inventory, stocking, price checks, filing, faxing, scanning, cleaning, data entry, etc.

I mean really, its that important, you cannot over stress the importance of the first greeting. No matter how much effort you put into making sure it is good, it will all be worth it!

By this stage of the game pretty much everyone knows that the target of customer service is NOT a satisfied customer. Satisfied means that they will stick with you only until something better comes along. And trust me, every satisfied customer you have IS looking! If a customer is in the satisfied category and they have a bad experience they most likely won’t tell you about it. They just won’t come back. Word of mouth referrals from a satisfied customer are not frequent. Of course satisfied is better than unsatisfied, or irritated. Satisfied is not horrible, but your aim needs to be higher.

If you want to have a booming business and garner great word of mouth advertising you have to have LOTS of loyal customers. This is the true goal of customer service. Loyal customers will drive past 10 of your competitors to come see YOU. If one of your loyal customers does have a bad experience they will probably tell you about it and give you a chance to make everything right. And they will refer your business to anyone who will listen to them.

The number of books and articles about the need to create customer loyalty are too numerous to count. They include literally hundreds of ideas to make your satisfied customer loyal to you.

As I give customer service training workshops on a constant basis I am always asking people: “Where are you a loyal customer?” And then: “Why, what do they do to make you loyal?”

The first answer I get, as you might suspect, is consistent high quality of product or service. No one is going to be a loyal customer if the basic service or product is poor. You won’t go back to the auto repair center if your car breaks again right after they “fixed the problem”. You most likely won’t return to your hair stylist if they butchered your hair the last time you went in.

The second answer I most often hear is personalized service. Someone remembered them. Some one cared and served them as an individual, not as just one person in a blur of people. In all the people I have surveyed about “why are you loyal?” everyone said that this was a key.

Loyalty is not about what gets the customer to come in for the first time, it’s what gets the customer to keep coming back.

When you go into a business for the first time you expect them to be friendly. This does not always happen, but it is certainly what we expect. Many businesses seem to focus their best efforts towards pulling in new customers. The employees you interact with as part of the sales or introduction cycle are very friendly. Actually the very best customer service people are used when the customer wants to cancel their service. If there is an option for wanting to cancel your service, then the people who you speak to are the best at trying to be nice and understanding and talk you out of it. So in many companies the customer service focus is on the beginning and the end. Not much in the middle.

But if you DID focus in the middle (meaning focus on delivering personalized customer service to your regular customers) you would have more loyal customers, get more referrals from word of mouth (maybe have a need to spend less on advertising as the referrals come in) and the number of customers trying to jump ship would shrink.

An example is a health club. When you go in for a tour and are thinking about joining you are given the royal treatment. Once you are all signed up you’re not so important. Even if you go in regularly you don’t get greeted warmly and personally. Sometimes the staff look at you like they have never seen you before! Of course this is crazy, in a health club the members who regularly visit is the people who keep them open!

So, assuming that your first visit was okay and you received a quality service or product you will most likely return. This is where personalized service comes into it. When you go back do they remember you? Does anyone remember your name, your pet’s name, your child’s name? Anything that is remembered about YOU makes a world of difference. Where you went on vacation, what kind of coffee drink do you like, even just a spark in the persons eye that says that they remember seeing you before.

Whenever you go anywhere and you are recognized it makes a difference. Have you ever been into your local ______ store (fill in the blank), a place where you have been literally hundreds of times, see the same people who work there, and not gotten even a faint flicker from them that have ever seen you before? How do you feel? Dull, unimportant, routine.

How about some business you frequent where there is that spark of recognition, or some comment that shows them they DO remember you? Does it make a difference to you? Do you FEEL different?

People suffer from not being recognized, being just another face in the crowd. The more populated the area you live in the less likely you will be recognized. As businesses grow they become more and more impersonal; more faceless; and seemingly more uncaring.

We have discussed two aspects of good service: being friendly and personal service.

They are NOT the same thing.

Friendly is smiling, being patient, helpful, expressing some care for the customer. But being friendly is not enough to make a loyal customer. Have you ever had an interaction with someone and they were very friendly up until the understood that you weren’t going to actually buy their service or product and then you got the cold shoulder? Have you ever dealt with some “business professional” and you could sense that the friendly demeanor was an act and that they were not in fact actually a very friendly person at all?

Personal service is not the same thing as friendly service. Personal service, as we have described above, is some interaction which shows the customer that they remember YOU, your likes, dislikes, desires. Personalized service is individualized service.

Of course if the goal is to create loyal customers, then ideally the customer service person would be both friendly AND deliver personal service.

There are literally hundreds of ways to provide personalized service.

• Greeting a customer by name when they call or arrive
  • Review your schedule to see who is coming and refresh your mind on the personal details of the person.
• Greeting their child or pet by name
• Take time to note down any small details about the person, what is their favorite flower, or flavor of ice cream, where do their kids go to school, what is the name of their dog or cat.
• Remembering and commenting on any personal details such as where they went on vacation, a child’s graduation,
• Showing in your speech or manner that you recognize the person remember seeing the person before.
• Sending letters or cards that are clearly for the individual, either by content and/or hand addressed and signed.
• Personal follow up phone calls by the doctor, manager or owner.

I am sure that there could be a specialized list for every kind of business. The thing to do is to make sure that everyone understands this concept and ask them to come up with their own practical ideas of how to apply it. It takes planning and practice and diligence to deliver personalized service. But before you hesitate from the effort required be sure to ask your self, “What is the value of a loyal customer?”

One last aspect of personalized service: it’s fun and interesting to deliver personalized service. When you are there on the front lines and everyone becomes a blur and there is no personal interaction the job becomes dull and boring. When you work to become more personalized in your service people look nicer, customers are more interesting, and generally life looks better!

So there you have it! Personalize your service, have more loyal customers and make your own job and life brighter! Not a bad deal!

First impressions are everything.

We have all seen examples of this in our personal lives. When we meet someone new their appearance, tone of voice, manners (or lack of!) all have a very big effect on us.

When a customer calls or goes into an office, business or agency the first person they talk to represents the entire company. This goes even further with people who are traveling to new places: just ONE rotten experience with a rude “customer service person” can ever after sour the person’s attitude to the entire city, region, or country!!!

To the customer YOU are the company. A good first impression starts a positive relationship with your customers. On the other hand a poor first impression can sometime end the relationship right there. And when you factor in word of mouth and how many other people the customer may talk to about their bad experience with your company you can see how important first impressions can be.

A bad first impression is not impossible to undo, but it sure takes a lot of effort. The point is if you make a great first impression things are a LOT easier.

Let’s look at things from the customer’s point of view:

When a customer calls or walks into a business for the first time they may be: happy, anxious, worried, lost, angry, frustrated, excited, or possibly all of the above! When you, as a customer, are new to a business you don’t know anyone, you’re not familiar with how things work. You don’t know if you’re going to like it there, if they will provide good service, if they will be friendly or helpful. There are a lot of doubts and questions! Many customers go in to a business for the first time actually expecting things to go badly. Some even “get ready for battle” before heading off to a new restaurant, hotel, doctor or auto mechanic.

When you meet anyone new “little things” can affect your attitude towards the person very fast. If you already have a relationship with someone, and that person has a bad day or is in a bad mood it probably won’t ruin or end your relationship. But if the person is new to you just one or two small negative points could end your relationship with the person right there.

Speaking of first impressions, it is vital that you, as the customer service professional, do not make any assumptions about customers. Judging a customer by their appearance or how they speak is a huge mistake.

So, anyone working on the front lines is supposed to do everything to make sure that they give all customers a great first impression and at the same time be sure to NOT let your first impressions of the customer in any way prevent you from delivering the best possible service. This can be a tall order sometimes.

Greeting a customer

Always make eye contact with the customer the first second they come in. Even if you are with another customer or on the phone, make eye contact and acknowledge that they are there immediately. A simple gesture tells the new person that you see them and will be right with them.

Smile! Smile! Smile! Smile! Smile! Smile!

Your greeting should tell the customer, “I am glad you’re here!”

Greetings such as:

• “Good morning! How can I help you today?”
• “Hello, how is your day going so far?” What can I help you with today?”
• “Hi, we haven’t seen you in a while!”
• “Welcome, what can I do for you today?”
• “Good afternoon! What can we do for you today?”

A friendly greeting immediately disarms the person and sets them at ease. It sets the tone for the rest of the interaction. No matter what the customer’s emotional state this will make things better. This is probably the single most important point for anyone working in any position where they greet customers.

Every person who walks in the door

Every person who comes in MUST be greeted in the most friendly way possible: new customers, old customers, customers who come in all the time, all of them. Repair people, delivery people, people who are lost and need directions, everyone. Remember, even if the person who comes is not and never will be a customer they still will relay their experiences with your company, good or bad, to everyone they talk to.

If there is going to be a wait, tell the customer about it. Explain why, offer coffee, tea, etc. then every 10 to 15 minutes give the customer an update. Have gift cards from a local store, restaurant or espresso stand available for customers who have to wait too long. Always tell the truth about how long the wait will be. Saying it will be “just a few more minutes” when you know it will half an hour only makes things worse!

Things you should never do:

• If the customer is early for their appointment NEVER communicate in any way that this is bad or creates a problem. The point is that the person arrived! That’s great! Go give the customer a hug! Don’t berate them for the “crime” of being early. In fact you should not use the word “early”. If the customer comes early the first thing to do is to tell them how happy you are to see them. You can say something like, “Just have a seat and I will go (or call) and see if they are ready for you.” Or something positive, just work it out so that what you are saying is not “You’re early and you’re RUINING my schedule!!!”
• Carry on a personal conversation with another employee, or phone call, while servicing a customer. This is particularly important when the customer first comes in. If you are at the front desk with another co-worker and a customer walks in you need to end any conversations you are having and look up at the customer with a smile BEFORE they reach the counter. Other wise the customer will get the impression that they are distracting you from your more “important” duties.
• Carry on ANY negative type of conversation ABOUT ANYTHING if there is a customer with earshot. This includes conversations about: other staff, other customers, other competitors.
• Convey the idea, feeling or attitude of being “way too busy”, “overworked” frantic or ANYTHING ELSE which would tell the customer that their being there is a problem. Generally customers don’t want to hear about your problems at work or in your personal life. Just be positive, friendly, cheerful and happy to help them NO MATTER HOW SWAMPED YOU ARE.

Click here to learn about our WelcomeTeam Training program.

Who ever answers the phone at any business is the most important person on the payroll! Why? It’s simple, they talk to more customers than anyone else. A great receptionist is worth their weight in gold. It doesn’t matter whether the caller is a new customer or an established one, how the phone is answered and how the caller is handled makes ALL the difference.

First impressions, First impressions, First impressions

If the caller is a potential new customer how the phone is answered is of the highest priority. Of course when you pick up the phone you don’t know if the caller is new customer or an established one. Any small mistakes or misses on the phone and the potential new customer may very well move on down the street.

Your attitude and tone are EVERYTHING!

The most important characteristic is: FRIENDLY!

The telephone should be answered promptly and should not be allowed to ring more than three times. All telephone calls should be answered with a warm greeting,

Example:

The telephone rings: “Good morning, San Rafael Construction Company. This is George. How I can help you”?

Be cheerful, positive, concerned and helpful no matter what the caller has to say.

As soon as you know the callers name write it down!

If you ask the question: “May I please put you on hold?” then you MUST wait for the answer before doing so! If you’re not going to wait for the answer, don’t ask the question, just say: “Please hold” and put them on hold.

You should NEVER convey to the person on the other end of the phone anything other than “I am happy you called and eager to help you!”

Who ever answers the phone MUST be able to answer the customer’s questions. Customers expect that anyone answering the phone will be able to answer all of their questions! If you don’t know, find out! Get trained, make a list of common questions and their answers, and receive some cross training. Do what ever it takes.

Usually in any company there is a chain of people who are assigned to answer the phone if the receptionist is too busy. In my opinion this is better than an automated system. But the problem with this is that often these “secondary receptionists” are horrible! They pick up the phone sounding annoyed, distracted or even angry. Of course this is completely wrong! Every company MUST preach the rules of how the phone is to answered and train EVERYONE who works at the company to answer the phone perfectly. Every employee should be cross trained as receptionist a top priority. Not only will this improve customer service, but it will increase everyone’s appreciation for the companies most important people: the receptionists!!!

Attitude, attitude, attitude! Your tone of voice, sense of humor and level of seriousness are the most important factors. The busier you are the more important these points become!

Ending a phone conversation:

Always end the conversation with a “Is there anything else I can do for you today?” and “Thank you for calling!”

Click here to learn about our WelcomeTeam Training program.

1. Train all staff to answer Commonly Asked Questions
   1. Customers expect all employees to be able to answer their questions. This can be an unreal expectation, but nonetheless it is expected.
   2. Every business gets a lot of the same questions over and over. Have you ever noticed that you may have an employee who is excellent at answering certain questions, and other staff who are fantastic at answering different questions?
   3. Make a list of the most common questions; this list can be separated by departments, or for the entire business.
   4. At the next staff meeting go over each question, one at a time. Get the group to answer the questions (make sure one or two staff take exact notes!) and come up with what they feel is the best possible answer.
   5. The final goal is that ALL employees can answer all of the questions smoothly and easily.

To Do: Make a list of common questions. At the next staff meeting start the program!

1. Know what your customers really think!

Survey your customers. It is probably not possible to get too much feed back from your customers. Most businesses get way too little. If done right surveying your customers in itself will increase the customer perception of your company. Surveys show that you care and want to improve. Surveys MUST be done by someone who really cares, who is good at the nuances of communication!

What are some methods to survey customers?

• Mail out survey forms to all of your new or existing customers
• Have survey forms to hand to customers
• Place stacks of surveys forms for customers to fill out or take home an send back.
• Have a survey section on your web site
• Send out emails with surveys
• Call new or existing customers and survey them on the phone.
• Survey the customers in person while they are still in the store or business

What can you do with your survey results?

• If you know where you’re doing great you can make sure you don’t stop doing it!
• You can validate the employees for all their great work.
• You know who needs a promotion and a raise!
• You can fix an area that is doing poorly.
• You can create or rewrite procedures to make sure things get better.
• You can use the results in your advertising and marketing.
• Offer a bonus or discount for doing the survey

To Do: Decide what is the most effective way for YOU to survey and get started!!

1. Keep the staff in the know and focused on customer service
   1. The customer service log is a large sized book with specially divided sheets which is used by all staff to record any and all customer compliments of complaints, large or small. The log is a vital tool for improving customer relations and creating staff members who care what happens and work hard to improve the company.
   2. Every day employees get feed back from customers about your service or products. Usually the bad comments get relayed, but in a normal day there are many comments. These should all be noted.
   3. Create log books to collect the feed back. Have the logs at several points so everyone can get to them. Get the name of the customer, what was said, the date, and what, if anything was done to fix the problem.
   4. Make sure no one can get punished for noting down what the customer says!
   5. The log book provides a healthy way for employees to relay the complaints that they hear.

To Do: Get the log books made, explain their use to staff and get started!!

1. Create a team atmosphere. Hold a weekly staff meeting
   1. The internal atmosphere of a company is EVERYTHING. If there is bickering, gossiping and griping your customer service will suffer.
   2. Read ALL customer complaints and compliments (from surveys and the customer service log) to all employees.
   3. If there are any complaints discuss them and decide if YOU (the company) did anything wrong. If you did get the employees to come up with the best solution.
   4. If you keep all customer complaints (and compliments!) out in the open, totally transparent, you will create a healthy group who work together to improve the business.

To Do: Schedule and hold your first weekly “customer service” staff meeting.

1. Get all employees Cross Training
   1. Here are some reasons to do cross training:

• If everyone is cross trained they can jump in if someone is missing or busy
• It’s MUCH harder to be critical of another department if you have actually done the work of that department yourself!
• Employees who are cross trained are more valuable to the group.
• Any employee who is cross trained will be better educated to answer customer questions, field their complaints and will excel in customer service.

To Do: Ensure that every employee has a checklist of what they need to be cross trained on, and get them started!!

Click here to learn about our WelcomeTeam Training program.

Every profession has specific tools that are used to create a product. An artist may use canvas and a paintbrush; a photographer uses a camera and a tripod; a mechanic has a wrench; a chef uses a French knife and a sauté pan; a teacher may use a textbook and a computer.

Actually every profession has MANY tools that are used on a constant basis to create and produce results.

What is the difference between someone who gets so-so results and someone who regularly turns out high quality products? It has a lot to do with knowledge of the tools of the trade. Actually there are several steps or levels of knowing about tools. They are:

• Knowing that there ARE tools.
• Having some familiarity with these tools.
• Being able to confidently use the tools.
• Knowing when each tool should be used.
• Having a comprehensive understanding of how to use the tools in conjunction with each other, ie: mastering the tools.

Someone new to a subject is may only know of the existence of one or two tools. For example a person who uses Photoshop but only knows how to crop pictures. Have you ever seen a person who tried to everything with one tool? People can get really good at using just a few tools to do everything. But of course the more tools you know and can use the easier you can get results, and your results will be of higher quality.

What are the basic tools and skills of someone who works with customers?

• Attitude/Friendliness
  • No question, it all starts with attitude. This is the most important point and cannot be skimped. If the attitude is lousy no amount of training will make up for it. Great customer service embodies empathy, the ability to BE in the customer’s shoes.
• Knowledge about the product or service.
  • It’s hard to help a customer service if you don’t know what you’re talking about. This includes knowing all common questions and their answers, but to be really good you need to understand why things are so, how the products/services work and why.
• Knowledge of company policies and procedures
  • Unfortunately this is the point that most customer service staff know the best: the rules! You can’t do this and you can’t do that. But understanding the rules is important and if employees do not know the proper procedures they will create big problems, fast!
• Communication skills: how to control a conversation
  • Listening – this is a skill just about everyone needs work on.
  • Acknowledging – understanding when and how to properly acknowledge is an immensely important skill.
  • Redirecting a conversation – conversations can easily get off track, one needs to be skilled in redirecting the customer back to the subject smoothly.
  • Ending a conversation – have you ever been caught like a deer in the headlights with a customer who would not stop talking? Knowing how to politely end conversations is a key survival skill.
• Understanding of emotions and ability to not take it personally
  • This is one of the most difficult points. In most cases the person dealing with the irate customer had nothing to do with the problem. Then why is the customer yelling at you? If a customer service person cannot deal with this they will soon be on the road to burnout.
• Mastery of applicable software
  • It seems that every industry has its own software, and in some cases hundreds of variations. It takes time to learn and be proficient in using these applications.
• Knowledge of the duties and functions of the other posts connected/related to your own post
  • If you are working in a group you have to know not only your post and duties but to some degree, the duties of those around you. Cross training is a very effective way to educate staff and if there is ANY interdepartmental strife, it is a MUST.
• Customer service surveys
  • Counting on customers to tell you how they feel is not going to work. Every business must employ a host of ways to get feed back from customers. Surveys, emails, letters, customer service phone surveys, a link on your web site, all must be employed to gather input.
• Customer service log book and weekly meetings.
  • Employees hear positive and negative comments from customers daily. These should be written down! Each comment is valuable! All customer comments and survey results should be shared with all staff! Having a weekly meeting where you discuss any and all compliments and complaints and how to improve service is imperative to improve service and create a real team.
• Skill in handling irritated customers
  • All of the above skills are part of this, but anyone who been doing customer service successfully for some time will have developed successful actions. Maybe there are phrases to say, or a way to ask a question, or a specific way to tell the customer your policy, or, or , or. Getting customer service staff together regularly to discuss complaints and what works to handle them is very important and will pay huge dividends.
• Problem solving skills
  • Problem solving skills do not seem to be native to all people! Solving customer problems can include not only finding a remedy for the customers complaint, but suggesting what needs to be done so that problem does not repeat with more customers.

Have you ever run into someone who was in customer service and had a great attitude and was really friendly, but knew next to nothing about the product? (maybe a person working at an overseas call center). Or someone who knew ALL about the product or service but severely lacked in friendliness? (a tech support “person”). Or a person who was friendly and knew the product, but not how to use the company software?

It seems rare to encounter someone who has all of the above skills together, but there is really no reason that it should be so difficult to achieve this. Probably every company needs a workbook and a checklist that includes the above points outlined and detailed for each key post. With examples, common questions and their answers, real scenarios and then exercises to work on.

If this were compiled and someone helped the person get through it then it wouldn’t take years to get someone up to the level of being a customer service expert. And that would be good for everyone!

Click here to learn about our WelcomeTeam Training program.

When customer service is lacking there are really only two possible causes:

1. Lack of caring

2. Lack of training

Of course if there is a lack of caring about customer service from management it will manifest in lack of staff training. In many companies there is not and never has been any intention to deliver anything even approaching decent customer service. These companies constantly do things that antagonize their customers. They use irritating automated phone systems, farm out “customer service” to cheap-priced overseas call centers and in some cases adopt procedures to rip of their customers. Several large telecommunications companies and banks will generally come to mind as examples here.

However, in the majority of companies the intent to deliver good customer service does exist. What is often lacking is a workable system to train people.

The thing about small companies is that you usually get better service. I notice that often the best service I get anywhere is from a business where the owner is the one dealing with customers. There are a lot of obvious reasons for this.

When a company is a one-man (or woman) show, they do everything. Any business starts with the basic product or service for sale. Say a person starts a company as a computer repair specialist, or marketing consultant, or plumber. Of course the “owner” is the plumber, or consultant, or tech. But when you get started you also do all the other functions of the business: sales and marketing, customer service, etc.

So when there is a customer service problem, the owner knows all about it, he or she doesn’t need to go ask a coworker about what happened with Mrs. Johnson. He knows. The owner doesn’t need to ask for approval for her idea of what to do to handle the customer, there is no one else to ask. The owner does not have a customer service handbook or manual. There is no written policy. He or she has or gathers the data and makes a decision on how to resolve the problem in the best interests of the company and the customer.

When a business is run like this (assuming there is a good quality product) there will be plenty of new customers through positive word of mouth. Expansion occurs!

Now as a company expands the owner tries to shed hats and duties. Maybe there is someone hired to help with delivery or production; new techs are hired, or apprentice plumbers. Or maybe there is a sales person who joins the company. Maybe they found a bookkeeper to handle the accounting and customer statements. If the business has a storefront it could be a new receptionist or cashier that is hired to free up time for the boss to get more things done.

I have known several small business owners who grew their business through a great product and wonderful, personal service. Their income went up and up, so they figured “if I hire several new employees the stats will go up faster and higher.”

All too often, this is not what happens. Now the owner does not personally service each customer, but relies on new staff to do what he was doing. You can graph these two vectors, number of staff and customer satisfaction. When one goes up, the other goes down. Have you ever seen a business go through this?

With the owner off the customer service lines things begin to suffer and the expansion of the business stalled. The overall word of mouth of the business started to drop. Some customers became un-enamored with the lack of service.

The owner was operating on the idea that the business would continue to grow when the new staff members were hired. That’s how the increase in payroll was justified. But the decrease in customer service has slowed the flow of new customers and the income did not increase as planned. In some cases it appears that the more new employees the company hires the less profit the company makes.

Why did customer service suffer when new employees were hired? Well, employees don’t always have the motivation to ensure the customer is happy. They are often paid by the hour. Some have a bad attitude: “I am not getting paid enough to be nice to customers”, “They’re not MY customers”, “I don’t care, my shift ends at 4:30” etc.

Or the reason could be that the employee does not know as much about the product as the boss, or the employee does not have the authority to make decisions to handle the customer.

But let’s look a little deeper. How are most employees trained in the first place? They are given a list of rules and procedures. They are told to follow them. It is made clear that if they don’t, they will get canned. That’s the system. I know you can make it sound sweeter; there are workbooks and training manuals, staff meetings and training seminars. There are videos, DVDs and pod casts. There is Employee of the Month, awards and pats on the back. But if you boil it all down, it’s the same thing: here is the book of procedures, please follow them, or else.

What else is there? Well, as in the example above with the small business owner who does everything, the best customer service comes from someone who has an intimate knowledge of the product and service, has authority to think and decide and who cares what happens.

We can call this type of customer service Contextualized Service.

Lets look at the definition of the word context: the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc. Contextualizing your service means individualizing your service. It means taking into account all of the details and information that fits the situation.

It’s the kind of customer service you would expect to get from the owner. One way to describe it would be to say that the person doing it is educated, motivated and empowered.

Why is Contextualized service the way to go? Well, what’s wrong with policy? As soon as you set it down in writing you are limited. And owner does not go back and read the policy when handling a customer complaint. He evaluates the situation based on available data and makes the best decision that will benefit the customer and help the business expand. Customer loyalty, satisfaction, money/financial considerations, word of mouth, availability, these are all variable factors that need to be weighed to come up with an intelligent answer.

Have you ever been on the customer end of a discussion/argument where someone is explaining to you that “the reason we are treating you like shit is that it’s our policy”?

I was in an animal hospital recently and we were discussing creating a written policy on what to do when the customer comes in with an animal in bad shape, but with no money. Should we extend help and treat the animal for free? Should we turn the person and their injured animal away? If the animal is in bad shape and the owner has no money should we offer to euthanize the animal for free? If the owner can’t pay should we offer free pain medications? (For the pet, not the owner!). These are all tough questions. And the more we discussed them the clearer it became to me that a policy was not the answer. Even the most perfectly policy cannot take the place of a person.

The best possible solution is to have a well-trained person there, who can gather and evaluate all data, who has in mind the best interests of the customer, the pet and the business.

It may seem that these two points of interest are at odds with each other, and in some cases this is so, but in the majority of situations these two points of interest are parallel. What’s best for the customer is also what’s best for the business.

A policy presupposes that the person there will not be able to gather data and decide. It implies that the person on the ground is not clever enough to come up with the best solution.

Why do some people need written policy? In some cases they don’t want to think, don’t want to take responsibility. Or they have not been trained and don’t understand the big picture. In some cases they don’t want to have to decide anything, for fear of getting into trouble. Sometimes it is very convenient to be able to tell the customer “I am sorry, I can’t help you, but I am only following company policy.”

I know that just the idea of empowering staff to make these decisions has many readers squirming in their chairs. But lets look at this: If you can’t trust your employees to do any thinking then why do they still work there?

Training employees in contextualized service is not as difficult as one would think. In many ways it is easier than the “old system”. In reality the size of the company should not be a barrier. Any business can improve customer service and achieve profitable customer relationships. Employers can work on providing a package of training, incentives & flexible authority that would address the education, motivation and empowering gaps, needed for contextualized customer service.

Check back in the near future and we will post Contextualized Training checklists and provide more information and insight into how to achieve a truly contextualized customer service experience for your customers!

Click here to learn about our WelcomeTeam Training program.

It starts at the top!

If you want to know who to blame for bad customer service look no further than the top of the food chain. The owners and management are the ones responsible for what ever type of customer service a company provides.

Usually when a customer service training program is started though, the normal starting place is at the bottom. The general staff employees: the sales people, receptionists, front desk, technicians etc are the ones sent for the training. This bottom-up customer service training program is backwards! Actually the training should start at the top, not the bottom!

With some companies I really wonder what in the world are they thinking! Do they honestly care for the customer, or is the customer thought of as a farmer thinks of a cow, something to be milked for all it can provide. Actually that’s unfair to farmers. They are much more interested in the cow’s well-being than many companies are in their customers.

Advertising is a direct reflection of the attitude of management. So much advertising this day is really nothing more than a pack of lies. We see this all the time. Advertisements with the word FREE in them are inevitably full of lies. There is Free Credit report dot com. Definitely NOT free. Products are often advertised for free, and of course they are not. There is always more to it. Why can’t they just be honest? If the offer is two for the price of one, why not say it. Instead they say it’s free and then when you read the fine print, you see that the product is “free” only when you buy another product.

Advertising and marketing practices speak volumes about the company’s attitude toward the customers.

Of course EVERY business claims to REALLY CARE about their customers. This phony, false caring is seen through sales procedures, pricing and billing policies.

Some companies will sign you up for services you didn’t order, bill you for products or services you didn’t want and only correct things when the customer raises a stink. What kind of customer service is that? It seems that the bigger a company gets the more brazen it gets in its predatory and criminal practices.

Some recent examples I have seen are:

Recently many banks have been changing the due date on their credit card statements. The idea is that the customer gets used to paying on the 10th of each month. So the bank changes it to the 7th. The idea is to catch the customer napping and then the bank gets to hit the customer with a late payment fee of $35.00. Not to mention a negative credit report entry, or a higher interest rate.

I used Verizon for some of my business accounts in the past. In one year I had three separate instances where they billed us for services we didn’t want or use, lied to entice us to sign up for new services and then tried to delay our switching lines when we finally decided to go with another provider.

These examples of abuse are not customer service issues. Somewhere there is a management person who comes up with these “bright ideas” to make a few extra bucks by ripping off the customers. The company probably gave the “genius” a bonus, more stock options and a bigger office for devising these new scams.

How about some companies exchange or refund policies? Have you ever tried to change your airline ticket or cancel your ticket due to an illness or accident? The policy is a total penalty to the customer. I recently saw an ad for an online site for purchasing airline tickets. They were making light of a person who can’t complete the transaction to purchase airline tickets. Of course the person is nervous about the final purchase selection! If you make a mistake or change your mind, there goes half your money!!!!!

All of these examples are management decisions. These policies and actions are NOT decided by the customer service staff. They are the unlucky ones who have to enforce these polices and take the brunt of the pissed off customers who feel ripped off and abused by the managements decisions.

Employee loyalty is everything.

But when I say that management bears the responsibility of good or bad customer service, I am speaking about more than the above examples. Really good customer service starts with loyal employees. If the employees are not loyal to the company they are NOT going to do the extras that add up to great service. Management may THINK that the employees will do what is best for the company because “this is what they should do” or “this is what we pay them for”. Maybe managers go out and watch how employees treat customers directly and see good service and so assume that this is what happens when they are not watching.

But when they are NOT watching employees who are not loyal to the company I can tell you from being there that this is NOT the case. Any management person who thinks otherwise is delusional.

How many times have you seen an employee change the way they treat customers when there is not anyone supervising them? Ever go to a 7-11 late at night? Or anyplace really. I have seen this on airlines, at hotels, restaurants, stores, hair salons, dental offices, ad infinitum. ONLY loyal employees make loyal customers.

So, how does a company make loyal employees? Pay and benefits are part of it, but there is a lot more: acknowledging employees efforts; creating and maintaining a safe environment; continuing education; empowering people; involving employees in making decisions. These are what make an employee loyal. Honesty from management is also a key factor in what makes loyal employees! You wouldn’t think you had to point that one out, but have you ever seen any management that was less than honest with its employees?

Internal atmosphere

The overall atmosphere inside a business has EVERYTHING to do with its level of customer service. We already spoke about the relationship between management and employees, but what about the internal attitudes between departments and employees? I don’t think I have ever seen any large company where there was not loads of bickering and infighting between departments. Sales versus production. Shipping versus sales. Accounting versus everyone. Front office staff versus the back staff. The list goes on and on. 80% of all customer complaints are caused by dropped communication. The message did not get relayed, was lost, etc. Or it could be that the system is at fault, there were no correct channels for the communication to flow on. All of these problems are again management problems. If there are ANY communication problems, any bickering between departments, then right there you have management who are too unaware or lazy to be considered management. And there are the bulk of your complaints from customers.

Another version of this I have seen is where the employees are bluntly critical of the customers. The customers are ”stupid”, “idiots”, “morons”, etc. I was in a computer repair shop not too long ago and the staff were making deriding jokes about how stupid their customers were. What idiot would do this, or do that, ha ha. No wonder the moron’s computer broke. Then the managers walked in the room and went right into agreement with them! They started laughing and agreeing and telling their own stories about what idiots the customers were.

What an example to set! Those “stupid” customers are the only reason you have a job! When employees work in an environment where it is okay to make these sorts of comments, don’t you think this is going to come through when the employees deal with customers? Of course it will! Have you ever run into a smarmy or condescending computer repair tech? Where do you think they got it?!

Being a manager is a lot like being a good gardener: you have to be good at weeding! Employees who constantly gripe, gossip, criticize and complain about each other AND / OR about customers are the ones who need to get weeded out ASAP. They set a bad example and drive way your loyal employees who DO care. Of course if a company has management fitting into some of the categories you see above its very unlikely that they will do any weeding. Simply because they need to weed them selves out first! And that’s not very likely.

Where to start?

Good management sets policies and procedures for advertising, marketing, pricing, customer service, etc, that in themselves demonstrate a commitment to great caring customer service. They then hire, train, nurture and keep loyal employees. Good management sets an example for all employees. They set an example in how they treat all employees and their customers. Good management creates a safe productive environment by weeding out the people who don’t care and who just want to be miserable.

These are the basic points necessary to achieve to attain great customer service.

I always have a derisive laugh when I see a company with poor customer service try to fix it by sending a few of their lowest paid employees to some customer service classes. Because the ones who need the classes are the ones at the top, not the bottom!

So, the next time you go into or call any company and get steamed because they provide lousy customer service, now you will not only know who to blame, but you will also know where they need to start to make things right!!!

Click here to learn about our WelcomeTeam Training program.

1. Top down customer service. Great customer service starts at the top. It flows from the owner to the management, onto the staff and then between the staff. We already know that people tend to treat others the way they are treated. If the owner or management treat the staff with kindness and understanding and follow the next 5 points they will have loyal customers. If not, they will have trouble.
2. A business must have a system to gather accurate, up-to-date feedback from customers to really know how the customers feel and what needs work. Otherwise it’s all just guessing.
   
3. Constant unrelenting attention on customer service based on the feed back you receive. Hold weekly meetings to discuss what is working and what needs to work better. Ask your experienced staff to come up with ways to handle any customer service problems.
4. An ongoing program to train and educate staff. This includes: training for their basic duties and complete understanding of the services or products offered, mastery of all applicable software, customer service training and when that’s all done, cross training on related positions.
5. Recognize and reward service excellence. Employees who excel at customer service should be acknowledged and if possible promoted. Building a team of motivated, empowered staff is the key to creating loyal customers.
6. Recognize and get rid of employees who constantly gossip, gripe and complain. They cause stress for the rest of the staff and make everyone’s life miserable (including their own). If management does not rapidly rid the company of these people they will drive your best staff away.

Drill: Give your company a grade on each of the 6 areas above. Grade each point like in school: A, B, C, D, and F. Write the grades on the left side of the page. If applicable, grade your department on the right in the same manner.

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There are umpteen articles written about the need to go above and beyond the customers expectations. But how do you KNOW what exactly constitutes above and beyond? You may have your own opinions or ideas of this, however to be successful you need more than your own opinions to create an effective customer service plan.

This will take some research. You will need to survey your customers. You can simply ask them what constitutes above and beyond.

AND if you’re smart and on the ball you will need to find out all about what your competitors are doing, offering and delivering. What do they charge, what exactly is included in that price, how fast do they deliver, and how friendly/professional is the service.

Why do you need to know all about the competitors? Because your customers will inevitably be comparing you to them.

The only way to get this data is to become a customer, call your competitors and or visit their storefront, purchase their products or services. It is not enough to simply call on the phone and check on their prices. You need to know all that is added (or missing) from their delivery of the service or product.

Areas that you need to rate:

• How was the phone answered? Was there an automated system? Was it voicemail?
• How does the business look? What is your first impression of the building and sign? How is the parking?
• How are they greeting the customers?
• Was there personalized service by the staff?
• Was the staff knowledgeable?
• Was the staff friendly, helpful and patient while you were considering their products or services?
• Did you learn anything new while being their customer?

When you note prices be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to note exactly what “comes with it”. This point is often missed, and missing this data will throw off all other conclusions.

In some cases the competitor’s survey can be done over the phone. In many cases it should be done in person. A simple chart should be made with the questions to be asked and space for the answers and impressions noted. The chart should be completely filled in at the time of the visit, or call. This ensures that you won’t forget important bits of information, or your impressions at that time.

Who should make the calls and do the survey? Of course it is ideal that you, as the owner or manager make the calls or visit, but not always. I often recommend that they be done by your employees that are on the front lines of dealing with clients. Why? Because they will hear for themselves what their counterparts at “the other companies” are doing and saying.

I recently had a clients staff do such a survey and the staff came back to see me wide-eyed. There were many comments like, “Wow, they were good, we need to work on our service.” This is a great way to get your staff on a customer service crusade. They get to hear and see for themselves.

If your employees are going to do the secret shopping, I recommend that before the first call is made that you spend some time with the staff that are to make the calls and drill the script first. Do some roll playing and have the staff go through the survey on a dry run before they start calling.

A list of competitors to be called is then provided. And a time target is set to get all the calls done.

When you have analyzed the results you can now write out a program on what needs to be done. You may want to: change the way you interact with customers, arrange for more training for your employees, adjust your prices, give all your staff a raise, modify your marketing materials, and…… there are many new ideas you will get from this.

Here is a sample list of questions to ask or specific items to note:

• Ask about 3 to 5 different products or services offered, getting prices and exactly what is included in each price.
• Describe the receptionist’s tone of voice and demeanor during the phone call. Was he or she friendly and happy to help? Were you thanked for calling?
• Describe the extent to which the receptionist tried to genuinely assist you over the phone or offer information that you didn’t request.
• Describe the timeliness of the phone call. Were you put on hold before being helped? Was the receptionist in a hurry to end the conversation?
• Describe the extent of the receptionist’s knowledge of the surveyed services or products. Were the answers clear and concise? Did he or she know all of the answers?
• Did the receptionist use your name as the conversation progressed?
• Did the receptionist offer to schedule an appointment?
• Did the receptionist offer to mail a brochure?
• Did the receptionist ask “How did you hear about us?”

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What is the value of a product? How is its value determined?

Part of what determines the value of a product is how much time, money and effort went into producing it. The cost of raw materials, labor costs, etc. There is a fair amount of expense involved in manufacturing, say, an automobile, certainly more than a Frisbee.

There is also the question of how much education is needed to provide the service or product. An open heart surgeon requires more education than a general dentist. So the service delivered is more “valuable”.

The need or necessity of the service or product is part of it. Is it just for fun, or does ones life depend on it?

Then there is the usefulness of the product. What can it be used for? Does the product enable you to produce more and make more money? Can it be resold for a profit?

Supply and demand are all part of this as well. If there is a huge supply the value drops, and if it is a very hard thing to find, the price skyrockets. In some industries, like diamonds for instance, an artificial “lack of supply” is created to increase overall value.

Right now we are going to explore the idea of perceived value. The subject of perception of value is a fascinating one. There are examples of companies creating a false perception of value for products that don’t even exist, or products that are destructive to their users.

But today we are going to briefly explore the idea of perception of value as it applies to customer service and expanding a business.

The idea is simple: first we assume that you start with a service or product that DOES have real value and that people want. Some examples are: auto repair, hair styling, restaurants, college or university training or real estate.

If we take a specific type of business and compare all of such businesses in a local area we might not find that much different between them in regards to their final product. We know that some are better than others, and that there are a few really lousy ones, but in many cases there is not that much difference in the final product itself.

Take dentistry. I know I am risking a lot of angry letters from some dental practitioners, but is there a big difference in overall dental skill between one dentist and the next one down the street? Probably not. Of course there are some quacks here and there but the level of technical skill I would bet is pretty close.

But the perception of value of one dental practice compared to another may be huge. This is largely a function of location, appearance, PR and customer service. A practice with a so-so dentist may charge (and the clients happily pay!) considerably more for services because of perception of value, then another dentist in the same city who is a great dentist yet whose practice suffers from a lack of perceived value.

The value of a product or service is, to a great extent, a matter of perception. We have an idea that the name brand product is better than its generic counterpart. Is it? Have you ever looked at the list of ingredients of a brand name product and its generic counterpart in the grocery store?

Of course in many instances there are substantial differences in value between products. Let’s compare a Yugo with a Mercedes. Or a filet mignon versus chicken fried steak.

Sometimes a perception of value is based solely on advertising. There may be absolutely no real value at all, just hype. Some of the newer weight loss drugs come to mind. There was one that sold for around $200 per bottle. ‘Why is it so expensive?’ was the question in the TV ad. ‘Because it works!’ was the answer. A dubious promise at best!

Despite the fact that there are some cheaters and con men out there, there is a fundamental rule regarding this: The higher perception of value, the more the customer will happily pay for the product or service.

People will pay more for food in one restaurant if they have better service. Another restaurant may have better food but fewer customers. The wait staff, the location, the building, the restrooms, the ambiance, these things have everything to do with the perception of value of a restaurant.

These same things apply to a doctor’s office, an auto mechanic, a hairstylist.

Location alone can determine perception of value; just the street a business can have a huge affect on perception of value.

The appearance means a lot. The building, parking area and entrance way mean everything. Many customers judge businesses based on their public restrooms. The toilet was dirty therefore he or she must be a lousy surgeon.

And of course possibly the most important point is the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff. How the phone is answered, how new people are greeted, what happens when there are questions about accounts? These are the main determining points

So the big question is: how can I increase my customer’s perception of value of my products or services?

Another way to do this is to work out how you can improve the overall customer experience. There are limitless ideas on what can be done. Any and every point of customer contact needs to be scrutinized. From the web site and marketing materials to the building, inside and out, to accounting and shipping; the basic question that needs to be asked is: What can be done to make the experience memorable?

You can get ideas from visiting competitor’s stores or web sites, you can get great ideas from shopping at any and all different sorts of businesses. There are often customer service training programs held for say, medical offices where they meet at a 5 star hotel to see how THEY deliver top notch service and then work out how to do those things at their practices.

Basically it takes looking with a totally fresh view at each part of the customer interaction. List out EVERY part or step of the customer experience and then see how each is now. Then ask what can be done to make each small part a memorable experience for the customer. And you will be well on your way to increasing your customers perception of value!

Click here to learn about our WelcomeTeam Training program.

Good communication skills do not come naturally. At least they don’t to most people. They are learned skills. To master them takes observation, patience and dedication. It also helps to have an understanding of why good communication skills are important. Some people don’t seem to grasp this point. A person has to have the intention to be good at communicating and then be familiar with its components.

What are some of the parts of good communication?

First, paying attention to the person we’re talking or listening to. This can be simply explained as “being there”. Have you ever had a conversation with someone when you weren’t being there? I mean your body was there; smiling, nodding, looking interested, but YOU were somewhere else. This can happen easily. How about when YOU are doing the talking, can you spot it when the person you’re talking to sort of zones out and isn’t there at all? When you’re on the phone can you tell when the other person starts to do something else and isn’t paying full attention to the conversation?

Another example is the person who is so busy thinking what to say when you’re done talking that they forget to hear what you are saying. Or someone so wrapped up in his or her own universe that they don’t hear others at all.

In customer service an example of not paying attention is a person who hears the same sorts of complaints all the time, and so when another customer calls with a complaint, the “customer service person” doesn’t really listen, and tends to zone out or even cut the customer off before they can say what they have to say.

Then there is the skill of listening. How many times in a day do you speak to a person who you feel is not REALLY listening to you? I don’t know if there are really levels of listening, but it seems like it. You know, a shallow level of listening is when you get a general idea of what the other person is saying, but not a deep comprehension. This skill goes back to simply “being there”. If you’re not being there then you probably won’t be listening very well.

Then there is how you respond to the other person. Do you acknowledge what the person says? Many people think that simply responding to someone is the same thing as an acknowledgment. It is not! An acknowledgment lets the other person know that you received what they just said. Acknowledging does not mean that you agree, only that you got what they said.

If a person speaks and does not get acknowledged they tend to repeat what they said. Of course many people get irritated if they have to repeat themselves. In customer service this is huge! If you don’t correctly (in the mind of the customer!) acknowledge the complaint the customer will tend to repeat it over and over. As an example, have you ever spoken to a customer who repeats the problem over and over while you are suggesting solutions? Some customer service people start to offer solutions before they even acknowledge the upset the customer has. In many cases all the customer wants is to be heard and acknowledged.

Not receiving a timely acknowledgment can cause all manner of reactions. Have you ever emailed or written a letter to someone who didn’t answer in what you felt was a reasonable amount of time? What ideas go through your mind? You may get the idea that the person who didn’t answer is: angry, upset, doesn’t like you any more or is not happy with some thing you did, the person died, had an accident, etc, etc. Its amazing what people will dream up simply because they didn’t get an answer!

Studies show that lack of acknowledgment is the number one cause of customer upset and divorce in the USA.

Actually I just made that up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true.

A person working in a customer service call center often hears the same complaints often. This is probably one of the biggest challenges in customer service. Ones communication skills are truly tested! The very fact of hearing the same complaints and having to give the same advice is difficult. It is hard because if you don’t sound like you are listening, if you don’t wait to hear the entire story BEFORE you acknowledge and start to explain what to do about it, the customer will notice right away and get even more upset.

One of the funny things about communication skills is this: Most people do fine with these points if, say, they are applying for a new job, talking to the boss, or out on a date. When we want to impress someone every effort is made to do the above simple points. Do we make this effort with everyone we speak to? Probably not. Really top-notch communication requires some discipline on your part. In your personal relations how good are you at doing the above points consistently?

These three skills, being there, listening and acknowledging are vital parts of communication. They can be improved easily. The first step is to do a little self-analysis and see where you stand on each one. Simply recognizing that you are weak in an area and want to improve it can make a big difference. It doesn’t have to take long. Awareness and the internal decision to improve can do the trick.

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We’ve all experienced it before. You call or contact some company and inquire about scheduling a service or purchasing a product and the answer you get is “NO!”

• You: “I want to make a reservation for 4 at six-o-clock.” Customer “service” person:  “I’m sorry, were booked.” Click.
• You “I would like to schedule an appointment to see Dr. George.” Customer “service” person:  “He’s full until next February.”
• You “Do you have those pants in brown?” Customer “service” person: “No.”
• You “Can I get my car repaired by the end of the week?” Customer “service” person: “No.”
• You “Are there any flights to Minneapolis tomorrow?” Customer “service” person:  “NO!”
• You “Do you carry 100-gallon fish tanks?” Customer “service” person: “Not anymore.”

Now we know that all the kind words in the world are NOT going to get those pants in brown if they don’t exist. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about communicating that.

As you’ve heard a zillion times, it’s not what you say but how you say it. This basic idea has many applications in customer service.

• “We don’t have it today, but can I get your number so I can call you back the minute our shipment arrives?”
• “I can have it delivered at 8:00 am this Thursday!”
• “I think that our other store has that in stock; can you hold a minute while I confirm that?”
• “I am really sorry, the doctor is full for the rest of the week, but can I call you back if we get a cancellation?”

There are several tact’s to take:

• Offer options. There are ALWAYS options.
• Say it in a positive manner. Be friendly. Try to help.
• Explain what CAN be done.
• Try to be a problem solver.

In every business there are situations where you have to tell the customer no. Usually it takes many months or even years of experience with customers to be able to do it smoothly and with understanding. The question is: how many times did you do it wrong before you were able to do it right?

This exercise is a MUST for any business: At a staff meeting compile a list of specific situations when you have to say no to the customer. Take one situation at a time and discuss the best possible way to do this. Make sure someone is taking notes! Get the key phrases and handlings written down for each point. Get these issued, saved somewhere and from time to time brush them up!

There is nothing wrong with saying NO! from time to time, its all in how you say it!

Practice and experience makes perfect!

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Who do you admire the most? Some of the most admired people in history were those who were kind to others no matter what came their way.

Each and every day we are led to believe that kindness and tolerance don’t sell. We are force-fed the idea that conflict, us against them, fighting, killing and suffering are all that gets our attention. TV news reports little but bad news. The news show reporters seem downright sad and depressed when there is no blood and guts to report. When there is a new story of massacre or disaster they light up and come alive. We have all heard that bad news is what sells. The motto used by news programs is: “If it bleeds, it leads”.

But is it really true that all we want to hear about is blood and guts? I don’t think this is so. We have been grooved in to expect the gore and blood and bad news. It is shoved down our throats. Maybe we are addicted, but that doesn’t mean that we need more! The solution to heroin addiction is not more heroin!

This air of conflict is everywhere. TV shows are full of this. They really try to sell the idea that it’s okay to be nasty and mean. The belligerent jerk of a judge on a talent competition show, the sports show host who is always trying to start a fight with his “guests”, the movie hero who always has some smart-ass thing to say as he mercilessly blows the bad guys to hell. Yeah, we want to BE that person. We want to be able to tell our boss where to shove it; we want to tell anybody who questions or criticizes to go to hell. We want to be able to think of that perfect putdown and be mean!

Being kind is much harder than giving a piece of your mind and ripping into someone.

I know I am supposed to be kind, but it’s hard sometimes. I admit to falling off the wagon now and again. And when I have (in the distant past, of course) I was sure to justify myself completely.

Here are some of the excuses I used:

• What an idiot
• They asked for it
• If I am very impatient they will go faster.
• I don’t have time to be kind
• I didn’t sleep well last night.
• Kindness is for liberals. I’m a republican.
• I don’t give a damn about him or her.
• I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
• So and so was mean to me.
• If I am kind to this person, then I have to be kind to all of them
• What sort of idiot would do that in the first place?
• People get what they deserve.
• Why should I be nice? No one is nice to me.
• Kindness never gets anyone anywhere.
• That person was nasty to me, why should I be kind to them?
• Only tough people get ahead
• I didn’t get enough hot meals when I was a kid. That’s why I had to kill them.
• Kindness is for pussies.
• People never change
• If I show my great dissatisfaction they will snap to it!
• She looked at me funny
• I just wanted to be really, really mean

These are some of my most prized ones. By the way, I should warn you that I have patented all the above justifications, so unless you want the FBI snooping around, you’ll have to come up with your own!

I have used each and every one of the above excuses thousands of times. What has it got me? Nothing. No matter the provocation, real or imagined, being unkind does not work. (“Work” is defined here as: ‘making things better or improving the situation’.) It doesn’t change what is happening. It never made me feel any better. Being less than nice does not make people go faster. Or work harder. Cursing and gesturing to the other drivers in heavy traffic does not make the cars move faster. In the end it just makes you more miserable while you wait.

For me being kind is not always easy. I have to work at it. I have a long way to go. I recently read a book by the Dali Lama. He has a lot to say about being kind. He relates a story of a conversation he had with another Buddhist monk.

The monk was imprisoned in a Chinese prison for 12 years. His “crime” was being a Buddhist. He told the Dali Lama that there were a few times while he was in prison when he felt he was in danger. The Dali Lama asked what happened to him, what threat was there, that made him feel he was in danger. The monk replied that there were several times when he was in danger of losing his compassion for the prison guards, his captors.

When I read that it reminded me that I have a LONG way to go.

But I am enjoying the road to get there.

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As the general level of customer service continues its rapid descent across the country the question arises, what constitutes good customer service today?

Part of the answer lies in the reasons that customer service in general has down trended for so long.

One cause is simply more people. There are more of us and we are all clamoring (sometimes impatiently) for service.

Then there is the fact that smaller locally owned businesses have tended to vanish and be replaced large national chains. The advent of the “super stores” such as Walmart, Home Depot, Barnes and Noble, etc. have taken the place of the home town local stores. This causes service to be less personal. In the past a store owner may have known the names of many customers, this is not the case today.

New technology can also have an effect of lessening customer service. There are more and more companies with complicated phone answering systems. No person actually answers the phone. So you have to enter your account number, phone number, address, social security number, password, and secret code (assuming you remember it!) before you get to speak to a real person.

Also each piece of new technology has its own terms and “you have to do this before you can do that” to it. So understanding how things work can be a little overwhelming to a new customer. Often technical customer service people forget that many people don’t understand gigabytes, bandwidth and what is an IP address. So there is a understanding gap.

Flashy advertising also promotes the idea of how great the customer service is to get new customers. Unfortunately these words and images are not always backed up with the correct actions to actually deliver what is promised. But the advertising tends to create a higher expectation of good service.

All of these points and more tend to lower the level of service to customers.

But what is good customer service?

• The keynote of all good service is caring about the customer. Caring to see that the client leaves happy. Caring to see that the problem is taken care of for good.
• Good service is personal. It can’t be done by robots. Each person needs to be treated as an individual.
• Speed of service is certainly part of the equation as well. No one likes to wait!
• Patience, kindness and understanding are what really sets one company above another regarding great service.

The goal of customer has been defined in many texts as “a satisfied customer”. But any business that wants to receive good word of mouth from its customers realizes that the goal needs to be loyal customers. A satisfied customer will come back for more service until they find a more convenient location or a better deal. A loyal customer will drive by as many as 10 competitors to come in for service. And they will refer other often!

So this leaves us with a very simple question: Is my service or product provider doing just enough to make me a satisfied customer or are they trying to go the extra mile to make me a loyal customer?

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• Be nice to people and they will be nice back. The way that you greet people makes ALL the difference.
• Be interested in people, not indifferent.
• Be friendly and outgoing. People like to be engaged.
• Don’t get so wrapped up in following procedure that you forget the above three points!
• You should care about what happens. It is not enough to fake that you care. People know that you’re faking and it doesn’t work!
• Know your products and services! People want to talk to someone who is not only friendly, but who can help them!
• Take responsibility and follow through on the customer service cycles that you handle. Even if you route the customer to someone else, go and find out what happened, how did things end up?

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The simplest way to decrease the number of customer service calls is to smarten up. Look at all the stupid things companies do to irritate their customers.

There is the company that you call and get their automated phone system. (All automated phone systems should be trashed right now. They are spawns of Satan and any money they save is 10 times wasted through the pissed off customers who decide to look elsewhere for service.) You know, where you have to enter (or say!) your name, address, zip code, account number, social security number, mother’s maiden name and if you remember it, your secret password to “get started” only to have to begin at the start when you finally get a person on the phone line.

I get this all the time from airlines, banks, phone companies, etc. By the time you do get a live person on the phone you’re ready to yell and scream. If you make the effort to complain about their inefficient, irritating phone answering system you will inevitably get some response like; “I am very sorry that our phone system didn’t work right, we have been having problems with it…” or some other lame explanation of why you have to repeat everything 6 times and wait 18 minutes to get the right person on the line. But you can tell from listening to their half hearted apologies and explanations that there is absolutely NO plan to ever change any of what they are doing. Often the people you do get to talk to are already themselves in a lousy mood, doubtless from having to deal with the last 150 customers who called and were nasty about their stupid phone system.

I mean, what were they thinking? How did the conversation go?

“Hey Joe, I have a great idea, it will drive all of our customer service reps to antidepressants or suicide for sure!”

“Cool dude, what is it?”

“Look, we’ll have some totally annoying automated system asking all sorts of dumb questions. We’ll make sure that none of this info is passed on anywhere useful. Then when the customer is really pissed we’ll transfer them to the rep. Hey, we can even record the whole thing and listen to it later and laugh our asses off!”

“Awesome! When do we start it?”

I have been on several very long customer service calls recently where I spoke to the friendliest customer service reps on the planet. Only problem was that they didn’t know the first thing about what they were doing.

Hello Mr. Porter, Thank you for calling Mr. Porter. Can I put you on hold Mr. Porter? Thank you for waiting, Mr. Porter. I will try to get that information for you Mr. Porter. Can I ask you to hold again, Mr. Porter? I am sorry that I had to keep you on hold so long, Mr. Porter. Thank you for being so patient, Mr. Porter. May I please ask you to hold again, Mr. Porter? I am sorry this is taking so long Mr. Porter. I mean every question I asked it took the person 20 to 30 minutes to get the answer! I spent 90 minutes on the phone and didn’t know if I was going to laugh or cry when I was done. These companies had both the best mannered and the poorest trained customer service staff I have ever heard.

I have a bank account with a large national bank. And just last week I found out they were taking out $9.95 each month for something called “credit defense”. I called and asked to have it stopped. They said, well, it’s not us, it’s another company that’s taking your money for that “service”, you’ll have to call them.” I said, “How did they get my account data? You gave it to them!” “Oh, were so sorry Mr. Porter, you’ll have to call this number”.

I guess that when I signed up for the bank account there was a line on the form for me to sign if I didn’t want this service. I was already signed up for it, automatically. If I didn’t want it, I had to specifically un-sign up. Sort of like the record of the month club, where if you didn’t mail in something each month then they would send you a new album and bill you for it.

So, I call, and cancel. I also hate it when they want to do whole survey on me at that point. “Why are you leaving us, Mr. Porter? Is there something wrong with our service?” I was in a bad mood so I said: “Yes, I don’t want your service, I never asked for your service, I am offended that you signed me up for your service without my approval, I am irritated that you took my money and I think your service is a rip off.” That ended the phone conversation rather quickly.

So, I got that done and then called the bank back to have my money credited.

Guess what they told me? “Well, Mr. Porter, we can’t credit the money unless you got the special code from the company we just had you call. Did they give you the special cancellation code? No? Well, I am sorry Mr. Porter, but they really should have given you the code, with out it we cannot credit your account.

I don’t know what to think of all this. Either these people who design these systems are too stupid to get it, or just don’t care. I have to go with they just don’t care. Any idiot can see that this is just going to irritate the customers.

What is the moral of the story?

Don’t create upsets with your customers!

Think it through, make sure that YOU personally go through the entire system yourself as a customer and see what the experience is like. You MUST look at every procedure you have and ask yourself “how would I react if this were said or done to ME.” I am certain that execs of many big companies are NOT doing this. Otherwise they would see how absolutely insane things are.

I am sure that if you could do the math and calculate how much money the automated system saves, or how much salary can be cut back by farming out the customer service and compare that number to how many customers get irritated due to the automated system and go elsewhere, calculating out how much revenue is lost from this, and how much money needs to be spent on new marketing and advertising to make up for these losses and the bad reference these “old” customers spread. I am sure that you would see that it is plain stupid from a dollar and cents point of view.

Head ‘em off at the pass!

When customers do leave you for another service or product provider it is usually after a series of small stupid mistakes. It’s not just one small error. But many large companies are doing one thing after another apparently designed to irritate the customers. The companies that are worse are the ones where it is harder (or in some cases impossible) to change providers. Cell phone companies, banks, insurance companies, cable providers to name a few constantly rank in the top of the companies with the worst customer service.

When a customer is unhappy with their service and needs to talk to someone you have already missed the boat. The real goal is to not irritate them in the first place. Of course you will always need to have staff trained to handle unhappy campers, but by far most of your emphasis MUST be on how top prevent any upset from happening.

One of the best ways to do this is to simple be very friendly and kind with the customer. Of course, as in the earlier example, this must be backed up with some one who has a clue about what to do to rectify problems. But if you have consistently delivered better than expected service to the customer for some time and if your service has been friendly and intelligent, then when your company does screw up the customer will be much more forgiving.

Honestly it is inevitable that there will be some mistakes from time to time. But each mistake needs to be viewed as an opportunity to improve. If these errors are followed up and the causes understood and a handling implemented then the volume of errors decreases.

If nothing is really done, if the handling is just some sloppy lip service given to customer service then it shows that the executives in charge don’t give a damn about anything other than their pay checks and need to be replaced!

The way customers are greeted is huge! When they phone in or come into the office. A smile, remembering their name and personal details, being friendly, funny, kind. These things oil the wheels and can take the squeak out of many mistakes that you may make.

In government offices the public often come in expecting a long line, staff who don’t care, undecipherable paperwork and general uncaring personnel to “help” them. When you walk in with a chip on your shoulder, expecting trouble you usually find it. What if you were greeted cheerily and with interest? In a post office or a DMV? Wouldn’t it just blow your circuits? Something as simple as that can set the tone for the entire sequence of events that takes place.

So the point here is that it’s not just about avoiding the negative things that irritate the customers, but also working to create a fun, friendly and helpful environment.

So, here are our two golden rules:

• Don’t create upsets, and
• Head ‘em off at the pass!

Follow these two rules in all points of contact with your customers and you will make life better and your company bigger in no time.

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Recently I delivered the customer service boot camp to a group of 24 staff. We were discussing the steps to handle irate clients. I was going over the basics: let the client vent and don’t interrupt, listen attentively, acknowledge correctly, apologize if there was a mistake and the steps to make things right.

I noticed some of the staff members were getting upset as I went on. The more I spoke the more argumentative they became. I was stunned by this. I mean it all seems so basic and common sense to me…so I started to question them to understand their basic disagreement.

Their viewpoint was that no one had the “right” to get upset with them. Any customer complaints were perceived as a personal attack. One person described an experience they had with an irritated customer who was rude and that it hurt their feelings and left them feeling depressed and angry. The general thinking was that this customer made them feel bad and they didn’t like it at all.

They were making comments like, “customers are mean, stupid, awful, idiots, etc.” From there it was an easy jump to the next idea which was: “We don’t have to take any crap from any damned customers”.

It occurred to me that these “customer service staff” had a “gangster approach” to customer service. “He dissed me so I’m gonna put a cap in his ass” sort of attitude. You know, nobody can talk to me like that, how dare the customer get angry with me.

If a customer expressed any emotional upset about their service or lack of and directed their frustration to one of these employees their “solution” was simply to tell the client to leave and not come back.

Now when they told me this I was laughing out loud. I couldn’t help it. I was speechless. When I finally composed myself I said, “Customer service isn’t for everyone, if this is how you deal with upset customers I suggest that you start to look for a new line of work.” This didn’t go over too well, it looked like they were ready to lynch me!

Looking back I understand that it wasn’t the fact that they felt customers weren’t allowed to be upset, or that they got upset with the customer that surprised me, but the idea that they felt that it was totally okay to tell the customer to go to hell.

By the way, have you ever received customer “service” from a person like this?

Of course the most important rule for dealing with irate customers is: don’t take it personally. Whatever the person is upset about, it is NOT about you!

Clients who are irate can be that way for untold myriad or reasons. Of course it may very well be that they were told one thing and got another, or lied to or received some sort of bad service. But it can also stem from the fact that they just got a speeding ticket, got laid off, are in the midst of a relationship meltdown, or, or, or. God only knows what gets people so ticked off sometimes.

But getting upset back at the person doesn’t make much sense, does it?

The ability to communicate, to listen, to be the receipt of negative talk, to hear complaints and stay interested and not take any of it as a personal affront is probably the most important skill for a customer service professional.

Why is it so hard to do?

For starters negative words press a person’s buttons. They elicit emotional responses. Some people actually receive words as solid objects that strike them and hurt!

A person’s general attitude towards life in general and to their job in particular play a big part. If you’re miserable with either one it will show when you deal with irate customers.

Maybe even more importantly is a lack of training. Every person who is going to deal with irate customers needs education on the products or services they deal with, a list of common questions and complaints and time to drill and practice handling customers! How long does it take a new employee to be adept at handling customers smoothly? And how many customers will you lose while they get it figured out?

So the first step is hiring people with the right attitude, with some solid soft skills for starters and then train, train, train until they can deal with any irate customer easily and with a smile.

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