CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT ASTONISHES focuses on the critical role of employee engagement and exceptional customer service as a competitive advantage in the business landscape.

Great customer service built on a foundation of high employee engagement isn't a revolutionary concept. More companies are recognizing just how important a deliberate and intentional customer-focused culture is, but few companies do it well.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Something For Nothing

I had 2 very interesting experiences this past week while out shopping for materials to make some repairs around the house.

The first was to repair a step on our deck. I was looking for a 2 short pieces (less than 3 feet) of cedar which were both different widths (6 & 8 inches). The problem was that every lumber store I went to would only sell me 8 foot lengths -- at a cost of approx $20.00 each. So for my little step I needed to spend $40.00.

Being the frugal fellow that I am, I decided to drop by one of the local deck companies (Forest Deck in York Region) to see if they would sell me a couple shorter pieces they might have left over.

I spoke to the owner, who took me back to his yard and personally helped me select 2 good pieces that were the correct size. When I offered to pay, he declined with the comment "what goes around comes around".

A second trip was to Brofasco to purchase some washers. I found the perfect washer and ordered 30. In this case, the clerk explained they had a minimum purchase threshold of $10.00, so I was welcome to them with their compliments. The interesting thing is, the clerk was not the owner, but he sure acted like one. He understood that the financial loss of 30 washers (probably around $2.00) against the goodwill he created on behalf of his employer was worth the investment.

WOW -- both of these Moments of Truth teach us a lesson.
  1. Thinking like an owner gives you a different view on the policies. It makes you think longer term that just following rules like a robot. It also gives employees a sense of worth and importance within the organization.
  2. Small investments can made a big impression. Customers remember small things because of the emotional value. In both cases, the cost was very little -- but they demonstrated the type of company that I was dealing with. Since that time (aside from this blog) I have already told a number of people about my experiences.

So make sure your employees undersatnd how they can affect the overall business picture. Expect them to think like an owner, and act like an owner. Give them an opportunity to use good judgement -- you will be surprised by how well they do.

Cheers!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Catch Employees Doing Something Right

I like to treat employees like children!

Before you start calling me names, let me explain.

When we teach children a new skill, we don't wait until they perfect it before we acknowledge their success. We praise them for each step they take as they progress towards their final goal.

For example, when a baby starts to walk, we are thrilled when they stand, then again when they take their first halting steps and so on, until they are finally able to walk across a room. Each and every time they show improvement towards their final goal of walking we provide positive encouragement and praise.

We need to take the same approach with employees.

When we see them doing something right, we need to recognize this behaviour immediately. Successful performance feedback must be immediate, specific and linked to desired behaviours that you want to see repeated.

Don't wait to acknowledge effort until it is done exactly right. You may be waiting a long time.

Cheers!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Tim Hortons 2

Wow, what a run of bad luck Tim's is having these days.

First, firing an employee for giving a child a FREE TimBit, and now, not allowing a pregnant homeless women to eat her breakfast in the restaurant.

The important learning is that it doesn't matter that Tim Hortons has a basis for either of these actions. What matters is that customers across Canada are not happy with the corporate behavior.

But in neither case, was this corporate behaviour -- it was a specific individual acting in what they felt was a totally appropriate manner. Can these be any louder warnings for us about the critical importance of working with our employees on the customer service experience they are providing.

Tim Hortons has been a good corporate citizen. They are a big sponsor of local community activities in sports, culture and the arts -- yet all of that money is being totally over shadowed by "unpaid media" that suggests the company is uncaring. Plus, I would guess, considerable time and money are now being spent to minimize and undo the damage created by there 2 recent situations.

How much better to have spent this time and money making sure employees understand and internalize the corporate culture.

So when the value of spending funds to create a customer-focus culture in the organization is questioned -- remember these examples.

It doesn't matter how well the head office gets it or how much you spend on training "what to do", if your employees don't embrace your customer service experience and understand how to interpret the policies in the context of the brand values you have developed, you will continually be fighting fires likes these.

It's the difference between hiring and training for competence versus character.

Cheers!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Spend Time with Customers.

I recently came across an article in FORTUNE Magazine where Charlene Begley President and CEO, GE Enterprise Solutions was asked "What was the best advice she had ever received?"

Her answer was that Jeff Immelt, before he became CEO of GE, told her: Spend a ton of time with your customers. Especially when you're new, the first thing you should do is go out to customers and ask them how you compare with competitors, how your service is, what they think of your products.

At most companies, people tend to get enamored with your title, and people want to look good in front of you. Customers will give you the reality. They don't care about your title, they just want value. You'll never get anything straighter than from a customer.

Clearly Jeff makes a great point, but I would suggest that it is probably more important when you are no longer new.

When we are new at a job we are usually more open to new ideas because we are naturally in a learning mode. However, once we have been around for awhile we tend to settle into a belief that we "know the business".

Now it's even more important to make sure that we are constantly listening to our customers so we find our how their needs are changing before the "new guy" at the competition finds out and steals our customers through a more relevant service offering.

Customers needs are always changing, and our services should always be evolving to reflect those changes and the continuous improvements we are making -- so regular intentional listening to our customers is critical no matter how long we have been in a role. Otherwise we risk becoming out of touch with the people responsible for our pay cheques.

Cheers!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Hiring The Right People

One of the critical success factors for developing a great consistent brand experience is hiring the right people. I believe that involves looking at 2 key areas when hiring; competence and character.

Competence is the skills, knowledge and experience to do the job. Either they have these skills already, or you believe that with the correct training, they have the potential to learn to do the job well. This is often what most interviews and most training is geared towards.

However, even more important than competence is character. You should be looking for people who can get on board with your vision. People who get excited about your company vision and values -- who love working with and looking after customers.

I recall a story about the great Ritz Carlton hotel chain. Whenever they interviewed someone for any aspect of their business, they shared a meal with the prospect and accidentally dropped a napkin while eating. They were looking to see if the person naturally reached to pick the napkin up.

The purpose of this little test was to see whether "helping" was a natural characteristic or one that was just on display for the interview.

Of course this was just one method of digging in to find their character. They had many other techniques. But the real lesson here is that they clearly understood the kind of character they were looking for in their organization, and had specific elements within their hiring process to unearth these characteristic.

My experience is that if you have to chose between competence and character -- choose character every time. If you have the right person, you can always train for competence. it is almost impossible to change a persons character.

The best examples of this is the legion of stories of people who started at the bottom of the organization and who rose through the ranks to become a senior executive. These are always people who had the right character, just not yet the right competence.

So ask yourself, does your hiring process have elements built in that delve into the character of the potential employee to ensure that their character aligns with the results you want. If not, shouldn't it?

Cheers!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Harveys

I was out running some errands with my daughter today when we decided to stop for a quick lunch at Harvey's. We decided on Harvey's because I have purchased a discount coupon from a local charity that gives me 15% off every purchase at this particular Harvey's. The local manager has invested money to advertise in their community and drive business to their location. A typical type of promotion organized by "corporate" types to build the business. So let's see what happens at the actual Moment of Truth.

When I ordered I neglected to mention my coupon until I had finished telling the cashier the order, but before I had paid. I asked the cashier to adjust the total to reflect the discount. She told me she couldn't. When I asked why not, she indicated that she had already rung in the order, so it would mean she would have to re-do the order. I suggested that possibly the Manager would allow this.

Guess what? She then proceeded to revise the order to reflect the discount. Apparently she was empowered to make this minor adjustment without a Managers permission, she just couldn't be bothered.

Now, let's compare that to the young lady who filled our order. I asked for a small glass with a few pieces of ice to put into my daughters soup to cool it down. Her response was "No problem", she provided me with the ice in a separate cup. No mention of additional charge for the extra cup.

I guess the observation here is that both employees knew "what to do", they just had different attitudes towards "how to do it". Yet they worked 4 feet apart in the same location under the same management.

This is a perfect example of training that deals with the process of what you need to do -- how the cash register works, how many pickles to put on a burger etc.

But clearly the training that talks about what the customer experience should be like has not be communicated.

Yet what is the part of the experience that I remember. the food was fine, even the service of person who prepared our food was fine -- yet the final impression by both my daughter and I was "why did the cashier give us a hard time?" And why did we only get our discount when we wanted to complain to the manager? A classic example of an employee not embracing a customer-focused attitude.

The bigger question that remains is; Has Harvey's even taken the time to develop a set of customer service principles, or are they just hoping that things go well at the counter?

Let me know what you think based on your experiences.

Cheers!

Tasco Appliances

My wife and I are in the process of re-modeling our kitchen. One of the major expenses is all new appliances and anyone who knows me, knows that this requires significant research to ensure we get the best appliances for the best price.

So, we visited a number of appliance locations for advice and pricing. We ended up deciding on KitchenAid and coming back to Tasco because we really liked the sales person (the customer service experience) even though their prices were higher than a couple other locations.

We explained that a competitor had a special offer when you purchase a full set of KitchenAid appliances -- they would include a stand mixer ($500 value). We wondered if he would match their price and promotion?

He spoke to KitchenAid and then offered to match this stand mixer offer, PLUS add in a set of special pots to work with our new induction cooktop. Together, these 2 promotions meant the overall price was now better (by approx $150) on a $15,000 purchase. Everyone seemed very happy.

However, when we were informed that the stand mixer we were getting was slightly cheaper because of the colour (black or white) versus the Chrome version we had originally seen -- and the one that would match our $15,000 worth of stainless steel appliances we had just purchased I offered to cover the difference in cost, so that the stand mixer would look good in our kitchen. The cost difference based on MSRP -- $30.00 on a $500 stand mixer.

So what do your think the answer was? NO! So, for $30, on a $15,000 sale, this store has left a very bad final impression. Now rather than us raving about the great experience and deal I got from Tasco, I am blogging about their refusal to work with me the customer to get us the stand mixer we really want. And we haven't even got our appliances yet.

I am not sure who made the decision about the difference in stand mixer, KitchenAid, The Tasco store manager or the sales person, and really don't care. I now have to go out and purchase a stand mixer from a store and someone will be getting a really nice gift somewhere in the future.

More importantly, Tasco failed to create a raving fan and left me with a sour taste in my mouth. All for the sake of a policy or rule and $30.

Cheers!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Tim Hortons

So I imagine by now everyone has heard about the situation at Tim Hortons that resulted in the firing of an employee for giving away FREE Food. The employee's crime? She gave a FREE TimBit to a regular customers youngster.

Within 2 days this event was reported in every national newspaper, was on all major online news feeds and was being discussed on our local All News radio station. This is a perfect example of how the employee, in this case the manager who fired the employee, owns the brand.

By this single action the manager was communicating to the entire Country how Tim Hortons treated their employees and by default how they viewed their customers -- definitely an off-brand Moment of Truth.

Tim Hortons had rightly established a policy that it was inappropriate to give away FREE Food. The issue here was that the manager had not been given (or felt they had not) the ability to interpret this policy against a strong, well-communicated set of brand value that would help them interpret the policy in a manner that was consistent with the brand values.

I think common sense would tell us, that firing someone for giving a free TimBit was not the intention of the policy. But it was totally correct based on the policy.
The positive ending was that the employee that was fired was quickly re-hired by Tim Hortons at another location. Tim Hortons recognized that they needed to respond quickly and they did.

The question is, will they recognize the root cause of the problem and take steps to instill a strong, well-communicated set of brand values/service principles across the organization so their policies are interpreted appropriately.

I always say, "An organization needs a short list of expectations, versus a long list of rules."

Cheers!


Bell Canada

So I thought I would start with a recent experience with Bell Canada about my satellite TV. I had the occasion to contact Bell for the 3rd time this week because my satellite TV isn't functioning correctly. Imagine my surprise when each time they answered the phone "How can I provide excellent customer service today". Boy were my expectations set.

So what was my problem? Well the satellite box wasn't saving the TV Guide, so I couldn't tell what was playing unless I scrolled through every channel. The first time I called I was told to re-boot and then call back if that didn't work and they would send me a new box. After all, this one is a rental.

The second time I called I was assured they would fix the problem from their end, so no need to get a new box.

Obviously, since I was now calling a third time, the problem was still there. So imagine my frustration when I was transfered to 4 different people before getting resolution. And the worst part was I finally had to threaten to cancel my subscription to get what I needed.

So what did I learn from this experience?

  1. Make sure that you are not over-promising. When we set customer expectations we have the opportunity to meet and exceed them. However, an over-promise can set an expectation that is impossible to meet, even with the best intentions
  2. Empower your employees to look after the customer the first time. Don't transfer the customer to get resolution -- particularly when common sense dictates the solution.

Cheers!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Why am I Blogging?

So I have decided to start blogging about the customer experience stories I am hearing about or personally experience. I have thought about this for some time and finally decided to take the plunge.

My objective is to stimulate a dialogue about why customer service is so critical to developing a strong brand.I believe that no matter how much time and money is spent on traditional outbound branding techniques, the ultimate decision about your brand is based on the experience that takes place between your customer and their point of interaction with your company. For a service based organization, this is your employee.

The interactions are called your Moments of Truth, and if they are not on-brand, then nothing you do with your traditional marketing activities will help.

So, please join the conversation and share some of your own stories.

Cheers!