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.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Employee Engagement vs. Customer-Focus

Like many of you, I have Google Alerts update me on new posts, news and information about customer service. I am delighted to see that customer-focus is being discussed in many non customer service blogs -- project management, HR, Brand Management, Marketing etc.

I see this as a good sign that the importance of customer service is being recognized in all aspects of business.

In a recent post on Product Management Tips, I spotted an interesting post that discussed the order of importance between customer, employee and competitor. An argument could be made for a number of orders, but I agree with the moderator that the order should be employee, customer and finally competition.

I tell my clients that customer-focus should be an outcome -- not a goal. The goal is employee engagement, if we achieve that goal, then customer service will follow and resultant we will have a competitive advantage.

However, be careful that just because you are employee focused that your processes don't become organizational-focused versus customer-focused -- that is an easy trap to fall into.

When you talk about customer focus in your organization, do you consider it a goal or an outcome? How would this change the way you did things?

Let me know.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Monday, August 25, 2008

TASCO Strikes again

I thought I would update you on the progress in our kitchen renovation and how the appliance company has fared since I last talked about them.

It seems that one of the appliances we ordered in May is now back-ordered for a couple weeks past our delivery date of tomorrow. We found this out late last week when they called to confirm the delivery date and let me know I needed to have a certified cheque when they delivered the appliances.

So here are the issues as I see them.
  1. We placed our order in May with a significant deposit and finalized our delivery date in June. However, less than 1 week from delivery we are suddenly back-ordered. This was the first mention that there would be problem with delivery. This means we will have a kitchen partially complete until the back-ordered appliance arrives, plus we need to pay people to come back and complete the installation.

    It would seem that when a customer places a confirmed order tied to a specific delivery date, they should have product available for that order. If the product is back-ordered at the time of purchase the customer would have the option to make a new decision about their product selection. However, if the product is available at the time of the order, why does the supplier not ensure it has stock on hand to honour all committed orders before selling additional units?

  2. I need a certified cheque with only a couple working days notice. A simple call a week in advance would have allowed me to drop-off or mail a cheque which could have been deposited and cleared prior to delivery. If I chose a certified cheque, I would have a few extra days to visit my branch and get it. Either way the customer has options.

TASCO is still thinking about their needs first. First, sell as much product as possible and hope that there is enough available to make their commitments, and second, make sure we get our money.

In both cases, a slight adjustment in process provides the customer with options. Some timely communication with the customer would have also helped this situation.

Are your processes designed to meet your needs or the customers? Consider reviewing your procedures to determine if a few simple adjustments could make them more customer friendly and still address your important business requirements.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Home Depot Does It Right

I wanted to share a great story about a customer experience I heard about recently -- here at my local Home Depot.

It seems that a 6 year old boy wanted to get a part-time job, just like his older brother. Like many 6 year olds, he liked to build things, so he indicated he wanted to work at Home Depot. When his father suggested he write a letter he did, so his father dropped the letter off at the Customer Service desk. Dad thought he had heard the last of this.

However, about 6 weeks later they were in Home Depot and the son reminded Dad that they had not heard from Home Depot yet and insisted on checking on the status of his job. Needless to say, Dad was thinking his son was in for a big disappointment.

However, when Dad sheepishly went to the desk to enquire about the job for his son, the lady immediately recognized the young man and explained that they had posted the letter on their bulletin board and how the young boy was the talk of the store. Problem was that the letter had not included a last name, phone number or address, so they had been unable to contact the family.

She then invited the young boy to be a special helper at the upcoming children's workshop.

The day of the workshop he was presented with an apron, baseball cap and assisted the instructor handing out kits, aprons and tools to all the other children who attended. Upon completion each child was presented with a certificate signed by both the instructor and the young boy.

Needless to say this single act made a huge impression on the young boy, as well as his entire family, their circle of friends, the subsequently the circulation of the paper I read the article in -- and now you.

So does it pay to show a little extra attention to that unique situation? You bet!

Remember, every customer is unique, so every solution should reflect that unique situation. If we blindly insist on a list of rules, we handcuff our employees and prevent them from using their good judgement on a unique solution that addresses that specific situation.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Monday, August 18, 2008

Satisfied is worse than Unsatisfied

How are you tracking customer satisfaction levels with your customers? Are you asking whether they are satisfied? If so, you are probably not getting a true answer.

Today, customers are so conditioned that when we are asked questions like this, they just say “Yes”. Think about your own experiences. How often have you said things were fine simply because you couldn’t be bothered commenting? Unfortunately, lurking under all those “Yes’s” may be a list of issues you never hear about and resultant, never have the chance to correct.

At least when you have a complaint, you have the opportunity to dig deeper to find out what the issue is -- and correct it, which results in a happier, more loyal customer. Plus you have the opportunity to change your process or service to better reflect the needs of customers.

So, rather than asking “Were you satisfied with the service you received?” try “How could we have improved your service experience today?” Then really listen. You will be amazed not only by what you find out, but your genuine interest will delight your customer.

Customers will tell you how to modify your experience so that it is in line with their needs and adds real value in their mind, sometimes in ways that will actually save you time and money.

Then when they say “everything was great”, you can feel confident that the measure is a reliable reflection of the true customer feeling.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Do you have a Balanced Scorecard?

Back in 1992, Robert Kaplan & David Norton introduced the concept of a balanced scorecard in the Harvard Business Review and their follow up book The balanced scorecard: Translating strategy into action. One of their points was that “hard” financial data was a lagging indicator, while the “soft” human performance data was a leading indicator. Specifically, identifying issues on the human side allowed companies to take action before sales started to drop off as a result of the problem.

I’m going propose a different kind of balanced scorecard.

If we generally agree that that happy employees = happy customers = improved business results (I have heard this referred to as the 3-legged stool of great customer service), then would it not make sense to measure based on those 3 categories.

Rather than hard and soft data, why not employee, customer and business data. If each of these 3 measures (made up of a couple key indicators) are healthy, then business is good.

When any one of these measures starts to show weakness, you can be sure there is a problem with the others.

However, often employee data is owned by HR, while customer and sales data is owned by sales or marketing and operational data is owned by operations.

I would suggest that these measures should be the responsibility of one department. I don’t mean compilation, I mean measuring, analysing and reporting. I think only when the full view is owned by one department do we get a clear picture.

I realize that this may require re-thinking how data is gathered and shared, but given that the employee is usually the closest to operations and to the customer, tracking their data by a department that has limited experience to either doesn’t make sense.

In the past I have worked with organizations that have a single team (Information & Insights) that manages all of this. This team must also have the authority to work with all aspects of the organization to identify changes needed to improve the employee/customer relationship.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Monday, August 11, 2008

Great Customer Service Doesn’t Cost -- it pays (Part 3)

Okay, one last quick post about The Ritz Carlton for awhile.

Once they hire for character, here are 3 things they do to ensure competence.
  1. Every employee goes to a mandatory 2-day orientation before they spend any time on the job. The focus is culture and expectations. As well, this is when they teach core job skills and take care of issues such as timesheets, uniforms, pay cycles, etc.
  2. Each new employee is teamed with another employee who has demonstrated a high level of performance who acts as a mentor/coach. This is huge, because it not only ensures that the new employee learns from a high performer who sets the standard by their actions -- but it also provides recognition for high performers. It is an honour to be chosen as a mentor/coach.
  3. Hourly employees participate in 250 hours of learning each year. Salaried employees participate in 320 hours. Much of this is self-directed or online.
Shoot me an email if you would like a copy of their 1999 application for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award - it’s great reading

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Great Customer Service Doesn’t Cost -- it pays (Part 2)

I thought I would share a couple more gems learned from The Ritz Carlton that I think are “must do’s” at any organization looking at improving their customer-focus.

The first one that really stands out I call hiring for character versus competence. I understand the initial hiring process at The Ritz Carlton is a telephone interview conducted by someone outside the HR department. This is done to ensure that the focus is on character versus competence (skills). They use a standardized set of questions that focus on character attributes such as; work ethic, self-esteem, empathy, and team-orientation. Only if they successfully pass this initial screening are they evaluated on the basis of their ability to do the job.

I think this maybe the single most important step when building a culture of customer-focus. This ensures that members of the team are like-minded in their commitment to delivering an exception customer experience.

John C. Maxwell is credited with saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I couldn’t agree more.

The second gem is that each employee must sign an agreement that clearly sets out expectations. This is both cultural as well as job related. It is also signed by their Manager.

I think this is important for 3 reasons.

  1. It sets expectations which can be measured against and therefore exceeded. Something we generally agree needs to be done with external customers -- so why not internal customers.
  2. It balances job performance tracking with cultural behaviour measures. Too often companies are good at the job measures, less disciplined with cultural measures.
  3. An agreement indicates that both parties have responsibilities for success. Implicit in the signature by the Manager is their commitment to helping the employee be successful.
Third gem, employees are required to use the same standards when dealing with their colleagues as with external customers.

I love it -- 3 easy steps that add no cost to improving customer service!

Shoot me an email if you would like a copy of their 1999 application for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award - it’s great reading

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Monday, August 4, 2008

Great Customer Service Doesn’t Cost -- it pays

The Ritz-Carlton hotel company is often referenced as an example of a company that gets customer-focus. In fact, every employee carries a pocket-sized fold-out card with the company’s Credo:

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our
guests is our highest mission.
We pledge to provide the highest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed yet refined ambiance.
The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

Plus, in large, bold type, is the company’s motto: “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”

Additional information includes three essential steps of service (greeting, anticipation of needs, fond farewell) and a summary of their 20 basics of good service.

By my count, only 2 of the 20 basics of good service have a financial cost -- training and resolving customer issues. And even those don’t necessarily cost anything.

Also, these 20 basics could easily be adopted by virtually any service business in the world. Yet I think you would agree each of these basics would improve your service experience. (Shoot me an email and I will send you a copy if you don’t have one)

So it begs the question; why aren’t more companies doing it? Something to think about.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Make it easy for your customers to talk to you?

Quick shout out to Eric at customerservicenumbers.com. He's recently launched a site where customers can quickly find company and product customer service telephone numbers.

This places me in an interesting quandary. On one hand I wish him the best, because obviously it is a service that is needed. But isn’t it a sad state of affairs that a site like this is even needed.

So make sure you are listed -- and then if you do a good job with your own customer service programs, no one will need to visit it for your numbers.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is branded customer service that exceeds expectations. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.

For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/