Have you identified your employees as a key target audience?

Much has been written about the need for communicating with employees.

People are often put in charge of internal communications and spend their time creating newsletters and memos that get sent far and wide informing folks about what is going on in the organization. Often we designate the employees as one of our key target audiences or stakeholder in our planning documents. This is all a good thing.

However, being the provocative person that I am, I have to ask, “Is that really what you want to do?”

I would suggest that communicating usually means creating and delivering messages to an audience. Further, I would suggest that what you really want to do is facilitate a conversation or a dialogue with your employee community.

For many, you are probably saying, “That’s just semantics -- that’s what we mean”, so let me ask, “Is that what is happening?” Are you facilitating a conversation? Do you have a process set up that stimulates a conversation or is your messaging primarily just being pushed out from the communications team?

That distinction is more than semantics. It is why organizations struggle - and often fail - to generate meaningful employee engagement. We get blinded by the belief that because we are actively communicating, we believe we are engaging employees in a conversation. Bottom line, if it isn't two-way, it isn't communication. It's simply message distribution.

Let me share how the internal newsletter we set up at ServiceOntario was envisioned. Rather than having someone in the Marketing team write the newsletter, they acted primarily as an Editor who worked with an Editorial Board who was responsible for generating the content. This Board was made up of writers from across all divisions in the organization. Level or function were not relevant, their only commonality was their interest in sharing what was happening in their areas of work. They also had pretty free rein on topics for publishing.

The Editor compiled their articles and reviewed them for general appropriateness, spelling, grammar, etc. They did not re-write the articles. The Editor also included news that was relevant to the organization on behalf of the organization.

Resultant we had a newsletter that reflected the wider organization while still containing important organizational communications/news. It was filled with topics (with lots of pictures) of things that were of interest to the people across the organization -- not just management.

The result? People looked forward to receiving and reading it each month. Plus, people saw demonstrated behaviour that management was interested in hearing from them -- a very important signal to the organization.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a systematic approach to sharing information and gathering feedback/input. So ask yourself, is your internal communications really communicating -- or just delivering messages.

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/

Avis and their 3 Minute Promise

In the same vein as my earlier post Are You Measuring What Counts, the blog Customer Relations referred me to an article this morning where EasierTravel reported that Avis has launched its “3 Minute Promise” service, for Avis Preferred members in France and the UK.

"The 3 Minute service begins when the customer enters the Avis premises and time can be measured by the renter with a stop watch provided at the start of each rental process. If the time elapsed is over the three minutes, the customer will receive an apology, and a few days later, a retail voucher worth €30/£20 in the post."

Daniel McCarthy, Commercial Director, Avis UK explains: "It is our aim to enhance our customer service through best practice initiatives such as this, particularly focusing on offering a fast, efficient service." Daniel continues, "This is part of Avis' ongoing commitment to consistent benefits and standards across our network." (read full article)

I thought I would offer a slightly different take on these kinds of initiatives.

The Avis view (and one I believe shared by Customer Relations) is that this is putting the customers' needs at the forefront. So far we agree.

I guess where I think we need to expand the discussion is based on the concept -- What gets measured gets done.

My concern is that if time becomes the measurement, then others things, like quality customer service, may suffer. You need to make sure that your "time-based" measures have a corresponding measure of quality of customer service experience.

I often say to clients with call-centres, "The easiest way to get a higher number of calls each hour is just hang up faster." The customer may not be happy, but if all you want is higher throughput then hanging up will deliver it.

Now obviously, I am not serious, but it demonstrates the point.

So make sure you don't get lulled into thinking that numeric measures alone will lead to quality customer service. Make sure the quality aspect is also built into your tracking.

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: www.billhogg.ca

What is Garmin thinking?

I purchased a Garmin GPS for my car in April 2006. I have been generally satisfied with the performance until my recent experience to update the North American mapping. Something they encouraged me to do.

My saga started with a visit to their website which was fairly easy to navigate. After about 10 minutes, I had identified the correct program for my model and started through the check-out process to download my new mapping software.

After 20 plus minutes where it refused to accept my credit card, with no explanation, I finally gave up in disgust and called their customer support line.

After waiting 40 minutes to speak to a CSR I was informed that it was impossible to download or even sell a DVD to people from Canada online. No explanation why, and more importantly, no response when I asked why this wasn't immediately communicated on the website -- before I spent time trying to make an online purchase. Something they encouraged me to sign up for when I purchased the unit.

I was told me to go back to the location where I had purchased the unit (Best Buy in my case) because they sold the upgrades for the same prices as online -- $69.

Not great, but rules are rules.

So off to Best Buy. However, at Best Buy the upgrade costs $99 -- a 50% increase. Meanwhile, they are selling brand new units as low as $149 which already have the current maps installed.

My decision -- don't buy the upgrade and wait to buy a new unit when they are on sale. But not a Garmin.

If they were trying to drive away a customer, Garmin couldn't have done a better job. Wasted my time online with incomplete information and then to compound the issue give me bad information when I get to a CSR.

Simple fix. Communicate early, often and accurately with your customers.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is great customer service. 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: www.billhogg.ca

How to lose a customer -- without really trying

I received a phone call today from the Manager of a student run painting company that demonstrated with brilliant clarity what not to do when talking to a potential customer. It served as a great reminder of how we should be thinking when we are interacting with your customers.

I had previously called this company and left a message to obtain a quote for some exterior painting. They were one of 2 student run companies that I called for a quote. The other company had already returned my call and provided a quote by the time this company finally returned my call a full week after the request.

The Manager spent a few moments to clarify what needed to be quoted and a convenient time that they could come to look at the job (a reasonable 2 days hence). They then asked whether anyone else would need to be consulted before making a decision to proceed. Well my “spidey-senses” starting tingling.

This sounded like they planned to offer an incentive to close the deal that night. Sales people will recognize this as a 1-step close, because it doesn’t require a follow up call.

I indicated that as a married man, I would of course consult with my wife about this issue. The Manager of this particular franchise asked whether there would be a more convenient time when my wife would be available. I said, “No, this was a great time.”

Not satisfied with this answer the manager indicated that because they had to travel a fair distance to get to the appointment (remember they are the “local” franchise) and they would prefer if both decision makers were available at the appointment because this would save the Manager time since they would have the opportunity to answer any questions that arose.

Remember -- this is to paint the exterior windows, doors and garage doors. Not exactly subject for weighty discussion. Again they pressed me harder to change the date.

I again indicated that this was the best time and offered that if it was inconvenient for them to provide a quote then we could just not bother to have a quote done at all.

Their response (wait for it) -- “I guess that will have to do!”

That will have to do? I am the customer for goodness sake. Sorry to inconvenience you and potentially require you to actually leave without a signed contract. Sorry I wasn’t prepared to accommodate your process. Sorry you might need to make a follow up call. Sorry I might want to have another company provide a quote to ensure that I am getting a quality job for a fair price.

Well I saved them time -- I cancelled the appointment and called the other company and awarded them the job.

The lessons here are many, but the big one was they were in business for themselves -- not their customer. They were not thinking from a customer perspective when they developed their scripting and training. Their entire process and all the resultant issues that arose were because they were not thinking about my needs -- the definition of a customer-focused business.

The really unfortunate part is that this student Manager was probably following a script that had been provided by the master franchisor and didn’t know any better. Hopefully they will learn before it is too late.

If they continue to follow that process, they will find themselves coming second on a lot of jobs -- simply because customers have the option to work with another company that puts the customers’ interests ahead of their own.

And of course, their competition will be more profitable because they will get a higher percent of the jobs they quote against this company because of their differentiated customer service experience. Proving once again that customer-focus is a profit strategy.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is great customer service. He works with clients to help activate a “customer-focused” culture that helps employees embrace the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a very 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: www.billhogg.ca

Who’s in charge of your most valuable asset?

First you need to decide on what that asset is. Often people like to say their most valuable asset is their employees. They make statements like “Our most valuable asset goes out the door every night.”

But I would suggest that the most the valuable asset is the one your business cannot survive without -- your customers.

I say this not to diminish the importance of employees; actually my point is exactly the opposite. I think employees are extremely important because your employees deal with your customers’ every day. They are managing your most important asset -- the customer.

But do we accord them the respect this important role deserves? Too often we don’t give them the authority to do their job, we give them lists of rules of what they can and cannot do; we make them get Manager approvals to make decisions.

Yet because people (i.e. customers) are all different, the best solution to a problem is often different for each customer. By forcing a single solution for each customer, we may be spending too much on some and not enough on others.

For example, if you have developed a compensation policy that costs of $100 to implement, with Manager approval, wouldn’t it be better to give your employees full authority to spend up to $75 to fix the situation on the spot (after providing direction on the types of things they can do based on their judgement).

This option has 4 big benefits.

1. We all know that the quicker a problem is fixed, the happier the customer.
2. If most problems can be fixed immediately by the employee for maximum $75, you have saved money and created a more satisfied customer.
3. The employee can probably provide a more customized solution because they are closest to the customer issue.
4. The employee feels empowered and takes ownership of the situation.

So think about just how much trust you are placing in the folks who you have already entrusted with your most valuable asset. With a little guidance and some boundaries, they will usually make the right decision. And you will save money and have a more engaged staff.

Something to think about.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is great customer service. 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/

Is your company Customer-Focused

When speaking with companies about whether they are using their customer service experience to differentiate themselves from their competition we often must address the question “How to tell if our company is truly customer-focused?” It is easy to say a company is, but are they walking the walk or just talking the talk.

So I thought it would share a process that I take clients through called a CAT Scan (Customer-focus Audit Tool). The objective of this process is to help them answer that question in such a way that the senior management team has a clear, consistent view of where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

The process starts with people across the organization answering a questionnaire comprised of 33 questions. It is important that the people answering the questionnaire represent a diverse cross-section of the company, not just senior management of a particular branch. This cross-section is critical because I am always amazed by the differences in the answers across the various groups.

The questionnaire is broken into 6 key sections; Defining your Customer Values, Designing your Branded Customer experience, Delivering a Branded Customer Experience, Listening to the Voice of the Customer, Developing & Engaging Employees and Organizational Readiness.

Once the questionnaires are completed, the data is compiled into a workable format and a half day workshop is conducted with the senior management team. It is essential the full team participate since one of the key objectives is to break down the silo mentality and have the full team embrace the fact that employee engagement and customer service is a shared accountability and that only when they work as a team will they achieve success.

After the work session there is further analysis. Once these 6 critical areas has been examined, the company can then start to develop a specific action plan to address their areas of weakness and leverage their areas of strength.

If you would like a copy of the full questionnaire, please drop me a line.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is great customer service. He works with clients to help activate a “customer-focused” culture that helps employees embrace the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a very 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: www.billhogg.ca

Always go the extra mile

Recently MarketingProfs sent out a note about going the extra mile. In it they referenced an article (Giving Firms an 'E' for Effort: Consumer Responses to High-Effort Firms) by Andrea C. Morales, assistant professor of marketing at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.

Their research indicated that customers reward companies that are seen to go the extra mile -- even if they don't personally benefit from that effort. In fact, customers are willing to pay more for a product, frequent one store rather than another, and, in general, have a more positive impression of a company or brand that is perceived to put in more effort.

Andrea's explanation is that customers recognize that effort is a controllable behaviour, and as a result, feels gratitude toward firms that work hard.

It reminds me of a review an advertising agency got from a client (our customer) where I worked many years ago. In that review the client was very critical of the creative product and lukewarm on the media and production. However, they were very positive about the account service team because, in their words, “we worked so damn hard”.

They acknowledged that they were not always getting the level of service they expected, but were willing to be somewhat forgiving because of the obvious effort their daily account team was expending on their account. They gave us time to address the issues while putting senior management on notice that something had to be done.

According to the researchers, customers can view a company's outstanding efforts as either general or personal.

• A company's actions are considered to be general when they benefit the universe of customers, such as creating new products
• However, a company’s actions are considered personal when the action is deemed to benefit a specific customer (such as outstanding customer service), even if they are not the customer receiving the benefit.

We all know that personal wins because of the emotional connection. However, the interesting notion is the halo effect created by doing a good deed for someone else. My sense is that it is driven by the belief that the company (or person) would do the same for us in a similar circumstance.

I think this concept applies to personal behaviour as well as company behaviour. So demonstrate you are making the effort even if you can’t satisfy your customers need. They will recognize your efforts and appreciate and reward you for your attempt.

Cheers!

Bill's passion is great customer service. He works with clients to help activate a “customer-focused” culture that helps employees embrace the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a very 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: www.billhogg.ca

Are you measuring what counts?

I was reading Seth Grodin’s blog this morning and he talked about the importance of measuring the quality of traffic that is coming to your site or blog versus the quantity. His point being that it is better to have a smaller number of qualified prospects/customers versus a lot of people who will never purchase. He summarized with the comment “Just because something is easy to measure doesn't mean it's important.”

It reminded me of the same principle that should be employed when trying to measure 1) customer satisfaction, and/or 2) employee engagement.

Too often we get caught up in designing dashboards and metrics that may measure lots of things, but if they are not actionable or possibly aren’t measuring the stuff that gives you insight into the health of the organization, then they aren’t very useful measures.

So ask yourself, are your measures giving you advance notice of changes in your business, or are they lagging indicators of issues that may have been around for awhile?

I have been doing some reading on this topic lately, so I will share some of my observations over the next little while.

Cheers!

Bill works with clients to help activate a “customer-focused” culture that helps employees embrace the brand promise and deliver an intentional Branded Customer Experience -- internally and externally.

As well, he is a very 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: www.billhogg.ca

Treat Customers Like They Matter

Recently I had to go to a local collision repair shop for an estimate for some repair work on my car. I was sent to this particular shop by my insurance company for a quote, but was told I could have the actual repair done at any accredited collision repair shop.

The first thing I noticed was a sign on the back wall that stated "Quality starts with great service". I was greeted quickly by the receptionist who took some basic information and then asked me to take a seat indicating an estimator would be right with me.

Well, I sat for 5 minutes watching 2 people sitting at desks working away at their computers. One of them took a phone call and the second commented to the receptionist that she would be awhile. At no time did either acknowledge me.

Suddenly the one who took the phone call stood up and indicated that I should follow him outside to my car. I guess he was one of the estimators.

After asking me some questions and taking some pictures, we returned to his desk where he filled out the forms on the computer and after 10 minutes printed out the sheets and handed them to me. The whole time I sat at his desk, he said not 1 word to me.

So what should I think about the quality of this organization? What do we learn from this example?

They did a good job of setting expectations with their sign. The receptionist was friendly and efficient. But then the problems started to show.

Here are some simple things that I think would have gone a long way to improving the customer experience.

1. Telling me that the 2 estimators were currently finishing a claim and giving me an indication of my wait time would have gone a long way.


2. If the estimator spoke to me rather than the receptionist (I was actually closer) it would have made me feel like a valued customer versus an inconvenience that needed to be dealt with.


3. Introducing themselves when they asked me to come outside to do the estimate.


4. Explaining what the estimator was doing on the computer would have made me feel part of the process instead of a bystander.

As a result of this experience, I will probably take my business elsewhere rather than dealing with this company in spite of the fact they had been specifically referred by the insurance company as a trusted supplier.

The funny thing is, they already had me in their shop and there would have been no cost to displaying some simple customer service behaviours. No one was rude or treated me badly, yet, the customer service experience pushed me away.

Too often we get so busy that we forget the simple things. None of the things mentioned would have cost either time or money, yet because they were forgotten, they lost a $3,000 repair bill.

The worst part is they probably have no idea what they did or why they lost my business. I am sure they think they are doing a good job. Something to think about.

Cheers!

Bill works with clients to help activate a “customer-focused” culture that helps employees embrace 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: www.billhogg.ca