This usually a sign that they see Customer Service as a tactic to be employed at various times — much like a new ad campaign or pricing strategy.

These are usually the same organizations that think customer satisfaction is a goal (vs. outcome) and can be impacted by a training program to all their CSR’s.

Customer service is not a tactic. It needs to be a long-term strategy that is embedded into your organizational DNA or culture.

Customer service is not a tactic you employ as part of a plan — instead it should be the foundational theme that links every tactic together to provide differentiation.

My Perspective: If you find yourself talking about customer service using words like focus, initiative or tactic, you need to re-think the role of customer service within your organization. And that starts with reviewing your internal culture and values.

Customer service is not something you put on like a shirt and tie. It is an attitude you live and breathe in everything you do. Make sure it includes the language you use when you communicate it internally and externally.

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Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca

A large international client from Boston was in Toronto for a day of meetings and I was responsible for making sure that lunch was available.

In a trip to their office months earlier, the client had mentioned that he disliked chicken with bones — he preferred chicken breast and remarked that he always purchased boneless breast for his barbecue. The single exception was St-Hubert Bar-B-Q Chicken with dipping sauce which he had discovered on a trip to Montreal. He was so enamoured by their dipping sauce that he wished it was available in Boston where he would gladly picked it off the bones.

Based on this personal insight I ordered St-Hubert chicken for our lunch.

My agency President was aghast.

We were effectively serving a large international client a fast food meal rather than a traditional catered meal. He felt that we had lost an opportunity to impress this important client with our hospitality and even feared that we would be perceived as second rate versus our international cousins.

He quietly took me aside to give me some “constructive” feedback.

Fortunately, the client overhead his whispered comments.

The client indicated that he was thrilled that I had taken the time to arrange this special lunch for him and proceeded to sing my praises for remembering this small fact that he had shared with me months earlier.

He continued that this was a further demonstration of the care and attention that I applied to every aspect of his business and went so far as to state that he saw no need to replace the recently departed Account Supervisor on his business — voicing his confidence that I was ready to step into this role (a promotion that was wisely swift in coming after the meeting ).

My Perspective: Paying attention to our clients specific needs/desires allow us to tailor our products/service to their needs and build trust and confidence.

The client felt more important by the personalization of the meal choice than he would have ever felt regardless of the expense of a generic meal that may have been served to any client.

What might have been disaster for another client was pure magic for him. Are you looking for the opportunities to create a moment of magic for your clients — or just providing the same generic service o everyone?

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Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca

In it he makes the point “Because ultimately, consistently is greater than rare moments of greatness. And people only give you credit for that which they see you do consistently.”

It brought to mind that even before we become great — we must first become consistent. If you talk to any professional athlete, cook, public speaker, salesperson or customer service representative, they will all tell you that before they became great they first had to learn how to consistently deliver their product.

Only then were they able push to the next level — become faster, stronger or better.

In the book “The Myth of Excellence“, Crawford & Mathews state the key to successful organizations is first becoming consistent across the 5 key attributes (price, service, access, experience, and service) that consumer’s desire — and then achieving dominance in one and differentiation in a second, while remaining at par with the competition across the balance.

In my post Don’t Be A Jack of all Trades, I talked about focusing on your strengths — but only after you have brought your weaknesses up to par.

The consistent message here seems to be that before we ever become great we must first become consistent with customer expectations across all touch points.

Even if you are great in one area of your business — or one department — a single interaction with your customers that is below expectations can render the entire experience as negative. Think about after-sales service. Any issues come to mind personally.

My Perspective: Look at your customer experience map and look for areas where you are below par. Fix them

Then look for areas where you are or can be exceptional. Leverage them.

Don’t try to be great in all things, figure out what you want to be known for and make that the area that you will seek dominance.

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Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca

When she arrived home, we discovered that the “special sauce” was not included in the order.

I called the order desk to report this lapse and the conversation went something like this.

First she confirmed the order by asking for my phone number.

My thought: Doesn’t every order come with Chalet sauce? Why would I be making this up?

Then she apologized — a number of times.

My thought: Good, you should. Our dinner has been ruined because Swiss Chalet didn’t execute the order correctly.

Then she indicated that I could return to the store to pick up the sauce.

My thought: But what about our dinner now getting cold in the kitchen? Not much of a solution.

I declined to return to the store, indicating the solution wasn’t very practical because our dinner wouldn’t taste very good cold, while waiting for me to head back to the store

She apologized again and offered me a $6.00 credit on my next order (the initial order was approx $30.00)

My thought: Would $6.00 really inspire me to return when the product had disappointed me. No!

My Perspective: We all know that a good recovery can actually have a positive impact on loyalty after the initial disappointing customer experience.

However, what happens if the recovery is also disappointing?

It further reinforces the negative experience and drives a further wedge between your company and a repeat visit.

Swiss Chalet clearly didn’t think their recovery process through from the customer perspective.

In my mind 2 options were appropriate.

1. First choice: Replace the entire meal and have it delivered to the customer home. Woo Hoo!
2. Provide a credit for a full meal to entice me to return and experience how great their service/food should be. At least I might give them a second chance.

Great service will make up for a miss with the product. But mediocre service will only reinforce the poor product.

Three Tips:

1. Make sure you review your recovery processes from the customer perspective.
2. Ask the customer. Do this when determining your recovery process and again after each recovery to ensure that you have indeed recovered.
3. Make sure your people are trained to ask for customer feedback and empowered to make it right. Every customer is not equal — don’t treat them like they are.

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Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca

When did you last sit down expressly to think about the value you offer to both your customers and your employees?

What does your organization offer that sets you apart from your competition? And remember competition is not just others who offer the same service — but others who compete for the same dollars.

Value is the real heart of why people buy from you. And regardless of the economy, if you have a real and compelling value proposition, they will continue to buy. That’s why some companies continue to do thrive and grow — regardless of the economy.

A good example of this is restaurants. When restaurant spending declines by 20%, it doesn’t mean that everyone’s business declines by 20%. It means 20% (or more) of restaurants disappear and the balance keep or grow their business because they have a better value offering. When people make choices, they choose the organizations that offer the best value.

Spend some time with your employees. Ask you customers. List all the things they place value on, then list them in priority.

Lastly, figure out what you can do better than your competition — and then take it to the next level. Be outstanding!

My Perspective: Deliver real value every day — be outstanding in ways that are relevant to your employees and customers. And regardless of the economy – your business with thrive.

Sign-up for my Monthly Newsletter to have 1 article with tools & techniques for excelerating high-performance cultures delivered to your inbox each month.

Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca