Customer Service That Astonishes

We often hear organizations talk about their focus for the upcoming period — whether for the year or the quarter. I am always slightly amused when I hear an organizations talking about customer service being a key focus.

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.

I recently read an article “Consistency Is Far Greater Than Rare Moments of Greatness” by Scott Ginsberg The Nametag Guy.

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.

When was the last time you re-evaluated your value offering?

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.

Seth Godin recently wrote a post Cultural Wisdom that got me thinking about the difference between Customer Service and Customer Experience.

He makes the point that cultural wisdom is the ability to discern when things don’t fit with your overall brand. The sophistication to know what fits with the norms of your brand culture — and the resultant opinion people form about that brand.

Very often people will describe what I do as “Customer Service” or something along those lines. Whether as a speaker or a consultant, they quickly slot me into the term customer service because it is easy to understand and wrap their head around.

However, what most of us actually do is much broader than customer service; it is more about the overall experience.

Customer experience starts the minute someone thinks about interacting with your product or service. It continues as they begin towards the actual interaction with your product or service. They make judgements about how easy to find you online or in the phone book, where you are located, how clean the parking lot is, the condition of the paint, carpeting and furniture in your offices, the tone of voice by the receptionist, the strength of your hand shake, etc. The list goes on.

Each of these examples above have nothing to do with the “customer service” you provide around your product or service, but they often dramatically affect whether you even get the chance to do business with that customer.

My Perspective: Seth asks “Who’s in charge of cultural norms at your organization?” My question is “Who’s in charge of your overall customer experience?”

Does one person/team have oversight over all aspects of the customer experience, or are they limited only to the period when interacting directly with the client.

Most clients I work with understand that great customer service is just one part of great customer experience. These organizations understand every person in the organization plays a critical role in that experience — whether they ever actually interact directly with clients.

Is anyone in your organization responsible for the full customer experience?

I recently received duplicate copies of an e- newsletter. The arrived within  minutes of each other and it was obvious they were the identical. It was a computer glitch with the email server that distributed the email that was out of the distributors control. I am sure we have all experienced a similar situation where the tech gremlins seemed to operate with a mind of their own. I simply deleted 1 and continued on with my day.

However, that evening I received a third email from the organization — it went something like this.

Hi Bill,

Earlier today you received multiple copies of my newsletter. Obviously, this was not my intention. Please accept my apologies.  There was a technical glitch with the email server which was beyond my control. 

I’ve received lots of positive comments on the content and I sense it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience.  However, please accept the attached complimentary eBook as an expression of my gratitude for your interest and support.

My Perspective: How did you feel after reading this last email? Did your opinion of this organization increase, decrease or stay the same. I suspect for most it improved.

This organization recognized they had not met expectations and demonstrated in a tangible way that they respected and valued your time (possibly even more than you did yourself).

When organizations demonstrate accountability in small things — it gives us permission to believe that they will be accountable in all things. Are you demonstrating accountability in the small things or letting them go because they are “just small things”?