Sell Service To Your Organization First, and Then Watch Your Staff Sell
Service to Your Customers
Sell service to your organization first, and then watch your staff sell service to your customers.
Jan Carlzon, former president of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), formalized the concept of quality service over low price 20 years ago, and it went a long way toward saving SAS from bankruptcy. What Carlzon discovered was that people will pay extra for quality service.
Marriott Hotels, Singapore Airlines, Disney and FedEx know this, too. In the past 10 years many Fortune 500 corporations have adopted a customer experience management (CEM) model as their primary driving idea for competing in the service marketplace. "Do business with us because we offer great customer service."
The transition from an economy built on manufacturing to one built on service is one of the most important disciplines in today's modern business world. Major airlines notorious for poor service are trying to convince us that they have changed. Hotels, hospitals, financial services companies, banks and a host of companies in other industries are trying to position themselves, differentiate themselves, and gain market advantage by selling quality service. But the sad fact is that very, very few companies can actually deliver what they advertise.
Service has a greater influence on your bottom line than you may realize. Research shows that 68 percent of customers never return because of staff's attitude of indifference. Losing business because your staff provides mediocre service in inexcusable. By keeping just 5 percent of your annual customer "churn," you can increase your revenues by 20 to 25 percent.
How much is it costing you to continually seek out new customers verses keeping the old ones? Don't look at a sale as a one-time transaction.
Delivering service is an intangible interaction between two people, one customer and one front-line employee. Management can control the quality of service delivery only indirectly, by educating, inspiring and motivating the people on the front line. If those people act indifferently toward your customer, quality service will never happen.
The point is: The only thing that will spontaneously ignite is fire - sometimes. Dramatic improvements in service quality will only happen if senior management is behind it and urging it forward. If the commitment doesn't come from the top, the new customer service training will go nowhere fast, regardless of all the dialogue. All to often, the biggest enemy of quality service is a company policy.
Too often we're quick to blame front-line staff for delivering poor service. When the real problem is a system that doesn't work or make sense any more. Look at your organizational policies, procedures, rules and regulations. Were they written for your benefit in dealing with customers or for helping your customers deal with you?
If you have a customer service department where a customer can take a problem or complaint, you're operating reactively. Don't wait to foul things up. Proactive companies search out problems and difficulties, and look upon the solutions as a learning experience. Look for new and better ways to turn one-time customers into loyal, repeat customers. When was the last time your favourite restaurant, hair stylist, tailor - or even car dealership - telephoned you to follow up?
Better yet, when was the last time you made a courtesy follow-up phone call after a sale?
Remember, no matter how highly trained and highly motivated your staff, put them in a lousy system - and the system will win every time!
How's Your Customer Service?
The quality of your customer service is a critical point of differentiation and strategic advantage between you and your larger competitors.
Last spring, I went shopping for a something to re-stain our deck with. When I built the deck, my wife and I had chosen mahogany as the decking material. It's a little more expensive, but we really liked the look of mahogany and the fact that it's resistant to splitting and splintering. But the first product I had stained it with, a nationally branded product, failed to penetrate the wood and had worn away in a matter of months.
I went to our local big box home center looking for both another stain, and a little advice. As it turned out, I ended up with neither. After speaking to several salespeople who tried to steer me back to the stain that I had originally used, I finally found another who told me, "Mahogany is tough. We really don't have anything for mahogany."
Well.
My story has a happy ending, however. I decided to visit a local paint and wallpaper store. When I told the owner my story, he agreed that mahogany was tough, but then showed me a product made just for exotic hardwoods like mahogany. It was more expensive, but he explained in great detail how it was made to penetrate the tight fibers of mahogany, showed me a variety of samples, and gave me detailed instructions on how to apply it for the best results.
I was sold, and the bottom line is that today our deck looks fabulous. And it's a vivid example of how small local retailers can compete against the largest national retailers: specialized niche products, in depth product knowledge and a fanatical commitment to customer service.
So, how's your customer service?
Like me, your customers don't come to you so much for a specific product as much as to solve a problem. That's an important distinction between large retailers and many small specialty retailers. Customers go to large retailers to buy things, but they go to small retailers to gather information, solve problems, and only then to buy things.
Here's a quick checklist to use as a starting point for thinking about your customer service:
How state-of-the-art is your in-depth product knowledge? In-depth product knowledge is available in lots of places, but state-of-the-art product knowledge is rare indeed, and it takes time and effort to acquire and maintain. Do your salespeople really know your products as well as your customers need them to? Are they problem solvers? Do they understand how your products solve customer's problems?
Different customers gather information differently. Some want a detailed, illustrated brochure they can read. Others need to be able to try the product themselves to see how it really works. Still others need to engage in a conversation where they can ask probing questions (That would be me!). Do you provide these different information gatherers the sustenance they need?
Are you interactive? There is an ever-increasing number of customers who have become accustomed to gathering information interactively. Do you have the in-store computer terminals, interactive virtual demonstrations, audio and video technology these customers need?
Do you have a website? (If not, why not???) Your customers, who need detailed information to solve their problem, look to the Web first with more and more frequency. Can they find the information they need at your website? Do you provide complete product descriptions and information? Is your site easy to navigate, with no broken links? Do you link out to other sites your customers might find helpful in solving their problem? Do you have a simple shopping cart and checkout functionality for customers who are ready to buy from you right there and then?
How good is your front end? Is there ever a line of customers waiting to make their purchases? How often does somebody have to check a price? How quickly and conveniently do you process customer returns? Are your returns policies constructed with your customers needs as the primary consideration? Are your salespeople empowered to resolve customer complaints promptly and completely to your customer's satisfaction?
How well do you do special customer orders? (I could write several columns on the perils of these!) Are you able to reliably quote price and delivery at the time the order is placed? How well do you execute the placement of these orders with your vendors? How reliable are your vendors? How diligent are you in following up with vendors to be sure they deliver on time? How well do you communicate with your customers to keep them updated on any changes in the status of their orders?
Are you able to deliver and install when it's convenient for your customers? Do you always deliver your customer's order completely and accurately? Are installation call-backs truly a rare occurrence? Are your delivery staff and installers committed to friendly, helpful, customer service? Your customer's time is their most precious commodity; get it right the first time!
Do you have the infrastructure to support your customer service requirements? Do you have a computer system that enables you to consistently exceed your customers' expectations? Is its point-of-sale functionality customer focused? Does it effectively handle your backroom needs? Does its purchasing and replenishment functionalities enable you to stay in-stock? Does it fully integrate customer special orders with the purchase orders for those customers? How well do you utilize the system? Are your inventories accurate? How about your item and price files?
Last but not least (I confess, this is one of my big pet peeves), does a human being answer your phone, or do you have a machine that does it for you? When a potential customer looks to you to help solve his problem, he'd rather be greeted by a friendly live voice than a friendly, recorded voice. That phone call is your first opportunity to demonstrate that you are the place that can solve that customer's problem, and strut your stuff!
Posted May, 2009
Four Strategies for Guaranteeing Your Customer's Loyalty
Customer retention has always been one of the most cost effective ways to increase business revenue..
According to the international consulting firm Bain & Company, you can increase profits by as much as ninety-five percent through increasing retention by as little as five percent.
If organizations fail to focus their efforts on servicing current customers while spending excessive amounts on acquiring new ones, they are wasting their efforts and much of their revenue.
Most customers look for good value for their money, especially in hard economic times. They are also attuned to product and service pricing. Even so, many customers are likely to pay a bit more to organizations that demonstrate a true concern for customer needs and a willingness to go out of the way to provide quality service levels.
Certainly, providing service that differentiates your organization from others requires effort, training, and staffing, but the return on investment (ROI) is well worth it long term. You cannot expect to approach service with a "fix it and move on" mentality. Service is a process, not an event. It requires dedication of time, money and resources and a commitment to provide whatever it takes to satisfy your customers.
Here are four strategies that you can use to enhance your organization's customer retention:
1. Create brand recognition. The most successful companies and those that stay in business for decades or longer, are the ones that spend time and effort planning and executing strategies to acquire and sustain brand recognition. This means creating a market presence where customers know who they are and what they provide.
Think about organizations such as, Sears, Moores, Firestone, Ford, McDonald's and Chapters. When you hear those names, you know what they do and what to expect from them.
To establish your brand recognition, you must first identify what it is that you want to be known for, to whom you will market it, how you will market it, and ways to offer quality products and services at a competitive price. Once you establish these criteria, you can set out to spread the word through advertising, product and service sampling, strategic partnerships, customer acquisition, and effective service.
2. Make it easy for customers to provide feedback. Do not forget to ask for feedback following a sale or service encounter. If you do not ask, most customers will not tell you. Some studies show that if customers are disappointed, they will not tell you. They will simply go away and then tell others about their negative experience. You need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly related to how well customers perceive your service efforts. Many organizations say that they welcome customer feedback but they hide behind technology and make providing it difficult.
3. Listen to your customers. It does no good to gather input from your customers if you ignore it. This will only lead to frustrated customers and lost business. If nothing else, thank the customer for taking the time to share their opinion with you.
No matter whether the feedback that you receive is positive or negative, you should receive it enthusiastically and give it immediate attention. Instead of looking at negative feedback or complaints as a bad thing, recognize that the customer took the time to share it with you and ask yourself the following questions:
Why would this customer feel this way?
What did we do/say that created this impression with the customer?
Is the customer's reaction reasonable? Why or why not?
Have we heard similar things from other customers?
If necessary, what can we do to prevent similar reactions by other customers?
Gather all customer feedback and examine it periodically. Look to see if there are trends or patterns that you need to address. For example, if a number of customers have complained about long wait times on the telephone or that they failed to receive a product or service when promised.
4. Acton Feedback Immediately. Do not file customer feedback away for discussion later, or to have a committee review it; act on it right away. If you fail to examine the cause of customer dissatisfaction or to acknowledge feedback received from them, they will likely stop giving it. If they are complaining, they will also likely escalate the issue higher in the organization or abandon it and take their business elsewhere.
If someone is unhappy with your organization because of a policy, procedure or the way he or she was treated, you should deal with that issue immediately. Examine and change the process that created the problem, or counsel or discipline any employee, as appropriate. Failure to act can lead to additional complaints by other customers.
Do You Need a Chief Customer Officer?
Organizations no longer need to be convinced of the importance of retaining customers and developing relationships with profitable customers. So, how do you accomplish this feat from within the organization? With achievement in customer service remaining elusive, many organizations are now considering the creation of a high-level management position to drive success in the customer experience.
The key to making that decision lies in first understanding what the work encompasses. Before you rush out and hire a CCO, take stock of where your organization is culturally and decide if the time is right to bring someone in, or promote from inside the organization, to make the big customer push.
Here are 6 questions that will help you determine whether or not you're ready for a CCO:
1. Do you need someone in the organization who can clarify and be responsible for what you are trying to accomplish for your customers?
YES there is NO there is not
Implementation Tip: These agreements need to be established in partnership with all departments across the organization. It is really important to make sure that the CCO or executive leadership does not do this in a vacuum and then try to lobby the leaders to rubber-stamp the new initiative.
2. We have a roadmap for our customers' experience and know where and how, progress will be measured.
YES we do NO we do not
Implementation Tip: This needs to be a group effort. Bring together a team of people with at least one person from every operational area. This group needs to get into the ramifications and work involved in getting the priorities done.
3. There is real clarity of everyone's roles and responsibilities.
YES there is NO there is not
Implementation Tip: This is about the handoffs between organizational silos. Make sure that there is a task list that clearly states which parts of the organization must come together to get the priorities accomplished. Too often these goals are kept lofty and high, and people aren't made accountable for their completion.
4. The work is considered attainable.
YES it is NO it is not
Implementation Tip: Our frenzied enthusiasm gets away from us, and we talk about the end "nirvana" state rather than the steps to get there. Do not abandon strategy but dole it out in bite-size pieces. You need to know the end game. But then you need to bridge the gap between strategy and execution so people can work it into budgets, priorities, and planning.
YES it is NO it is not
Implementation Tip: Our frenzied enthusiasm gets away from us, and we talk about the end "nirvana" state rather than the steps to get there. Do not abandon strategy but dole it out in bite-size pieces. You need to know the end game. But then you need to bridge the gap between strategy and execution so people can work it into budgets, priorities, and planning.
5. A process exists for marketing achievements to customers and internally.
YES it does NO it does not
Implementation Tip: When you don't tell people internally what's going on with the customer, it's all white noise to them. No report equals no action. You must make a point of marketing back to both your customers and internally inside the organization.
6. Recognition and reward is wired to motivate the delivery of excellent customer service.
YES it is NO it is not
Implementation Tip: Customer service is not going to seem important until people start to be publicly commended and rewarded for it. Make every company gathering an opportunity to call out customer achievements and reward people for them.
Language skills for Customer Service Reps
There is more involved in getting people to say "yes" than luck, guesswork, or their whim. Those skilled in customer relations have several techniques and methods which greatly increase the chances of a customer saying "yes" to them (getting them to say "yes" simply means getting them to do what you want them to do).
Here are four good methods
1) Give people REASONS to say yes to you.
Everything in this world is done for a reason. So, when you want somebody to do something, give them a reason why they should do it. However, be sure the reasons you give are their reasons, meaning reasons that are to their advantage and benefit. The wrong way would be for you to give reasons that would be to your advantage or benefit. In short, tell people how they will benefit by doing what you want them to do. Not how you benefit.
2) Ask "yes" questions.
When you are trying to get people to say "yes" to you, first get them into a "yes" frame of mind. This is done by asking them two or three "yes" questions.
Examples:
"You want your family to be happy, don't you?"
(of course he does).
"You want the best value for your money, don't you?"
(of course he does).
A "yes" question is a question that can only be answered with a "yes".
The idea behind "yes" questions is that if you get people into a yes frame of mind it makes it more probable they will say yes to your service requests.
3) Give people a choice between two yesses.
This simply means getting people to choose between saying yes to you one way or saying yes to you another way. This is highly preferable to giving them a choice between a yes and a no, which happens when you ask them to do something. Yes means they will do it - no means they won't do it.
The skill is to have them choose between doing what you want one way or another way. For example: If you want an appointment with Mr. Smith. "Would this afternoon be satisfactory, Mr. Smith, or do you prefer tomorrow morning or afternoon" (you are giving Mr. Smith a choice of times to see you - a choice of yesses ).
This method won't work every time, however, it works far better than giving the customer a choice between saying yes and no.
4) Expect people to say "yes" to you and let them know why they expected to say yes.
When you expect a customer to say yes to you, that is confidence. However, this goes one step further than confidence. You let them know, you definitely give them the impression, that the course of action you are proposing is best, and they are encouraged to say yes.
Almost all people start off in "neutral" and can be influenced. Many never doubt or waver doing what you want, once you let them know that your solution is in their best interests. Try this psychology with your CSReps and it will be easy to use after a few trial successes.
Leadership in Customer Experience Management