Why are some small specialty stores having their best year ever?  Because more consumers than ever are putting an emphasis on customer service to determine where they do their shopping. The smaller stores recognize that they may not be able to beat the larger stores in price, but they can more than make up for the difference with the service they provide. Younger adults are now more than twice as likely to choose stores based on service.  This shows that delivering excellent customer service is more important than ever before and shows no signs of fading into the background.

There is tremendous competition based on prices, so the smart retailers are focused on providing an experience, not just a deal.  The Mom and Pop stores, small retailers, and specialty stores are finding their niche in delivering something that the big box stores just aren’t providing – an enjoyable shopping experience that engages the shopper.

Readers of this blog know that there are three ways to differentiate yourself in today’s market:

• Price
• Product
• Service

Service is the easiest, cheapest, and provides the largest return on investment and effort.

Read what a small retailer in Kalamazoo, Michigan has to say about providing a unique shopping experience that sets them apart from the larger stores.

“Certainly there is tremendous competition,” said Vicky Kettner of Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated . They’ve gone to battle for your buck, placing billboards miles from downtown and right on the front lines of its big box competitors.

Their idea is to sell a holiday experience that consumers say is lacking in modern retail.

“When someone is looking for a relaxed environment, where experience is important, customer service is important and selection is important for the uniqueness of things, then we have a good story to tell,” she said.

To really provide a unique experience to increase your profits and loyal customer base, you’ll find all of the strategies and techniques right here at http://www.kristinaevey.com/products/5-steps-to-more-loyal-customers/

Customer service and satisfaction consultants often advise clients to share and celebrate our successes.  It’s wonderful when someone on our team has done something far above and beyond their responsibilities to deliver excellent service for a customer.  I advise clients to do this on a regular basis during every staff meeting.

By sharing successes, it opens up the creativity of the other team members as to how to surprise and delight their customers.  Many of us stumble in our efforts to come up with a new idea, so I highly recommend repeating what someone else has done successfully.  Call it copying, but if it works in the best interest of the customer, everyone wins.

The challenge comes when we have a few team members who are not used to recognizing their strengths or something that they’ve done well.  While a herculean effort always makes for a good story, it is usually the smallest efforts and gestures made under the radar or behind the scenes that are  most appreciated by the customer.  So when we have those instances when no one can think of something that went well, I like to inject a little bit of fun.

“The Gummy Worm Award”

The Gummy Worm Award promotes Excellent Customer Service

When someone can’t think of something that they did well for a customer, give them an award of a bag of sour gummy worms. No one will want to have that bag of gummy worms for long, so the next meeting, they will most likely have more than one example of something they did well for a customer.

This is all in good fun, but reinforces the fact that we all need to recognize that simply by doing our jobs well, we make a difference in the  minds of our customers.  It doesn’t even need to be something directly job related.  It could be that you made a phone call to your customer’s next appointment and informed them that the customer is on their way.  It could be that you made an unscheduled  proactive phone call to a customer about an issue they’ve been dealing with.  Maybe you sent your customer an article that caught your attention because it relates to their industry.

I hope you get the point here.  The above examples are small acts that make a big difference to a customer.  None of them may seem monumental, but any one of them could be the difference that makes the difference to the customer and gets them to return to your business or renew their account with you. We need to reinforce to our teams that the small things count and will keep the focus on the positives, not the negatives that arise from time to time.

By having your teams share what has worked for them, it gets them to recognize what they do well, gives examples to others to follow, and keeps the focus on the positive aspects of customer service and the difference it makes to our current customers.  When they try some of the strategies that have worked for their peers, their level of customer service improves, as does their feeling of empowerment and ownership in the company overall.

I’d love to hear your comments and strategies you’ve found useful in getting your teams to recognize their efforts.

Patient Care Requires Rapport

This morning I took my seven year old daughter to the oral surgeon for a frenectomy. While it is a relatively easy and painless outpatient procedure, the fact that it involved a needle was enough to get my daughter a little nervous. It didn’t help that her big brother did his brotherly duties of scaring her about the laser that would be used. Needless to say, she was a bit apprehensive about the whole procedure.

All of my fears were immediately alleviated when we checked in at the front desk. The receptionist greeted me, then stood up so she could see my daughter and looked her in the eye and welcomed her to the office and told her how nice she looked. I then took the necessary paperwork and we both sat down in the waiting room. My daughter looked at me and whispered “Mom, she talked to ME, not just you! They have very good customer service!” It really was pretty cute, but it resounded with me that people notice everything. Even kids have a perception of being treated well or not.

Throughout the visit, all of the assistants were very kind to us and explained everything in layperson’s language to me and then again in “kid friendly” terms to be sure that we both understood what would happen.  The best part was when they made it fun to wear the goggles and the bib, turning her into a superhero.

The point of this anecdotal post is that customer service, patient care, whatever you want to call it is about connecting with the customer.  It’s about building rapport, trust, and relationships to make the experience beneficial, if not enjoyable at the same time.  In this case, it was all about making my daughter feel comfortable and important.  This particular oral surgeon’s office did that successfully. When considering the areas for improvement in your business, make sure you consider things from the perspective of the customer and what will make the biggest impact for them.  Often, you’ll find that it is the little things like goggles and a cape turning a small child into a superhero that will turn an patient visit, or customer transaction, into one of the highlights of the day.

Customer service training should always include the personal touch and being on the lookout for the little things that make a difference to your customers. I interviewed a fellow attendee at a recent conference about the things that bring her back to a business and the things that will drive her away. Lain will tell you, from a customer perspective, what wins her business and what will make her take her spending dollars elsewhere.

The personal touch goes a long way in making sure that your customers don’t feel that they are one of the many “transactions” that you have to “get through” everyday. When you engage personally and surprise your customers even in small ways, it makes an impression on them that keeps them coming back for more.

What are you doing in your business to train customer service and keeping the personal touch in the forefront?

Train Your Staff Like Athletes Do - Continually

When athletes break their own records or win that “big game”, do they stop training for the next event?  No.

Should your customer skills training stop once the staff member has started working in their position after the initial training?  Absolutely not.

In order to keep your staff at the top of their “game,” continual training is necessary to reiterate the importance of focusing on the customer.

Unfortunately, many businesses try to skimp by not investing the time and resources into their staff.  Your staff will only be as good as they currently are should you accept the status quo.  Your customers won’t accept the status quo and you, as the small business owner or leader, shouldn’t either.

Customers are becoming more and more sophisticated and savvy each day.  They know that times are tight and that everyone is fighting to keep their current customers, much less trying to market to and attract new customers.

You must train your staff to deliver excellent customers skills continually and consistently. This demonstrates the commitment that your organization has to deliver superior service each and every time to each and every customer.  Training must be a part of the culture and DNA of your organization and be known as one of the foundation blocks of constant quality improvement.  Companies that train consistently on at least a monthly basis, whether a formal training session or a discussion as part of their regular staff meetings, recognize the level of service continually improving among their staff.

Staff working in continual improvement companies realize that the focus is always on the customer and look for ways to implement their new strategies with customers.  They look forward to sharing the successes and occasional failures with the rest of the team.  Failures are perfect opportunities for discussion to explore what went wrong and why.  How much was in the staff or company’s control?  How much was due to the personality of the customer involved?  Were there outside factors at play?  Any discussion involving strategies and skills for the customer’s best interest works to bring the group together and improve as a team.

So for the businesses and companies that are looking to cut back on expenses and not train their teams to be at their best when interacting with their customers, I offer a word of warning.  You may have adequate skills now, but one of your competitors is looking to “up their game” and woo your customers away.  Keep in mind that 70% of the time, your customers are leaving only because someone in your company didn’t treat them well enough.  How much money does that customer bring into your business over a lifetime?  My bet is that a small investment of time and resources to improve customer service skills won’t even come close to the dollars that are walking out your door.

Are you thinking that good customer service is a lost art these days? Many people do. I’ve found one thing that seems to be the sole driving factor as to whether or not good customer service is delivered to the satisfaction of customers – attitude. The attitude and work ethic of today’s workforce is essential. We notice it to the point that great attitudes in customer service are so infrequent that they stand out in a field of mediocrity.

Yesterday in my local newscast, there was a story about new job openings coming within a specific organization which happened to be for lower paying jobs.  Nonetheless, there were many people lined up for applications.

The director of the hiring organization recognized that these would be mainly supplemental income positions for most people and that not much work experience was necessary because he was certain that the necessary skills could be trained.  He did however state that the new hires had two important qualifications – good work ethics and the right attitude.

The Right Attitude Makes for Great Customer Service

When he said this, it reiterated the point to me about how much of customer service lies within the attitude we choose to have.  Regardless of the position listed on our business cards and titles of folks within our organizations, we are all in customer service because we are all serving the needs of the customer, either directly or indirectly.

The attitude which we choose to adopt will make the process that much easier or more challenging.  When we choose the attitude of working in the best interest of the customer at all times, it benefits everyone because the customers are happier with what we provide them.  When customers are happy and easier to work with, it makes life easier on our staff and more positive overall.  I truly believe that people can choose the attitude they have and that we become more positive ourselves when we know that we are helping customers in such a manner that they are happy that we were the ones they dealt with in that interaction.

I had an experience this exact concept that I blogged about last year. We do have the power to choose our attitudes and anyone acting directly with the customer is responsible to make the right choice of attitude.  The gentleman in charge of hiring these new front line positions has already made the conscious decision that he isn’t going to be hiring just warm bodies to fulfill the job requirements, but he’s going to be making the right hiring decision by hiring those with attitudes congruent with his desire to have happy customers because they were delivered excellent customer service.

What are your thoughts in how much attitude is a choice and reflects the level of service delivered?

“We’ve had customers leave us because of a lower price, then return to us because of the better service we provided.”

This is a direct quote from my interview with Todd Wilson, owner of a lawn care service. He knows that customer value the personal touch and follow up, so he is determined to be sure that everyone in his business delivers on that.

It’s all about how well you communicate with and follow up with the customer. They depend on the service and that is how his business has gained the business that his competition wasn’t willing or able to deliver. Todd’s company happily accepts those customers and takes the money they could have just as easily have spent with his competition.

Watch this brief video to get his perspective….

Studies show that 9% of your customers are being lured away by your competition through discount programs, lower prices, and promotional gimmicks. Todd found that some of his customers came back to him because of the service he delivered.

Remember, there are three ways to differentiate yourself from your competitors – product, price, and service. If the product and price are comparable, let the service you provide be what your customers are willing to go out of their way for to do business with you. It’s far cheaper to keep your existing customer’s business than it is to market to and attract new customers.

Ultimately, like Todd said… “It’s about doing what you said you were going to do.” If you don’t, your customer will find someone else who will.

Service Oriented Staff and Management

Who is to Blame for Poor Customer Service – Management or the Staff Themselves?

This was the question posed on a Customer Experience Management discussion forum board.  While on the surface I can see that this question can be answered both ways, it really comes down to one party’s responsibility – the management.

Management sets the tone for the customer service standards and expectations

I think it is first and foremost the responsibility of top level management. They set the tone for the customer service attitudes and exemplify the attitude of service that should be delivered to all customers, both internal and external. They are the leaders of the organizations and will set the examples by what they do and say.  Top level management needs to support mid-level managers and front line supervisors in the area of service.  They need to encourage all management levels to think in terms of service and how to best partner with the customer.  What can be done to get rid of the obstacles that are facing the customers?  What can be done to make the entire process easier, if not enjoyable, when doing business with the company itself.

Top Level Management Needs to Listen to the Mid-Level Managers and Front-Line Supervisors

Listening to the feedback and ideas presented by mid-level management and front lines supervisors provides incredible value.  These folks are the ones in your company that are working directly with the customer, or supporting someone who does.  They are hearing what the customers are asking for, they know what the customers like, what they don’t like. They know how the customers use the product or service and what could be changed or, if need be, improved.  When this information flows back up the organizational chart, the highest levels of management need to reinforce the attitude of service by encouraging feedback, actively listening to it, and responding appropriately.

The Right Hiring Decisions Need to be Made to Support Leadership Expectations

From there, the right hiring decisions need to be made. If you hire folks who are not service oriented in their mindset, it is a recipe for failure. By hiring the right people within your company, you are consistent with the culture and everyone works in the best interest of the customer.  You need to make sure that you are supporting and encouraging the service expectations.  Should sub-standard service be noticed, coaching needs to happen quickly to determine the cause.  The solution would be to set clear service expectations and counsel on how to achieve those, or, the less pleasant but essential step, to correct a poor hiring decision.

Customer service training is essential to the success of any organization – large or small.  Customer service is essentially connecting people to a process when delivering a product or service.  The key is to have the right people in place with the right customer service skills and training.  All efforts need to be focused around the needs of the customer. When working in the best interest of the customer, you are ultimately working in the best interest of your organization.

What Do You Think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the balance of responsibility here.  How much do you feel is up to the staff and how much falls on the shoulders of management?  What specifically do you think management should do to improve the experience for the customer?