Having received a bill in the mail, I called the facility to pay with my credit card.  I was greeted by a woman who was not rude, but certainly didn’t sound cheerful or happy to help me.  She sounded bored by having to help me and asked me for my account number.  While she was waiting for the account to come up, she actually yawned with an audible sound!  I asked her if she was tired.  She said it had been a long Monday and she couldn’t wait to get home.  Then, she did half-heartedly apologize for yawning while on the phone with me.  Well, at least there was an apology.

All business owners, leader and managers, RIGHT NOW, have a quick meeting with your staff that comes into contact with your customers in any way and tell them that it is absolutely unacceptable to yawn audibly in front of your customers, even on the phone.

Now, I completely understand the overwhelming need to yawn.  If you absolutely must, then go ahead, but USE YOUR MANNERS!  Cover your mouth and try to minimize the yawn.  Then, IMMEDIATELY apologize.  If you are on the phone, cover the mouthpiece if you even think there may be a sound involved.

As a customer, all I know is that I’m pretty irritated that this customer service representative didn’t possess the most basic telephone skills required to properly handle my call in a pleasant manner.

1.  She wasn’t cheerful or pleasant with me at all. – Anyone who even remotely comes into contact with customers must be pleasant and cheerful at all times.  Not giddy, just pleasant and personable is considered professional and respectful.

2.  She merely processed me through the system.  She didn’t engage with me at all on any level. – At no point during our brief conversation did I feel that I was anything more than an account that was being paid.  I didn’t feel like a person, or even really a customer that was paying them for a service provided.

3.  She openly and audibly yawned during our interaction, then didn’t apologize. – Really?  Do I need to say more?

4. She openly told me it had been a long day and told me she couldn’t wait to leave for the day. – Everyone in your company should have the mindset that without the customers, they wouldn’t have a job to be bored with in the first place.  We are paying you to do business with us. Respect that.

Treat your customers with the respect they deserve by spending their dollars with you.  Now, do you think I’m going to look elsewhere for this service by someone who may actually appreciate the fact I’m spending my money with them and not their competition?  Absolutely.

Most of the emails are very easy to unsubscribe from.  They have a link that automatically unsubscribed me with a note telling me they were sorry to see me go.  I thought that was a nice touch that added to the customer experience.  I always say – the last impression is just as important as the first impression.

What frustrates me to no end is that there are a few newsletters that make it virtually impossible or throw so many obstacles to unsubscribing from them that I sometimes give up, then groan each and every time I see their new emails come in.

When I click to unsubscribe, I’m taken to their main website.  Then I have to go the member area where I have to sign in.  Then I have to go to the profile information which directs me to my account settings and read through all of that rigameroll (yes, it’s really a word) to figure out how to unsubscribe.  It’s just plain craziness.

If your customers don’t want to do business with you, don’t irritate them by making it impossible for them to leave.  Would you really lock a customer in your store and make them go hunting for the keys in order for them to leave?  Unless you are looking to spend time in your neighborhood jail cell for kidnapping, of course not.  Then don’t do the same online.

If your customers want to leave, tell them that you are sorry to see them leave, and let them go.

Now, if you are truly business minded, you will see this as a golden opportunity to gain some insight as to what you are or are not doing to keep them from leaving.

Perhaps they don’t have a need for your product, service, or information.  Perhaps you contact them too often or not enough.  Perhaps they find your content not of the quality you promised them.  Yes, sometimes it’s painful to ask the questions and get honest feedback, but wouldn’t you really want to know if you need to step up your game rather than have people leave and not know that all you needed to do was put in some extra effort?

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I attended a luncheon honoring the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan held at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids, MI.

Now, all JW Marriott hotels are renowned for the excellence in every way.  They are truly centered on their guests and do everything possible to ensure a positive experience.

The luncheon today was attended by a few hundred people and as a result, all of the parking ramps were completely full.  This made for some lengthy lines at the ticket collection and payment kiosks in the ramps.

Here is where the JW Marriott stepped up.  To speed up the process and to prevent malfunctions in the computer kiosks, there were two well dressed parking lot attendants were on hand.  They were sliding the parking tickets and the credit cards through the readers for each vehicle leaving the ramp.  I commented that it was nice to have them there to speed up the process.  The attendant mentioned that when there is such a high volume of cars coming through at once, the machines have a tendency to encounter a glitch occasionally, so they wanted to make the process as smooth and easy as possible for the people leaving.

I found this to be extremely helpful because at that exact moment, the machine jammed.  Now, had I been there without the attendant, this would have been a frustration that would have prevented me getting to my next meeting on time.  By using some forethought, the hotel alleviated any irritation I would have had by having the attendant take care of the issue immediately and sending me on my way after wishing me a great afternoon.

It was a small effort, but it made a huge difference to me.

I had the good fortune to attend a luncheon today held by the Grand Rapids Business Journal honoring the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan.  It was wonderful to see the efforts of so many women pay off and be recognized for their leadership in our business world and in our communities.

During the luncheon, I was seated next to a woman who is a Senior Vice President of Huntington Bank.  She told me two very interesting stories that I wanted to pass along.  One deals with making a small extra effort and the other is just in how we treat people.

One of the customer service representatives in a branch recently became aware of a customer having some physical limitations.  It was difficult for the customer to get out of her car and get into the branch without much pain.  The customer service representative then asked the customer to call her before she left her house as she was on her way to the bank.  The bank representative then met the customer in the parking lot and performed the bank transaction.  Did this effort cost the bank any money at all? No.  Did this effort make a large difference to the customer, both physically and emotionally?  Absolutely.

The next example involves a hiring decision.  My lunch partner asked an interviewee why she was applying for a position with Huntington Bank.  The interviewee responded “My grandparents have accounts with this bank and they say that it is the nicest bank around.”  By treating these people well, Huntington Bank has retained the business of this couple and has engaged them not only to recruit potential customers, but bank associates as well. Clearly, the grandparents had been treated kindly during their interactions with the bank and felt that it had the culture that would befit their granddaughter working there.

While the examples are isolated, the premise takes place each and every day in companies both large and small, all across the country, even throughout the world.  The one common denominator is that someone took an ordinary experience and made it memorable.

Tomorrow – Part 2 of the wonderful service from the hotel hosting the luncheon – the JW Marriott.

We all strive to excel in customer experience management.  Judging by my last post, there is a lot of interest involving the words that we use and the phrasing of our words when focusing on the customer experience.  Words make up only 7% of our communication (body language is 58% and tone of voice is 35%).  So, that means we need to choose our words wisely.

I was meeting with a prospective client yesterday and we discussed this very topic.  Her family owns four restaurants in town.  During our conversation,she referred to the patrons as customers, while I referred to them as “guests.”  She asked me why I was making the distinction between the two words.

Since we were in the restaurant setting, I used the analogy of people coming to her home to eat dinner or to her restaurant to eat dinner.  I asked her how she would treat the people coming to her house.  She replied “I treat my guests very well.  I try to make them feel like family.”  As soon as those words were out of her mouth, she understood what I meant.  Especially since we were talking about the same meal, just served in two different places.

The guests coming to her house were most likely not paying her to serve them dinner.  They were invited guests that she was looking forward to spending time with.  Take this same thought into her business – a restaurant.  She is looking to increase marketing to increase business. By referring to the customer as a guest, it makes them feel special, that she was looking forward to serving them a meal, and increases the positive feelings of the dining experience.  Remember, it is the feeling that our customers/guests have that determine if they will return to us.

While not all industries can use the term guests appropriately for customers, many can.  Use your good judgement.  It may be the difference that makes the difference. Theme parks, hotels, restaurants, and the entire hospitality industry use the word “guest” as opposed to “customer” whenever possible.  Mirriam-Webster defines “guest” as a person to whom hospitality is extended.  My advice to any client, manager, or business owner is to be as hospitable as possible when interacting with customers.

Because customers are paying you to treat them well while they are doing business with you, all business should treat them as guests.

I’d like to share with you a brief two minute video I made explaining the nuance of how changing just a few simple words we use everyday can increase customer satisfaction and the positive tone of the message.

Please leave your feedback below.  I’d like to hear your comments.

Please share your comments and feedback below.

Helping you focus on your customers-

Kristina

Managing the customer experience and my ability to improve the customer service I deliver will now be my main focus in the upcoming year.  My supervisor just gave me my annual performance evaluation and I noticed that 50% of the review focused on customer service and a customer centric culture.

At most companies, the statement “Focus on the Customer” is usually just a lot of talk.  Sure, it’s addressed once in a while, but rarely have I seen a performance appraisal that stresses customer focus so heavily.  What you are really telling me is how well I treat our customers is just as important as my daily job responsibilities.  Since my compensation is directly tied in to my performance evaluation, you can bet that I’m going to pay more attention to that.

When we went over the customer centric culture last month, we did spend a lot of time discussing how each of our teams could improve the customer relationship.  During my review, my supervisor started asking me how I had implemented some of those ideas.  I was embarrassed to say that I hadn’t actually done any of it, just thought about it from time to time.  Now, I’ll really have to make sure I follow through.

I have to admit, this change is going to be a bit of a challenge.  Before, you were pretty hands off.  Now that you are more focused on the customer service and satisfaction levels, it’s going to take some getting used to.  Don’t get me wrong, I can rise to the challenge.  It might not happen overnight, but with you making me accountable for the service levels you expect, if my job is important to me, I’ll do it.

Sincerely yours,

Your staff

Customer Experience Management has been a hot topic around our company lately.  You have been giving us many motivational talks about it, but there is something that would really help us out – leading by example.

You serve as a role model to us. If you disregard the customers, focus only on the business and not the customer driving it, or don’t walk the talk, how would we know to do otherwise?  We really need you to practice what you preach. You are our business role model and set the expectation by how you relate to our customers.

To excel at managing the customer experience, we need the leadership to set the example and it will trickle down throughout the entire company.  When you set the tone for improving customer service and to delight our customers, we will then follow suit.

We’ll treat our customers the same way that you treat them, and even us.

We want to make sure that the ideals that you are holding us to are not just merely mission and vision statements that hang on the wall in our lobby.  We want to embrace the customer centric culture we promise and to live it each and every day.

Thanks for listening,

Your staff

We all know that no company is perfect. All of us in one way or another has had an issue with a product or service that we either deliver or have purchased.  My word of advice is this – the problem or challenge does not define you or your company, but the way you handle it does.  If you do nothing to correct the situation and continue on the same path, your reputation will follow the same path.  However, if you take ownership of the situation, make a public acknowledgement of the issues, and take steps to correct it as quickly as possible, you will survive the short term losses.

Toyota has recently aired the following commercial.  I think that they nail service recovery right on the mark.  They acknowledge that they have “not been living up to the standards” that we’ve come to expect from them.  “That’s why 172,000 Toyota employees are dedicated to making things right.”  “We are working around the clock to ensure we build vehicles of the highest quality to restore your faith in our company.”

All of these statements are exactly what the public wants to hear.  Sure, there are some Toyota customers that will leave, but most will return.  Certainly, there will be some potential customers that will be romanced by the offers that some of the American car manufacturers are making to gain previous Toyota customers.

My feeling is that the majority of Toyota customers and many new potential customers will take notice of the way that Toyota has handled themselves.  Was there information available previously that could have corrected the issue? I don’t know, but I am glad to see that  this company is not pushing it under the rug and hoping it would go away.

I’ve included the commercial here for you to see the message that they are working to fix the problem and gain back the trust of the customers.

As I was discussing this with a friend the other day, he made the correlation between a similar circumstance in recent pop-culture.  He was speaking of Tiger Woods and David Letterman.  Both have been caught in less than ideal circumstances with women other than their wives.  David Letterman owned up to it on his show.  Yes, most likely he did so only because he was being blackmailed, but the point is that he made a public acknowledgement of it, apologized to his family, those involved, and his fans.  As a result, his ratings have actually increased since then. 

Tiger Woods on the other hand has not been seen or heard from publicly since the scandal.  As a result, many of his sponsors have dropped him and many friends of his have publicly expressed their disappointment.  True, he will always be one of the best golfers in history and, over time, the public will forget and move on to the next scandal.  But he never owned up to or accepted responsibility for his actions.

Maybe Tiger Woods’ camp should contact Toyota’s public relations firm.   Just a thought………..

In order for us to better understand how to improve the customer service that we are delivering, we do need you to tell us and show us exactly what you would like us to do.

How do you want us to act?  Is there a specific way that we should greet our customers?  What are the key phrases that you feel are important to developing the kind of customer relationship you desire?

Tell us what is expected of us. We have no way of knowing what it is you want us to do or how to act if you don’t tell us what you expect.  We all think of ourselves as pretty nice people and think that overall we deliver good service.

However, if we are going to be evaluated on the level of customer service that we are delivering, we are really taking a shot in the dark unless you’ve clearly shown and told us what the standards are.  We will follow the example of how you treat us.  When you treat us well, we know that the customers should be treated equally as well.  If you treat us poorly, we will know that you are focusing mainly on the product or service we provide, not developing a relationship geared toward customer loyalty.

Really, without specific customer service standards clearly explained to us, it will be purely luck if we are able to have customers like us.  The customer may not consistently receive the same level of service from one employee to the next if we aren’t all given the same expectations.

Best regards,

Your staff