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You know the stories: There's the legendary tale of aNordstrom clerk who refunded the price of a customer's tires,even though Nordstrom doesn't sell tires. And who could forgetthe one about a Midwest Express employee who lent his own suit to apassenger whose luggage had been lost?
Reserved for world-class companies, these stories tell of theloyalty-boosting customer service most entrepreneurs would killfor. The problem? Most entrepreneurs don't have the foggiestidea how to provide this kind of service. In the words of JayGoltz, 42, founder and president of Artists Frame Service inChicago, and author of The Street Smart Entrepreneur (AddicusBooks), "You read books, go to seminars, hear speakers talkabout great customer service, but it doesn't alwayswork."
There are, however, a few things that almost always work.Consider the following five ideas the equivalent of "Once upona time...," the beginning of your own tales of legendarycustomer service.
1. Hire The Right People.
"Find and retain quality people," advises Ron Zemke,founder of Performance Research Associates, a Minneapolisservice-quality consulting firm, and co-author of DeliveringKnock Your Socks Off Service (Amacom Books). "Youcan't create world-class customer care if you hirerun-of-the-mill employees."
Customer service employees who excel have the right personalityfor the job, according to Peter Baron, 38, founder and principal ofSocket Public Relations in Tucker, Georgia. "The people wehire [are] high-achievers who take charge," he says. Accordingto Baron, this type of person is best suited to doing whatever ittakes to make customers happy.
Ask the right questions when interviewing candidates, advisesGoltz. Artist Frame Service's interviewing protocol probesdeeply into prospective customer service employees' past jobexperiences. "I ask them to tell me about how they handledtheir worst customer service experience," Goltz says."You can catch a [candidate's] attitude thatway."
In today's tight labor market, it can be tough to find theright people. Zemke suggests asking your best customer serviceemployees to identify other people like themselves. "If youhave good workers," he says, "use them to recruit[others]."
2. Make Service A Core Value.
Even the most eager-to-please employee must know what'sexpected in a variety of customer service-related situations. Butthat's not easy. For instance, how could Midwest Express trainits reps to lend their clothes to stranded passengers? Itcouldn't, says Leonard Berry, a Texas A&M Universitymarketing professor who cited the Midwest Express story in his bookDiscovering The Soul of Service (Free Press).
"There's no way to write a policy manual that instructsemployees on what to do in every conceivable situation,"argues Berry. "But by building the ethic of excellent serviceinto the [organization's] core values, even without therulebook, your employees will know what to do."
Making service a core value keeps it fresh in everyone'smind, says Berry. The process of embedding customer service as acore value starts at the top, he emphasizes. "The best way toperpetuate a concern for excellence is to have excellence at thehighest levels of management," says Berry.
Just as you can't tell people what to do in every situation,you can't tell them exactly what great service is either, Berrysays. Instead of detailing your values, inspire people by example.Tell them stories about your company's great service--appeal totheir hearts as well as their minds.
3. Empower Front-Line Employees.
Fear may be the biggest factor blocking great service. Byproviding extra-special service, employees may fear oversteppingtheir bounds. To counter this fear, entrepreneurs must empoweremployees to do what's necessary to achieve their customerservice vision.
At Socket Public Relations, Baron's employees are empoweredto stop billing clients who are dissatisfied with a press releaseor other job. "It definitely sends a message," he says."It gives each employee the knowledge and discretion to makesure the actual time they deliver is high quality. If they'reengaged in an activity they don't think is valuable to theclient, they decide whether to charge or not."
Giving employees the discretion to provide free serviceisn't always the best form of customer service empowerment,however. At Sonic Innovations, a Salt Lake City hearing-aidmanufacturer, company president Andy Raguskus, 53, empowerscustomer service employees to make a whole range of decisions in aneffort to make customers happy.
"They're free to offer refunds, swap one product foranother, send out free batteries or provide free consultingservices," says Raguskus. "They have a wide range oflatitude." He stresses, however, that this type of empowermentonly works if customer service reps aren't reprimanded formaking bad decisions. That means backing them up if they give awaysomething they shouldn't have in an effort to please acustomer. "If employees make a decision I wouldn't havemade, I won't burn them for it," explains Raguskus."Nine times out of 10, our reps make fabulouschoices."
4. Solicit And Use Feedback.
Before you know how much power to give employees, you have toknow what's important to customers. For instance, SonicInnovations has two types of customers: users, often elderly andhearing impaired, and professional audiologists, who dispense itsproducts. While a user may require an explanation of the differencebetween analog and digital hearing aids, an audiologist may havetechnical questions about programming. Knowing what's importantto each type of customer is essential.
How do you find out what customers want? Listen and take notes,says Fred Wiersema, co-author of The Discipline of MarketLeaders (Perseus Books) and editor of Customer Service(HarperBusiness). "The one thing that can make up for alldeficiencies is being in touch with your customers," he says.That means using a variety of approaches to encouragecustomers' letters, calls and other feedback.
Use computer systems to record as much of this information aspossible. Customers of Lenel Systems International, a securitymanagement systems firm in Pittsford, New York, are asked toprovide an identification number when they call. Service reps thenenter the number into computers to retrieve customer files,including all past problems reported regarding Lenel's softwareand hardware.
"[Our customer service database] has a tremendous amount ofinformation," says Rudy Prokupets, the company's executivevice president of research and development, and chief technologyofficer. Lenel also uses its Web site to gather service data.Customers who access the site are prompted to enter a uniquepassword, identifying themselves and funneling comments orcomplaints into their file. "We have a feedback area on thesite," adds Prokupets. "And we make sure we respond toit."
Don't restrict yourself to computerized solutions, however.Wiersema recommends that entrepreneurs regularly call a fewrandomly selected customers and simply ask about the company'sservice. "Make sure you get directly in touch with thecustomer," advises Wiersema.
Prokupets agrees about the value of direct experience. "Welike to send service people into the field to see realinstallations," he says. "Once they come back,they're changed people."
5. Pick The Right Customers.
Nothing will work if you're trying to serve the wrongcustomers. "Small businesses don't do a very good job ofsegmenting," says Zemke. "If you've been servingeverybody and not thinking about who your core customers are,you're going to be in trouble when business changes."
Some customers are too demanding, reducing your ability to servethose who are more easily satisfied. Others are too small to makeserving them worthwhile. To differentiate, says Zemke, "Defineyour core customer, the one you would live or die for. Figure outwho's going to be the customer you'll go to the mat for,with all kinds of value-added services."
You can use data-based tools, such as projected lifetimerevenues, to identify the best clients. Or, says Zemke, you cansimply listen to your gut instincts. "Ask yourself, who wouldyou go out in the middle of the night to make a delivery for?"he suggests. Then try to figure out what traits make those accountsso valuable to you, and match new prospects to the profile.Otherwise, warns Zemke, "You can spend an awful lot of timeromancing marginal customers."
Baron says Socket uses two traits to decide whether customerscan be successfully served. First, customers must have products orservices that are likely to be successful. "If we feel theirexpectations are out of line with what they have to offer, wedecide then and there it's not a good fit," he says.
Equally important, Socket clients must be people who are easy towork with. "If we have a customer who's hard on ouremployees, we walk," Baron says. "We put our peoplefirst."
Summing Up Service
Even the five best customer service ideas may not need to beused every day. Baron says it's only three or so times a yearthat an employee stops billing a client for customer servicereasons. The number of times he turns down a client forservice-related reasons is about the same, he says.
And don't expect to see instant or constant customer serviceimprovements when you do apply them. "Take the long view, havea game plan and make choices," says Berry. "This callsfor prioritizing, sequencing and planning. Pick your spots so youget the most leverage and the most return for the investment youmake."
High-impact moves you can make include Berry'srecommendation of requiring each employee to submit an idea once amonth for improving customer service. "Make it part of theirjob description and part of their job evaluation as well," hesays.
Wiersema advises entrepreneurs to spend an hour each weeklistening in on customer service phone calls. "You'regoing to get an earful," he warns. "But you'll gainan appreciation for [recurring] problems."
Perhaps your first move, Berry says, should be to institute aformal measurement system to calculate the true costs of mediocreservice. "If business owners take the time to properly measurethe revenue lost to customers who left due to poor service and theextra costs involved in reperforming a service that wasn'tperformed properly the first time, the number they come up withwill be so large, it will never again be an issue as to whetherservice quality is important in their company," promisesBerry. "It's instant religion."
Whatever it takes to institute that religion, it's worth it.That's because these five customer service ideas are more thanbusiness tools. They're the stuff of corporate legends--yours.You know all the other stories of great customer service. Now goout and createyour own.
Contact Sources
Artist Frame Service, (773) 248-7713
Lenel Systems International, (716) 248-9720, http://www.lenel.com
Sonic Innovations, (801) 288-0993, http://www.sonici.com
