By: John Tschohl
If I were to ask 100 CEOs to define customer service, I would guess that 97 of them would say this: Customer service is providing the customer with service that is fast, accurate and courteous. While those are indeed elements of customer service, there is more to it—so much more.
Customer service is a moving target; it is whatever the customer thinks it is. This includes quality products, convenience, competitive prices, timely responses, reliability, a personal touch and knowledgeable employees. Customer service means doing what you say you will do and doing it when, if not before, you say you will do it. It is operating on the belief that no transaction is complete unless the service customers receive is sufficient enough to motivate them to return.
Most CEOs and other executives don’t fully understand customer service and its huge impact on sales and profits for their organizations. They don’t understand what they should (and shouldn’t) do in order to provide the best possible service to their customers. In fact, many of them have false beliefs when it comes to customer service.
Here are three myths that hamper organizations throughout the world in their efforts to provide exceptional customer service and, in the process, to attract and retain customers:
1. Adding employees improves customer service.
You can add all the people you want, but it won’t improve your organization’s customer service. More doesn’t necessarily equal better. Too many organizations have too many under-performing employees; you need to weed them out. In developing countries, the typical company has at least 25 percent more employees than it needs.
If you have 50 employees and add 50 more, all you’ve done is double your workforce. But, if you have 50 employees who are focused on customer service, who are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and have positive attitudes, you will have a winning team. If you train those employees in the art of customer service and support this training by giving them the tools they need to take good care of your customers, you will see your sales and profits skyrocket.
2. The more you pay employees, the more committed they will be to customer service.
Increasing employees’ pay will do nothing more than eat into your organization’s profits. I’ve addressed this myth for more than three decades to clients throughout the world, stressing to them that money is not a motivator. It will not change an employee’s behavior. If you doubled every employee’s salary tomorrow, it would not improve customer service, and in 30 days you’d be out of business. If you have employees who do not provide good service, who are not committed to taking care of your customers, what you pay them will not change the way they operate.
So, you’re probably asking: What will motivate my employees to provide better customer service? The answer is this: Recognition. There is no stronger motivator than positive reinforcement and public praise. Think of it this way: If you are a parent trying to teach your young child to put away his toys at the end of the day, what do you think will be the stronger motivator—a dime each time he does so, or constant praise, especially in front of family and friends?
If you recognize the efforts of your employees who go above and beyond to take care of your customers, they will seek continued recognition by improving the service they provide. A $200 bonus would be gone in a day or two, but a word of praise will live on indefinitely. Recognition is the most powerful motivational tool you have—use it.
3. Your employees are empowered.
This is more than a myth; it’s a delusion for most managers and executives. Empowerment means that your employees have the authority to do whatever it takes to immediately solve a customer’s problem—to the satisfaction of the customer, not the organization.
In order to empower your employees, you must train them and give them the skills they need to take such good care of your customers that they wouldn’t think of doing business with anyone but you. Don’t handcuff your employees with cumbersome policies and procedures. Give them the authority to bend and break the rules in order to serve your customers.
It takes a miracle to get employees to make empowered decisions because they think they will get fired if they make a mistake. Let them know that it’s okay to make a mistake in the process of providing exceptional customer service. Without empowered employees, you will never be a service leader.
Don’t underestimate the power of customer service. Exceptional service builds loyalty, which in turn builds profits.
John Tschohl, the internationally recognized service strategist, is founder and president of Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Described by USA Today, Time and Entrepreneur as a customer service guru, he has written several books on customer service and has developed more than 26 customer-service training programs that have been distributed throughout the world. His monthly strategic newsletter is available online at no charge. 952-884-3311; john@servicequality.com; www.johntschohl.com.
24 Best Ideas For Memorable Customer Service
By Tina Berres Filipski
PPB asked recipients of this year’s PPAI Supplier Star Award to comment on the elements they think are critical to ensuring long-lasting customer satisfaction.
What are your three best pieces of advice to keep customers happy?
Don R. Martin, President
Bloomin’ Promotions (UPIC: Bloom108)
1. Offer solutions, not just products. We encourage our distributors to share information about each project early, so that we can make recommendations to ensure it is as successful and cost-effective as possible.
2. Manage the customer’s expectations. Because our products are handmade, there are slight variations in the thickness of the seed paper, as well as subtle color variations. We do our best to minimize these variations, but we encourage distributors to help manage the customer’s expectations.
3. Sample the product. We encourage distributors to plant our products and see for themselves that our paper really does grow. If they have seen how well it grows firsthand, and have that peace of mind when a customer asks, it is a powerful selling tool.
Richard Ouellette, President
Zoogee World, Inc. (UPIC: zoogee)
1. Educate your reps. Our company makes every effort to ensure our customer service representatives are fully versed in all company and product information. In addition, we train them to effectively and methodically probe distributors to accurately determine their customers’ requirements and then provide them with the most cost-effective solutions we have available to impress their customers.
2. Ensure accurate imprints and quality products. It is important to our company that our customers are satisfied with the quality of our products and our full-color domed imprints. In order to assure that the customers’ requirements are met, we provide free virtual samples (paper proofs) and even custom physical spec samples.
3. Provide fast production and delivery. Because all of our products are produced in our North American facility, we are able to provide a fast and accurate five-day production time to meet the growing need for speed expected by our distributors and their customers.
Jack Goldberg, CAS, President
Mid-Nite Snax® (UPIC: midnite)
1. Build relationships. We provide a sense of security that their orders will be processed and shipped with care and accuracy. We always put ourselves in our customers’ shoes to understand where they are coming from and work to exceed their needs.
2. Pledge quality. Quality control is crucial to keeping our customers coming back for repeat orders. We send out the best and don’t settle for anything less.
3. Be reliable and consistent. When you place an order with Mid-Nite Snax, you know what to expect. We provide the same level of service for each customer and order regardless of the size. We follow the customer’s in-hands date on every order and always do our best to ship the orders on time.
Brett Hersh, President
Admints & Zagabor (UPIC: ADMINTS)
1. Treat every order, regardless of size, like you are dealing with the biggest order your company has ever received.
2. Under promise and over deliver. If you know you can ship orders regularly within four days then promise five-day delivery, but ship in four days on a regular basis.
3. Stand behind your product. Mistakes happen, but how you deal with them and how you make distributors look to their clients will get you a customer for life.
Steve Rone, VP Sales/Marketing
World Wide Lines, Inc. (UPIC: WORLDWID)
1. Provide incredible customer service and quality products. Distributors need to know that their orders will be taken care of and that, no matter how big or small, it is the most important order we have in-house. It will be shipped on time, and it will be correct. Providing a comfort level for distributors, and building a reputation in the industry as a company dedicated to customer service and quality is key for keeping customers coming back.
2. Go the extra mile and really become a partner with the distributor, not just a supplier that takes and ships orders. In the day-to-day, back-and-forth of our industry, especially now, it takes strong supplier/distributor partnerships to be successful and to be a company distributors can count on for fantastic new ideas, innovative solutions and cutting-edge products and imprinting techniques.
3. Offer something extra. Provide them with a level of service and attention they do not expect every day. At World Wide, we love to get creative with all of our full-color capabilities, and it is so much fun to take a one-color logo and add a colorful background or provide solutions to tricky artwork or design problems and become a creative source and partner that they can count on.
Tom Riordan, President
Maple Ridge Farms, Inc. (UPIC: MAPLE)
1. Respond immediately. When a customer has a problem, fix the problem as quickly as possible in a way that has the least impact on the customer. For instance, if a product needs to be replaced, arrange to have the product picked up rather than making the end buyer ship it back.
2. Engage customers. Stay in touch with your customers and continually provide them with useful information on how they can sell more of your products. The more they sell, the more they’ll come back.
3. Ask their opinions. Involve your customers in product development. Ask them what they’d like to see you add to your product line. By adding products that your customers request, you’ve made it easier for them to come back and order from you rather than from some other company. A few years ago, we surveyed our customers asking them what they’d like to see added to our product line. A recurring request was cookies and brownies. We took that advice, and now we sell nearly one million cookies and brownies a year. I guess it pays to listen.
Gary Haley, President
Beacon Promotions, Inc. (UPIC: BEACONP)
1. Respect the customer’s time. When you contact a customer regarding a point of clarification, ask them all the questions you have about the order. Try not to come back a day later with another question.
2. Offer solutions. When something goes haywire (and it does from time to time), offer a couple of suggestions around a remedy. Try not to dump the problem on the distributor’s lap and wait for an answer. Rather, try to offer two reasonable suggestions.
3. Be as timely as you can. Try not to let days go by before contacting a distributor with questions. Try to get things done in the first 24 hours.
We do other things too, such as ship early and save distributors expedited freight whenever we can, thank new customers for coming to Beacon and thank customers who send us larger orders for their business. It all adds up to an ease-of-doing-business strategy that has served us well.
Megan Ludlow, Marketing Manager
SnugZ USA (UPIC: SNUGZ)
1. It’s all about customer service. Customer service is more than just picking up the phone and giving an order status. It’s building a partnership with our distributors and knowing how important it is for them to build a partnership with their customers. That’s where the business comes from, so keeping everyone happy right from the beginning is what we are striving for. If an order is not done right, regardless of whose mistake it was, we will correct it. We are also quick to let customers know if there is a problem. We aren’t perfect. We have run out of inventory on in-house orders before. If we can’t find an acceptable substitute, we will make our customers aware as quickly as we can, and we will give them the contact information of another supplier who has the same item.
2. Stand behind your product. Don’t take it personally if a customer is unhappy. Redo the order and do what you can to make sure you don’t get that same complaint in the future. If you want to build repeat business and are sending out something that even you wouldn’t use, the customer won’t be coming back in the future.
3. Have a ‘can do’ attitude for quick-turn orders. One of our favorite phrases distributors use is, ”My customer needed this yesterday.” We understand they are only trying to please their customers to earn their business and that business is their livelihood. We want our customers to trust that if they come to us with a quick-turn order, we will get it out. We don’t gouge our customers with rush fees either. They will most likely have to pay for overnight shipping as well, and those charges are not pretty. The point of our products is to promote business. If we charge an arm and a leg, it is not worth the rate of return, and they might decide it’s not worth it at all.
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