The Customer View

Customer Service for Those in Need

Just had an epiphany about customer service, that might just give all merchants & vendors something to think about.

This one is hot off the presses... of my life.

We had a futon in storage, and we retrieved it today.  Six months ago, when I broke it down for storage, I carefully put all the bolts and other hardware in a zip-lock plastic bag.  Because I knew I would need them again.

So, six months later, where is that bag?  No, really, where is that bag???  This is not a rhetorical question - this is serious!  I've got a futon in parts, and no hardware to hold the sucker together!  In addition to being a bit aggrevating and embarrassing, it also has me in a spot of hot water with the missus. 

So when the going gets tough, the tough go online.  Oh great Google, does anyone sell futon hardware (without having to buy the whole futon)?  It turns out that many organizations do. 

BUT... the fly in the ointment is, each site makes it clear you must order the correct size hardware, because hardware purchases are not returnable.  A reasonable request, I can understand, but my problem is, having lost the bag of hardware, I have no freakin' idea as to what size bolts, etc. that I need.

This, I think, is good opportunity to test the customer service skills of one of these businesses purporting to sell the needed hardware.  So I call Futon Planet, and explain my predicament to their friendly customer service rep.  He understood, and immediately assured me that it was pretty easy to get the measurements I needed in order to buy the correct product.  He didn't try to sell me anything, he didn't hustle for my order, he just told me the info I would need, and how to obtain that info, and that I could then be assured of buying to correct product.  Geez, I love this guy! 

Now, this seems like a sort of baseline quality customer service kind of experience, and perhaps it is.  BUT... what ratched up the significance with me is that I had made a dumb mistake by misplacing the bag of hardware, and I was mad at myself, and my better half was not exactly overjoyed with me at the moment.  When suddenly, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  A way out of this dilema! 

And that is why a basic well-executed customer service interaction has me so fired up.  And that is my message to you (ah, you wondered if I would get around to that!):

You never know the mood or the circumstances surrounding anyone you serve, at any given time.  Therefore, the slightest kindnesses can sometimes be magnified because they came at exactly the right time.  "Customer service" is not just about taking orders and answering questions - it's about SERVING your customer, and helping them.  You might just make a much larger impact than you ever expected. 

  -- Chuck Dennis

Be Friendly to Your Customers, but Don't Treat Them Like Friends

As readers of this blog know, I am not shy about shining a spotlight on examples of poor customer service, and sharing my views on how the matter could have been improved.  Armchair quarterbacking, I believe it is called.

That said, I must now point the finger at myself.

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In a conference call with a client last week, he was explaining that he was going to have to push our project back a couple of months, due to some issues concerning a sister company of his.

What I should have said is, "Hey, no problem.  Give me a holler when you are ready to roll."  But because I had built a friendship with the guy in addition to our business relationship, and we had agreed to speak freely with one another, I barely masked my disappointment, and for some reason felt the need to remind him that I would be seeking other projects in the interim, and I hoped that I would be available when he was ready to go.  I wasn't rude or snotty when I said this; it was more of like "Hey, you snooze, you lose" that you would say to a buddy.

Even now, as I retell this story, I am astounded at my ignorance.  Anyone who has worked with a consultant before, and certainly anyone with this particular gentleman's business pedagree, understands that projects need to scheduled as to availability.  But friendship or no friendship, buddy or no buddy, I should have had my customer service consultant hat on at that time.  I should have been understanding and accomodating, and I am afraid that in this instance, I was not.

I soon regained my common sense, and apologized, which the client quickly accepted and dismissed in true male-buddy fashion, and we have continued our business relationship and friendship.  But I was lucky.  By letting my guard down and wearing my friend hat when I should have been wearing my consultant hat, I could have easily lost or damaged a business relationship.

So please, learn from my error.  No matter how friendly you become with a client or customer, always remember to treat them with the respect that all customers deserve.  Any less can be damaging to both the business, and the personal, relationship.

   --- Chuck Dennis

Hammer Time - Angry Customer Style

A recent article in the Washington Post titled Taking a Whack Against Comcast tells the story of a 75 year old Virginia woman, who, after receiving poor and indifferent service over the course of four separate incidents, decided to draw some attention ftom her cable provider's service department by taking a hammer to a service rep's PC and telephone. 

While I am sensitive to the plight of angry customers everywhere, and believe that businesses can learn a lot from listening to their angry customers, and while I believe that being ignored and mistreated by businesses can rightfully elicit anger from customers, I must draw the line at violent reactions to the service.

And I am a little bit disturbed at the smirking, cavalier tone of the Post's article.  In this day and age, violent outbursts are not really a laughing matter.  The fact that this woman is 75 years old does not mean she was incapable of inflicting pain or injury to Comcast personnel.  OK, she busted up a keyboard, monitor, and telephone, as a way of getting "attention."  Cute.  What if some of the splintering equipment hit a Comcast employee in the eye?  What if Granny's backswing of the hammer caught someone in the face?  What if she hurt herself while wreaking havoc on the Comcast office?  Would she then sue Comcast for the pain and suffering? (Fact is, her blood pressure did go up to a dangerous level, and she began hyperventilating, and required an ambulance.)

And the Washington Post, who really should know better, chose to highlight this woman as a great American outlaw, going outside the boundaries of the law, yet striking a blow for "justice."

Let's get this straight.  I love angry customers.  My consulting practice and the articles I write are all about getting businesses to take heed of their angry customers, and learn how to improve their service, products and operations by hearing, and then addressing, customer complaints.  But their are limits to the appropriateness of customer anger.  I tend to draw the line after the first use of profanity.  Violent actions?  Forget about it!  You just lost your complainin' priviledges, is what ya did.

  -- Chuck Dennis

Capitalism or Greed? Often, a Fine Line...

Good old fashioned capitalism?  Or price gouging and scalping?

Thousands of  "tweens" don't really care what you call it.  All they know is that their dreams of seeing 14-year-old singer / actress / icon Miley Cyrus, aka "Hannah Montana," have been squashed by ticket brokering organizations who have bought up the vast majority of tickets in a number of cities across the country, and are selling them for 5 to 35 times the list price of $63.

On the one hand, free enterprise works on the premise of first come, first served.  And if you have enough money, you can purchase what you want.  And what these ticket brokers want is tickets that they can sell for profit.  That's how they make their money.

On the other hand, if you or I tried doing that, we would be arrested for scalping.  So, apparently it's okay to do on a mass scale, as long as you hide behind a business name and have a web site.

A recent article on cnn.com, titled Brokers Snatch Joy from Hannah Montana Fans, discusses this phenomenom.  Now, this kind of thing happens to concerts and ball games and other big events all the time.  But this particular occurence strikes a sour chord on a couple of levels.

One, the ticket brokers bought up almost ALL of the tickets in many major cities, almost immediately.  So there was little opportunity for the rank and file to purchase their tickets at the list price.

And the other issue is, this event is for KIDS.  It's a big deal for kids - this is probably the first concert that many of them were interested in attending.  And the listed price of $63 was high enough, but once the scalpers... uh, I mean brokers got into the game, the prices skyrocketed into the ridiculous (four figures, for heaven's sake!) range.  And due to the targeted demographic here (10-14 year old girls), they are not going to go to this event alone.  Most will require a parental chaperone (i.e., another full-priced ticket).

Miss Cyrus, and her father, country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, sort of just shrug and give a sad little smile, saying there is nothing they can do about this, because, frankly, no laws have been broken by the brokers.  No, it is the system that is broken. 

But what if the Cyruses decided to put on some free shows?  The scheduled Hannah Montana shows are already sold out (thanks to the brokers), so Miss Cyrus wouldn't lose any money.  And she would gain even MORE adulation from her adoring fans.  And the greedy, price gouging brokers would maybe think twice before pulling this kind of stunt, at least to this extreme, in the future.

   -- Chuck Dennis

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Customer Scorned

It used to be, if your business angered a customer, you could lose the customer's business, and count on him telling anywhere from 5 to 25 people about the negative experience.  Depending on the nature of the the experience and the credibility of the angry customer, you might take a business hit from some existing and prospective customers.  Not to mention, your loss is your competitor's gain.

Nowadays, through the wonders of technology, specifically the interactivity of Web 2.0, disgruntled customers have a much larger stage for their soapbox.  Hundreds, thousands, even millions of people can now read about a single customer complaint!  An article in yesterday's New York Times, titled "Dealing With the Damage From Online Critics," discusses this topic. 

Now, no business is immune to the occasional dissatisfied customer.  However, as the article explains, it's often how the business deals with the dissatisfaction that makes or breaks them.  Depending on the magnitude of the customer's anger, bitter online posts with embellished details and ominous threats can give pause to potential customers and even disinterested third parties.  Critical and derogatory web sites can be created, or simply steaming posts on blogs or online forums can wreak havoc on a business' goodwill.

Businesses can fight back by jumping into the fray with denials, counter-claims, or simply by posting authentic or contrived positive news about themselves or their products.  However, my belief is that nobody wins in this kind of online street fight.  Everyone comes out with at least some scrapes and bruises.  A better approach would be for the business to attempt to reach out to the offended customer, and try to learn the exact nature of the problem, why it happened, why it disturbed the customer, and how it can be avoided in the future. 

The business that acknowledges its problems, and resolves them to the customers' satisfaction, is going to win a lot more loyalty and admiration than one who simply tries to sweep the dirt under the carpet.

  -- Chuck Dennis

Take That to the Bank!

I am currently working on an article concerning Angry Customers and the banking industry.  As you can imagine, there are a number of instances where customers are not happy with their banks.  Today's Boston Globe has an interesting article called "Man Beats Bank."  The gist of the article is that, above and beyond the typical pesky fees that many banks impose upon their customers for pratcially every service rendered, there is a darker side.  Fleet Bank, now owned by Bank of America, utilized  "'a secret rate sheet' that bank employees were given daily and told not to disclose to customers."  This came to light when a customer was charged $10,000 for a transaction that should have cost him $30.  The bank shot itself in the foot when it inadvertently attached the secret rate sheet to a deposition of a bank official.  The bank customer, who is a lawyer, was tenacious in his fight, and after 8 years, the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that the bank had not properly disclosed the rates.  State and Federal regulators and even consumer reporters had previously ignored his complaint, and he believes that many other Fleet customers have been similarly overcharged.

If banks wonder why their industry has such a shaky reputation, here is one obvious example.  Sometimes, it's not enough to read the fine print; sometimes, the most significant details are "secret."

   -- Chuck Dennis

Whither the Customer Service Excellence?

Blogger Nan C. Loyd recently posted an interesting article on her Joy-Cafe.com blog, about the lack of follow-through and excellent business practices within many businesses today.  She raises some valid points, and asks the question "What on earth happened to the 'the customer is always right' attitude?"

While personally, I tend to modify that statement:
The customer may not be always right, but they are always the customer, and therefore should never be made to feel wrong.

But I know where Nan is coming from.  Read her post, simply called Excellence.

  -- Chuck Dennis

Patients are Customers, Too

Oftentimes, medical facilities seem to forget that they, like all other businesses, are in the people business.  Maybe it's because the majority of the payment comes via insurance companies.  Maybe it's because the healthcare providers see their focus as the sickness, more than the patient.  But whatever the reason, the customer experience is frequently overlooked.

Last week, my father, almost 87 years old, was in the hospital in Memphis, TN.  He had surgery for some recent health issues, but brought some of his existing health issues with him, namely, diabetes.  During his post-surgery stay, the meals that were brought to him routinely included foods that had significant amounts of sugar.  Thankfully, my dad had the awareness and good sense to simply leave those foods alone.  But he was not too pleased that the hospital could not understand something that even airlines get, which is that diabetics require a special diet.

The delivery of his food also left much to be desired.  A well-dressed chap (black pants and vest, white shirt, black bow tie) came in each day, reading what "the chef" had prepared for upcoming meals.  Unfortunately, it was all scripted, and this fellow was not able to answer any questions that deviated from what was printed on his cheat sheet.  He also delivered the meals to the room, and placed it on the movable tray.  Unfortunately, wherever the movable tray was located at the time of his arrival, that is where the food was placed, irregardless of whether it was within reaching distance of my father.  Since Dad was bedridden, it was of no help to him to have the food on the other side of his room.  If my sister or I was visiting, we could move the tray into place.  If we were not, Dad would have to call a nurse for help. 

Another time, they brought Dad a snack of crackers and a small container of peanut butter.  Unfortunately, they did not bring him a utensil to put the peanut butter on the crackers.  Another time, they brought him grits with no spoon!  Now, oversights do happen, and if this occurs when you go out to a restaurant, you simply ask the waiter to bring you what you need.  But in a hospital...

a) you're not feeling well
b) you're not terribly mobile
c) you're being cared for by nurses, who have other medical matters to tend to

It's not asking too much that your meals be coordinated with you overall health concerns (not just the matters you are being treated for), and that they are served to you where you can reach them, and you are given the proper utensils to eat with.  The philosophy of seeing the world through your customer's eyes has never been more applicable than when dealing with those who can not adequately care for themselves. 

  -- Chuck Dennis

Apple - A Company that "Gets" Its Customers

While we are not currently Mac or iPod or iPhone users, we have a lot of respect for companies that focus on their customers, and inspire loyalty from them. 

Fellow blogger Rich McIver, in his blog InsideCRM, writes about this in his entry 12 Effective Strategies Apple Uses to Create Loyal Customers.  He discusses some of the techniques used by Apple to create customer evangelists.

    -- Chuck Dennis

Jet Blue, You're Making It Hard to Love You

*sigh*

Readers of this blog know that we have a soft spot in our hearts for Jet Blue.  We first wrote about them because of their great service and the overall superior customer experience they delivered.  Our personal dealings with the airline have been consistently great.

However, we also wrote about the Valentine's Day debacle in New York, where a bad winter storm showed some gaping holes in Jet Blue's ability to handle problems.  As you know, many people were trapped on planes on the tarmac for many, many hours.  And there was a domino effect for the rest of that week, where many, many flights were canceled or seriously delayed.

While Jet Blue certainly had no control over the weather, it did not have a workable back-up plan for foul weather problems, and hey, this is an airline... they had to have expected that problems like this could, and would, arise!

We applauded Jet Blue CEO David Neeleman, when he stepped up to the plate, took full responsibility, and came up with the customer bill of rights, which outlined specifically how Jet Blue would handle any future service catastrophes. 

But I don't think Mr. Neeleman was ready for this.  As the airline has been earnestly trying to rebuild their tattered reputation, four of its employees are arrested for credit card fraud.  Seems as though a few of their customers, in a hurry or distracted by other matters, mistakenly left their credit cards at the Jet Blue desk in NY.  The Jet Blue employees who found the cards figured that the "Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers" rule applied here, so instead of actually providing some courteous service for their customers by contacting the credit card offices and notifying them of the found cards, these Jet Blue employees (three "customer service" agents and one flight attendant, as well as a friend of theirs - get this, a corrections officer!) took it upon themselves to party!  They racked up charges at at liquor stores, restaurants and shops, including Bloomingdale's and Victoria's Secret!

Needless to say, while this is not a corporate issue per se, but the actions of a few bad apples, the fact that Jet Blue's name has been dragged through the mud once again makes it very difficult for even their staunchest defenders to continue to carry the torch for them.  Mr. Neeleman, you've got your work cut out for you on this one.

    -- Chuck Dennis