The Customer View

Fly Me to the Moon

People don’t mind paying for premium service.  They don’t mind cost so much when they know what to expect.  But imagine dining in a restaurant, ordering from a nice menu, and then discovering that there are extra charges for the dishes, glasses, and silverware.  That glass of water?  Extra.  Oh, and remember when you asked to move away from the table by the kitchen door, to that empty booth in the corner?  That's another BIG extra charge.

In this crazy scenario, I believe that most level-headed would soon stop dining out.  But isn't this exactly what the airlines are doing?   

In the 2nd Quarter of 2010, U.S. airlines collected $2.1 billion in fees and extra charges from passengers in the, up 13 percent from the first three months of the year. This is from the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ recent quarterly report.  This $2.1 billion has been collected for the following "services": baggage fees, reservation change fees and miscellaneous operating revenue, including pet transportation, sale of frequent flyer award miles to airline business partners and standby passenger fees, as well as revenue from seating assignments and on-board sales of food, drink, pillows, blankets, and entertainment.  None of these are listed "on the menu" when one buys a ticket.

Oh, and by the way, I haven’t noticed a whole lot of customer service awards being granted to airlines these days. Seems like all of them regularly run behind schedule, and a lot of their personnel are pretty grumpy. There are a couple of airlines that seem to “get it,” but for the most part, the customer experience is pretty mediocre-to-poor.  So what’s a customer to do?  

Well, the Consumer Travel Alliance , the Business Travel Coalition, and the American Society of Travel Agents have launched the website MadAsHellAboutHiddenFees.com.  To date, they have collected over 50,000 signatures, including mine, on a petition they plan to present to the Department of Transportation (DOT) today (9/23/2010).  I think when fifty thousand of your customers speak up against how you are running your business, and they are mad enough to go to the government about it, you kinda hafta listen, dontcha?

I will be very interested in seeing how this plays out.  At least one of the airlines that “get it” is making the fact that they do NOT charge for checked baggage a big part of their advertising campaign.  Good idea on their part, but at the same time, kind of sad that NOT charging a hidden fee is viewed as a competitive advantage.

 -- Chuck Dennis

It's OK, Customer Service (even eService) can be Fun!

My sister, a customer service maven in her day, forwarded to me a wonderful little email she received from the customer service department from Better World Books :

Hey Carole,  <name obscured by me to protect my sister's privacy!>

We're just checking in to see if you received your order (The Golden Door Cookbook ) from Better World Books. If your order hasn't blessed your mailbox just yet, heads are gonna roll in the Mishawaka warehouse! Seriously though, if you haven't received your order or are less than 108.8% satisfied, please reply to this message. Let us know what we can do to flabbergast you with service.

Humbly Yours,

Indaba (our super-cool email robot)

email: [email protected]

Order Number: 53090456101

Fund literacy, care for the environment, and get a fair price on the books you want.
BetterWorldbooks.com (http://www.BetterWorldbooks.com/)

2 Million Used Books. Free shipping in the USA, $3.97 worldwide.

Become a fan of Better World Books... on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Better-World-Books/10669898542

OK, so what did these folks do right?  How about everything?

Let's list some highlights, shall we?

• prompt confirmation of order
• confirmation of order was personalized, with customer's name and name of item ordered
• then... HUMOR!
  Okay, not knee-slapping, milk-through-the-nose funny, but just a little bit of a hah-hah, a few in a rapid-fire row: "heads will roll," "108.8% satisfied," and "flabbergast you with service."  These all caught our attention, and in a good way - with a smile!
• then... FULL DISCLOSURE!
  After sharing a smile with the email, we then learn that it was sent NOT by a witty and clever service rep, but by an automated email responder.  Wow, they used technology to perform a function AND make a funny?  Is that even legal???
• then... the closing of the email, and all the info YOU need to know (their email address and customer order #), as well as info that THEY want you to know (their excellent mission, their web address, their amount of inventory, their free shipping, and their Facebook page.  None of it obtrusive.  And the reader is happy to read it, because they've already been given a smile or two.

See, great customer service is not that difficult.  I like it when businesses get that.

   --- Chuck Dennis

Above & Beyond

I don't say this often, but in this instance, Cox rocks!

I called our cable TV and internet provider, Cox Communications, because I needed to have an additional telephone line installed. They sent Geoff (known to his colleagues as Tech 66458) to my home to do the work.

First off, he arrived well within the designated 2 hour time frame that was promised to me when I made the initial request for service.  So, Geoff gets points there.  That started our relationship off on the right foot.

Before getting down to business, Geoff needed to scope out the situation, so he'd know if he could utilize existing cable installations or have to install new ones.  In the process of his assessment, he found that he could use the existing set.  But he also found some odd connections that were having a negative impact on our service.

1. He identified a cable from our main cable box that fed our TV and Internet service to the first floor of our house.  A second cable with a splitter allegedly fed the three rooms upstairs.  But the cable TV only worked in one of the rooms, and it was a room where we did not want TV.  In my office, where I did want the TV, no signal came through.
2. He also realized that having the cable come upstairs, split three ways, and none of them being used, was actually sucking some of the life out of our wireless Internet service.  The unused cables were acting as "antennas" and were pulling in part of the wireless signal.

With a few adjustments, he was able to hook up my telephone service, change the splitter, kill the cable TV in the guest room, and install the cable TV service in my office.  So, in addition to the phone line that I requested in my office, I now also have working TV - just in time for the Red Sox playoff run! - and we have faster, more stable wireless Internet.  Thanks to my man, Geoff, going above and beyond the call of duty.

Moral of the story: great customer service doesn't have to be a big deal.  In fact, simply being friendly and helpful goes a LONG way in the delivery of world class service.  Geoff understands this; I hope Cox realizes the positive impact he made on a customer's experience.

  -- Chuck Dennis

Customer Relationship = Customer Retention

In a good blog post, called It's the Relationship, Stupid, the author (one of the principals from My Creative Team, in Charlotte, NC) talks about the difference one new manager made in turning a local restaurant from good to great.  This manager inherited a restaurant where the author had experienced pretty good food, but pretty spotty service.  The new guy took it upon himself to meet his customers, learn their names, learn what they liked, offered some freebies, and most importantly, REMEMBERED all this stuff the next time the author and his wife returned.  Suffice to say, they return much more frequently now.

This is such a simple concept, and not just for the restaurant or hospitality industry, but for ANY business.  EVERY business.  This is not rocket science.  This is Basic Humanity 101.   If you get to know someone, they will get to know you.  If that someone is a customer who purchases product or service from you, they will purchase more from you the better you get to know them, and they get to know you.

For some reason, this common sense idea is often overlooked in the business world.  Not enough effort is made, because not enough thought is put into it.  Not enough incentive is created for the customer-facing personnel to make this effort - something that they would likely do instinctively in their own home - at their job. 

Management needs to decide how they want their customers treated, right down to the specifics.  Then they need to reward the employees who treat their customers in this way.  And they need to NOT reward any other kind of treatment of their customers.  This is the tricky part: drawing the line in the sand between ideal service behavior and everything else.  Businesses who are serious about retaining customers long term will take this to heart.  Businesses who don't get it will not want to raise the fuss and risk causing resentment between the unrewarded employees and the ones who get rewarded for doing the right thing.  Those businesses will continue to get spotty service delivery from their employees, and will not generate customer loyalty.

  -- Chuck Dennis

Customer Service Saves the Day

Readers of this blog know that we are champions of businesses that provide excellent service for their customers.  We believe that making customers feel welcome and appreciated is simply the best way of growing a business, regardless of industry.

But here is another benefit of providing attentive customer service: defense against robbery and shoplifting!

A recent Seattle Times article discussed how two area banks thwarted robbery by identifying a suspicious-looking man, and treating him like a top customer.  By lavishing attention on this man, the banks took away the suspected robber's initiative and frustrated him into leaving without committing a crime.  Brilliant!

I recently did some work with a major book/CD/DVD retailer who takes the same approach to suspected shoplifters.  Instead of discreetly keeping an eye on the suspect, they train their employees to turn on the service charm. "Hi!  Can I help you find anything today?  Say, that sure is a nice parka you're wearing.  Must be hot today, though.  What is it, 90 degrees outside?" 

The beauty of this approach is, of course, you are simply providing the level of attentive service that all businesses should provide all customers.  There's no trickery involved, no covert spying, nothing but good old fashioned friendly service.  As thieves typically like to operate in anonymity, oftentimes this attention directed at them is enough to derail their plans.

So, if you needed another reason to provide top-notch customer service in your business, add theft-prevention to the list.  No, it's not 100% foolproof, but it doesn't cost anything extra to do.  And your non-thieving customers will appreciate the attention, and maybe even buy more from you!

  -- Chuck Dennis

The Apple of Her Eye

"The transaction was done before I even knew it began!"

These were the words of my friend Carole, when discussing a recent purchase at an Apple Store.  She went in to simply look at her options for an iPod speaker dock (i.e., a device to play her iPod so that others may hear the music).  She had gone into the store to assess her options, but left the store shortly thereafter with her purchase in hand. 

So what transformed her from a tire-kicker to a satisfied customer?  Big surprise here: SERVICE!

Even amidst the hustle and bustle of the constantly busy Apple Store, the rep found Carole, determined what she was seeking, led her to the right area, explained the options that she had, and patiently waited for her to make her decision, while standing at the ready to be able to answer any questions she may have had.  Then, here's the beautiful thing:

Once she had decided on which speaker dock to purchase, the Apple rep whipped out his hand-held credit / debit card processor, and processed her order.  By the time her receipt had printed out for her to sign, another Apple employee was approaching, with her purchase boxed up, and then bagged in a handy-dandy backpack-type bag, that could be carried by hand or strapped to one's back like a backpack.  This is where Carole realized, "The transaction was done before I even knew it began!"

This anecdote is key, not just because the reps were attentive, and Carole got what she wanted with a minimum of hassle or heavy-lifting, but because the purchase was made at all.  You see, Carole had no intention of actually BUYING the product at the Apple Store.  Everybody knows by now that Apple Stores are cool, fun places to check out the latest technology, but they are not the place one goes to save money.  And Carole's husband Ron, who loves his toys, is a big fan of saving money on sites like uBid, so she knew she could get a better deal elsewhere.  But, because of the hand-held order processor, she did not have to stand idly in line, and therefore, did not have to opportunity to ponder her purchase, and wonder if she might save money by buying it elsewhere.  Now, the Apple Store employees did not steamroller her into making a purchase.  Rather, they were ready when the customer was ready, and processed the order immediately before she could start considering any other options.

So, once again, this is why SERVICE is more important than product or price.  If your customer feels taken care of, she or he will buy.  End of story. 

   -- Chuck Dennis

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 the 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 dilemma! 

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.

<=====

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

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