How to Create a Superior Customer Service Strategy Part 2 – Discover What Your Customers Really Want

Last week we explored the first part of this 3 part series on the creation of a superior customer service strategy. These principles discussed here are based on an all-time customer service book by business authors Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles called Raving Fans. In it the authors discuss the principles of customer service based on what we call the 3D Approach to Customer Service Strategy – Decide, Discover and Deliver.

We discussed the must haves on issues surrounding deciding what any business enterprise requires in terms of your superior customer service delivery. Employee involvement, buy in and support  is crucial in in the  successful implementation of your strategy. Create a vision for your customer service and have it written down in a powerful statement. Once you have made up your mind and decided what you want to do it is time to discover what your customers really want.

Ask yourself, what do your clients want? What do they think about your customer service? How do they want you to serve them? Instead of speculating on the answers to the above questions ask your customers for the answers. Find out from them what they really want from you. Do they like your packaging for your products? Is your product user friendly? Are your employees giving the customers the right service they deserve? 

Both customers and consumers have grown to accept inadequate performance. Bad service is the status quo in today's world. Many say nothing when they are dissatisfied. Therefore, you must listen to what your clients are telling you, and you must also notice the silences. Because your clients are not complaining does not mean they are happy. Lack of service has created apathetic consumers or customers who feel complaining may not do anything but waste their time. So, ask your clients what they want, what you are doing well, and what you could be doing better. Politely "force" them into answering those questions instead of just assuming they are satisfied.

So, how do you go about discovering what your customers want? Carry out customer service surveys where you gather data on the opinions of your customers about your service. Use the Stop, Start and Continue principle. Ask customers what is it that they want you to stop doing which irritates them or inconveniences them? What is it that they want you to start doing which you are currently not doing? What is it that you are doing that you should continue doing?

Carrying out a customer service survey is seemingly easy but it requires excellent use of research methods principles. In that regard it is highly recommended that if there is no internal expertise in the organization a professional researcher be contracted to carry it out for you.  The design of the questionnaire and the criterion to be measured has to be clearly understood and user friendly for your customers so that they give you the right information that you require. There is need to check for reliability and validity of the test instruments (questionnaires) to be used. In simple terms validity as a concept looks at whether the instrument (questionnaire) that has been designed measures what it purports to measure. Reliability on the other hand looks at the consistency of the instrument (questionnaire) in coming up with the same results.

There are many sources of information that can be used to gather data from customers for you to discover what they want. These are not limited to the use of a customer feedback book, customer satisfaction questionnaires, email response from customers, carrying out a survey, conducting focus group discussions, among others. Whatever method agreed internally be sure it will be able to capture the required information so that sound decision making can be reached.

Once the raw data has been collected, it becomes time to decipher through all of it to discover what your customers want. The use of a statistical analysis package like SPSS – Statistical Package for Social Sciences is essential in this regard. Share the findings of the research with everyone in the company in a kind of “our customers spoke and we listened.”

Now that the discovery of what customers want has successfully been concluded what next? It will be time to move to the final milestone of delivering which is the focus of next week’s article. In the meantime remember last week you decided what you want to do by creating a vision. This week you have discovered what your customers really want from you in terms of service. Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to create raving fans who are delighted customers by offering them superior customer service.

How to Create a Superior Customer Service Strategy Part 1 – Decide What You Want

Many times organizations talk about wanting to improve their service delivery and then fall short on executing it. A close scrutiny into the cause of their failure exposes their shortcomings in coming up with a viable simple strategy to carry it out. In this three part series we are going to look into how to create a workable customer service strategy. The principles discussed here are based on an all-time customer service book by business authors Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles called Raving Fans. In it the authors discuss the principles of customer service based on what we call the 3D Approach to Customer Service Strategy – Decide, Discover and Deliver.

To those not familiar with the book let us first take a look at what the book talks about in a nutshell. Raving Fans is written in the guise of a simple parable. It relates the story of a new department manager on his first day of work. He is flatly told to fix the department's customer service problems A.S.A.P. or find a new job. Unsure of how to create happy customers, the department manager is suddenly presented with a fairy godfather, Charlie, who teaches him the secrets of how to fix his inadequate customer service.

Charlie explains that customer service is horrible in today's society. In fact, it is so bad that anything apart from truly horrendous service is accepted. Consumers can no longer conceptualize what good customer service is, much less come to expect it. So in this environment, those with truly exceptional service will excel. The basic theme is that we need to create not only satisfied customers, but raving fans—truly ecstatic customers.

So, how exactly do we create these raving fans? In this simple story, Charlie teaches us his three tenants of customer service: (1) Decide what you want, (2) Discover what your customer really wants, (3) Deliver, plus one percent. The department manager then goes back to work, applies Charlie's rules, becomes president of his company, and everyone lives happily ever after—in true fairy-tale format. 

Let us take a close look at each of those 3 tenants of customer service and see how it can be implemented in your organization right here in Zimbabwe. The first aspect is: Decide what you want. How do you decide what you want? This calls for the creation of the customer service vision of your business. You cannot create raving fans without knowing exactly what you want and where you are going. Basically, this is simply the clarity of ideas and the creation of a plan to administer your vision of perfection. 

Create a mental picture of the kind of customer service you want to offer. Visualize your employees delivering it and your customers receiving it. What would things be like? The joy, the jubilation, the delight in the faces of both employees and customers as your strategy works and yields results. Creation of a vision is a powerful tool which elicits feelings of exciting things to look forward to in you and your employees. Involve them in the creation of the vision because they are the ones that will help you in executing it. 

Ask your employees to come up with ideas of what it means to them to offer excellent customer service. Encourage them to briefly describe it and reward those who come up with the best ideas which can be implemented. Consolidate all their suggestions to come up with the best picture of what you want to do. Write down the vision and circulate it for everyone to critique and elicit their buy in and commitment. The next step is to come up with your customer service credo or pay off line. This is a powerful statement that describes what your commitment to delivering exceptional service. Involve your employees in this one as well. Ask them for suggestions and reward the one who comes up with the best statement. It has to be simple, easy to remember but powerful enough to inspire your employees. Think of world class organizations and their powerful statements. 

This process will light the fire in the belly of everyone in your organization as they can see and relate to what you want to do. Keep them excited about it. And move to the next stage where you discover what your customers want. We will examine what it entails in next week’s article.

Employees Should Be Taught Excellent Customer Service

Timothy Gavakava* waited patiently for the young lady behind the counter to finish her telephone conversation with her boyfriend. He wanted to quickly grab lunch and be on his way to an appointment with a potentially huge client. Unfortunately, the lady who was supposed to be serving at this food outlet had an important phone call with her boyfriend about their plans for the evening. She kept chatting and giggling oblivious of customers who by now were in a queue waiting for her. Timothy shuddered he wanted to pounce on her, scream and kick her. He grew impatient and eventually decided to forgo lunch and rush to his afternoon appointment.

A lot of people go through awful customer service at the hands of employees who are too big to be bothered by customers. They treat customers as an inconvenience that they have to deal with each day. Very rude, abusive and arrogant service personnel are awash in today’s businesses. One hesitates to ask these employees about certain features or promotions run by their companies for fear of being publicly humiliated for asking “silly” questions. You wander whether these employees are aware of where their salaries come from or why they left their houses in the morning coming to work?

Have your customers started complaining about the attitudes and behaviours of your customer service personnel? If your answer is yes, then it is long overdue for you to teach your employees about the excellent service they should be giving your customers. Unfortunately for you, most customers are like Timothy Gavakava, they simply walk away silently, waving good bye and good riddance. They have neither the time nor the patience to complain.

This calls for you to teach your employees to provide excellent customer service. The daunting task is for you, as management, to make it happen. If your customers are going to experience excellent service then the major responsibility for creating a customer- friendly atmosphere begins with you, the boss. Not only are you responsible for teaching first-rate customer service skills, but as the leader you must demonstrate these behaviours and be a role model for your employees. Without a positive example from you, they’re not likely to improve.

Whether or not an employee works specifically as a customer service person, he must speak and relate to customers and potential customers as if they are the paymasters. In fact, they are. Tell your employees to seriously consider this startling truth: If customers don’t keep coming back and purchasing your company’s products or services, there will be no company. And obviously, if there’s no company – or if you’re forced to downsize – many of the people working for you now may lose their jobs. I bet you’ll have your employees’ complete attention.

Your main goal is to have each customer leave with a smile on their face and a feeling of having been taken care of by you and your employees – and having purchased just what they needed or wanted. If you want your customers to come back again and again, you’ve got to satisfy them by making it easy for them to do business with you, which will get them to return for more. Everyone in your organization should understand that if they ill-treat customers, they will not get repeat business and salaries will not be paid.

How do you go about teaching your employees the intricacies of excellent customer service? Start with simple everyday things that are easy to implement and relate to. We call these quick wins for employees. It is not about doing extraordinary things, but doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

If a customer walks into your premises or approaches an employee they should become the centre of attraction. Employees should stop talking to their colleagues and get off the phone. Give the customer undivided attention, they deserve it, they are the boss, remember! Show them you are more than prepared to help them with all they want today. Customers need to feel that employees were ready to serve them at any given time and they will bring back their business.

Customers need to be acknowledged that they have arrived. An employee should look up at the customer, smile and welcome their potential pay cheque. Yes customers do bring in the money that is used to pay salaries, in case you have forgotten! In China they have a proverb which says that, “a man without a smiling face should not open shop.” Surely in a very competitive market place it is the shop that provides excellent customer service that thrives. Genuine smiles which shows the customer that they are valued and welcome is what we are talking about here.

Probe customers by asking them how you can help or assist them today. Teaching your employees to become comfortable with the use of questions is a sure way to solve most customer complaints. Probing is likened to drawing water out of a deep well. The more you do it the more information you draw out from your customer which helps you in serving them. Provide answers that are factual and useful to the customer. Explain everything in simple understandable language which the customer is able to relate to. Be empathetic, show your concern for them in a big way.

As your employee prepares to conclude the sell they should learn to ask, in a friendly way, if they have been of assistance to the customer. If the answer is no, they should continue to serve the customer until they have satisfied their needs. No one should walk out of your company doors unsatisfied with your service. Once a customer has come to you they should remain with you. Keep them under lock and key, they should never go to competition again. Why should they? Ask the customer if they need anything else. Are they sure there is nothing else you can do for them today? When are they coming back again? How about their friends, relatives and colleagues? Where are they transacting? Encourage them to tell someone about their experience with you and persuade them to come to you for business.  

In all this your employees should keep smiling. Not a plastic smile. No, never! The customer is able to tell the difference between a genuine and a faked smile. Be genuine when smiling. We are talking about a heart-warming smile, a smile that comes from within, the kind of smile that will make customers want to deal with you always. A smile that tells the story, “I like you,”  “You make me happy,”   “I am glad to see you”

Why should your employees not afford to smile? Remember this is the paymaster they are dealing with! They are about to earn their next salary from this transaction. They cannot afford to mess up with the real employer, someone who determines whether they earn a salary this month or not. Make them aware of this fact. Repeat it over and over until it becomes second to nature for them. Talk about it in the morning briefings, weekly meetings or whatever platform of communication that is available to you.

The above quick wins do not require your business spending money on a training budget. Hence there is no justification for your employees not doing it. Keep doing it and your customers will be happy. If your customers are happy they come back for more and their friends come too. This is good business for you, the bottom line increases, management is happy, they pay a bonus and employees become happy too. Everyone is happy and excited. Do it and you have just earned your next pay check.

*not his real name

Focus on Customer Delight in 2012

Writes Ed Masau

Businesses across the country have enjoyed brisk business in December 2011. Walking around all the shopping malls showed the increase in buying power of consumers powered by the payment of bonuses by the majority of companies. Unfortunately for most businesses particularly in the retail business, they enjoy such unprecedented sales seasonally during the festive season. As January disease reckons consumers become very sensitive to how they spend their money and where they spend it. This cautionary approach by customers poses a challenge to most businesses on how they can tap into the customer’s wallet and enjoy the lion’s share in 2012. 

The focus as we get into 2012 should be simple. The business that musters ways to satisfy and delight their customers will succeed in the New Year. Today’s customer is a sophisticated being who values how they are treated when they do their purchase. The customer truly understands the value of the dollar and their right to be treated like royalty when they decide to do business with you. As the New Year begins it is time to make resolutions on how to treat your customers for continued success and creation of value for your business. What areas can you focus on during this year’s strategy formulation? The customer should be the focus for your business in 2012. Delighting them should be top of the agenda in the strategic meetings held in the corridors of power. Give it the high priority tag it deserves because it will make or break your business this year. It will provide the competitive advantage and the leverage your business requires to succeed.

John Tschohl the founder of Service Quality International (SQI) recommends a seven point approach to customer service strategy in 2012. The areas that he recommends businesses to focus on are:

·         Understand the power of customer service and the strategic value. Do research in the area of the power of customer service and how it can be harnessed to bring benefits to your business. Everyone in the executive committee should understand this and the strategic value it brings.

·         Eliminate stupid policies and procedures. These cost money, increase your cost of doing business, have NO value in the eyes of the customer and turn off customers. Policies and procedures should not prove to be the snare to customer delight. Customers should not leave your premises disgruntled because you have evoked the “it’s not in our policy” statement on them.

·         Be more selective with the people you hire. Look for “A” players, the kind of employees who are passionate about service delivery and demonstrate it through their enthusiasm and personality. Terminate the employees who are taking up space and no longer love their job. It is noteworthy to remember that passionate employees are the only ones who are able to delight your customers.

·         Empower all employees to make fast, empowered decisions. Empowerment is the most difficult attitude and skill to teach. Most managers and supervisors want to be the only ones with the power to make decisions that impact customers. They enjoy having frontline employees consulting them on everything pertaining to customers. This should stop in 2012, have all employees empowered to make decisions on customer delighting. Research around empowerment revealed that almost all employees think they will be instantly fired for making empowered decisions. This trend should be buried in 2011 and not be taken into the new year.

·         Train everyone on customer service with a new skill every 3 months. Refresher training every quarter helps employees to remember the anecdotes on customer service and create a service culture. Once a service culture has been created you are guaranteed that you will delight your customers at every opportunity that presents itself. One shot programs produce one shot results and are not recommended for 2012. Include the training costs in your 2012 budget and treat them as an investment not an expense.

·         Master Service recovery. When things go bad train your staff to take a customer from hell to heaven in 60 seconds or less. This is a great recovery approach. Acknowledge that things will go wrong at some point because they will surely go wrong. No one is perfect and that means your customer service will not be perfect, so invest in a robust recovery plan which will delight you customers at the end of the day.

·         Measure the results financially. How is it impacting revenue, brand, market share, profits, and customer complaints? An increase in the bottom line is the reason why you are in business so the quantification of any intervention in dollar value is essential. Create a dashboard which can help in measuring the results of the customer strategy for 2012.  

A focus on these and other customer improvement strategies will bring your business success in 2012. Some of the benefits that are envisioned in 2012 will include increased bottom–line performance, profitability or more efficient use of resources, retaining customers and earning their trust, lower costs per customer, customer endorsements and recommendations, staff satisfaction and a good reputation. Recharge your glass and raise it up to success in 2012. You deserve it.