This month’s topic is customer
service. Do yourself and your customers a favor and make sure you have
up-to-date anti-virus software operating and all security precautions from your
e-mail program’s provider. There are over 50,000 viruses out there and it
seems like a weekly event that I get an infected e-mail attachment.
Where is all the customer
service?
How do your customers help you
build value in your company? By being so loyal and ecstatic they tell others
about you.
Customers are tough to get and
easy to lose. You’d think businesses, especially large firms, would realize
this and make an effort to treat people with respect. Instead, they do things
like create even more endless phone mail systems that make it almost impossible
to figure out who you’re supposed to talk to much less get the right person on
the line. The latest twist is to announce, “Our options have changed so please
listen…”
Small businesses have an
advantage over big business in this area. You and your employees can actually
take responsibility for your actions. A consultant I know promises to return all
calls (made during the business day) within 90 minutes. I see more and more
brochures that proclaim a call will be answered by a live person.
Airports and airlines are always
a great source for examples and humor. They also are a great place to witness
customer service opportunities. The proliferation of new airlines is because the
big ones aren’t cutting it. Examples include
·
Horizon Air serving Starbucks coffee in their gate areas,
Starbucks coffee, Northwest microbrews and wines on their flights
(complimentary).
·
Midwest Air serving real meals, using real silverware and
glass wine glasses.
·
JetBlue offers new airplanes, leather seats and satellite
television. And, as a low cost airline, they encourage passengers to bring their
own meals on board.
The news is filled with airport
rage, much of precipitated by airline policies and a record number of travelers.
However, let’s not put all the blame on the companies. Part of the problem
lies with the customers. Here’s something I recently witnessed. You judge
where the lowest common denominator is.
I get in line at an e-ticket
kiosk for automatic check-in. In front of me are two guys. They’re having no
success checking in (by entering their 6 character confirmation code). The
computer won’t take their information and issue a boarding pass.
As I lean over to see what’s
going on I notice they don’t have e-tickets, they have paper tickets. I tell
them the kiosk won’t work because it’s for e-tickets only. They nod okay and
one of them says, “Let’s try it one more time,” and starts to enter his
(long) ticket number. I tell them again it won’t work. When it doesn’t work,
and as they walk away, one of them tells the other, “I guess that machine just
isn’t working today.” I walk up and in one minute have my boarding pass.
The real question is, how would
you handle a customer like these two guys, who are probably going to be
aggravated because of their experience? The difference may be a long-term
customer versus never seeing them again.
So what can you do to improve
customer service, besides return calls, smile, be nice, etc.
·
Take care of your customers. If you can’t provide what
they want, refer them to someone who can help.
·
If you can help them, make them feel special. Not like one
of many.
·
Only make promises you can keep.
·
Don’t let obnoxious customers ruin your day. You or your
employees should smile at them, be silent or maybe ask them why they’ve chosen
to dump on you that way.
A final question, if we did a
customer satisfaction survey for you, would your customers give you a 9 or 10
(on a 0-10 scale) in every category? If not, there’s some work to do.
©
John Martinka 2001. All rights reserved.