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Let
Your Clients know YOUR Expectations
At American Retail Supply, we make mistakes. We spend lots of
time and money to make
our procedures as efficient and foolproof as possible, but we still
make mistakes. So, where do I get off writing these columns
that
so often highlight the need for Exceptional Customer Service?
While nobody likes to be at the receiving end of a mistake, we all know
that people make mistakes. Exceptional Customer Service
requires
that we learn from these mistakes and take action to reduce or
eliminate them, but what really brings customers back is your response
when you mess up.
Here are a few points to consider as you examine your customer
service. Can your front line people solve the huge majority
of
your customer’s problems?
You’ve heard it from me before and if you read this column
you’ll hear it again. People don’t want
hassles and
very few are out to take advantage of you. I believe the true
test for Exceptional Customer Service is, Can the first person your
customer talks to solve the problem?
Do your customers know that Exceptional Customer Service is what they
should expect from you?
I get a few phone calls each year from customers who
don’t
think they are getting Exceptional Customer Service from us.
Almost all of these calls start with, “I read in your
newsletter
that customer service is important to you, I don’t think
I’m getting very good service at all...” or
“A few
months ago when I was on hold I heard that you wanted me to call you if
I had a problem that wasn’t being taken care
of.”
Sure nobody likes getting calls like this but in another way I LOVE
GETTING THEM!
What’s the alternative? For most businesses
it’s a
customer who really doesn’t want the hassle of
complaining.
The customer who goes to the competition and not only doesn’t
recommend you to others, but maybe even bad mouths you. I
love
customers who give us the opportunity to MAKE THEM HAPPY.
Find a
way to tell your customers that you want to know if they are not happy.
I stole an idea from Stu Leonard’s Supermarket in
Connecticut. He has a big sign with his picture that says,
What
Do You Like? What Don’t You Like?
I’d Like To
Know. Every invoice we send out at TMS has a flyer that asks
the
same questions Stu Leonard asks. While it is redundant to
send it
out with every invoice, we do. I want to be sure that every
customer knows that they should expect Exceptional Customer Service and
that I want to know if they don’t get it.
Act
The video, In Search of Excellence, says most suggestion boxes get
little to no use. They say the reason is customers know that
their suggestions will get no action. Stu Leonard’s
box is
filled, mostly with good comments, every day. Why do people
take
the time to write? The video says it’s because they
know
something will be done. If customers take the time to contact
you, take the time to let them know what you are doing.
Every customer who writes to us at TMS, whether its a good comment or a
complaint, gets a response.
Speaking
of Exceptional Customer Service, do you have your copy of
W.A.Y.M.I.S.H. Why Are You Making It So Hard for me to give you my
money? Here’s one of my favorite turning
lemons into lemonade stories from the book.
Was caravanning back down from a rural town called Show Low in Arizona
on a heat busting August afternoon and, by acclamation of the Hellman
clan, stopped for a cooling ice cream.
It was a weekend. It was hot. The Dairy Queen was
swarming with families, kids, dads, lines of people.
Ordered a sundae and forgot to tell the server I despise whipping
cream. Mile-high slathers of white foamy whipped cream
arrived
mounted atop the Dairy Queen cup. “Can’t
do
that,” I say.
With no more than three seconds hesitation, the server held up the
whipped cream sundae to the assembled crowd like a priest elevating a
chalice and shouted, “One great sundae at half
price!”
The man knows how to solve problems, generate smiles, make an immediate
bargain-priced sale and create positive PR for his company. |
