Shoppers Inc. hones customer service

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Shoppers Inc. hones customer service

BY LAURIE WINSLOW World Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
10/30/2012 11:01:45 AM

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Learn more about Shoppers Inc. and other small businesses

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BROKEN ARROW - Kathy Shook feels strongly about customer service quality and helping companies improve.

In 1986, she started Shoppers Inc. at home in an effort to gain flexibility so she could raise her son. Before founding the company, Shook held jobs as a training assistant at a travel company, worked in training and later in marketing at a local bank.

As Shook knows, happy customers are good for business and can improve the bottom line.

Today, her operation provides services to help companies pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in their overall service to customers. Shoppers Inc. provides training programs, and consistent measurement and encouragement of customer service skills.

Some services include mystery shopper visits and phone calls, customer satisfaction surveys, compliance audits and surveys of competitor shops.

Mystery shoppers, for instance, are "secret customers" who go into a business and do what customers do, and then complete a detailed report on what occurred during that visit or phone call. They need to be observant, have a good memory, take good notes and write reports well, Shook said. It's something she personally had experience with prior to starting the company.

A good mystery shopper also has to be a bit of an actor, she said, playing out specific scenarios and acting as if they really want to buy the product or service.

Most of her staff are moms who have flexible hours that allow them to work during school time and then be home for their families.

About one-third of the company's clients are in Oklahoma and Texas, with the rest spread throughout the United States.

How important is customer service to the success of a business or organization?

Service quality determines whether a company succeeds or fails. Customers are the No. 1 asset, and employees are the No. 2 asset to any company. If employees aren't treating customers the way the owner would, those customers have plenty of choices to do business elsewhere. And word of mouth travels fast, especially with social media today. It's amazing how little emphasis many companies put on service quality, even in today's tight market. An American Express survey from May 2011 found that 56 percent of Americans are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.

Are there any trends that are shaping customer service?

Two do come to mind: Customer service is the new marketing. Business owners used to worry that an unhappy customer would tell nine people. Now we need to know that they can tell 9 million people. Social media is the trend everywhere but it really affects a company's reputation and ultimately the bottom line.

The other one is self-service: ATMs, online orders, online statements, even self-checkout at the grocery store. But if a customer has any trouble or needs help, the company better be there quick with a well-trained, positive employee who is ready to assist. Nothing can go downhill faster than a sale with no help to complete it.

How picky or demanding would you say customers are today compared to 10 to 20 years ago?

Oh, we are much more demanding! I'd say three to four times more demanding. We're all in a hurry and you can see the frustration down the line when the wait grows to check out. Consumers are smarter, too. With the Internet, they can find out who has good prices and good service, who cares about customers, etc., and we all know that businesses need us to survive. I think today, customers are much more aware of their importance to business.

What are some basic, simple ways that businesses can immediately improve customer service?

1. Feedback! You have to know what your customers think. Do whatever you can to get feedback from customers. If you don't have the time or staff to do this yourself, outsource it. You can't possibly know what your customer's experience is until you ask them.

2. Don't assume! Don't assume everyone who works for you will treat customers the way you do. While many people do know how to provide great service, it is consistently becoming less common. Let them know your expectations and provide the tools they need to serve customers effectively.

3. Monitor! Don't just check service quality once and think you're OK forever. Consistent measurement and testing helps you maintain that standard of excellence.

What are some of the most common or egregious customer service mistakes that businesses make?

They assume employees know how to treat customers right. It’s just the basics: greet customers, be available and positive if they need help and thank them for their business. It seems simple, but how many times have you wandered around a store looking for help? Or been helped by someone who obviously didn’t care whether you made the purchase or not?

Do you have any personal stories related to customer service — something you experienced that made an indelible impression on you, be it good or bad?

Oh yes, lots of stories! The most recent one that comes to mind is a visit to a local retailer. I found a pair of leather gloves I wanted, but it was the last pair and had no price. I took the gloves to the cashier, who called for someone to go check the price. I waited 20 minutes, and no one ever got a price for me or even acknowledged my wait. The original cashier never offered to check on the other person or even page them. I asked her, but she never got anyone to find out what was going on. I’m sure most people wouldn’t wait that long. I just really wanted the gloves, but I had to leave without them.

I also have consistently exceptional service from a local restaurant. We often sit at the bar so we don’t have the wait. The bartenders are friendly and know our faces...even if they don’t really know us, they act like it. They provide fast service, lots of great conversation and the food is tasty. Many times, we choose to go here rather than somewhere else, just because we know it’s always a consistently great experience in every way.

How responsible should customers be for ensuring that they have a positive experience versus the retailer or restaurant or business serving them?

A good business is responsible for doing everything in its power to provide an excellent customer experience every time with every customer. However, sometimes things happen that are beyond anyone’s control. The business should learn from those times and adjust as needed. But when that happens, a customer’s responsibility is to be somewhat understanding of those who serve him/her. Obviously, if the lines in the store are 10 customers deep and there is just one cashier, it’s not that cashier’s fault...that’s a management issue. So we shouldn’t take it out on the staff at hand, but we should take the opportunity to report our concerns when the company is interested in feedback.

What are your future plans for your business?

We plan to continue to grow our business outside the usual realm of banking, restaurant and retail. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in — customer service is the key to success. We also plan to expand our schedule of employee workshops and training programs to help companies provide the training their staff may need.

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Shoppers Inc.

Owner: Kathy Shook

Date established: December 1986

Address: 102 N. Elm Place, Suite B-1, Broken Arrow

Workforce size: Nine employees in Broken Arrow office and more than 1,500 contractors nationwide

Business description: Shoppers Inc. helps clients improve their customer experience through various services, including customer service measurement, training and implementation.

Website:www.insightyoucanuse.com

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Small, but significant

Despite having a number of large employers, Tulsa actually is a small-business town. About 94 percent of all employment in the metro area is at businesses that have 100 or fewer employees, according to the Tulsa Metro Chamber. And, many of those firms are very small. Approximately 80 percent of total employment is at businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

Original Print Headline: The customer is boss

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Laurie Winslow 918-581-8466
laurie.winslow@tulsaworld.com

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Reader Comments

2 Total

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Show:  Newest First

SoonerLisa (1 hour ago) I'm a contract shopper with Shoppers, Inc. and I can say it is a very good company to work with. I have been a contract shopper for over 7 years now and I really enjoy evaluating local businesses, observing their strengths and weaknesses. I have registered with multiple companies (companies like Shoppers, Inc.), but Shoppers, Inc. is the easiest to work with. When I call the office with a question or need assistance I can actually get a person to assist me pretty quickly. It's also a great way of making a little extra money with a legitimate company! I really like it!

Mar (1 hour ago) SoonerLisa, while I was reading the article I was wondering if I could do that kind of work. I have about 9 years experience working in retail (well-known department stores) plus 15 years experience as a legal secretary. I retired 2 years ago, but would love to have a part-time job that would be interesting and fun. I may check into Shoppers, Inc. Thank you for your comment.

Copyright © 2012, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved

Motivation 101

At Shoppers, Inc. we are very passionate about great customer service, measurement and teamwork.  The article below from Jon Gordon about Motivation 101 and employee training relates to our goals and passions.  Hope you enjoy it!

You won’t find Motivation 101 in most business schools; yet, the ability to motivate one’s team and organization is one of the most important skill you must possess in today’s business climate.

Now, more than ever, a leader’s job is to motivate and rally his or her team through challenging times. You can’t outsource motivation. It is the leader and manager who must motivate. That’s why I often say motivational speeches don’t work but leaders who motivate do. Many leaders want to take the emotion out of business but that is a huge mistake. When fear and negativity are the primary emotions people in your organization are feeling, you have to counter that with an even more powerful emotion, like faith, belief, and optimism. And your success in that depends on your ability to motivate.

In this spirit here are five strategies to motivate your team from The Energy Bus and Soup to get the results you want.

1. Don't be too busy to communicate. Where there is a void in communication negativity fills it. Unless managers and leaders fill that void with clear and positive communication, people will assume the worst and act accordingly. Don't let your busy schedule get in the way of taking the time to talk with your team.

2. Lead with optimism. The engine for America's growth and prosperity has always been its can-do attitude and spirit. Unfortunately, in the past few years, optimism has been in short supply. The most important weapon against pessimism is to transfer your optimism and vision to others. Leadership is a transfer of belief and your belief inspires others to think and act in ways that drive results.

3. Share the vision. It’s not enough to just be optimistic. You must give your team and organization something to be optimistic about. Talk about where you have been, where you are, and where you are going. Share your plan for a brighter and better future, talk about the actions you must take, and constantly reiterate the reasons why you will be successful. Create a vision statement that inspires and rallies your team and organization. Not a page-long vision statement filled with buzzwords, but a rallying cry that means something to the people who invest a majority of their day working with you. Then reinforce the vision so it doesn’t just exist on a piece of paper. It must come to life in the hearts and minds of your team. Share it, reinforce it, and inspire your people to live and breathe it and your positive vision for the future will create powerful actions today.

4. Relationships build real motivation. It's much easier to motivate someone if you know them and they know you. After all, if you don't take the time to get to know the people who are working for/with you, then how can you ever truly know the best way to lead, coach, and motivate them effectively?

5. Create purpose-driven goals. Real motivation is driven by purpose and a desire to make a difference. When people feel as though the work they do is playing an integral role in the overall success of the organization and the world, they are motivated to work harder.

Which of the 5 strategies do you feel are the most important to you? We want to hear about it? 

-Jon Gordon

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Customer Service Strategies from the World’s Best Brands

We just had to share the article below from Mark Sanborn about Customer Service Strategies from the World’s Best Brands and customer service.  Enjoy!

In a previous series we took a close-up look at the leadership of the world’s best brands. (For the first of the three part series, click here). One common thread shared by the leadership of companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Disney, and Southwest Airlines is an appreciation for the customer experience. Great brands are built and sustained on great customer service. Especially in a time when consumers have more buying choices than ever, great customer service adds value and differentiates brands from their competition.

Customer service is no longer simply the “complaint department,” replacing or refunding merchandise. Customer service is now a 24/7 focus on the needs and experience of the customer. It’s an understanding that success is based on providing a customer experience so satisfying that it creates “brand evangelists,” consumers who sing the praises of your business to their peers.

Looking closely at the top brands, I’ve distilled 10 strategies for creating world class customer service.

1. Hire greatness – Delivering great customer service starts with hiring for customer service greatness. Enterprise Rent-a-Car has built itself into the largest rental car company in the United States based on their customer service. Enterprise uses a “Critical Customer Service Skills” checklist when hiring associates. The key skills they hire for are: passion for customer care, flexibility, work ethic, eagerness, self-motivation, persuasive ability, communication skills, and leadership.

2. Give fun – The customer experience should be fun. Southwest Airlines encourages its employees to use their creativity and humor when working with customers. Flight attendants might sing or joke their way through pre-flight instructions or status reports. The result? Both the customers and the crew have fun.

3. Educate and entertain – A key part of serving customers is educating and entertaining them. Apple Stores offer free software workshops. Home Depot offers home improvement classes. Jet Blue was one of the first airlines to let each passenger channel-surf on planes. Educated customers are more likely to buy and be satisfied. Entertained customers are more likely to report a positive experience.

4. Train incessantly – Training is essential for effective customer service. Representatives must have a thorough knowledge of your offerings and of all the tools available to them to serve customers. Zappos, a brand built on customer service, trains representatives for seven weeks! Beyond initial training, leaders and staff should continually review the customer experience and how to improve it.

5. Team source ideas – Great ideas can come from anywhere. Disney customers were dissatisfied with long lines. Disney introduced Fast Pass, which saves your place in line. The idea originally came from a fire safety officer. Front-line employees and others see the customer experience close-up all day long. Take advantage of their eyes, ears, and ideas to sharpen your service.

6. Ask for input and feedback from customers  – The best source of information on the customer experience is, of course, the customer. Get their feedback and input and use it. Hotels.com used customer feedback software and streamlined the online booking process. Their conversions (site visitors who purchase) went up and their complaints went down.

7. Aim higher than your competition – Go for the gold standard in trying to deliver for your customers. If you offer them the best, they will take it. Larry Page of Google once said “Our goal is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible,” not just to draw page views to a website. By delivering on that lofty goal, Google made itself the industry leader.

8. Be proudly humble – Humility is a great customer service strategy. Not groveling, mind you, but transparency and saying “sorry” when appropriate. Domino’s Pizza recently ran a series of ads that admitted that their service sometimes failed to meet expectations and that they were working to get better. By Fall 2011, same-store sales were up 12%, a pizza industry record.

9. Take good risks – When considering risks, we often calculate the potential costs. That’s good, but we should also calculate the cost of complacency, of not taking any risks. Consumer satisfaction is a moving target – you may need to step out of your comfort zone to meet it. Nordstrom is famous for its service. Nordstrom gives its employees one rule for customer service: “use your best judgment at all times” to satisfy the customer. Do they run the risk that an employee might occasionally give away too much? Of course. But that risk is outweighed by thousands of satisfied customers and a reputation for legendary service.

10. Do different – Service is the number one way to differentiate your business. So offer service that’s different. When Safeway employees are asked the whereabouts of a grocery item, they are instructed to stop what they are doing and escort the customer directly to that item. That’s how they differentiate themselves from low-cost big-box stores where service is minimal.

In the digital economy, consumers can find and compare the products and services they want with the click of a mouse or the tap of an app. They have a wide range of vendors and buying channels to choose from – they hold all of the cards. Increasingly, they decide to buy based on service. In a world where you people can  buy say, shoes, from any number of sellers for the same price and terms, they will choose the one that offers the best service. And if the service is great, and continues after sale, not only will those customers continue to buy from you, but they’ll become brand evangelists, advertising for you by word of mouth.

Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE is president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea studio for leadership development. He is an award-winning speaker and the author of the bestselling books, The Fred Factor: How Passion In Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary Into the Extraordinary, You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How Anyone Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference and The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do. His book Up, Down or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad or In Between was released October 2011. To obtain additional information for growing yourself, your people and your business (including free articles), visit www.marksanborn.com.

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A Lesson in Creating Thriving Customer Care Communities

Greetings from Shoppers, Inc.!  Hope you enjoy the article below from John Tschohl about A Lesson in Creating Thriving Customer Care Communities and customer service as much as we did.

Customer self-service communities are among the most effective means for cutting down help desk operational costs. But you can’t just flip on the switch. Public knowledge bases, customer groups and discussion forums are useless if no one wants to use them.

Analyst firm Software Advice hosted Zendesk Vice President JD Peterson recently to gather his thoughts on designing a thriving self-service customer community. In this video guide, he describes key components for this customer service model, including: gamification, usability, employee engagement, measurement and smooth integration with other customer service channels.

Peterson says start with usability. Design experts can help properly place navigation signals, while marketing professionals devise titles and buttons that are appealing and immediately meaningful.

“Think of it as a science, rather than an art,” he said.

Along the same vein, the design should clearly point to an “escape valve,” or a place visitors can get the answer they need if they don’t find it on the forum or discussion board. This should integrate seamlessly with other customer service contact channels, such as phone, email or live chat.

At the same time, Peterson emphasizes the need for employees to engage in the community–not just through the escape valve. Customers will interact more if they know the organization is actually listening. Staff should keep a close eye on discussions and chime in if the answer isn’t available. Staff can also pick up on valuable customer feedback that can then be shared with product and feature development teams.

Gamification is an important means for driving continued engagement. Tools such as leader boards, score boards and badges reward users for their contribution. These achievements can also be linked with social sharing buttons so customers are encouraged to post on Facebook, Twitter and other channels.

Finally, Peterson said measurement and continual improvement are crucial to success. Look for trends, such as which topics are getting the most comments and views, reoccurring negative feedback or hot topics people search.

Ashley Furness
CRM Analyst
Software Advice

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How NFL coaches get their teams to Buy In...and how you can too!

At Shoppers, Inc. we are very passionate about great customer service, measurement and teamwork.  The article below from Jon Gordon about How NFL coaches get their teams to Buy In...and how you can too! and teamwork relates to our goals and passions.  Hope you enjoy it!

Having worked with a number of NFL, NBA and college coaches and teams and many businesses I can attest that the principles for leading and managing great teams really do apply to both. And what I love about sports is that in the course of just a few months it’s clear to the coach, the players and the millions of fans watching the game on television whether or not the coach’s leadership and teambuilding principles and strategies have worked.

So how do great coaches get buy in from their teams? How do they create a real team that is truly committed to each other? How do they prevent individual and organization negativity from sabotaging the team? And most important of all, what can we learn from these coaches when building our own business teams and organizations. Let’s start with culture.

1. Culture First - In 2008 Mike Smith was hired to be the head coach of The Atlanta Falcons after Bobby Petrino left the team and their culture in shambles. I consulted with Coach Smith during that time and his biggest priority as a new coach was to focus on the culture of the team. Coach Smith knew that he had to first identify, create and share the values, expectations, beliefs and habits that would define the Atlanta Falcons in order to get his players to buy in. Those who shared these values and beliefs would be enthusiastic and engaged while those who didn’t fit this culture were given other opportunities to play somewhere else. Coach Smith created his culture every day by sharing his beliefs with the team, making his expectations very clear, having the team read The Energy Bus, communicating positive messages on a daily basis, and living and breathing the values he wanted to ingrain in his team.

2. Get your team on the bus - When it comes to buy in the first set of people you need to get on your bus is your leadership team. If you don’t have buy in from your leadership team you won’t be able to generate passionate engagement from the rest of your team. This seems like common sense but many teams aren’t connected at the top and that’s why they crumble at the bottom. When I worked with the University of Texas football team in 2009, the year they played for a national championship, the first thing we did was to create buy in from the leaders of the team. Once the leaders were on board we then devised a plan to invite the rest of the team on the bus. With every team I’ve worked with I’ve had the leaders hand out bus tickets to the team inviting them on the bus. I tell leaders don’t assume someone is on your bus just because they are a member of the team. By inviting them on the bus you are symbolically asking them to buy in. When they accept this invitation and hand in their ticket they are committing to the team. The desire to be part of a tribe and engage in tribal rituals is ingrained in our DNA so when someone ritually invites us on the bus our desire to be part of a team turns into commitment and buy in.

3. No Energy Vampires Allowed - Coach Mike Smith created a No Complaining training camp. Coach Jack Del Rio put a No Energy Vampires Allowed sign on his door. Mark Richt, head coach of the University of Georgia, had a picture of an Energy Vampire placed in the team meeting room last year reminding players they were going to stay positive as a team. After reading The Energy Bus, Doc Rivers head coach of the Boston Celtics made it clear that no energy vampires were allowed on the team. In essence these coaches were saying that we as a team must stay positive and not allow energy vampires to suck the life and energy out of our team. Under no circumstance will we allow an individual’s negativity to sabotage our team, our mission and the goals we want to accomplish. Great coaches like Notre Dame Women’s lacrosse coach Christine Halfpenny combat negativity at the cultural level and deal with it upfront by making it clear that Energy Vampires will not be allowed on the bus. They help a team stay positive through adversity knowing that a team who stays positive together, wins together.

4. Believe in them more than they believe in themselves - Leadership is often a transfer of belief and your belief transfers more powerfully when you are someone your team wants to follow because you believe in them. Steve Jobs was legendary for his ability to distort people’s reality and convince them that they could do things they never thought possible. Steve would have been an incredible NFL coach if had ever decided to take a pay cut and coach the San Francisco 49ers. Great coaches, like the current 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh believe in their team members more than they believe in themselves. I can still see the image of Coach Harbaugh on the sidelines thumping his Quarterback Alex Smith’s chest (I don’t recommend this at work) before a huge play-off game last year as if he was physically instilling his confidence and belief in him. At the beginning of the season most people said Alex Smith would no longer be a starter in the NFL but Coach Harbaugh believed in him and as a result of his coaching, encouragement and belief Alex Smith made the two biggest plays of his life to win that playoff game.

5. Love Tough - Tough love is often necessary to accomplish team goals. But for tough love to work love must come first. Buy in happens when a team member knows you care about them. If you show them you care they will be more receptive to you pushing them to be their best. I’ve worked with Mike Smith and the Atlanta Falcons for the last five years and my favorite habit of Coach Smith is that he often visits the treatment room to see the injured players. While most NFL coaches have no interest in speaking to injured players since they are of no use to them, Coach Smith takes time to show his players he cares. When the players recover they are more loyal and play harder for their coach. Relationships are the foundation upon which winning teams are built and great coaches build great relationships with their players. When you love tough you not only get powerful buy in, you get greater results.

How do you get your team to buy in? Share your thoughts on our blog or Facebook page.

-Jon Gordon

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