CUSTOMER SERVICE MYTHS

If You Believe Them, You’re in Trouble

By John Tschohl

If I were to ask 100 CEOs to define customer service, I would guess that 97 of them would say this: Customer service is providing the customer with service that is fast, accurate, and courteous. While those are indeed elements of customer service, there is more to it, so much more.

Customer service is a moving target; it is whatever the customer thinks it is. That includes quality products, convenience, competitive prices, timely responses, reliability, a personal touch, and knowledgeable employees. Customer service means doing what you say you will do and doing it when, if not before, you say you will do it. It is operating on the belief that no transaction is complete unless the service customers receive is sufficient enough to motivate them to return.

Most CEOs and other executives don’t fully understand customer service and its huge impact on sales and profits for their organizations. They don’t understand what they should (and shouldn’t) do in order to provide the best possible service to their customers. In fact, many of them have false beliefs when it comes to customer service.

Here are three myths that hamper organizations throughout the world in their efforts to provide exceptional customer service and, in the process, to attract and retain customers:

1. Adding employees improves customer service.

You can add all the people you want, but it won’t improve your organization’s customer service. More doesn’t necessarily equal better. Too many organizations have too many under-performing employees; you need to weed them out. In developing countries, the typical company has at least 25 percent more employees than it needs.

If you have 50 employees and add 50 more, all you’ve done is double your workforce. But, if you have 50 employees who are focused on customer service, who are knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and have positive attitudes, you will have a winning team. If you train those employees in the art of customer service and support that training by giving them the tools they need to take good care of your customers, you will see your sales and profits skyrocket.

2. The more you pay employees, the more committed they will be to customer service.

Increasing employees’ pay will do nothing more than eat into your organization’s profits. I’ve addressed this myth for more than three decades to clients throughout the world, stressing to them that money is not a motivator. It will not change an employee’s behavior. If you doubled every employee’s salary tomorrow, it would not improve customer service, and in 30 days you’d be out of business. If you have employees who do not provide good service, who are not committed to taking care of your customers, what you pay them will not change the way they operate.

So, you’re probably asking, what will motivate my employees to provide better customer service? The answer is this: Recognition. There is no stronger motivator than positive reinforcement and public praise. Think of it this way: If you are a parent trying to teach your young child to put away his toys at the end of the day, what do you think will be the stronger motivator—a dime each time he does so, or constant praise, especially in front of family and friends?

If you recognize the efforts of your employees who go above and beyond to take care of your customers, they will seek continued recognition by improving the service they provide. A $200 bonus would be gone in a day or two, but a word of praise will live on indefinitely. Recognition is the most powerful motivational tool you have—use it.

3. Your employees are empowered.

This is more than a myth; it’s a delusion for most managers and executives. Empowerment means that your employees have the authority to do whatever it takes to immediately solve a customer’s problem—to the satisfaction of the customer, not the organization.

In order to empower your employees, you must train them and give them the skills they need to take such good care of your customers that they wouldn’t think of doing business with anyone but you. Don’t handcuff your employees with cumbersome policies and procedures. Give them the authority to bend and break the rules in order to serve your customers.

It takes a miracle to get employees to make empowered decisions because they think they will get fired if they make a mistake. Let them know that it’s OK to make a mistake in the process of providing exceptional customer service. Without empowered employees, you will never be a service leader.

Don’t underestimate the power of customer service. Exceptional service builds loyalty, which in turn builds profits. 

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IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE…WHERE DO I START?

So…you feel like your company’s service quality could be improved.  But how do you start…Just tell your staff to do better?   One-shot training?  Ask customers how you are doing?  Hire someone to be in charge of customer service, to take the upset customer calls?  Show some motivational books and posters to your staff and hope for the best?

Before you do anything, make a plan.  You don’t want to throw money at the problem before you know the following:

1.  How does our service quality rate today?

2.  How good should it be?

3.  How do we get from #1 to #2?

You need a plan…a SIP:  Service Improvement Plan. 

Many companies jump into a program but have no clear goal or process to actually get improvement.  You’ll find lots of programs to help:  mystery shopping, customer satisfaction surveys, customer complaints, training books, online training, employee rewards, social media, mobile surveys, etc.   All these are great, but only part of the solution.  If you truly want to see results that affect your bottom line, you need to think through the process.

So…how do you start?

First, you need feedback.  What are you doing right?  And what could be done better?  How does your service quality rate today?  You need to know your customer FRUSTRATORS…what is it about doing business with your company that can frustrate…and therefore dissatisfy…your customers?  Is it employee attitude?  Is it a procedure or process?  Is it location or hours or parking?  Just what is it that customers feel could be done better…what would make them happy?

How do you find out the frustrators at your company???  ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS!  You probably know what complaints come in regularly.  But did you know 40% of customers who are unhappy (or frustrated) with you will never tell you on their own?  So, give them an opportunity to tell you…with a customer satisfaction survey.

It doesn’t have to be fancy but it does have to provide measurable results…ratings and/or line items that you can quantify so you know what/where to improve.  And don’t forget to leave room for customers to write in their own words.  Sometimes the best feedback comes from customers’ own words, not just answers to canned questions. 

And don’t forget front-line employees…they work with customers and your process more closely than anyone every day.  They have ideas for how to make things work better to benefit customers…but if you aren’t asking, they won’t tell you.  Survey your employees.           

How do you know what needs to be improved?  Survey customers and employees first.  It’s inexpensive, easy and quick if you do it right…once you have that data, you will know what needs work and what works well already.  Then you’ll be on the way to customers who are not just satisfied, but FANS of your business.  And Fans will promote you to their friends and family!

Follow our blog for more information on step #2 and #3 of a Service Improvement Plan.

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