Hope Is Not A Customer Service Strategy | What Works

By Steve Rudolph

Evidently the?Pure Michigan?marketing campaign is attracting much needed visitors to our beloved state. We feel confident that our state?s beauty will exceed our guests? expectations.

How about your businesses? customer service? Will it deliver a ?WOW? experience that matches our sublime beaches? My impression is many area businesses pin their customer strategy on hope, not reality. A recent customer service experience prompted this conclusion.

A Petoskey soccer tournament means disorganized dads like me rushing out to buy lots of sandwiches. Here?s myPure Michigan?customer service experience:

Upon entering the business, the counter order-taker asks ?What can I get you?? No gracious welcome, no warm smile, little eye contact, and body language suggesting I?m a nuisance. I make a joke about ?When Harry Meets Sally? (way beyond her generation), and if they get the first sandwich correct it?ll potentially save me some marriage therapy dollars. This attempt at light humor rewards me with a ?no smile frown? combined with the blockbuster non-verbal of ?rolling eyes and looking away!? Wow. I know my marriage jokes are old, but really?

I get back to the serious business of reading from my carefully Mom-scripted sandwich list, which I dutifully cross off as I read out the instructions, twice each.

Rookie error: dad stuffs sandwiches into bag without counting them! I arrive back at NCMC gymnasium only to have to drive back into Petoskey to correct the order. Fun, right?

Back at the sandwich shop, I say, ?You missed making one of my sandwiches.? The original order-taker asks, ?Which one?? I say, ?The roast beef.?

She says (get this), ?You never ordered that.?

Wow, really? I even had my crossed off list in hand!

At this point I find the P.I.C. (person in charge) with whom I share my entire customer experience and impressions. I asked him, ?If you were a visiting tourist, please give me one reason why I would ever consider coming back here or recommending you??

He honestly replied, ?I couldn?t.?

As a previous restaurant owner, when I suspected an employee of stealing I did what you would naturally do ? either put in video surveillance or recruit witnesses to observe. Neither complicated intervention is needed to assess your business? customer service ? it?s observable and right in front of you! ?Poor or indifferent service?is stealing?future earnings out of your pocket because you?ve failed to win my future loyalty.

Management has always gotten what it?models?and what it?tolerates. Hoping?your customer service will deliver aPure Michigan?experience is a fragile strategy. To ensure success in 2012, implement these fundamental performance-driven practices:

1.???????Establish your customer service ethos. These are the values that you hire,?train, and fire by. These are not to be confused with the nice sounding values often found beautifully framed on entrance lobby walls.

2.???????Hire only nice and competent people! I know ? says easy, does hard. Follow the Ritz Carlton hiring mantra -?Hire the smile, train the skill.

3.???????Your management (or P.I.C) must provide on-going candid and developmentally focused feedback to your team associates and they must know how to coach people. Do not confuse performance management talk with coaching language. People respect what you inspect.

4.???????Affirm, reward, and celebrate your top performers. Catch ?em doing it right! This fosters a winning, positive, and customer-centric culture. Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos) said, ?Culture is a lead indicator of profit.?

The robust?Pure Michigan?Marketing Campaign promises to deliver critically needed customers to your business? front door. Without you being there, what if that first-time guest filmed their experience upon entering your establishment and submitted it to?Pure Michigan?to be aired live? Would you sleep with confidence, or do you?hopethey receive a ?WOW? experience?

If you are pinning your profits on hope, consider launching a robust, focused, and inspiring?Pure Michigan?customer ?service strategy for the promising 2012 season!

Keep it simple, keep it focused, and keep it fun! ? Steve

Source: http://harborlightdigital.com/whatworks/2012/03/20/hope-is-not-a-customer-service-strategy/

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