Put Your Client First

PUT YOUR CLIENTS FIRST

Whatever joy there is in this world

All comes from desiring others

to be happy,

And whatever suffering there is

in this world

All comes from desiring myself

To be happy.

Shantideva

I came upon this quote this morning and it made me think about the today’s business landscape.  On the whole, customers have become second to business survival.  I will agree that today’s business climate is difficult. Although, it is amazing that some business owners think they can succeed by shrinking their service while raising prices.  That is not a plan for long-term success. What happened to putting the client first?  When did that concept go out of style?  I recently heard from an associate who told me about a business owner who is celebrating the Libyan crisis by increasing his company’s fuel surcharge.  It is important to note that this increase is not shared with his service providers.  He has succeeded in profiting from tragedy and in doing so he has failed his customers along with his service providers. This business owner’s human failing is another topic, but it does highlight how desperation can overshadow judgment. Considering that he is not sharing this increase with the companies that actually provide the service, he could have held the current rates in place and used this good-will as a marketing platform.  Instead, he has left himself vulnerable.  He is risking the ire of his clients and his providers.

The more I thought about the importance of putting the client first, the more convinced I became that it was important to stress this point.  The reason for my determination is that today’s economic climate has created an environment where customers sense that they are being viewed as victims.  They have become someone for businesses to fleece.  I find it amazing that as most businesses retreat into a survival mode they have forgotten that the customer actually represents survival.  In some instances the customer is viewed as an annoyance.  During tough times, businesses look for ways in which they can suck additional revenue out of their customers.  On top of raising prices, many companies are using fees as a way to generate additional revenue and there does not appear to be any end to this practice.  Companies have grown accustomed to the additional profits and consumers have become resigned.  Fees are not the only method companies use to capture revenue.  Many organizations have reduced their services while raising prices.  Usually, these service reductions are not announced and may, at first, be invisible to the customer.  They are usually uncovered during a service or product failure which then results in amplifying the customer’s disappointment.  Although consumers feel nickel and dimed, they no longer have an option when it comes to changing vendors.  Each business within their specific industry seems to be following the competition.

This is a time of great opportunity.  Instead of mimicking your competitor’s actions, you should be focusing on the customer.  By breaking from industry trends, your organization will stand above the competition.  I am going to suggest that by eliminating fees for services that where once provided at no cost, you will generate good will and the resulting buzz will assist you in broadening your client base.  There is no better time than now to look for ways to enrich your customer’s experience.  While your competitors find new ways to aggravate their customers, you should be identifying ways in which you can attract new customers.  While your competitors continue to create new ways to decrease service while increasing price, you should be creating ways to increase service while decreasing price.    

Think Different

THINK DIFFERENT           

Do any of you remember the Apple Computer campaign from fourteen years ago?  If you don’t then you should go to You Tube and perform a search for Think Different.  A business owner suggested this to me last week after I completed a talk on Creating a Service Brand. 

This one minute commercial features black and white images of several 20^th century icons, including Albert Einstein, John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Thomas Edison.  It is suggested that these icons helped change the world.  Clearly, everyone depicted in this commercial had a profound effect on business, music and politics.  The commercial begins with the following voiceover: “Here’s to the crazy ones.  The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.  The ones who see things differently.”  The commercial goes on to suggest that these icons broke the rules in order to create an enduring legacy.  They helped change the world by thinking differently.

Carve a minute out of your day and take a look at this commercial.  Some of you will remember it and for those of you who don’t, you are in for a treat.  I am certain that you will find it inspirational.  Maybe even motivational. 

And now I would like to throw down a challenge.  I am not going to suggest that after viewing the Think Different advertisement you will become motivated enough to change the world, but perhaps you will find in yourselves to change your world.  The business world you are now in probably has you focused solely on profitability.  You may be looking at ways where you can increase profits.  Maybe you are looking at accessorial fees, fuel surcharges and other means of capturing revenue without growing your business.  Perhaps you feel that you cannot grow your business.  Perhaps you forgot how to grow your business.  Well I’m going to challenge you to forget about profits.  That’s right….forget about profits for a few minutes and focus, instead, on creating a positive customer experience.  I am not suggesting that you operate your business at a loss.  What I am suggesting that you focus less on you and more on your client.

Here are a few questions you should be asking yourself:

·         Is it easy for my customers to do business with me?

·         Do I know why my loyal customers remain loyal?

·         Does my business receive referrals?

·         Am I doing everything I can to make the buying experience enjoyable for my customers?

Challenge yourselves to create an environment where your clients “want” to do business with you.  Challenge your team to remain focused on the customer.  Don’t look for ways where you can profit off your client’s backs, such as through hidden fees and accessorial charges.  Instead grow your business through the creation of memorable customer experiences.  Look for ways where you and your team can exceed your client’s expectations.  Be different than your competition.  Be different within your industry.  Be different in your approach.  Be different to yourself and your team.  Be different to your customers.  But first, you must Think Different.

Autonomy

Autonomy

How much greatness are you willing to bestow upon people?  Do you encourage or stifle autonomy?  Does your organization celebrate individual success?  Do you possess the capacity to bring your teammates out of a gravitational pull?  Do these questions make sense to you?

Let me explain.  Oftentimes there’s an imbalance between corporate policy and customer service.  In order to create an Above and Beyond Culture, you must be prepared to allow your team to make immediate decisions.  That is, decisions which leave your clients in a positive emotional state.  The only way to accomplish that is to encourage an atmosphere of autonomy.  Everyone in your organization should be looking for ways to exceed customer expectations.  This cannot be accomplished if corporate policy prevents your employees from delivering immediate solutions.  “Let me check with my supervisor,” is the last thing an irate customer wants to hear. 

I recently held a series of seminars for a mail order company that was re-engineering their Culture of Service.  The owner had expressed concern regarding his staff.  He felt that they were merely “going through the motions” and he suspected that the internal chain of command was responsible for this malaise.  During the course of the seminars it became apparent that most of the employees were frustrated by their inability to create instant client satisfaction.  Every complaint had to be reviewed by management before a solution could be provided.  Most of the employees dreaded a client complaint because of their inability to provide a solution without first going to their supervisor.  This delay often created frustration for the employees and the clients.  Asking for approval was corporate policy.

It soon became apparent that most of the front line employees knew how to turn a complaint into a WOW. Unfortunately, their lack of autonomy was creating a gravitational pull on them and the organization. Ownership agreed to a two month test period where the employees would be empowered to provide solutions without first seeking management approval.

This is what I found when I returned two months later: 

The entire team was upbeat and enthusiastic.  I discovered the call center had created their own contest; they were competing among themselves to see who could come up with the best customer service story.  One person stood up and told everyone how she used to dread client complaints, but now she looked forward to them.  She now identified a customer concern as an opportunity to exceed expectations.  Several employees indicated that their ability to provide immediate solutions had assisted them in strengthening client relationships. As a result the organization was experiencing sales growth.  The call center had become energized and exciting.

Take a look at some of the policies you currently have in place and ask the following: 

Can some policies be streamlined, or eliminated?  Do these policies hamstring your team and keep them from creating memorable customer experiences?  Are these policies in place to protect short-term profits?  Do they put client loyalty at risk? 

As you answer these questions, be sure to remember that excellent customer service is not about policy or procedure.  Excellent customer service is about excellent behavior.  Challenge yourself to bestow greatness on to your team and you will encourage excellent behavior. 

Gut Instincts

Gut Instincts

January 31, 2011

How many of us have been guilty of having made a bad hire?  You know what I mean.  You brought the wrong person into your organization.  You didn’t do it on purpose.  In fact, you were certain that you had made a good hire.  The aftermath can be destructive: diminished morale, lower productivity not to mention dealing with your own self doubt.  What happened? You thought you did everything right.  You went through all the proper steps: several interviews, more interviews, group interviews maybe even a dinner interview.  You asked all the right questions: What would you do in this, or that situation? What was your greatest accomplishment?  What was your worst mistake and what did you do to make it right?  How do you handle conflict?  You also performed a background check and spoke with past employers and checked references.  You’re certain that you have chosen the perfect candidate and you make an offer.  They accept and you set a start date.  Everything should work out fine.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  Usually you know within the first couple of days when you made a mistake.  What happened?  You did everything right. Or did you?  Did you follow your gut instinct or were you blinded by the candidate’s ability to interview well?  Did this candidate tell you everything you wanted hear?  Chances are that while you were busy listening to the candidate you weren’t listening to yourself.

Stories about bad hires always come up when I work with clients on creating Non-Negotiable Hiring Standards.  I can assist anyone in establishing hiring standards, but there is no substitute for gut instinct.  Clients often tell me that they chose to ignore their instincts because the candidate possessed all the necessary skills or traits.  As a result they heard what they wanted to hear.  I must admit that I made these same mistakes and then had to live with my bad decisions.  We live with these mistakes longer than we should.  I have news for you: it never gets better.  If a new hired isn’t on their best behavior at the beginning of the relationship don’t expect things to improve.  Having Non-Negotiable Hiring Standards is critical, but they are only effective when dovetailed with your own gut instinct.

Later this week I’m going to share an amazing story about gut instinct.  This story was told to me by a client and as you will find out, sometimes the most innocuous comment or gesture can set off your internal alarm system.      

Self Respect

Self Respect

February 1, 2011

In today’s newspaper I came across a very interesting article.  It was titled, Pitcher Spurns $12 Million, to Keep Self-Respect.  Imagine that, there’s actually someone out there who would pass up $12 million in order to retain their own self-respect.  We don’t hear too many stories like that, especially during this difficult economy.  In fact, we usually hear the opposite. Take for instance the bonuses being handed out on Wall Street.  Not much self-respect there.  The very same people who brought us to the brink of financial collapse……well, enough about that.  I’m sure we’ll all tired of that story.

Now, back to the pitcher who values his self-respect: Gil Meche is a 32-year-old right- handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.  Or, should I say, he was a right-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.  Gil Meche announced his retirement today.  The article goes on to quote Meche, “When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it.”  He goes on, “Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad.”  He felt bad.  How about that?  Now here’s a man with a conscience to go along with his self-respect.  Apparently those two virtues are symbiotic.  I am sure some people would consider Gil Meche a fool.  After all, the usual battle-cry sounds like this: Take all you can.

To highlight the fact that Mr. Meche was playing against type, the reporter cites a couple of examples where players continued to take all they could even though they were unable to play. In 1998, Lenny Dykstra took $5.5 million from the Phillies even though he had played his last game in 1996.  Mo Vaughn took $15 million from the Mets in 2004 despite an arthritic knee that had ended his career the year before.  Now that’s more like it!  That’s what we expect, Take all you can.

Mr. Meche, who had undergone two shoulder surgeries and felt he could no longer pitch effectively, goes on to say, “This isn’t about being a hero.  Making that amount of money…..it just wasn’t the right thing to do.”  How refreshing!  I am sure that this lesson in humility and honor will not be lost on his three children.  I know it wasn’t lost on me.

Gil Meche made a decision based in part on his own core values.  How many times in our own lives are we challenged with difficult decisions?  Do we always rely on our core values to assist us in making sound choices?  I guess we have all been guilty, at one time or another, of compromising ourselves for financial benefit.  However, it is more important than ever for us to set the example for our children, our friends and our colleagues.  Let’s challenge ourselves to make the right decisions for the right reasons.  Let us lead by our actions.  And when we’re challenged as to why we didn’t compromise our values in order to gain some benefit we can say, just as Gil Meche said, “It just wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Snow Day

Snow Day

January 27, 2011

I’m back.  Sorry to have been away for so long, but these past few months have been quite busy.  In addition to hosting my Customer Service seminars I have been working quite hard on finishing my book.  It is currently being edited and I expect to have a publication date very soon.  Writing about my experiences and how they relate to Customer Service has been quite fulfilling.  The feedback from my editors and business associates has been outstanding.  In the coming weeks I will provide excerpts on my website.  I have also begun working on my next book which will tell the whimsical tale of two business owners who, when faced with a changing business landscape, make all the wrong choices in an attempt to save their business and their reputations.  This book is being written as a comedy and will include illustrations designed to take the reader on a farcical journey into boardrooms and corner offices.  We’ll peek into a few office cubicles as well. 

Now that I’ve brought you up to date on some of my upcoming projects, I want to share a story that I heard today.  Let me begin by providing you with some background.  A few months ago I was contracted to hold a series of Customer Service seminars at a long-term healthcare facility.  The administrator of this facility wanted to create a customer service platform upon which she and her team could build a Culture of Service. This ended up being a fantastic project.  At first I was met with some skepticism (which is usual for consultants) but as the seminars progressed, a collaborative energy emerged.  At the beginning of each seminar I asked some of the attendees to share their personal customer service experiences.  Some of these customer experiences were so awful they were comical. Some of the stories exhibited levels of compassion so profound that you could hear the proverbial pin drop when the story ended (remember these seminars were being held in a healthcare facility).  By the time the seminars were completed the attendees were determined to create an environment committed to exceeding customer expectations. 

Now, back to today’s story.  I received a call this morning from the administrator of that same healthcare facility.  She told me that in today’s staff meeting one of her department heads told an interesting customer service story that had happened to her this morning.  There was a major snow storm last night and on her way to work this person stopped at her local Starbucks just as she does every morning.  Only this morning, due to the mounds of snow, the parking lot had very few available spots.  In trying to negotiate her way around the lot her car got stuck and she began spinning her wheels.  Within a few  minutes a Starbucks employee emerged carrying this women’s regular order (a venti latte) and a shovel.  I’m sure you can guess the rest.  She was shoveled out and on her way, with her latte…..no charge.  A great customer service story ,but for me it was something more.  I told the administrator that I was thrilled that her staff was still tuned in to recognizing above and beyond customer experiences.  Here’s where it gets better.  She told me that these types of stories were being shared on a regular basis.  What a great foundation on which to build a Culture of Service.

I am scheduled to hold follow up seminars at this facility in a couple of weeks.  My guess is that this team has many of the building blocks already in place.  I will you update you on this project in upcoming blogs.  Perhaps you should be sharing customer service experiences with your team.  By encouraging people to share their experiences you will improve morale while at the same time, put a focus on creating memorable customer experiences.

Over the next few months I will be sharing stories and observations which I hope will assist you in developing your own Culture of Service.  These may be difficult times, but difficult times are usually laden with opportunity.  This is a period in our history where people of strong moral fiber will emerge as leaders.  It is also a time where we will witness acts of desperation and cowardice.  Once the tide goes out, we can see who’s been skinny-dipping (remember Bernie Madoff?).  It is precisely because of such negative news that we, as business leaders must lead with determination and personal resolve.  Your team is looking to you for direction.  While your competitors look for ways to compromise service and reduce costs, you should be looking for ways to WOW your customers.  Creating memorable customer experiences doesn’t cost a cent, yet the results are priceless.  Do you and your team recognize the opportunities where you can exceed customer expectations?  The young Starbucks barista certainly did!

LOYALTY

Loyalty is a commendable quality and we all like being recognized for our loyalty.  That’s why I was pleased when I called my home heating oil company and was thanked for being a loyal customer for 23 years.  Being a proponent of customer service, I was impressed that they had a CSM system that highlighted customer loyalty.  Unfortunately, for this company, recognizing customer loyalty was where customer service began and ended.

For 23 years I purchased my heating oil from Petro Oil.  During that time, as oil prices skyrocketed, they went from providing free oil burner service to charging $305.00.  I complained, they held firm and I chose to remain a client.  And then, as anyone who heats their home with oil will know, there was the introduction of “locking in” prices based on current oil prices.  This was a tiresome exercise, but soon became an industry norm.  Every year a Petro rep would call and the negotiation would begin.  Assuming that the pricing was uniform throughout the industry, I chose not to shop around; it was easier to just remain a loyal customer.  After all, Petro’s oil delivery and service had been consistent.

Two weeks ago I answered a knock on my door and was greeted by a young salesman from a competing oil company.  He offered me a locked in price of $2.79 along with a service plan that was one third the price that I was currently paying.  Since I wasn’t sure if $2.79 was a competitive price I asked him if he would give me a few days to compare.  Being a good salesperson he drew up a contract and advised me that I had three days to make my decision.  Well, I called Petro and asked to speak with a pricing advisor; I was told someone would call back.  Someone did call back….a day later.  Here’s how the conversation went:

Petro pricing advisor (PA): “Well first Mr. McConnell I want to thank you for being a loyal Petro customer for over 23 years.  How can I assist you?”

Me: “Thank you for recognizing my loyalty.  I’m sure you have preferred pricing for loyal clients, so tell me, what is your current “locked-in” price?”

PA: “We have a very favorable price today, it’s $3.58.”

Me: “$3.58?  That’s not acceptable.”

PA: “Well if you look at current pricing you’ll see that $3.58 is a very good price.”

Me: “I’m looking at the current pricing on a contract from your competitor and they’re offering me $2.79 along with a service contract that’s $200.00 less than yours.”

PA: “Let me guess…” she then hissed the competitor’s name through clenched teeth.

Me: “You really shouldn’t disparage your competition; your tone is not acceptable.  I’m asking you to provide me with a fair price.  You thanked me for 23 years of loyalty and then insulted me with a price that is .80 cents per gallon more than your competitor.  You should really be looking for ways to correct this situation and you’re not going to accomplish that by trying to diminish your competitor.”

PA: “I can have you speak with a supervisor and they can explain our pricing policy to you.”

Me: “No, I’d prefer that you speak with your supervisors and explain the situation.  It’s up to you and your supervisors to keep me as a customer.  Call me back by the end of the day and let me know what you can do.”

I did receive a call later that day from the same Petro pricing advisor.  The price was now $2.99 and they could provide me with a lower quality maintenance program for only $100.00.  When I informed her that that still wasn’t acceptable she seemed flabbergasted.  “Well, what do you want?”

“What I want is to remain a Petro customer.  Talk to your supervisors and provide me with a solution that will keep me as a customer.  WOW me.  I’m not WOWed with a price that remains .20 cents higher than your competitor’s and I don’t want a lower quality maintenance plan.  I have one more day before I have to commit to your competitor’s contract.  Please get back to me with your best deal.”

Well, I guess they couldn’t come up with a better deal, because I never heard back from Petro. 

How’s does your company treat long-standing customers?  Do you take them for granted, or do you reward them with pricing and service efficiencies?  Always remember that your client’s perception is their reality and their reality is your brand.   

When a customer shows loyalty, they are often putting their trust in your hands.  They are assuming that you will put their best interests first.  In the event that a long-standing customer feels taken advantage of, it’s imperative that you restore their trust immediately; it’s not the time to negotiate.  Do everything in your power to WOW that customer.  Provide them with a credit for any perceived over-charge, lower their price, provide an upgrade.  Do anything you can to change their perception.  People buy emotional states and you most definitely do not want to leave a long-term client feeling as if they’ve been taken advantage of; that’s an emotional state that will have a resounding effect on your business and your reputation. 

Take time over the next few days to make sure that you are recognizing your long-standing customers with loyalty of your own.  Never confuse your customer’s loyalty with gullibility.  Loyalty equals trust, live up to and exceed your client’s trust, along with their expectations.

Oh, and one more thing: should you go through the expense of purchasing a CSM software package and it provides pop-up windows that highlight important customer facts such as “years of service”, make sure your Customer Service team doesn’t use this information to patronize your clients.  This information should be used to strengthen, not damage, the relationship.  Thanking your clients for their loyalty will never be a substitute for actually creating a superior customer experience.