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How is Your Business Really Doing? – Part 2

How to rate Customer ServiceHow is your business really doing was the subject of my last blog. In the article, I discussed the challenge of determining if your service technicians are really delivering a Proactive Service® experience by bringing ideas to your customers that will help them be better off. If you recall, I suggested that you consider two questions to ask your customers:

1. “Do our technicians bring you ideas that help you operate more effectively?”
2. “Do you feel that you are better off for having known us?”

If you are interested in tracking your progress over time or compare branch operations for these questions, for example, I would like to suggest a scoring key that will help you. In his article in the Harvard Business Review, “The One Number You Need to Grow”¹ , Frederick Reichheld introduces us to his research into the one question that he found was a good predictor of customer loyalty and growth. The question was “How likely would you recommend [company X] to a friend or colleague?”  He introduces a scoring key that provides a “net promoter” score.   The “net promoter” component comes from the fact that Reichheld’s scoring key considers not only the percentage of responders who rated the company highly (promoters) and who would likely promote the company (i.e. recommend to friends and colleagues), but also the percentage of responders who would rate the company poorly and likely speak negatively about their experience (detractors). By subtracting the percentage of “detractors” from the percentage of “promoters”, Reichheld ends up with a “net promoter score” that can be compared from branch to branch, period to period, etc. Read more

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How is Your Business Really Doing? Ask these 2 Questions

technican training expertWhenever I speak on the subject of Proactive Service® , invariably someone will ask me how do we really know how we are doing? I mention that there are several measures to consider. Higher sales and revenues, increased customer satisfaction and improved levels of customer retention are just a few to consider. However, if you really want to know how you are doing, here are 2 questions to ask your customers through your surveys and during face-to-face visits:

  1. Do our technicians bring you ideas that will help you operate more effectively?
  2. Do you feel that you are better off for having known us?

The first question, “Do our technicians bring you ideas that will help you operate more effectively?”, goes to the heart of Proactive Service® – engaging our technicians in proactive business development. The idea is to ensure our technicians recognize that service is more than simply fixing things. Service also includes ensuring that our technicians use their experience and expertise to look for opportunities to help their customers and take the initiative to discuss their ideas with them. The response to this question will give you insight into what is really happening in the field. Read more

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Empathy – I’ll Know it When I Feel it

Empathy“I’ll know it when I see it” is a phrase often used to describe a thing or situation which is typically subjective in nature and cannot be clearly defined.  However, when it comes to empathy perhaps a better way to describe it is “I’ll know it when I feel it”.

In our workshops we talk a lot about empathy and in fact, it is hard to define.  Empathy is not what we do so much as how it is reflected (or not) in what we do.  As a result, empathy really can’t be seen, but it can be felt.  And, interestingly enough, it is most often felt in the smallest, most common of actions.

I was reminded of the importance of small things that reflect empathy just last week and how it can make such an important difference.  I was at my mother’s house when the HVAC technician arrived to check the air conditioning system before the weather got too hot.   I answered the door to a bright, clean and friendly young man with a warm smile.  Here are four little things that he did during the course of his work that demonstrated that he had empathy.

Warm greeting with a smile.  “Good morning Mrs. Baston.  My name is Eric and I am with ABC Mechanical.  I have come to complete the spring start-up of your air conditioning system.  May I come in?”.

Taking time to understand the customer’s situation.  Before he got to work he asked my mother if she had had any questions about the heating or cooling.  Did everything seem to be working okay?  Any problems?, etc.  He then explained that he would like to start with the programmable thermostat.  He asked if she had any questions about the programming.

Keeping the customer informed.  Eric explained exactly what he was going to do.  Firstly he would check things out downstairs.  When that was done, he explained that he would be going to inspect and clean the air conditioner itself.

Explaining the work that was done.  When completed Eric explained exactly what he had done and went over the checklist while confirming understanding.  He explained that he had found something about the furnace that needed attention and would be putting in a work order for a part to be replaced.  He explained that my mother would be receiving a call in the next few days to schedule the part’s replacement.  “No charge Mrs. Baston.  It’s all under warranty.”  Again, he asked my mother if she had any questions.

Being in the customer service business, I couldn’t help but ask if his company did any customer service training.  “All the time”, he said.  “We talk about customer service constantly.  We take it very seriously and measure our performance.  You know, I always score at the top”, he said proudly.  No kidding, I thought.

So here it was, as fine an example of empathy as one is likely to feel.  Eric did nothing fancy, nothing special, just simple actions that showed that he really did care.  “I’ll know it when I feel it”.  I certainly felt it that warm day in June.

I’d love your feedback on this. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“From caring comes courage.”

Lao Tzu

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The Difference Between Losing a Sale and Losing a Customer

customer service expert Jim BastonThere is a difference between losing a sale and losing a customer and I experienced it first-hand this week.  In this case, I became the “lost” customer.

My car is getting a bit long in the tooth.  It’s a 2008 and, with over 230,000 kilometers on the clock, it really is time to trade it in.  So it was a happy coincidence that I got a call from the salesperson at the dealership where I purchased this car to tell me about a great deal on the same model I currently own.  I knew that 2013 was the last model year this particular vehicle was made and I was delighted that there were still four available.  I took the car for a test drive while the dealership inspected my car.  When we returned, the salesperson offered me an opening price for the trade-in.  The price was very low and I explained that I just could not see my way to make a deal.  I thanked him for thinking of me and we shook hands.

I got a call on my cell about two minutes later from the salesperson.  “Good news!” he said.  It turns out that they could increase the offer by over 27%!  Over the next few days we negotiated a deal that would be “acceptable to the sales manager”.   We finally agreed on a number – about 43% more than the original offer for my trade-in.  The sales manager accepted it.  We had a deal – or so I thought.

In fact there was really no deal and that was where the problem lies.  “All you need to do now is come in and sign the papers and give us a deposit and the car is yours”, the salesperson said and I arranged to come up that morning.  “Everything will be ready.  We won’t keep you long.”  In fact, everything was not ready.  There was more to it than just signing the papers.  Before making good on their part of the agreement, the sales manager insisted on taking “one last look at my car”.  So the deal, unbeknownst to me, was conditional on a second inspection of my vehicle.

I am sure you can guess what happened next.  The sales manager inspected my car, returned to his office, and had a quick word with the salesperson, who, was sent out to tell me that they could not honour the offer that they had agreed to just 30 minutes before.  I wasn’t very happy and a little upset that I was not told that our agreement was conditional.  I felt that my time was wasted and I expressed my disappointment to the salesperson and that I thought they had acted very unprofessionally.  It occurred to me that this is the type of activity that gives car salespeople such a bad name.

In their zeal to make the sale, they lost sight of the customer – a customer who has been with this dealership since 2008.  They could (and should) have been honest with me during the negotiation. Had they been up front with me that the deal we negotiated was conditional on a second inspection, or had they made it clear that their original offer was the best that they would be able to do instead of putting me through a “mock” negotiation that they wouldn’t honour, then I would have little cause for complaint.  In either case, I may not have ultimately purchased this car, but they would have kept a customer.  Sadly, they have lost both.

This incident brought to focus the difference between losing a sale and losing a customer.  Sometimes we get so focused on the prize, that we will rationalize any means to get there.  Questionable tactics may win the sale on occasion, but the risks are high.  If caught we will not only lose the sale, but also the customer.  And that lost customer is bound to tell others about the experience.

Professional business people realize that it is better to be up-front with the customer even if it means that they are unable to come to an agreement.  When approached this way, the business person may not win the immediate sale, but their integrity will likely win their respect and retain the customer and the opportunity to serve them in the future.

I’d love your feedback on this. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

– Groucho Marx

 

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Don’t Make Promises you Can’t Keep – Especially in Business

broken promises in businessDon’t make promises you can’t keep was one of the common maxims in our household when I was growing up.  Wise advice. I was reminded of the importance of this message just last week and that sometimes, it is better to turn business away rather than disappoint.  Have you found that you sometimes take on work or make commitments for which you have a low likelihood of fulfilling?

While visiting family in the UK, we decided to take a brief break in a part of the country we had not been before.  We headed for Cambridge and the wonderful colleges and booked a small inn in a village not far from the city.  It was an old stone building that had recently been converted.  We found it on the internet and were impressed with the descriptions previous patrons had written about it.  Quaint, attentive, old-world character, friendly staff.  Perfect.

We drove out to Cambridge full of anticipation and, by early evening, we found this small, quaint “post card” inn situated on the quiet main street of the village.  There was a newly constructed glassed-in dining area at the back and a large parking lot which was almost full.  Must be a popular spot!  As we walked past the dining room to the entrance, we noticed that it too was full.  It turns out that there was a wedding that evening.

Check-in was friendly but not exceptional.  The room was small, clean and functional.  It overlooked the glassed-in dining area – we could look down and see the wedding party having dinner.  We went out to dinner ourselves.  We returned about 9:30, both tired and ready for bed.  However, sleep was not to come easy.

By the time we returned, the wedding was in full swing.  The music was loud – very loud.  Too loud!  Our little room literally shock to the beat.  We called the front desk to ask for another room and were informed that they were fully booked.  There was nothing else available.  We were stuck.  The music continued until almost midnight.  We decided to grin and bear it.

At check out we expressed our disappointment.  We explained that we had expected a quiet, relaxing stay as promised on their website but we experienced just the opposite.  We felt that we should have been told about the wedding at the time of booking and advised about the noise problem associated with the room we were given.  We then could have made an informed decision about whether to stay there.  The inn should have been prepared to turn us away but instead chose to fall terribly short on their promise.  Instead of more raving fans, they created raving detractors.  We certainly won’t recommend this place and will avoid it on any future visit.

I think the lesson has direct applicability to the service business and yes we sometimes take on work or make commitments for which we have a low likelihood of fulfilling.  Usually the commitments come with the best of intentions and are often made in the heat of the moment.  Sometimes we think we are doing it simply because we don’t want to let the customer down.  Regardless of the intentions, whenever we make promises we can’t keep, it ends in the same result.  Disappointed customers and possibly raving detractors.

I’d love your feedback on this. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“Life is like photography, we develop from the negatives.”

-Unknown

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Taking the Stress out of Challenging Situations

Customer service expertIn our programs, we dedicate a portion of our time to presenting an effective technique for taking the stress out of challenging situations.  We discuss the impact of stress in emotional situations and the important role that we play as technicians to reduce it.  The power of this technique was brought home to me last week.

On a trip to western Canada, I had the dubious pleasure of having my email hacked by someone who gets their kicks out of making the lives of others miserable.  It started about 6 AM with a couple of “Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender…” email messages and suddenly it turned into a torrent.  My smart phone would not stop vibrating as message after messaged jammed my inbox.  And then, after about 10 minutes, it stopped.  Phew, I thought.  That must have been a glitch somewhere.  Just as my blood pressure was returning to normal, it started again and this time it did not stop.

Read more

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Are your Customers Better off Having Known you?

customer service expert“Are your customers better off having known you?”  This is a question we ask in our Proactive Service® workshops – a workshop for technicians to help them understand and develop the skills and approaches to engage their customers in business development activities.   Our point to the technicians is that, if they want to add real value to their customer relationships, they must do more than simply do a good job at maintenance and service, while reactively addressing any problems that arise.  Any tech can do that and most do.  The real value comes from getting to know the needs of the customer and using their accumulated knowledge and expertise to make recommendations about what they can do to help the customer achieve them.  The measure of their success is whether the customer can say they are better off.

As managers, we have an important role to play here.  Our technicians must understand that this is an integral part of their role.   They must recognize that these proactive conversations that they have with their customers represent a valuable and important service – as important as fixing and maintaining the customer’s equipment.  We must ensure that the processes, systems and expectations of all customer-facing personnel support the technicians’ efforts.  We must be prepared to provide training on the necessary skills for our technicians to be successful and coach on and support those skills regularly.  And, we must maintain focus on this initiative consistently, month after month and take every opportunity to do so through toolbox, safety and other service related meetings. Read more

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How Service Providers Can Stand out from the Crowd

customer service expertI was reminded this morning that it doesn’t take much for a service provider to stand out from the crowd.  There is a lot of focus on enhancing the customer experience and creating strong relationships that clearly differentiate you from your competition.  My experience with my mobile service provider was a perfect case in point.

I woke up this morning to a problem.  I could not send or receive emails from my smart phone.  It seems that they were wiped out over the weekend when I was dealing with a completely unrelated problem.  To set them up, I needed to know my user name and password.  The ones I thought were correct turned out to be incorrect.  Each time I tried it, the counter on my smartphone told me that I had only 6 tries left, then 5 tries, then 4.

On a normal day, this would be an inconvenience but this morning it was catastrophic (at least for me).  It was 4:45 am and I was rushing to get to the airport for an early morning flight.  We had a snowstorm overnight leaving the roads a mess and easily doubling the travel time.  I would be away for a few days and my cell phone was my only link to my business during the day.  I had to get this problem fixed quickly.  I could feel the stress.

I called the carrier without much hope of getting anyone live at that time in the morning and, to my relief, I got through to a customer service representative.  I explained the problem I was experiencing and he pointed out that I did not have an account and I would need to set one up.  He explained how to go about it, gave me some helpful advice on selecting a User I.D., and waited on the phone while I completed the instructions. He then happily continued to stay on the line while I set up my emails, although he certainly did not have to.  When I told him I appreciated his support he replied that he knew I was anxious about the situation and he wanted to ensure that everything went smoothly and should there be a glitch, he would be there to help me out.

Now, in the scheme of things, I guess you could say that the customer service representative was just doing his job.  And maybe, he had nothing better to do at that time in the morning – I don’t suppose he would have been run off his feet.  However, the willingness to stay on the line and guide me through the steps until everything was working the way I needed it was the best thing he could have done for me this morning.  It showed that he was sensitive to my situation (please read this prior blog post on empathy) and he provided the level of support he felt would suit my needs in the circumstances.

It seems to me that this is something exceptional field service technicians do as a matter of course.  They stay around a few extra minutes to ensure that the problem that was repaired was done so correctly.  They follow-up on recent work to make certain the customer is happy.  They understand and show empathy for the customer’s situation by acting in a way that best suits the customer’s needs given the circumstances.  This isn’t much, but technicians who practice these small extra steps, certainly stand out from their peers.  And, so do the companies they represent.

I’d love your feedback. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

– Muhammad Ali

 

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Money isn’t Everything … for Service Companies

customer service expert“Money isn’t everything, … but it’s way ahead of whatever is in second place!” is a quote that is connected to some of the happiest times of my life.  Little did I know at the time that, with a slight modification of a single word, it could hold an important message for service companies.

As a kid growing up in southern Ontario, we used to spend a week each summer at my Uncle’s cottage on a lake a couple of hours north east of our home in Toronto.  My cousin and I would spend the days swimming, fishing, canoeing or just aimlessly lazing around.  Evenings were campfires and mosquitos.

On the shore was a boathouse and above it a living quarters that was used mainly for storage during those days.  It was the perfect place for kids to just hang out.  The walls were dotted with little plaques with witty sayings.  I do not know who originally penned this particular one, but it seems to have stuck with me.

There is a lot of talk these days about the customer experience and how it is critical to creating today’s competitive advantage.  In the service industry, the customer experience is largely created by the interaction of our customer-facing personnel with the customer.  In most cases our “customer-facing personnel” are our technicians and the customer experience comes from the relationships they are able to form.  It is these relationships, built on both personal and professional credibility that are critical for our success.

In the service business there are two components – one is the actual work that was completed (the repair, maintenance, troubleshooting, etc. – why the customer called us in the first place) and how that work was performed and described (the technician’s appearance, how they act and interact with employees, what they write to describe the work, etc.).  This fact is described in more detail in a previous blog “They don’t Pay Me to Look Good in Service Delivery”. It is the second component – the how the work was performed – that customers used to judge the quality of the work and the quality of the relationship.  And it is that relationship that creates the customer experience.  This means that, regardless of how technically skilled our technicians may be and no matter how good the work itself has been performed, the customer will not appreciate this quality nor the value that the technician brings to them unless the technician has a relationship with them that communicates that value.  Without the relationship and the corresponding value they perceive, the customer will look elsewhere to find better value.  Or, would it be better to say that in the service business:   “Relationship isn’t everything, … but it is way ahead of whatever is in second place!”

I’d love your feedback on this. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can’t buy.”

– Proverb

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Proactive Service® – Giving Customers your Hearts & your Heads

customer service tech training expertI received an important reminder about giving customers our hearts as well and our heads.  I was having lunch with a good friend and client last week and we got onto the topic of the benefits and pitfalls of engaging technicians in business development activities.  In particularly we were talking about how sales people can use the proactive promotion of services by their technicians to differentiate themselves when selling contract services.  I mentioned that while most companies give their customers their hands (i.e. do good work), proactive service companies provide customers with their heads as well.  By looking out for their customers and making helpful suggestions to allow them to be more effective at operating their facilities, they are providing the highest level of service.

Steve, who is a key part of a large, national service firm suggested, “Actually Jim, I agree with you but I think you need to be more specific.  When engaging our service technicians in speaking to customers about the other things we can do to assist them, we need to ensure that they use their hearts as well as their heads.”  Steve went on to relate a story that a service manager told him.  It seems that they had a technician on staff who took promoting services to a new high.  He would promote anything and everything to anybody that would listen.  As a result, this service manager was getting complaints from several customers.  They didn’t appreciate being “sold” when the technician was really there to service their equipment.  Steve went on, “This technician wasn’t really acting on behalf of the customer, he was acting for himself and the benefits that he would get if the customer bought the product or service he was offering.  His heart was not in the right place and the customers could spot it a mile away.”

Steve was right.  Technicians have to engage the customer in these kinds of discussions for the right reasons.  They have to believe that the customer will be better off by taking their recommendations.  If they don’t believe that the recommended action is in the interest of the customer, then they should not be suggesting the service at all.  That is one of the reasons I don’t think that “commissions” or “bonuses” should be paid for services sold by the technician.  It encourages the behaviour but for the wrong reasons.

I encourage you to look closely at your own programs for promoting services through your technicians.  Are your technicians empowered to give your customers their hearts as well as their hands?  Do your support systems (like bonuses or commissions) reinforce this approach or do they encourage them to leave their hearts in the truck?  Have you made it clear that you want them to use good judgement before making recommendations and be certain, in their own minds, that the recommendation is truly in the interests of the customer?

I’d love your feedback on this. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

– Nelson Mandela