Friday, December 28, 2007
Heading Home to www.refresher.com
We have moved 1001 Ways to Wow Your Customers home to refresher.com . All new articles and posts can be found at http://www.refresher.com/wowyourcustomers . Please visit often and thank you for your interest.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
How to Create Devoted Customers
Here is a very nice slideshow from Andy Hanselman on Slideshare. Phil Dourado has this featured on his excellent Customer blog as well. Click the play button, below, to advance the slides:
Monday, November 12, 2007
Are Your Mystery Shopping Results a Mystery?
In most organizations most of the time the idea of "engineering the customer experience" becomes a "scripting" of the desired behaviours of front-most customer-facing associates. Mystery shopping or customer service auditing therefore becomes an exercise of observing and recording behaviours, based on the premise that if associates "perform" the desired "script" the outcome - a positive experience for customers - will be manifested. It's all very logical. Trouble is … it's bunk!
Reality check: Do your mystery shopping scores correlate with your customer satisfaction scores and your tangible measures of performance? Or are they a mystery. Take a look and decide for yourself. Are your mystery shopping scores up to your objectives consistently in all locations, or is there great variability between locations and within locations over time? Is your mystery shopping "program" a source of celebration and success or ongoing irritation, frustration and pain? And what about for your customer-facing people?
Most mystery shopping more often than not, measures the wrong things. Here's an example of one mystery shopper's final comments:
"I was greeted immediately and was treated professionally and politely throughout the entire encounter. I found the SA (sales associate) to be knowledgeable of the products that he was promoting. He went to task to explain the differences in the air cushion supports and flexing the shoes and pulling out the insoles to show the soft feel and support that the shoe will give me. He was bang on with his request to look at some other garments immediately after we had the shoe selection done.
I came away from the visit feeling as though he had a genuine concern for my satisfaction with the fit and feel of the shoe. He did not maintain the up sell with me as he was starting to look after other customers and left me on my own to find a pair of tracks and go and try them on. He was serving someone else when I came out of the dressing room and asked how they were on my way to the cash desk, to which I said, I just did not like them and was only going to take the shoes.
I found the dressing rooms to be clean and tidy and well lit with lots of room to try things on.
The SA seemed to be very enthusiastic about his function and seemed to enjoy what he was doing.
I would have no problem in recommending this store to my family or friends."
Many of the comments of the mystery shopper were connected to the sales "script" all associates were required to "perform." What score does this service experience deserve? What would this experience "score" in your program?
In this specific business the score was a feeble failing grade, as the incredibly scripted series of behaviours was not performed to perfection.
My take is that we have a front-line associate serving multiple customers and doing quite an excellent job. This is a very positive service experience as described by the shopper. The example cites a prompt greeting, politeness, product knowledge, genuine concern and caring, a clean and well maintained store, the positive "engagement" and enthusiasm of the associate all while serving multiple customers, and the shopper ready to be an advocate of your business.
What score does this service experience deserve if your measurement scale rated the shopper's outcome? At least a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5? What would this experience "score" in your program if the score was based on the outcome, and not the overly scripted behaviours?
What is it that we're after? What do we want our customer-facing associates to achieve? What is the desired outcome? Is it to:
A - perform the script perfectly … or
B - create an extremely satisfied customer.
Sorry to say … A doesn't get you to B.
There is a better way - a much more mysterious way to create extremely satisfied and loyal customers. More next time.
Reality check: Do your mystery shopping scores correlate with your customer satisfaction scores and your tangible measures of performance? Or are they a mystery. Take a look and decide for yourself. Are your mystery shopping scores up to your objectives consistently in all locations, or is there great variability between locations and within locations over time? Is your mystery shopping "program" a source of celebration and success or ongoing irritation, frustration and pain? And what about for your customer-facing people?
Most mystery shopping more often than not, measures the wrong things. Here's an example of one mystery shopper's final comments:
"I was greeted immediately and was treated professionally and politely throughout the entire encounter. I found the SA (sales associate) to be knowledgeable of the products that he was promoting. He went to task to explain the differences in the air cushion supports and flexing the shoes and pulling out the insoles to show the soft feel and support that the shoe will give me. He was bang on with his request to look at some other garments immediately after we had the shoe selection done.
I came away from the visit feeling as though he had a genuine concern for my satisfaction with the fit and feel of the shoe. He did not maintain the up sell with me as he was starting to look after other customers and left me on my own to find a pair of tracks and go and try them on. He was serving someone else when I came out of the dressing room and asked how they were on my way to the cash desk, to which I said, I just did not like them and was only going to take the shoes.
I found the dressing rooms to be clean and tidy and well lit with lots of room to try things on.
The SA seemed to be very enthusiastic about his function and seemed to enjoy what he was doing.
I would have no problem in recommending this store to my family or friends."
Many of the comments of the mystery shopper were connected to the sales "script" all associates were required to "perform." What score does this service experience deserve? What would this experience "score" in your program?
In this specific business the score was a feeble failing grade, as the incredibly scripted series of behaviours was not performed to perfection.
My take is that we have a front-line associate serving multiple customers and doing quite an excellent job. This is a very positive service experience as described by the shopper. The example cites a prompt greeting, politeness, product knowledge, genuine concern and caring, a clean and well maintained store, the positive "engagement" and enthusiasm of the associate all while serving multiple customers, and the shopper ready to be an advocate of your business.
What score does this service experience deserve if your measurement scale rated the shopper's outcome? At least a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5? What would this experience "score" in your program if the score was based on the outcome, and not the overly scripted behaviours?
What is it that we're after? What do we want our customer-facing associates to achieve? What is the desired outcome? Is it to:
A - perform the script perfectly … or
B - create an extremely satisfied customer.
Sorry to say … A doesn't get you to B.
There is a better way - a much more mysterious way to create extremely satisfied and loyal customers. More next time.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Be the One to Say Yes
In It's Not About the Coffee Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks International, identifies Yes as the most powerful word in the world. "Yes is freeing and inspiring. It means permission. It means possibility. Saying yes makes you feel good."
Saying No might initially be a self serving "rule" to achieve an illusion of efficiency, but it is self limiting and even mindless when viewed by your customers. It can also become a very insidious habit that may be driving your most valuable customers away.
"WE DON"T ACCEPT $100 BILLS!" It's usually in caps with an exclamation point. So … you won't accept legal tender, and you stick that sign in my face, all because it minimizes your risk of counterfeit currency … and you won't spend the few bucks for the technology that would minimize your risk and accommodate my needs. Time to say yes.
"WE OPEN AT 8:00AM!" Is that customer banging on your door at 7:45 just some transient individual who happened by your store, or perhaps one of your most devoted clients who needs her double low fat mocha latte with room to go for an earlier than usual meeting? Say yes and open early.
Several years ago in the menswear business we had a store manager that consistently exceeded all sales targets - quite uncanny, really. His store was in a mall well known for tourist visitors. All stores in the mall opened at 9:30 am and the hours of operation were defined in the lease. I just had to get a better understanding of what he was doing to replicate it as a best practice for our business. Our conversations usually concluded that his superior leadership and skills were the factor, and he was an exceptional leader, but he had a little ace up his sleeve.
As a very conscientious manager he always arrived early to be ready for business. Typically, his opening routine involved walking the mall, checking out all shops and having a coffee. More often than not he would strike up a conversation with visiting shoppers who arrived early, and were disappointed that they would have to wait to shop and spend their money. He always offered to open the store for their immediate, personal and exclusive shopping experience. It always worked very well. No need to wonder why he did about 20% of his daily target before opening. Wow your customers by saying yes whenever you can.
How about looking for yes instead of …
"WE DON'T SERVE CUCUMBERS WITH DELI SANDWICHES!"
Check out Darlene's reaction in the archives.
"PLEASE UNDO ALL BUTTONS OF YOUR DRY CLEANING" and "ONLY THREE SHIRTS PER SPECIAL ORDER" and "NO DEBIT CARDS FOR UNDER $10" and whatever …
Wonder why business is going to the new cleaner on the block?
"WE ONLY SERVE BREAKFAST UNTIL 11:00 AM!"
There is a significant portion of the population that typically doesn't even move until then, at least on the weekend. Why not find a way to say yes?
There is gold in saying yes! Take a good look at all of your rules and the investment you have in saying no to your customers. I can almost guarantee you can increase your revenues by 20% or more, with the same traffic - just by looking for the opportunities to say yes.
Saying No might initially be a self serving "rule" to achieve an illusion of efficiency, but it is self limiting and even mindless when viewed by your customers. It can also become a very insidious habit that may be driving your most valuable customers away.
"WE DON"T ACCEPT $100 BILLS!" It's usually in caps with an exclamation point. So … you won't accept legal tender, and you stick that sign in my face, all because it minimizes your risk of counterfeit currency … and you won't spend the few bucks for the technology that would minimize your risk and accommodate my needs. Time to say yes.
"WE OPEN AT 8:00AM!" Is that customer banging on your door at 7:45 just some transient individual who happened by your store, or perhaps one of your most devoted clients who needs her double low fat mocha latte with room to go for an earlier than usual meeting? Say yes and open early.
Several years ago in the menswear business we had a store manager that consistently exceeded all sales targets - quite uncanny, really. His store was in a mall well known for tourist visitors. All stores in the mall opened at 9:30 am and the hours of operation were defined in the lease. I just had to get a better understanding of what he was doing to replicate it as a best practice for our business. Our conversations usually concluded that his superior leadership and skills were the factor, and he was an exceptional leader, but he had a little ace up his sleeve.
As a very conscientious manager he always arrived early to be ready for business. Typically, his opening routine involved walking the mall, checking out all shops and having a coffee. More often than not he would strike up a conversation with visiting shoppers who arrived early, and were disappointed that they would have to wait to shop and spend their money. He always offered to open the store for their immediate, personal and exclusive shopping experience. It always worked very well. No need to wonder why he did about 20% of his daily target before opening. Wow your customers by saying yes whenever you can.
How about looking for yes instead of …
"WE DON'T SERVE CUCUMBERS WITH DELI SANDWICHES!"
Check out Darlene's reaction in the archives.
"PLEASE UNDO ALL BUTTONS OF YOUR DRY CLEANING" and "ONLY THREE SHIRTS PER SPECIAL ORDER" and "NO DEBIT CARDS FOR UNDER $10" and whatever …
Wonder why business is going to the new cleaner on the block?
"WE ONLY SERVE BREAKFAST UNTIL 11:00 AM!"
There is a significant portion of the population that typically doesn't even move until then, at least on the weekend. Why not find a way to say yes?
There is gold in saying yes! Take a good look at all of your rules and the investment you have in saying no to your customers. I can almost guarantee you can increase your revenues by 20% or more, with the same traffic - just by looking for the opportunities to say yes.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Beyond Being Satisfied
In this blog and this book in progress we are advocating from a very strong point of view of customer service - clearly, that the outcome you must create for your customers is a very positive and very memorable experience. It's the "Wow!" factor. It's "wowing" your customers! And the "wow" is always positive and memorable, and to be positive and memorable it must be a positive, memorable and emotional experience. That's a lot of wows, positives and memorables - and it's the only outcome that makes a difference in terms of your business results.
Satisfying customers is not enough - it never has been. In some organizations that have made great strides in measuring customer satisfaction there is a growing dilemma: Survey says our satisfaction index is improving; but our rate of churn or defection is increasing as well. How can this be? Why do customers who appear to be satisfied, or tell us they're satisfied, defect to the competition?
There is a growing body of research on customer decision making and loyalty that supports our very strong point of view.
In Human Sigma published by Gallop Press, John Fleming and Jim Asplund present the results of several fascinating studies that illuminate customer behaviour. They have analyzed customer satisfaction ratings and found that those customers who are extremely satisfied can be classified into two distinct groups - rationally satisfied and emotionally satisfied. They report that the rationally satisfied customers, although extremely satisfied, lack a strong emotional attachment to the company. And just as we might all predict, emotionally satisfied customers outperform rationally satisfied customers on all dimensions - average spend, frequency, loyalty, rate of defection, etc. One of the most fascinating findings however, is that, (and please read this slowly), rationally satisfied customers behave no differently than dissatisfied customers! Wow! Interesting findings.
In a study of "advocating" the authors report similar results. Rational advocates, who report that they are extremely likely to recommend a company to others, ultimately behave very similar to non-advocates. And course, passionate (emotional) advocates deliver far superior performance on all dimensions. Wow! Human Sigma is an excellent book if you need more data to develop a strong point of view about service.
So, the only outcome you should strive to create for your customers is the 'WOW", the positive and memorable experience - the emotional experience.
Nothing else really matters!
Satisfying customers is not enough - it never has been. In some organizations that have made great strides in measuring customer satisfaction there is a growing dilemma: Survey says our satisfaction index is improving; but our rate of churn or defection is increasing as well. How can this be? Why do customers who appear to be satisfied, or tell us they're satisfied, defect to the competition?
There is a growing body of research on customer decision making and loyalty that supports our very strong point of view.
In Human Sigma published by Gallop Press, John Fleming and Jim Asplund present the results of several fascinating studies that illuminate customer behaviour. They have analyzed customer satisfaction ratings and found that those customers who are extremely satisfied can be classified into two distinct groups - rationally satisfied and emotionally satisfied. They report that the rationally satisfied customers, although extremely satisfied, lack a strong emotional attachment to the company. And just as we might all predict, emotionally satisfied customers outperform rationally satisfied customers on all dimensions - average spend, frequency, loyalty, rate of defection, etc. One of the most fascinating findings however, is that, (and please read this slowly), rationally satisfied customers behave no differently than dissatisfied customers! Wow! Interesting findings.
In a study of "advocating" the authors report similar results. Rational advocates, who report that they are extremely likely to recommend a company to others, ultimately behave very similar to non-advocates. And course, passionate (emotional) advocates deliver far superior performance on all dimensions. Wow! Human Sigma is an excellent book if you need more data to develop a strong point of view about service.
So, the only outcome you should strive to create for your customers is the 'WOW", the positive and memorable experience - the emotional experience.
Nothing else really matters!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Serving Each Customer Uniquely
An excellent story from Rebecca Morgan
She stood at the entrance in her crisp uniform, greeting every arrival. The guests filed past into the hotel meeting room for the local radio and TV broadcasters annual awards banquets. She looked each person in the eye as they passed and said, “I hope you have a great time tonight.”
I watched her, noting this out-of-the-norm behavior, even for 5-star hotels, which this was not. After we were seated, she visited each of her tables and asked if there was anything we needed. She chatted with those who wanted to chat and moved silently to pour wine for those otherwise engaged.
I complimented her on her impeccable attention to the guests and asked what motivated her to treat everyone with such care. She said she’d been working in hospitality for over 40 years and loved her job. But the next thing she said stood out for me.
“These people have given me so much joy every day, I’m thrilled to be able to help them make their special night memorable.”
This server had a clear vision of who her customers were that evening and how she could give each something from her heart.
Did she do this with every group? What about those who she had no personal connection to? I didn’t think to ask her, but now I’m guessing she found something to celebrate about each group.
Do your employees find ways to relate to each of their customers? Do they think about how to make each interaction special? Do you notice exemplars and compliment them? Or better yet, reward them?
Rebecca Morgan works with organizations that know the secret to their current and future success is developing key talent long-term. Visit http://growyourkeytalent.wordpress.com/ for more of her work.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Have a Conversation and Care
I often visit a local branch of TD Canada Trust to look after my mother's banking, as she no longer can get out on her own. I have been very impressed with the service and care they consistently display and I can now understand why my mother always insisted on bringing the staff chocolates at Christmas.
It's Saturday morning and there are four young smiling faces at work at the tellers, two others working with clients in offices, and one smiling face at reception. There's a couple waiting for an appointment with an advisor and their young daughter is busy colouring at a child-sized desk and chair. The ATMs are also being used. All of the tellers and receptionist are serving customers. There's an air of efficiency and everyone is busy. There are a lot of smiling faces and conversations abound. I'm second in line and the wait is about 15 seconds.
"Hi Rick, what can I do for you today?" I clarify what I need and Sean goes right into action. "Any plans for the weekend?" "I might head up to the cottage to make sure it's still standing," I say. "Where's the cottage?" "Near Midland." "Nice spot, great beaches, been there many times." "And you?" And our conversation continues as he very efficiently handles everything. Then Agnes walks by and says "Hi and how is your mother?" I fill her in and we talk and she tells me what a wonderfully kind customer she has been over the years. I will give my mother her regards.
Five minutes and I'm done and all went efficiently and I reflect that this branch has a most memorable group of efficient and caring people. Somebody is getting it right - in terms of service, conversations and caring. There was no customer service script - with canned questions and feigned interest. These people just seem to enjoy having conversations, and want to engage and connect personally with their customers as real people. And as far as I'm concerned, they really care.
Is this a one-off branch perhaps led by a most service-oriented manager, or a have they had more than their fair share of good recruits? I think there's more to it. I get the sense that there something more cultural involved, that there are significant investments being made in service orientation, and development, and that customer service has become strategic to the long term plans for TD Canada Trust.
Can customer service be strategic and create a sustainable competitive advantage? Yes I think so and know so. Based on my experiences of the people that work at this branch I am very seriously contemplating moving all of my business to them - and they haven't even asked me to. If getting people to switch is a challenge for business development at the banks, I'm already teed up to do it - just because of the positive and memorable experience.
And I think there's more to it.
Consider this:
Hmmm …
I think I "get it."
It's Saturday morning and there are four young smiling faces at work at the tellers, two others working with clients in offices, and one smiling face at reception. There's a couple waiting for an appointment with an advisor and their young daughter is busy colouring at a child-sized desk and chair. The ATMs are also being used. All of the tellers and receptionist are serving customers. There's an air of efficiency and everyone is busy. There are a lot of smiling faces and conversations abound. I'm second in line and the wait is about 15 seconds.
"Hi Rick, what can I do for you today?" I clarify what I need and Sean goes right into action. "Any plans for the weekend?" "I might head up to the cottage to make sure it's still standing," I say. "Where's the cottage?" "Near Midland." "Nice spot, great beaches, been there many times." "And you?" And our conversation continues as he very efficiently handles everything. Then Agnes walks by and says "Hi and how is your mother?" I fill her in and we talk and she tells me what a wonderfully kind customer she has been over the years. I will give my mother her regards.
Five minutes and I'm done and all went efficiently and I reflect that this branch has a most memorable group of efficient and caring people. Somebody is getting it right - in terms of service, conversations and caring. There was no customer service script - with canned questions and feigned interest. These people just seem to enjoy having conversations, and want to engage and connect personally with their customers as real people. And as far as I'm concerned, they really care.
Is this a one-off branch perhaps led by a most service-oriented manager, or a have they had more than their fair share of good recruits? I think there's more to it. I get the sense that there something more cultural involved, that there are significant investments being made in service orientation, and development, and that customer service has become strategic to the long term plans for TD Canada Trust.
Can customer service be strategic and create a sustainable competitive advantage? Yes I think so and know so. Based on my experiences of the people that work at this branch I am very seriously contemplating moving all of my business to them - and they haven't even asked me to. If getting people to switch is a challenge for business development at the banks, I'm already teed up to do it - just because of the positive and memorable experience.
And I think there's more to it.
Consider this:
- TD Canada Trust has won the top award in seven of the eleven categories of Synovate's Customer Service Index this year, and has been the top bank three years running.
- J.D. Power has ranked TD Canada Trust highest in Canadian retail banking customer satisfaction for the second consecutive year.
- They have announced more convenient banking hours at all branches across Canada - to serve customers 62 hours a week, and opening at 8:00 am including Saturdays.
- Their most recent quarterly results reported earnings of $1.1 billion, compared to $886 million in the prior year.
- They have recently completed an $8.5 billion acquisition of a major regional US bank and will be one of the largest banks in North America.
Hmmm …
I think I "get it."
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