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Let me give you two examples. The first one takes place at an electronics store. Three clerks, young men a few years out of high school, were hanging around the check out counter talking computer games as I entered the store. As I walk by, I glance at the closest clerk. He stares back at me in a "Who you lookin' at?" way. I go about my business, searching for a piece of equipment, never disturbed by a single "If you need any help, just let me know." As I walk out the door, I think "Does the owner of this store have any idea what his employees are doing to his store's reputation?"
The second example begins at the Maine Business Expo. I met the owner of a printing company there and was impressed with his helpful, customer-friendly attitude. I sized him up as someone who cares about his customers, and who would be easy to deal with, including if things went wrong. When I called his business, I looked forward to the same refreshingly friendly, concerned customer service that made me choose his business. Instead, the voice answering the phone was surly and irritated, as if yet another annoying life form, called The Customer, had interrupted her work. Each time I called back to work out the details with their customer service person, she answered the phone in the same churlish manner. |
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Who Hired This Person? |
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| When I went to pick up my order, I was curious. What did this Rotweiler of a receptionist look like; what was she like in person? I was stunned when I cast my eyes on her. She was the same memorable receptionist I encountered at our local phone company that left me wondering each time I walked out to my car: "Why do they keep this woman?" I figured some type of longevity guilt trip might be at play, but why would someone who clearly values customer service - the print shop owner - hire someone so ill-suited to serving the public? Doesn't he realize how she's affecting the image he's worked to create? |
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They're Running - and Maybe Ruining -- Your Marketing Campaign |
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Ask yourself the same thing about your employees. Do you know what reputation they are creating for your business? If you don't, find out because they have far greater influence on your reputation and your brand than any advertising you're investing in.
They have far greater influence because experience trumps hype. More specifically, marketing experts are talking these days about how traditional avenues of brand-building are losing their power, due to the over saturation of marketing messages. Inundated with "We're great". "No, no, WE'RE great" advertising messages, the public simply tunes out.
Because of this, people rely even more on word of mouth advertising these days. You only get great word of mouth advertising, though, if you deliver a customer experience that leaves people thinking "I wish EVERY business was like this place." An acceptable experience doesn't move people to tell others.
Bad experiences, though, make great stories and so each negative customer experience recruits another member to your business's Negative PR Firm.
Thus, smart business owners look at the experience their employees create and ask "Does it leave customers wanting to come back and wanting to tell their friends great things about us?" Smart business owner also know that unless they have processes in place that allow them to get feedback on the service their employees deliver, they're flying blind. |
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What to Do |
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Call your business and listen to both the words and the vocal intonations and ask: "Does this sound like a welcoming, intelligent operation. a place I'd like to do business?" |
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Have your business mystery shopped. |
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Ask your customers for frank feedback. Let them know you especially want to know about the "little things" because those are the things that you never hear about, but which slowly erode customer satisfaction. Put up a sign announcing your interest in customer feedback and offer easy ways of responding. Also, call customers and/or send them a note requesting feedback, and offer an incentive as a thank you. |
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Let your employees know that you will use the information you gather from mystery shopping and customer feedback to find out if you're providing excellent service, providing teaching and coaching opportunities for them, and to celebrate examples of great service. Without data, none of this can happen. |
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In a future article, we'll explore what else you can do to help your employees deliver the kind of experience that leaves people thinking "I wish EVERY business was this great to deal with."
This article is adapted from the seminar: "Help Your Employees Help You: How to Encourage, Support, and Require Great Customer Service". |
