‘Designing Strategies’ Newsletter
March – April 2014 Volume 11 — Issue 58
In a previous posting, we discussed the value of exemplary customer experiences. Everyone claims to have great customer service today, but do they really? What passes for customer service has become, in many cases, a joke. Customer service is no longer the whole story. Customers today expect a positive experience from your firm in a wide range of services. If they do not find exceptional customer experiences with your firm, they will look for another company where things are better.
Businesses, large and small, develop policies and procedures meant to make things easy internally. The policies focus on the company and its employees, not on their valuable customers. Of course, any business focused on growth and success needs to have set systems and processes in place.
Policies and systems are necessary to standardize the way employees function. That said, it is important to remember that processes without flexibility and empowerment can pave the way to some very unsatisfying customer experiences. It is imperative that policies are good for workers internally, while still providing exceptional experiences for customers.
I spent more than thirty years working in the interior design industry. That career experience put me in the middle of quite a number of construction sites. I worked with contractors and installers of finishes and furnishings to complete clients’ projects.
It always amazed me that so many subcontractors and installers held no respect for each other’s work. On one job, after days of painting, installing wall coverings and staining doors and trim in a hotel, the painting contractor’s team walked off the completed job. Their work was done, so they made way for the next team to work. The next day, carpet installers arrived on the scene. After taking measurements, they cut the material, with its typical rough jute backing, and unrolled it down the hallway.
Their careless approach resulted in every single door and door frame being damaged. The rough edges of the carpet, when unrolled, scuffed every single one of the freshly stained doors and painted door frames. When all of the carpet was installed, they too walked away, thinking they had done a great job.
When contacted about the damage, the carpet installation firm’s owner insisted his people could not possibly have done the damage. After much arguing, he finally assumed responsibility and agreed to cover the cost of re-doing all of the doors and frames. Good customer service? Not by a long shot. The schedule was thrown into turmoil, painters had to return and redo much of the work they had already done and the client was anything but impressed.
Compare that experience to another I had last year at my home. My husband wanted to change out two picture windows in our living room and dining room to new, energy efficient models. After putting the project off for several years, we finally decided to bite the bullet, deal with the dust and get it done. Because of their quality and reputation, we decided on Pella Windows. I was pleasantly surprised – no, shocked – at our experience.
When they arrived to install the windows, not one of their team entered our home before slipping ‘booties’ on over their work boots. Next, they put down plastic runners that covered their path from the door, across the kitchen and into the living room. They carefully moved furniture near the work area. Then, they covered everything with drop cloths for protection. Impressive.
Never, in all of my years on job sites, had a contractor or installer taken this much care for my clients. When the installation was finished, drop cloths were removed, the area was vacuumed and the runners were taken away. Now THAT is an exceptional customer experience.
How You Can Provide Exceptional Customer Experiences
Companies that adopt anti-customer procedures make it easy for themselves to ‘process’ things. Don’t design policies just to help staff handle people, orders, inventory, schedules and paperwork. The focus is usually not on making it easy or pleasant for customers to do business with them. Customer service staff with no authority to work with customers outside of rigid policies is another way to push customers away. Work hard to get customers’ attention with unexpected positive services. Empower your people to bend rules when necessary to keep a client satisfied. That is the kind of exceptional customer experiences they will be happy to share with others.
Set customer service and experience policies from an external perspective – from the customer’s side. Make it easy for customers to learn about your company, place an order, and get problems solved. Make them want to do business with you. Make every relationship touch point a positive experience. Surprise them. Amaze them. Make their experiences with your firm a joy.
Do something positive they will share with friends who can become customers. This is the best way to acquire new customers at little to no expense. News, good or bad, spreads faster than a speeding bullet these days, thanks to the Internet. Do you want positive messages about your customer service and experiences spreading, or do you prefer that it be negative? “Fine” or “OK” opinions are not good enough in today’s highly competitive marketplace. Make customers share comments about you like: “WOW! What an exceptional customer service experience that was.”
