How to Give Exceptional Customer Service

Service is Adding People To The Product

Much of the information in this article came from three video tapes on customer service: "In Search of Excellence" "How To Give Exceptional Customer Service from Career Tracks" "How To Deliver Superior Customer Service from Inc. Business Resources"

Why is customer service so important? A study by U.S. News & World Report found the average American business loses 15% of its customer base each year. The Forum Corporation found: 68% of customers who stop buying from one business and go to another because of “poor or indifferent service”. 14% leave because of an unsatisfactorily resolved dispute or complaint.

9% leave because of price. 5% go elsewhere based on a recommendation. 3 % move away. 1 % die.

So 82% leave because of service related issues. Customer Service begins at the top level of the company, and it doesn’t just happen. Here are three keys for exceptional customer service:

1. Make it clear that nothing less than exceptional customer service is acceptable.

2. Train for exceptional customer service.

3. Be sure your policies and procedures reinforce exceptional customer service.

Make it Clear that Nothing Less than Exceptional Customer Service is Acceptable!

This starts in the interview, before the person is even hired. Include questions in the interview that will lend insight into whether this person believes that good customer service is part of everyone’s job. Does she have a basic belief in helping others? You might say, “Tell me a time at your last job when you had to deal with an especially demanding customer. How did you handle the situation?” Her answer may tell you a lot about her attitude towards customers.

You might then ask about where she has received excellent customer service. Did she appreciate it? Did she tend to shop at that store more often? Sure, the applicant knows the answers you want. These are not great questions for making your hiring decision, but they are letting the applicant know that customer service is important to you and the job!

So now, you’ve tried to find out about her basic beliefs in customer service. You’ve asked her specific questions concerning customer service. Before the interview is over, tell the applicant her main job... CUSTOMER SERVICE. She might be a dish washer, a bookkeeper or a warehouse worker, but in your business, EVERYONE’S PRIMARY JOB IS CUSTOMER SERVICE! Train For Customer Service

You can’t just tell someone that you expect exceptional customer service and get it. At ARS, training for exceptional customer service begins on the first day of employment with the new employee’s introduction to ARS. To point out the importance of this information, the meeting is led by the president of the company.

The meeting has three parts, and all three emphasize customer service.

1. The history of the company, where we are now and where we are going

2. Customer Service, “In Search of Excellence”

3. TMS’s commitment to Total Quality Management.

The first part of the meeting is an introduction to the company. We are sure to emphasize that we feel our past growth and future success is tied directly to the service we provide.

In the second part of the eeting, we watch the video, “In Search of Excellence.” We watch and then discuss the incredible customer service provided by companies like Disney and Stew Leonard’s Dairy Store. This is an exceptional video and very inspiring.

As inspiring as In Search of Excellence is, for more than a dozen years, I’ve had a problem with, “How do we implement this in our business?” I think we’ve found at least part of the answer... Total Quality Management (TQM). The third part of the meeting shows the new employee our TQM system. It stresses the fact that we will do everything we can to give our customers exceptional customer service. We’ll hire and train for exceptional customer service, and we’ll make sure our procedures reinforce exceptional customer service; but that doesn’t mean much, if the system doesn’t work. Our means of continually improving our system is TQM. TQM will be the subject of a future newsletter.

After this initial training, each individual receives continued customer service training in each department. The customer service reps, who talk with customers many times daily, receive extensive training.

Other training that we have found very helpful is the Career Track Video series, “How to Give Exceptional Customer Service.” We provide this training every six months to all new employees. This initial training takes six hours and really drives home the value of customer service. We also use parts of the series for ongoing education and training.

Be Sure Your Policies And Procedures Reinforce Exceptional Customer Service

Are your policies created for the 99% of your good customers, or the 1 % of your dishonest customers? We’ve made major changes after asking this question. Here’s an example. We used to send UPS C.O.D. packages out with a C.O.D. tag on each package. With this, if the customer had three packages in the order, they had three C.O.D. fees.

Why did we do this? One time we sent four packages to a customer. The customer refused the one package with the C.O.D. tag and kept the other three packages. He didn’t pay for the three packages he kept until we sent the account to collection.

Our well-meaning warehouse manager, trying to protect our interest, decided to put C.O.D. tags on all packages to be sure we got our money. This continued for a short time until someone asked if this policy penalized the 99.9% of our honest customers because of one dishonest one. Obviously it did, and we no longer put C.O.D. tags on each package. Here’s something that recently happened to me: I bought a latte’ and was about to enter the drug store next door to buy a birthday card when I saw “NO FOOD OR DRINK”. So I walked down the way to the store without a sign to buy the birthday card. What do you think? Maybe food and drink in this store is a huge problem, but maybe they are penalizing many good customers because of a very few sloppy ones.

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