Some companies think it is a process. Some think of it as contact points with customers, and that those should be improved. Still others think of it as a metric to be measured and improved. It is really much more than any of those well meaning definitions can encapsulate. Customer service should be a mindset that drives the basic premise of how a company should envision its customers would be most satisfied. And satisfying a need is what marketing (business) is all about. So how does a company’s well intentioned mindset get derailed?
The details will betray company mindsets that are not truly systemic. I’ll offer just two examples of companies, one large and the other small, that think they are offering truly great customer service but are failing miserably.
The first is a bank. Now we all know the problems plaguing the banking sector, so we don’t need to stretch our imaginations to realize they could use some customer loyalty right now. The bank I have in mind has done the traditional “me too” types of promotions such as free checking, but do they really have a customer service mindset? As it happens, this particular bank has a front and rear entrance. In the rear there are two parking spaces right at the door, with about twenty more a short distance away. I noticed that there are always the same two cars parked right by the door so one day I asked the branch manager, with whom I am friendly, just whose cars were parked there. She responded one was hers. I asked why she would park in the best parking space instead of leaving it for customers. Her answer? “Well, you wouldn’t want me to get my shoes dirty, would you?” (There was some slush in the lot from an overnight storm, but you can bet she is there on sunny days as well). Clearly this manager does not have a customer service mindset. She is the most important person in that building and she is going to make sure everyone knows it, including customers! Oh, and to whom did the second car belong? Why, the assistant manager of course! These people just don’t get it! (You might be thinking at this point that most customers will not know who is parked there anyway. You would be right, but those customers will never experience the feeling that “hey, this is really a convenient bank that lets its customers park right here by the door. I’m always going to use this bank.”)
The second company is a smaller business; a dance studio that has done relatively well in recent years. They’ve done so well, in fact, that they moved into a larger building with its own parking lot. You’re seeing a theme here, right? Yes, you guessed it; the owner and instructors park right by the door leaving all the customers who drop off their kids to park further away. But there is decidedly more to this story. Just to make sure each and every customer knows who is the most important to this company, they erected signs (two of them) right by the door. What do they say? One says “Reserved for Jane Doe” (name changed to protect the guilty), who is the owner of the studio. The second sign has her mother’s name. Her current customers may be putting up with that but how about the visitors that check out the place before signing up. How many of them get the message and end up going elsewhere? Clearly the owner will never know. She obviously doesn’t care.
And, that is the point of customer service. A company…no, strike that… a company’s employees must know their customers are the driving force of their success and they must care. If your company directors think customer service might be important to bottom line results, then it would be wise to pay attention to bottom line interactions with those customers. If you are communicating one thing to your employees, yet they are communicating an entirely different message to your customers; it is probably the insidious details that are betraying your efforts. The next time you look at customer satisfaction surveys and customer retention metrics, ask yourselves if you have included the small details that can have large effects on the mindset of your employees. Do the customers truly rank higher in importance than “clock out time” or “key in the door” time? If the phone rings at 1 minute after hours, does it go unanswered? Are your customers’ calls left on hold for 10 minutes before a human answers? Do your employees “park next to the door”? It’s not the acts themselves but the mindset that will eventually create a negative spirit in both the company and its customers. If you truly value your customers, you sometimes have to get your shoes dirty. Do your employees go the extra distance?
© 2009 Best Business Associates – May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission and attribution.
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