Grumpy Must Be a Make-You-Happy Customer Service Fanatic

Whenever I speak on the topic of customer service, I ask a few “audience participation” questions at the beginning to get the group warmed up and introduce my topic.

One of the questions often ask is, “How many of you get “Who’s the Boss” Customer Service? The level of customer service that says to you, This business really understand that I, the customer, am the boss. I give them every pay check they’ll ever get.”

How many of you get that kind of customer service most of the time? No hands go up.

When I say half the time, a few hands go up.

When I said 25%, a lot of times most of go up.

When I said 10% of the time, again, a few more hands go up.

Frankly, I am usually surprised by the number of people who say they receive “Who’s the Boss” customer service 25% of the time. For me, it’s more like 10%

I think it’s because I’ve harped on exceptional customer service so long that I have become jaded. Maybe my expectations of exceptional customer service have gone beyond what’s likely to happen.

I do get it 10% of the time, so I know it’s possible, so I’m going to keep my expectations high. I’m going to stay with my fanatical approach to exceptional customer service.

But I need to warn you, when you get to the point where I am, you’re likely to be grumpy more often because you’ll go into places wanting and expecting exceptional customer service, and you’re not going to get it.

Like today, when I went to lunch. Most of the time when I go shopping or to a restaurant, I’ll say something to the clerk whether the clerk says anything or not. You probably do the same.

But every once in a while, because I’m a customer service fanatic and teaches others how to deliver Make-You-Happy Customer Service,  I don’t say anything… just to see what happens.

I’m absolutely amazed at how often the clerk on the other side of the counter says absolutely nothing.

OK, I really don’t get Grumpy because I know that my clients who practice Make-You-Happy Customer Service love competing with, and beating the competition who doesn’t.

You can get my book, The Happy Customer Handbook for free, just click here. I simply ask that you pay $2.97 for shipping and handling.

What Would Walt Do?

You may have seen that I’m leading a Customer Service Expedition to Disney World with my friend Vance Morris in February.

I’ve, mostly, been discussing it in my Customer Service tips and newsletters, but it’s critical to understand that ALL GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE STARTS WITH GREAT LEADERSHIP.

While at Disney World, you’ll discover the secrets Disney leadership uses to get minimum wages employees (cast members) delivering, what is considered by many to be, THE MODEL for The World Best Customer Service.

My friend and mentor Dan Kennedy is a self described curmudgeon (a bad-tempered or surly person), yet he seldom goes on vacation anywhere other than Disney World. He says, “One of the reasons I go to Disney World is that I am never told no.”

Vance Morris, my co-host on our Disney Business Accelerator Service Boot Camp is a past ten year executive with Disney. I’ll be asking this question to Vance and other current Disney execs we meet with at the boot camp. “My friend says he comes to Disney World because he’s never to no. How do you train your team to not say no when the answer is no?”

What question will you ask the current
Disney execs when we meet with them?

P.S. February in Orlando sounds pretty nice eh?

What would Walt do
with your business or practice?

There is an insidious decline in customer and client service in America with many customer service departments focused on neither service nor customers. This gradual, seemingly harmless, decline may not be easily noticed, but it is having a grave effect on the profits of businesses across America. And if Walt Disney were to rescue some these laggards of customer service, here is what he would do…

The first thing Walt would do with your business is to infuse some magic into it. But not the magic that you may be thinking of… A different sort of magic.

You generally do not hear or use the word magic in business, unless of course you are a magician. You won’t find magic on a balance sheet or in a financial statement of any business. Most bean counters will probably not be able to measure the return on investment (ROI) for magic, nor is it depreciated or amortized over the next 20 years. How then, does the Disney company, a multi-billion dollar global enterprise manage to generate so much money around magic?

We all know that there really is no magic. Only the illusion thereof. To the audience the magic show is something that can be completely amazing, filled with wonderment and joy. Not knowing how the trick or illusion is performed is all part of the fun of a magic show. However, to the magician performing the show, the perspective is the polar opposite.

A magic show is merely a very systematic event, a series of repeatable steps designed to create a specific outcome; the delight and amazement of the audience. Now to answer the question posed above… Disney really has practical magic all figured out. I hate to burst your bubble, but contrary to popular legend, Disney does not have a mine where pixie dust is extracted and then showered on the cast members (Disney speak for employee) before every working shift. They just have a REPEATABLE, replicable system to perform their show.

It is practiced.
It is updated.
It is practiced again, and again and again.

Then it is performed. Whether it be at a restaurant at one of the resorts, an attraction at a park or the route the buses take, all the magic at Disney is created with repeatable, replicable, practiced systems.

The next thing Walt would do with your business would be to implement some WOW components to how you serve your clients. The question Walt would ask you is “how can you create an experience out of the mundane”

The Wow Component means not only to meet the expectations of your clients or guests, but to exceed them, on a repeatable and consistent basis. To be sure, there are many companies that may WOW their clients occasionally. Maybe the occasional “above the call of duty” experience. Getting upgraded for free on a flight, extra whipped cream on a sundae, or an employee just did everything possible to make an unhappy client, happier.

But to truly Disnify your business, you need to make exceeding your clients’ expectations your standard operating procedure. In order to consistently exceed your clients’ expectations, you must be dogmatic, strict and unyielding in your pursuit. Analyzing your clients’ experience (from their perspective, not yours), understanding your Client Compass (Needs, Wants, Stereotypes and Emotions) and committing every part of your business (Processes, Infrastructure, Design and Training) to creating a magical experience.

The next thing, Walt would introduce to your business is to have an obsession with details. Walt Disney was famous for his attention to every detail and he dictated that everyone had the same attention that he did.

Every business should be about the details. One small oversight of the smallest of details is the beginning of the end for you. You must be unwavering in your demand for adherence to every detail in your business.

One of the chief causes of failure today is the striving for unearned success. Doing just the bare minimum in providing service and then wondering why your client never calls you back. I recently had an appliance repair company come to the house to fix a noise in the drier. When they arrived the technician was in a clean uniform (it was already 2 oclock and he had been working), placed a mat on my porch to wipe his feet, placed a towel under his tool bag and used special mat to slide out the drier so he would not scratch the floor. Now mind you, the drier is in my basement on a concrete floor and he still used the special mat. Deciding on the right “level” for each thing we do is important.

Walt once said: even if I’m the only one that notices, some things are still worth doing, because I need to be prideful to be motivated. I’m paraphrasing, but I’m close. I have to be proud of what I do, at least comfortable with it, regardless of others’ appreciation. And if I lived on others’ appreciation, my service would be nowhere as powerful as it is. Few clients can appreciate every nuance, my reasoning and the psychology behind the service I provide, many take it for granted, hardly anybody faints from awe or gives my technicians standing ovation.

Walt would then create a Service Theme and Service Standards for your business. Disney’s Service Theme is “To create happiness for people of all ages everywhere.” Vaguely sounds like a USP, doesn’t it? This Theme is the foundation and prerequisite for all undertakings at Disney. Every decision made by the cast and management is measured against it.

Service Standards are then set to create the specific actions that are necessary to achieve the Service Theme. Disney has ONLY FOUR Service Standards. Here they are in order of importance: Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency.

This is cut in stone.
It is immovable.
There is no questioning it.
This is the guiding principle for everything that happens at Disney.

Safety: Safety is built into everything they do. It is the first consideration when they are designing Rides and Resorts, Emergency Services, Environmental Protection, Prevention, Training and Policies & Procedures.

Courtesy: Courtesy is taught from day 1. The fundamentals include Treating every Guest as a VIP, knowing the answers to questions (or finding the answers), giving the personal touch, using friendly phrases and gestures and being aggressively friendly.

Show: Show is integrated into every element of setting and theme. This includes Cast Appearance, Costumes, Documentation, Show Quality reviews, Standards Manuals, and of course, Cast Members are performers as well as service providers.

Efficiency: Efficiency involves both the utilization of facilities and systems and the cast members who operate them. Points that are considered include: Capacity of Facility, Guest Flow Patterns, Sales, Speed of Service, Space Utilization and Operational Readiness.

In order to have over 75,000 employees providing a seamless, exciting and memorable experience to millions upon millions of people 365 days a year, you must have a systematic process to avoid the utter chaos that would ensue.

There are processes for every little thing that occurs at Disney. From putting air in bus tires, to the bus drivers’ greeting to guests, from how many lanes are needed at the entrance to the park to how the parking lots are filled up, there is a step-by-step, exacting procedure for each.

And as with any good plan, process or system, there are clog or combustion points, and breakdowns can occur. And instead of creating a happy memory for a guest, that clog point can turn a good day into a bad one rapidly. One example we worked on was the “Lost Car” problem.

Imagine if you will that you have rented a car, (Continued P10 – What Would Walt Do?)
that by the way looks like just about all the other rental cars in Orlando, and you parked it in a veritable ocean of other cars early in the morning. Then after 8, 10, twelve hours at the Magic Kingdom, they emerge only to forget where they parked. Was it Goofy 5, Pluto 4 or Daisy 9? (Disney names and numbers its’ lots after their characters). The tram drivers also announce those locations as guests board the trams, but still, cars are lost.

Now instead of leaving those sunburned, exhausted and weary tourists wandering will-nilly through the acres of parking lots, the cast came up with a fix of sorts. Since the parking lots are filled in a specific order, the tram drivers began keeping track of what lot and row they were in at the time the cars were parked in the morning. That list was then distributed to the next shift of parking attendants. So if the guest could remember at least an approximate time they arrived, they could narrow down where the car was.

Examining your processes and choke points could reveal some serious client and guest pain points.

Finally, and this really is the bottom line point: You are running a business. Disney, at the end of the day is a BUSINESS. And the whole point of running a business is to generate PROFIT. As of this writing, Disney has just increased it park entry tickets by another 5%, and NO ONE is complaining. If they are, they are doing so quietly, as the theme parks are having record attendance. Also, as of this writing, Disney announced that they have raised their stock dividends a whopping 34% after a year of record results.

IF that’s not a reason to Disnify your business, I don’t know what is.

Join Vance Morris, ten year Disney exec and me at Disney World Ferbruary 27 – March 2 and discover how to Disnify Your Business.

Get your Invitation and complete details at https://keithlee.com/disney-info.

Create Customer Service Legends

“Create Customer Service Legends” 

The goal of Make-You-Happy Customer Service is to create a culture in which exceptional customer service is the norm. A culture in which indifferent customer service is simply not an option. Creating Customer Service Legends is a great way to do that and here’s a great way to create customer service legends.

We encourage every team member to send an ‘Atta Boy’ or an ‘Atta Girl’ whenever they notice another team member who has gone ‘Above and Beyond’ in providing Make-You-Happy Customer Service to another team member, or client.

When someone sees that a team member has gone above and beyond they simply send an email to the entire company with the subject line ‘Atta Boy’ or ‘Atta Girl.’ This simple idea is one of the best things we’ve ever done to create a culture of providing exceptional customer service. With no effort from management our “Atta Girls” and “Atta Boys” keep our Make-You-Happy Customer Service philosophy in the forefront continually.

Here’s an ‘Atta Boy’ from Mark Turner about our POS tech crew. Remember, this gets sent to the entire company.

“I asked the tech guys if they could answer a question (no charge) for a prospect who has RMS from another vendor in one store and is adding a second store. Her current vendor could, or would not answer and she tried the online help at Microsoft to no avail. Our guys agreed to help her, Brian called and left a message, the prospect called back and Peter took care of her.

I talked to her today and she said, ‘He was wonderful! Your quote was a few hundred more than the other guys and money is tight, but you guys are getting the business for sure.'”

Here’s another ‘Atta Girl’ from Ariane in sales about Dorothy in purchasing. See the article below for a discussion about internal customer service.

“Thank you Dorothy for helping me enter a Lozier order. This is my first one and Dorothy took the time to come sit with me to make sure I understood how to enter the order so it made sense for sales, purchasing, and the client! Way to go, Dorothy for an “..and then some attitude”

Atta Boys and Atta Girls have been a great addition for our company and I bet they will be for yours also.

Implement ‘Atta Boys’ and ‘Atta Girls’ in your business.

You can get my hardcopy book (not an e-book), The Happy Customer Handbook, 59 Secrets to Creating Happy Customers Who Come Back Time and Time Again and Enthusiastically Tell Others About You at www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com. Your cost is $2.97 and that includes shipping and handling.

How Would You Like an Unpaid Employee?

“You have reached the highest level in sales when your Client views you as an unpaid employee.”                                                                                           ~ Zig Ziglar

That statement has had a profound impact on my life and now that I teach customer service I change it to, “You have reached the highest level in sales when your Client views you as an unpaid employee.” 

I’m not bragging, but when I was a sales rep I did very well, and it was because I believed and practice the statement above from Zig Ziglar.

When I started at American Retail Supply (Thompson Marking Service) in 1978 the only products we sold were hand-held price marking equipment and labels.  My job was to drive, or walk, from one retail store to the next, sell price marking guns, service the guns for existing Clients, and sell them labels for their price markers.  I was paid on straight commission.

Zig’s statement of, “You have reached the highest level of sales when your Client views you as an unpaid employee” was right in line with what I learned from Dick Thompson, the founder of American Retail Supply.  Dick said, “You can only get in direct proportion to what you give.”

With Dick and Zig’s advice, along with parents who taught me the same principles, I headed out to sell price marking equipment and labels.  The Client’s in my territory hadn’t had anyone calling on them for almost three years and I found that most of them had started buying from another company who had a sales rep coming around periodically.

As I entered the Client’s store I looked at the labels on their product to determine the type of pricing equipment they used.  While I did this I looked for labels that weren’t printing properly.  In those days the price marking equipment needed periodic adjustments and the tracks needed to be cleaned for the price marker to work properly.

As I introduced myself, many of the Clients told me they didn’t buy from us any longer because we had not been around to service them and another company came in once in a while.

I had learned from my parents that what you say isn’t nearly as important as what you do, so I simply told them that’s fine, and let them know I would still love to clean and service their labelers.  If they hesitated, I would point out the labels that weren’t printing properly and almost always was able to clean and service their labelers.  Then I showed them what I did to fix the problem and often gave them a hint or two on maintaining the labelers.  Sometimes I walked out with an order.

Most of the time I thanked the Client and told them I would be back in a few months.  Most of the time when I told them I would be back in a few months they reminded me that they didn’t buy from us any longer.  I simply replied, “That’s fine.”

When I showed up a few months later I was often reminded that they no longer buy from us.  I again serviced the labelers and left with more orders.  Over the three years I was an outside sales rep almost every Client who originally told me they no longer bought from us became my Client and many are Clients today.

Zig’s lesson that, “You have reached the highest level of sales when your Client views you as an unpaid employee” served me well as a sales person, and is still our goal today at American Retail Supply.

I originally published my newsletter for my American Retail Supply in 1993 with the thought that I would research an issue and bring what I found to my customers with the hope that it would be of value and help their business thrive… which of course, meant they would need more supplies and fixtures.

“You have reached the highest level in sales when your Client views you as an unpaid employee.”                                                                                           ~ Zig Ziglar

You can learn more about Zig Ziglar at www.ZigZiglar.com

You can get my hardcopy book (not an e-book), The Happy Customer Handbook, 59 Secrets to Creating Happy Customers Who Come Back Time and Time Again and Enthusiastically Tell Others About You for free.  We just ask that you pay $2.97 to help cover shipping and handling.  Go to www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com.

Email Sucks

In many cases, email is an absolutely terrible way to communicate effectively.  In the The Happy Customer Handbook I discuss “Putting You into Every Client Contact”. 

I discuss the fact that communication experts say that body language and intonation account for 90% of effective communication.  How does email fit into body language and intonation?  It doesn’t.  Often, email communication should be called email miscommunication.

I’ve actually had people tell me they didn’t like the tone of an email they received from someone.  I asked them to send me that email.  As someone not involved in the issue I saw no tone what-so-ever.

Sure, a great writer can put tone into their writings, but to expect that a particular email, that may or may not have been hugely important to the sender, that may have been composed in a matter of seconds was sent with a particular tone is, at best, a guess. 

I often remind our team at that “Email Sucks”.  If you have something important to say and it could be taken incorrectly, “Email Sucks!”

Also, unless you’re willing to upset the recipient much more than you can imagine, you should never send an email that is negative or critical.

Another, rule of thumb that we’ve found that works is, “If you go back and forth about something with email quit typing and get on the phone, or go see the person.”

 You can get my hard copy book (not an e-book), The Happy Customer Handbook, 59 Secrets to Creating Happy Customers Who Come Back Time and Time Again and Enthusiastically Tell Others About You for free at www.HowToControlYourBusiness.com.  I just ask that you pay $2.97 to help cover shipping and handling.

 “Do What You Do So Well
That People Can’t Help Telling Others About You” 

 Keith Lee
www.keithlee.com

We Always Have Perfect Customer Service – NOT!

We Always Have Perfect Customer Service – NOT!

In all of my businesses, we make mistakes.    We spend lots of time and money to make our procedures as efficient and foolproof as possible, but we still make mistakes.  So, where do I get off telling people like you that you need to have Exceptional Customer Service?

While nobody likes to be at the receiving end of a mistake, we all know that people make mistakes.  Exceptional Customer Service requires that we first person your customer talks to solve the problem?”

Does everyone in your business know how to help an upset customer?

Do your customers know that Exceptional Customer Service is what they should expect from you?

I get a few phone calls each year from customers who don’t think they are getting Exceptional Customer Service from us.  Almost all of these calls start with, “I read in your newsletter that customer service is important to you, I don’t think I’m getting very good service…” or “A few months ago when I was on hold I heard that you wanted me to call you if I had a problem that wasn’t being taken care of…”  Sure nobody likes getting calls like this but in another way I LOVE GETTING THEM!

What’s the alternative?  For most businesses it’s a customer who really doesn’t want the hassle of complaining.  The customer who goes to the competition and not only doesn’t recommend you to others, but maybe even bad mouths you.  I love customers who give us the opportunity to MAKE THEM HAPPY.  Find a way to tell your customers that you want to know if they are not happy.

I stole an idea from Stu Leonard’s Supermarket in Connecticut.  He has a big sign with his picture that says, What Do You Like?  What Don’t You Like?  I’d Like to Know.  Every invoice we send out has a flyer that asks the same questions Stu Leonard asks.  While it is redundant to send it out with every invoice, we do.  I want to be sure that every customer knows that they should expect Exceptional Customer Service and that I want to know if they don’t get it.

Act

The video, In Search of Excellence, says most suggestion boxes get little to no use.  They say the reason is customers know that their suggestions will get no action.  Stu Leonard’s box is filled, mostly with good comments, every day.  Why do people take the time to write?  The video says it’s because they know something will be done.  If customers take the time to contact you, take the time to let them know what you are doing.

Every customer who writes to us at any of our businesses, whether it’s a good comment or a complaint, gets a response.

You can get my hardcopy book (not an e-book), The Happy Customer Handbook, 59 Secrets to Creating Happy Customers Who Come Back Time and Time Again and Enthusiastically Tell Others About You at www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com.  Your cost is $2.97 and that includes shipping and handling.

You Will Increase Your Bottom Line Take Home Profits by 25-95% When You Stop 5% of Your Customers from Leaving You and Going to a Competitor

Save money and increase profits with excellent customer service

So 82% of people who leave one business and go to another do so because of a customer service issue!

Have you ever wondered why customers leave and never come back?

Most people think it’s because of price, the person moved, the person died, etc… Well you don’t have to look far to find out the REAL reason that customers leave.

A US News and World Report study found that the average American business loses 15% of its customer base each year:

  • 68% of customers who stop buying from one business and go to another do so 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.
  • 1% die.

The Harvard Business Review reported that if you can prevent 5% of your customers from leaving, you can increase your bottom line profit by 25–95%.

See Ya Later!But what’s really sad for you and me, is that most of those customers who leave don’t bother to complain.  They just leave and don’t come back. Then you’re stuck spending a bunch of time, money, and resources trying to get new customers when with some consistent and persistent messages and training to both your team members and customers, they would never have left in the first place.

It’s been shown time and time again that getting new customers is one of the most expensive things you can do to grow your business.  Once we get a new customer, we simply can’t afford to lose them.

Getting New Customers

But this is great news for you!

Every business category is seeing more and more competition every year.  Just about every category has a version of national chain competition, competition from discount franchises, price competition, and competition from the internet, all making it harder and harder for you to thrive.

But the great news is that in this most important area, the reason most customers leave one business and go to another, you can not only beat the competition – you can crush them. 

To illustrate this, lets talk about mindset for just a bit. Have you ever been asked the following question…

“What do you do for work?”

It comes up all the time, especially when you meet someone new. It’s a natural question, and most people answer almost without thinking. What would you say?

Well, if you’re like most people, you’re going to say something about the product or service you work with. You’re going to focus on the deliverable and there’s nothing wrong with that. But here’s the thing…

That is a large part of what you do at work, but that’s not necessarily the business you are in.

In just a bit, I’ll give you the powerful 2-step strategy to creating happy customers, but I need to go over something else first…

Before you start implementing these strategies in your business, it’s critical to understand that half the battle is getting in the right mindset. You can do all of the right things when it comes to customer service, but truly exceptional customer service  first comes from a way of thinking that is far to rare these days.

Let me explain a little bit…

I used to tell people that we were in the business of selling retailers everything they needed to operate their stores. But I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Make People Happy

In the early 1980’s I watched Tom Peters and Robert Waterman’s video In Search of Excellence.  The video shows first day employee training at Disney World. The trainer at Disney asks the new cast members, “What business are we in?  We know that GMC makes cars, and Whirlpool makes refrigerators.  What do we make at Disney?” The answer is, We Make People Happy.”

From that moment on I knew what business we were in: We Make People Happy. That’s why we call the customer service we provide and teach, Make-You-Happy Customer Service.

By the way, I explain this and more in detail in by newest customer service book. You can get a free copy of my book The Happy Customer Handbook by clicking here.

I’m often asked, “What is the #1 thing business owners can do to improve their customer service?” Another question I get is, “Why is customer service so poor?”

The answer to both questions is the same. To illustrate this, let me tell you about some results we get when talking to actual business owners. When I speak to live audiences I often ask this question…

“What SHOULD you be doing when it comes to customer service training in your business?”

Customer Service Survey

With every audience almost all hands go up for answer (E).

Sounds great right? Everyone knows that their team should have customer service training up front and also reinforce it. But there’s a catch…

We’ve surveyed thousands of business owners about customer service as well.  We ask them the exact same question, but we flip one word. We ask:

“What ARE you doing when it comes to customer service training in your business?”

Only 2% answer (E)!

Why is it that everyone knows their team should have customer service training up front and consistent reminders, but almost no one does it?

Here’s what happens in most businesses.  With the best of intentions, the business owner has a “rah, rah” meeting about customer service, and the service improves for a few weeks, and then without reminders you’re back where you started.

And it’s simple, the reminders don’t come because you’re a busy business owner and you have lots of other things to do.

But this may be even more amazing.  More than 75% of all businesses have no upfront consistent customer service training for new employees.

So the answer to both questions, “What can business owners do to improve their customer service?” and “Why is customer service so poor?” is the same, and it’s all contained in the 2-step process below:

Keith Lee's Free Book

 

The 2 Step Formula to Customer Service Success

1.  Train your entire team to deliver exceptional customer service.

At the very beginning, your entire team needs to get trained with your exceptional customer service expectations. This is the “rah, rah” training I talked about above.  But it can’t stop there.  You need to consistently and persistently reinforce those expectations.

Zig Ziglar says, “Repetition is the mother of all learning.”

Repetition

But learning something doesn’t necessarily lead to behavior change, so when it comes to customer service in your business I tweak Zig’s quotation to,

“When it comes to customer service, repetition is the mother of all learning and permanent behavior change.”

Let’s take a second at this point and look at the bigger picture. Why is customer service so important in today’s business world?

I own four businesses, and all of them are dependent upon small independent businesses for their survival and growth. My businesses can only thrive when their business thrives, so I’m dedicated to seeing that independent small businesses not only survive, but thrive.

At our American Retail Supply 35th Anniversary customer Appreciation Conference and EXPO, one of the speakers asked all 800 people in attendance if they had a unique product that people couldn’t get anywhere else. In the entire room, only two hands went up, and I’m betting their competitors think there is a substitute product.

Almost no one has unique products or services that people can’t get elsewhere, so we need to give them a reason to do business with us rather than someone else. 

The one area you can do that with the biggest return for your effort and money is with Make-You-Happy Customer Service.

I’m not talking about customer service in a box.

Customer Service In A Box This isn’t about the canned, ‘Thanks for shopping at Mega-Mart, have a nice day’ kind of customer service.

We’re talking about Make-You-Happy Customer Service in which, even if you mess up, the customer is going to come back because they like and believe in you and your staff!

We’re talking about the kind of customer service in which customers are not just satisfied, but loyal.  Customer service in which customers not only come back time and time again, but enthusiastically tell others about you.

Another great reason to give Make-You-Happy Customer Service is, it’s fun.

People love getting Make-You-Happy Customer Service.  But people also love, and have a huge amount of pride, when they give Make-You-Happy Customer Service. Make-You-Happy Customer Service is fun for you!  It’s fun for your team!  Your customers love it!  And the day goes much faster when everyone has fun.

Make-You-Happy Customer Service is not just great customer service when you’re watching, but all of the time. In the following video, I explain a few of the reasons exceptional Customer Service is critical to small businesses. After watching it, continue reading to find out the 2nd ingredient in creating exceptional customer service…

2.  Consistently and persistently reinforce your customer service expectations with your team.

First, lets go over consistency:

I spent eight years working in the grocery business.  I thought the company headquarters had consistent customer service messages and expectations, but those expectations were totally undermined when, in the break room, the business manager made fun of customers and joked about how stupid they were – even to the point of making fun of their appearance.

Is it any wonder, that with a few exceptions, our customer service was indifferent?

It’s also no wonder that when a new manager came in with respect for everyone, team members and customers alike, our customer service level improved dramatically along with the business sales.

You must never put down a customer in front of your team members.

Be sure that your signs respect your customers and are positive rather than negative.  Good Signs

Rather than, ‘No returns without sales receipt,’ how about ‘Returns gladly accepted with sales receipt.’  Or ‘Cash Refunds allowed with your sales receipt’ instead of ‘No cash refunds without sales receipt.’  Or ‘Checks gladly accepted with two forms of ID’ instead of ‘You must have two forms of ID to pay with a check.’

So we know we have to be consistent in our customer service messages. But what about persistence?

One day a newspaper reporter asked Zig Ziglar about the “motivation stuff” he was talking about.  The reporter asked, “If someone attends this seminar, would they be set for life when it came to motivation?”  In other words, they were asking, ‘Is motivation permanent?’

Zig’s reply, ‘No, motivation is not permanent, but then again, neither is bathing.  In fact I recommend that people bathe daily, and get a dose of motivation daily.’

The same is true of customer service; I recommend and in fact, Make-You-Happy Customer Service requires that you – company management – are persistent with your customer service message.

You must find as many ways as you can to reinforce your customer service message persistently to both your customers and your team members.

Here are a few ways we’re persistent with our customer service message:

Every contact with a customer that comes from me ends with the sign off, ‘Only Happy Customers Come Back.’ 

Whether it’s a letter, an email, the Retail Tip of the Week, invoice stuffers, or a message to customers in our monthly newsletter, I always sign off with ‘Remember, Only Happy Customers Come Back.’

On eight walls throughout our offices, we have a stenciled quotation from Walt Disney that says, ‘ Do What You Do So Well That People Can’t Help Telling Others About You.’  In addition, we have over thirty Disney prints throughout the office to remind people of the Disney quotation and that our job is to Make-People-Happy.

Disney Quote

On the mirror above each sink in each bathroom, we have a small sign that says,

‘The next person using this sink may be the person who makes your mortgage payment… OUR CUSTOMER. Show him the pride you have in serving him by leaving this restroom spotless.”

We have eight different versions of this with different colors and different sayings.  For instance, a red one says, ‘The next person using this sink may be the person who puts your kids through college – our customer…’  A blue one says, ‘The person who will buy you your next car…’

They are in different colors so that when changed, our team members are more likely to see and read them.  In addition, to ensure our team members see them, we periodically move the sign to a different spot on the mirror.

This not only reinforces our customer service philosophy with our team members and our customers who use our restrooms, but the restrooms are actually kept cleaner.

Here are just a few other ways to be persistent with your Make-You-Happy Customer Service message:

  • Your on-hold phone message
  • Signage throughout your business
  • In your advertising
  • On your web site
  • In emails

So that’s the two step process:

1.  Train your entire team to deliver exceptional customer service.

2.  Consistently and persistently reinforce your customer service expectations with your team.

“So that’s great,” you might say, “but how do I do that? Where do I start?”

It all starts with the little things. In my book, The Happy Customer Handbook, I give 59 secrets to creating happy customers who come back time and time again and enthusiastically tell others about you. These tips are a great way to get started implementing customer service in your business right now.

 

Keith Lee's Free Book

 

So there you have it. You have the 2-Step Process for Customer Service Success and 5 action tips that will help you start this in your business RIGHT AWAY.

Remember, Only Happy Customers Come Back
Keith Lee
keith 2012 shoulders up
www.keithlee.com

P.S. If you want to see the other 54 secrets, you can get them in my book The Happy Customer Handbook. And you can get the book for FREE by clicking here.

What Do Customers Want?

What Do Customers Want?
A survey of 1 million consumers provides valuable insight for today’s marketers.

By Keith Lee

This article was adapted from an article Murray Raphel wrote.  You can find out more about Murray and his works at the end of this article.

In the immortal words of Andy Rooney, “Didja ever wonder…..?”  Today’s question is whether or not you read those weekly polling reports from The Wall Street Journal, ABC News or the bottom left-hand corner of USA Today and wonder how accurate they are?

If you look at the tiny print at the bottom, most say they are based on interviews with about 1,000 people and have a plus or minus factor of 5 percent.  One thousand people?  To tell me if we should have a health plan, how the President’s doing, how many diet Cokes are sold in one day, and how many angels fit on the head of a pin? (Only kidding.)

How can that be?

And so I always look askance at the results of this small sampling.

But when I ran across a survey taken by Brit Beemer and America’s Research Group, I sat up, took notice and read everything very, very carefully.  What made me sit up?  This sentence: ‘The statistics are based on over a million interviews giving valuable insight into consumer behavior and how stores match the needs and values of customers.’

“Whew” — 1 million interviews.  Now is the time for all good merchants to come to the aid of their business by knowing what the customer really thinks of your business — well at least one million of them…

Here are some conclusions from the interviews:

“Customers decide if they feel comfortable to buy in your store.”

And: “4 out of 10 customers judge how much you know by how professional you look.”

What does that have to do with your store?  What is the first impression your customers get when they walk into your store?  What is the first impression they get when you mail them something?

“Most customers know very little about the product you have to sell.”

We recently went shopping for a DVD player.  We asked the salesman in the appliance store this question:  “This VCR is $89.  And this one over here is $149.  What’s the difference?”  And he said, “fifty dollars.”  (now you can’t make that  up).

What does that have to do with your store?  The old adage of, “the more you tell, the more you sell” works for your business.  The more specific you are about what you sell, stressing the benefits you offer, the greater degree of comfort you give your customers.  The same is true with your direct mail advertising.

Years ago, Murray Raphel did a mailer to his customers on children’s yellow raincoats that had a place to write the child’s name on the inside collar.  Since most children at the time wore yellow raincoats to school they are often mixed up and switched.  We emphasized this benefit in a mailing and sold out the coats in three days.

“Most customers say all consumer ads look the same.”

In his advertising class Murray would often place five ads from local supermarkets, with their name cut out, on the board.  Each student is given a sheet of paper with the names of the five supermarkets.

“Match up the name of the supermarket with the ad?” Murray asked.

No no one ever got it right!

What does that have to do with your store?

You need to avoid what Dan Kennedy calls Marketing Incest!  In almost every industry everyone copies everyone elses advertising so it all looks the same and nothing is effective.  Get a Free Trial to Dan Kenndy’s newsletter at www.nobspugetsound.com to find out how to avoid Marketing Incest.

“Customers expect a specialty store to have the largest selection in their chosen product area.”

Many years ago when Murray first started in business, his annual volume was around $20,000 a year.  He couldn’t afford to advertise… anywhere.  But he knew people would shop with him if he had the biggest selection of… something.  He chose children’s hats and gloves because they were so inexpensive.  He put hand-lettered signs on his windows: “We have the largest selection of children’s hats and gloves!”

He soon became known as the store to go to for children’s hats and gloves.  Not big sales, but once in the store the customer might buy a snowsuit – which was like selling 20 pairs of gloves.  They became important, well-known, and business grew.

       What does this have to do with your store?

Be a specialist in what you sell.  It does not have to be merchandise… it can be service.  Murray once asked an elderly woman why she shopped the local pharmacist when the chain store’s prices were lower.  Her explanation: “They say hello to me when I come in.”

The customer is reassured when you offer an in-depth selection of any item.  It makes them feel you are an expert in that field and gives the perception you are an expert in other areas as well.

When Murray bought clothing in Europe the total inventory was less than 10 percent of what he carried.

He promoted, advertised and talked about the European clothing so much that it became the main emphasis of his inventory.  Soon the customer felt everything in the store was imported from Europe.

“Half of America buys with credit, half buys with cash.”

Some of the best and smartest marketers are the credit card companies.  First came the cards.  Then came the affinity cards.  (When you use your credit card you are giving money to your alma mater.  Or the humane society.  Or building mileage on your favorite airline.)  Now there’s co-branding, where the name of your business appears with the name of the credit card.

What does that have to do with your store?

This: The more ways you offer the customer to pay, the higher the return.  Offer cash.  Or check.  Or credit card.  Or lay-away.  Or monthly payments.  Or your own co-branded card.  Better: offer them all and then be sure to include the internet.

“A private sale flyer must scream value.”

Retailers have negatively impacted between 25 percent and 40 percent of their core customers by sending false pretense private sale mailers.  Many businesses are mailing more often and giving less value.

Here’s what customers see as real value: real lower prices.  Deferred credit promotion.  Free delivery.  Free vacation promotions.  Free gifts.  First choice at a warehouse or clearance sale.

What does this have to do with your store?

An old and works-every-time adage: “Make sure the story isn’t better than the store.”  Another one (Cont. P.6 – What Do Customers) to remember: “Promise a lot.  Deliver more.”

If your product has six good selling points, only tell five.  Have the sixth featured when the product arrives at the house or is purchased at the store.

This gives the customer even greater confidence that their purchase is even better than “what you advertised.”

Some other guidelines from the survey:

  • “The number one reason for buying a big ticket item is No Down                      Payment.“
  • “The number two reason for buying is No Interest.“
  • “A very low interest offer will beat out a ‘6-month interest deferred’ offer.”
  • “Radio reaches the youngest audience, newspaper the oldest. Radio is the best medium to create a personality for your store.”
  • “The word ‘FREE’ in an ad has the greatest impact.”

How much attention should you pay to all this information?  A lot.  Remember the basic rule in selling is only one sentence: “Find out what the customer wants… and give it to them.”

For more great tips on customer service, go to TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com and get a FREE copy of my book. I reveal 59 secrets to creating happy customers who come back time and time again… AND enthusiastically tell others about you.

Remember, Only Happy Customers Come Back
Keith Lee

Murray Raphel has been telling the retail direct mail story as a columnist in Direct Marketing for more than 30 years.  He has developed Gordon’s Alley, a multimillion-dollar pedestrian mall in Atlantic City.   

       You can reach Murray at Raphel Marketing Inc., 12 S. Virginia Ave., Atlantic City, NJ  08401.  His phone number is 609-348-6646.

How to Work With an Upset Client

Upset Client

Train All Team Members Who Come Into Contact With Clients How to Work With an Upset Client

By Keith Lee

We’ve used this system to take care of upset clients in all my businesses since 1991.

I suggest you train your front line people to implement the LEAR Principle and the “Make-You-Happy Guarantee” (which I’ll explain later).  You don’t need to advertise this new guarantee when you start.  Simply implement it and see how it goes.  If it works, go with it.  If it doesn’t work, go back to what you have now.

Here is the LEAR Principle

L is for Listen

Listen and don’t interrupt.  There are a lot of reasons we don’t interrupt upset clients.  We don’t interrupt because, number one, it’s rude.  Another reason is that when we’re upset, you and I and everyone else do the exact same thing: We practice what we’re going to say.  And we practice what we’re going to say from the beginning.  So if you interrupt, you’re probably just going to have to listen to the whole thing all over again from the beginning.  Then of course we listen to the client because we respect the client and know that they are, in fact, the boss.  They pay all of our bills.  They give us every raise we’ll ever get.  They pay for our kids’ education and for everything we own.

E is for Emphasize

Empathize means to put ourselves in their shoes.  Say something like, “Wow.  I understand why you’re upset.  I’d be upset, too” or, “I’m sure glad you told me that so we can do something about it.”  Or simply, “Thanks for telling me.”

A is for Ask

Ask, “What can I do to make you happy?”  Now, most of the time you don’t actually have to ask.  Often times it is obvious.  But, sometimes you will want to ask.  The main thing though, is the idea and your attitude of “What can I do to Make You Happy?”  It’s your job to make the client happy.

R is for Resolve

You will want to give your team members guidelines as to what they can and can’t do right then and there to make the client happy.  If what the client wants is reasonable, and it is within the guidelines you give, your team member needs to make the client happy.  Train them to take care of the client right then and there.

I know if is easy for me to say without an angry person in front of me to implement this LEAR Principle.  It’s a lot more difficult to implement calmly and rationally when someone is possibly screaming at you or showing a huge amount of disfavor towards you.  You need to train your team members to understand that the client is upset at the situation and not with them.  Teammates need to be trained to not take it personally.  They need to understand that the client is upset with the situation and not them personally.  Train your team members to take a deep breath, and tell themselves, “This is not me. It’s the situation.”  Train them to talk to themselves and make sure that they are the person who stays calm and collected.  Train them that there is never an excuse ot get angry or short.

If the client is terribly abusive with swearing or something like that, your team member needs to be trained to say, “Sir, if you could watch your language I’m sure I can help you,” or, “Ma’am, if you want to watch your language I’m sure I can help you.”

Now, what if what the client asks for is above your guidelines or is completely unreasonable?  In this case you simply say to the client something like, “I’m going to have to get a manager to see if we can do that.”  Or, “Let me see if my manager can take care of that for you.”  Or, “You know, we don’t have a manager here at the moment who can approve that right now, but can I get your phone number and I can have them get back to you tomorrow morning or whenever is most conventient for you?”

In order to use the LEAR Principle effectively I suggest you empower your front line people with your “Make-You-Happy Guarantee.”  I believe “Make-You-Happy” is the best and least costly guarantee for your business.

Here’s our Make-You-Happy Guarantee:  “When a client has a problem, American Retail Supply team members are trained to ask, ‘What can I do to make you happy?’  In 43 years we have never refused a client’s request to make it right.”

Does this mean we’ll do anything?  Just about.  We’ve never refused a client’s request to make it right yet.  But my guess is that someday someone will ask for something so outrageous that we don’t do it.  Then I won’t be able to say, “In 43 years we’ve never refused a client’s request to make it right.”

I’ve given my seminar, “How to Compete with the Mass Merchandisers” to many different organizations.  Each time I ask retailers if any have a guarantee similar to ours.  In every seminar a few people raise their hands.  Then I ask them how the guarantee works.  Every person, every time answers, “Great!”

Then I ask each of these retailers with the What Can I Do To Make You Happy Guarantee, “How often do people ask for more than what you would be willing to give them?”  The answer is “Almost never,” or “Never!”

If people never, or almost never ask for more than you would be willing to give them, why ask them to jump through hoops, or talk to a manager to give them what they want?

This guarantee will most likely cost you less than a guarantee in which you make an offer to the client.  More often than not the client will ask for much less than you would have offered.  This savings will more than make up for the few times that clients are unreasonable.

You certainly will want to give your staff some guidelines.  Give them a limit as to what they can do without a manager’s approval.  Then, unless the request is ridiculous, train them to take care of the client on the spot!

Again, if the request is ridiculous or over their limit, train them to say something like, “I’m sorry, but I’m not authorized to do that, but if I can get your name and phone number I’ll be sure that our owner gives you a call tomorrow.”

So What Happens When Someone Asks for Something Really Unreasonable?

In my next blog post, I’ll go over some tips on what to do in the rare event that someone asks for something really unreasonable. Stay tuned…

In the meantime, are you wondering where these guidelines come from? And how do you handle other things like greeting customers, talking with customers on the phone and working together as a team to deliver better-than-average customer service? Click here to find out more about how we do this in our businesses.

For a limited time, you can also get a free copy of my book – The Happy Customer Handbook.

Customer Service Expectations

Remember, Your Customers Need To Know Your Customer Service Expectations

by Keith Lee

I get a few phone calls each year from customers who think they are not getting Make-You-Happy Customer Service from us.  Almost all of these calls start with, “I read in your newsletter that customer service is important to you, and I just wanted you to know…” or “A few months ago when I was on hold I heard that you wanted me to call you if I had a problem that wasn’t being taken care of.”

Sure, nobody likes getting calls like this, but in another way I LOVE GETTING THEM!

What’s the alternative?  For most businesses it’s a customer who really doesn’t want the hassle of complaining.  A customer who doesn’t care enough about you to say anything.  The customer who goes to the competition and not only doesn’t recommend you to others, but maybe even bad mouths you.  I love customers who give us the opportunity to MAKE THEM HAPPY.

Another thing you need to be sure to understand is that even though I consistently and persistently tell my clients over and over again to call us if they are ever disappointed and call ME if they are still not happy, just about every one of the people who call me to tell me that we’ve failed them, apologizes for calling.  That’s critical to understand.  You can’t just say this once and expect them to actually let you know when they’re disappointed; you need to tell them over and over and over again.

Find as many ways as you can to tell your customers that you want to know if they are not happy.

I stole an idea from Stu Leonard’s Dairy (which is a supermarket) in Connecticut.  He has a big sign with his picture that says, “What do you like?  What don’t you like?  I’d like to know!”  Every invoice we send out at American Retail Supply has a flyer that asks the same questions Stu Leonard asks: What do you like?  What don’t you like?  I’d like to know!  While it is redundant to send it out with every invoice, we do.  I want to be sure that every customer knows that they should expect Make-You-Happy Customer Service and that I want to know if they don’t get it.

But then, if you’re going to ask for input from customers, you need to act when you get it.  Every customer who writes to us at American Retail Supply, whether it’s a good comment or a complaint, gets a response.

Again, every chance you have, tell your customer you want to hear from them if they’re not totally happy.  Tell them when they are on hold.  Tell them with signs in your store.  Tell them in your advertising. Tell them any way you can think of.

Of course another reason you want to ask for those complaints is so you can fix the things that went wrong in the first place…

But there’s yet another great reason.  Your team members aren’t likely to forget your customer service expectations when they know that your customers know them and that you want your customers to tell you when they don’t get exceptional customer service.

Click here to see more about how we meet and exceed customer service expectations in our businesses.