Remember that old sound bite from James Carville, former campaign strategist for President Bill Clinton, “It’s the economy, stupid.”? Since then, the phrase has become sorta a pop culture snowclone to stand for a topic of focus or an important message.
I was reminded of the saying after reading a full-page IBM ad in The Wall Street Journal. In bold print, the ad said “Welcome to the Era of the Chief Executive Customer”. Even without me telling you the detailed copy, you get the point. It’s all about customer service.
Hopefully, I’m not jumping the gun, but I’m starting to believe that companies are getting the message. Recently, I’ve had a few customer service issues.
Mr. Bartender and I replaced our worn out gas grill. At the same time, we bought a grill cover. When the grill arrived, there was a coupon in the box for 25% off grill covers. I’m like – darn, I shouldn’t have been so efficient and bought the grill and cover at the same time. So I figured what the hey…let me email the company and see if they’ll give me the discount. Sure enough, they did. No fuss. No “bring your receipt into a store”. I was credited the amount immediately.
I also had my domain registration company accidently charge me for a renewal that I didn’t request. Sent them a note. Got it fixed right away. In fact, the customer service rep visited HR Bartender before he called and commented on how nice the site was. How cool is that?! It was totally unnecessary, especially since the HR Bartender domain wasn’t in question.
Neither of these situations were epic fails. They were just annoyances. And they were fixed in a timely manner without a bunch of bureaucracy. Kudos to the companies involved.
The IBM ad shared about how big data was transforming marketing and the customer experience. CMOs said that marketing used to shape customer opinions. Now it’s the other way around. Similarly, an article in Inc. Magazine talked about the creation of a new position – Chief Customer Officer – designed to make sure the customer voice was always being heard in the boardroom.
Hmmm…is it possible that the same will happen with human resources? Will employees start driving the experience? Maybe in some organizations, they’re doing it already. If so, this clearly sends the message that HR needs to have a firm understanding of organizational culture along with a keen sense of what employees feel is important. Oh yeah, then they need to deliver!
Image courtesy of Deirdre Honner
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Carolyn Sokol says
Every smart business person and consumer understands that superior customer service separates the truly successful companies from the merely adequate. Most companies focus much of their efforts on conditioning their sales and support teams to deliver excellent customer service. In fact, many companies will go “above and beyond” to settle the ruffled feathers of a disgruntled customer for the simple reason that it is far less expensive to keep a customer than to acquire a new one.
Retraining the Customer (Ourselves, That Is)
Unfortunately, the end result of these efforts is to train customers to seek out bad customer service and then to be rewarded for enduring it. Wouldn’t it be much nicer for all involved if good customer service were rewarded instead? A conscious effort on the part of those who benefit the most from good customer service would do more good than all the training videos in the world.
If even a few more customers would take the time to recognize the effort and commitment that excellent customer service requires, a self-reinforcing cycle could be established and the American shopping experience would regain much of its civility and excellence.
Every large retail chain and many of the smaller ones have a customer service metric that plays a part in determining any bonuses that are paid to the employees and staff of a retail store. If you encounter exemplary customer service, simply ask an associate or manager how to best show your appreciation. They will be more than happy to point your way to improve their customer service metric.
Similarly, a simple but heartfelt, “Thank You” will go a long way towards promulgating the kinds of behavior that are expected with great customer service. In addition, go the extra mile sometimes and take a customer survey or write a testimonial letter for a person who has given you a superior customer service experience. It really just takes a small amount of time and can have an enormous effect on the morale of a cashier or self-employed salesperson.
A Double Blessing
At the risk of corrupting Shakespeare, excellent customer service is doubly blessed for it benefits both to the giver and the receiver. Too many people are dissatisfied with their jobs because there is no validation beyond their paycheck at the end of the week. Simple acts of recognition can go a long way towards making an often tedious job tolerable for a cashier at the local pharmacy or to a struggling self-employed salesperson.