Mastering Customer Service

When I started this blog it was my hope to help those companies, and people who work for those companies, improve on their customer service.  I’m now going to turn the finger around (after all, when you point your finger at somebody three are still pointing back at you, right?) and look at us as consumers.

We expect so much customer service out of businesses, right?  Friendly smile, quick service, get us what we want, HAVE what we want, make us feel like you really care.  Make us feel like you’re happy that we’re spending money with YOUR company.

Yet, many of us don’t reciprocate that in our everyday lives.  If we’re to expect one thing we should learn to return the favor, yes?

I will use something I do as an example.  I have a (bad) habit of turning out into traffic when a semi-truck is coming down the road in the same lane I am turning out into.  See, if I’m turning out onto a road that is historically very busy, one in which I know from experience is difficult to pull out onto without having to wait, and I notice a small break in traffic with a semi-truck the only thing hindering me, I will go, even though I will probably make him slow down a bit.  If it were a regular car I would not pull out but since it’s a truck I will.  My reasoning? 

One:  I don’t want to have to slow down myself once I get up to speed.
Two:  It’s difficult to see traffic in front of trucks because of their size.
Three:  Because it’s easier to get away with it!

I neglect to think of the driver of the semi-truck and what they have to go through.  It takes them longer to get up to the speed limit because of their weight and then to have somebody pull out in front of them, they have to slow down and take time getting BACK up to speed while the car that slowed them down goes wizzing off in the distance.   That is “NOT” cool, and…..is wizzing even a word?

OK, so that is my bad.  Others I’ve recently noticed are:

People STANDING on the escalator!  Our society is SO lazy.  I experienced this about two weeks ago and then, while going to a movie with my daughter, Tabitha, last night it happened again and I said to myself, “Self, you are GOING to write about this tomorrow!”  And so, here I am.

If you’re GOING to be lazy and NOT walk up the escalator, why not stand on the side so that other people who enjoy working their leg muscles can go by?  There was a fairly young couple in front of us (it was a rather long escalator, too) and they just stood there.  I, as I usually do, briskly walked up the escalator until I got to them and they didn’t even notice.  I think this is rude AND I think it’s a character flaw, but that’s just my opinion.

How ’bout this one?  People who are shopping at the grocery store (or even at a place like Costco) and they have a grocery cart they’re using.  They leave their cart right in the middle of the aisle when they’re looking for something.  Or talking on the phone, oblivious to what’s going on around them.  It’s like they’re in their own little world and nothing else exists.  Very frustrating and VERY rude.

Speaking of stores, those of you, and you KNOW who you are, who empty your cart of all your groceries and then LEAVE your cart right there for somebody else to bring into the cart collection area of the parking lot.  Is this really something you cannot do?  You’ve just wheeled the cart around the store, collecting your groceries, paid for them and pushed the loaded cart out to your car.  NOW, it is too much of a strain to get that EMPTY cart a few feet to the collection area?  A friend of mine makes sure she parks as close to that collection area as possible.  Not a bad stategy but at least she brings the cart back. 

The next two things are things that happen on a semi-regular basis and they involve businesses instead of everyday people.  The first one has to do with restrooms at fast food restaurants.

I know we are living in a world where the germ is the enemy.  I know and understand that.  I sell Indoor Air Quality Systems, after all.  Fast food restaurants have started installing hand blow dryers for using after you wash your hands.  It creates less garbage, certainly, and all you have to do is tap the bar with your elbow and a blast of warm air is there to dry your hands.  The problem comes when you go to leave the restroom and you have to grab the handle with your freshly cleaned hand.  Does anybody realize just how few people wash their hands after using the restroom?  It’s amazing AND disgusting.  I’ve noticed it ALL THE TIME.  So, we are forced to improvise by using our shirt sleeve or wait until somebody comes in.

Just have paper towels available so that we can use THAT to open the door handle.  OR, (which I’ve thought about for years) install a motion activated door opener.  That way nobody touches ANYthing in the bathroom.  You go in, wave your hand in front of the faucet and wash your hands, wave them in front of the blow dryer to dry them, make a motion toward the door, thus opening the door, and buh bye, you’re out of the restroom. 

How hard could that be to design something like that?

And lastly, and arguably the most minor, can somebody PLEASE develop a can that will open without spitting out some of the contents?  I occasionally have a 16 ounce Monster Energy Drink (OK, FINE, maybe NOT so occaisonally…I’m working on it!) and whenever I open the can it spits some of the drink all over the place.  If I have my iPod or GPS or camera or whatever lying around it can get on those items and create havoc.  I guess I should just learn to open the can outside (or just not buy the product at all!).  I understand this is a very minor thing but, in essence, it shows that customer service can extend far past just human encounters.

If you have any comments on todays blog please don’t hesitate to write them.  If you have any ideas that I didn’t touch upon please send me those, as well.  You can always e-mail me at aphilip369@aol.com, using the subject line Mastering Customer Service.

Other than that, I will see you here next time something catches my attention in the world of customer service.  Until then, expect the most and give the most!

This will be a customer service blog post that I will enjoy writing because it involves customer service to the core.  Most companies never even have the opportunity to fix a problem when it arises because most customers just flat out don’t care to take the time to go through the process.  The result is, customers are unhappy (thus passing their negative experience on to anybody who will listen) and companies are unhappy because they were never given the opportunity to make it better.  Is it fair?  No.  But the reality is, that is what typically happens. 
So what happens when the company IS given the opportunity to fix a problem?  Here is a little story that will shed a lot about customer service. 
As you know I have been in the customer service industry my entire career.  I don’t claim to know everything but I feel I have a very good grasp of what it takes to serve people correctly.  Today I had a situation arise that shows the polar opposites of customer service. 
As you may or may not know I represent a product, right now, that I feel is the absolute best product on the market in it’s industry, Filter Queen, manufactured by Health Mor, Inc.  They manufacture and sell a very good air filter and an amazing high filtration surface cleaner (which many people still insist on calling a vacuum cleaner).  Having owned and operated a cleaning company for over a decade I feel I am uniquely qualified to have an expert opinion on what makes a good cleaning system, having used so many cleaning appliances over the years.
This system costs just under $3,000–not chump change, to be sure.  What the consumer gets is a very well made cleaning system that actually helps people to live a healthier life because they live in a cleaner home.  Typical vacuums that people purchase, at the rate of 700,000 per month in this country (which means their old vacuums go right in to the landfills) actually blow dirt through the filter (or bag) while they are being used to CLEAN.  I guess that’s what we call cleaning in this country!  Then, rather quickly, the filter or bag gets clogged and that’s when the cleaning power of the vacuum is substantially reduced.
With the Filter Queen Majestic, you never lose air flow (cleaning power) because of the patented cyclonic action engineering which is activated by a motor that runs at 30,400 R.P.M. on high speed, plus the filter system filters down to .1 microns, which is the lowest on the market.  Now, to add to this, the Majestic is built to last.  Having compared the many vacuums I have seen recently and purchased in the past to the Majestic I am continually amazed at the quality of this product.  The Defender, which is the air filter, also filters down to .1 microns yet uses no more than .9 amps (on the highest speed).  Very efficient.  Health Mor, Inc has been around since 1928 and it’s no wonder why they are still in business:  They make a great product!
With these two products working in tandem households can virtually get all of the filth OUT of their homes, something most, if not all, vacuums cannot do.  Because of the enherint flaw of their design, they have not got the capabilities to remove all of the dirt and filth out of homes.
Here is what happened this morning, understanding that I am not stating this as fact, only what I’ve been told.
As I arrived at an appointment, knowing the household already owned an older Filter Queen, I said, “I understand you folks have a Filter Queen already.”  The man (I’ll call him Harry) responded, “Yes, we do, and it’s the biggest hunk of junk we’ve ever bought!”  Hmmmm, well, that’s not at all the response I’d expected, to say the least.
I came to find out they have owned the system for eight years and have had problem after problem with the customer service department of Health Mor, Inc, the company that makes Filter Queen.  The air filter they had purchased never worked correctly, from day one, but the company didn’t replace the product!  They finally sold it to a friend who realized that, apparently, the wires had been crossed at the factory.  He fixed that problem and now it works fine.  But the damage had already been done as far as this couple was concerned.
Now, at this point, I am embarassed and a bit bewildered that the company that makes these fairly expensive products that I represent would act this way. I am getting verbally assalted by this couple because of eight years of buildup.  The wife (I’ll call her Melissa) is really in a lather over this.
Let’s review:  A customer that dropped nearly $3,000 eight years ago on a cleaning system and has yet to get good customer service to fix a problem that should have never existed.  What should I do?
Well, first of all, this is, by no stretch of the imagination, MY problem.  But I did take ownership (knowing, full well, I am not getting paid to spend my time and energy to try and fix this problem).  I listened to Melissa complain about how she is STILL waiting to hear back from the company since she was told she would be called back in October, 2009.  There is NO authorized dealer to maintain this cleaner in the near vicinity so she was told she has to MAIL it at HER cost to a dealer 400 miles away (about $130 each way).  She is spending WAY too much on filter cones for the Majestic and it doesn’t even come with the EXPENSIVE (medi-pure) filter.  And there was more as her anger increased. 
I just listened.
I came to find out they both actually LIKE using the Majestic.  It’s easy to use.  It picks up dirt like no other vacuum they’ve had.  AND, it doesn’t blow out dirt, which is extremely important since she has asthma.  She just doesn’t appreciate spending that much money and being forgotten.
After she was through explaining, I asked her if she felt a little better, after venting like that, and she said, “Yes, thank you.  I’ve told so many people about this, on the phone, but NOBODY seems to care!”
I explained to them that this is NOT what I believed to be true about the companies customer service and that I apologized that they have experienced what they had.  I also explained that I had no idea if I could help.  BUT, I would try. 
And try I did. 
It took me about 20 minutes of persistance with the first customer service representative to be connected to the customer service supervisor, Kim, at Health Mor, Inc, (HMI) and she listened to me recant the half hour of verbal abuse I had just withstood with the customer.  I then told Kim she had an opportunity to make a very dissatisfied and angry customer happy again.  I then handed the phone to Melissa who spent about 15 minutes talking with Kim.  There was no immediate resolution but the action had been started.  At the end of the conversation Melissa wasn’t any happier than at the beginning.  Kim didn’t say anything that would help.  I got back on the phone and asked Kim, “Between you and I, Kim, will you please see this through and do whatever you can to make Melissa happy again?”  She said yes.
This story isn’t so much that HMI did poorly and I did well in the grand scheme of customer service.  Just that it amazes me that something so easy to fix isn’t.
I know I am on the front lines, going INTO peoples’ homes and seeing first hand what their trigger points are.  Until today, I had NEVER talked with anybody who had experienced Filter Queen, who wasn’t completely satisfied and enamored with the product.  Even today, they admitted they were happy with the product (not the air filter, which they didn’t even own anymore), just not the customer service.
What large companies seem to think is that it’s ok to lose a percentage of customers because of, whatever, you name it.  They’ll just get them back later and then sell MORE NEW EQUIPMENT!  Do they not understand it costs most of these companies more money to regain customers as it does to keep them?
Nordstrom has created a reputation with their culture of taking back virtually everything, even if you didn’t purchase it at their store!  Talk to ANYbody in business and they’ll tell you that is just flat out, bad business.
What these people fail to realize is that, while, yes, Nordstom pays out millions of dollars every year in refunds, including a percentage of refunds to people that didn’t even purchase the returned item at Nordstom, they more than make up for it because of INCREASED SALES DIRECTLY LINKED TO THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT IS SECOND TO NONE!

I am hoping that HMI will see that this customer can be an ally instead of an adversary, with the right approach.  On the other side of the coin, not to toot my own horn, but I took ownership in a situation even though I had no part in this customers hostile spirit toward Filter Queen.  It needs to be written, as well, that this is a report of what was said this particular day and is not written as fact.  I’m merely writing this as an example of what might have been done in this situation to ease the customer frustration, at a minimal cost.

Thank you for reading, and, until next time, always expect great customer service.  Unless you’re IN the industry…then, give it!

This post combines two of my strongest passions:  Customer service and wine.  It will be a difficult column for me to write because I won’t be able to name the Winery that displayed one of the greatest acts of customer service I’ve experienced, which frustrates me a bit, but you’ll understand why by the end of the column.

This past Christmas, Shelley roasted a delicious duck for our Christmas dinner.  The holidays in this house have been quite, in recent years, because neither of our children are with us which can lead to a little sadness so we try to keep ourselves busy and find joy in the true meaning of Christmas.  Last year on Christmas day we helped serve dinner to around 350 people at our local community center which was very gratifying.

This year was proving to be even more difficult because of her father’s passing in September.  Somber and melancholy, to be sure, was the mood of Christmas 2009.  So I thought it would be a nice surprise to splurge on a nice bottle of Pinot Noir which we would have with our roasted duck.  Pinot Noir has been our “go-to” wine varietal at Thanksgiving so our thought is it would pair very nicely with the duck.  This particular bottle of wine came from a winery in Oregon, which is quickly gaining attention for producing fabulous Pinot Noirs, and I paid around $30 for it.  Certainly, you can pay much more for a Pinot Noir, especially if you buy one from Burgandy.  But with money at a premium in my life right now, this was a large step for me to take.

Much to our dismay and disappointment the wine wasn’t very good.  It lacked character, depth and was just a flabby wine.  I have a Twitter account and usually “tweet” about the wines we try.  My goal is to NOT bash wines even if we haven’t enjoyed them or have thought them poor.  I might mention my thoughts, even if they’re not good, but never bash.

Although this one wasn’t bad, per se, we were expecting a lot more, as we’ve had our fair share of wonderful Oregon Pinot Noirs.  It can make a terrific meal crest to unbelievable.  On Christmas Eve night I wrote on Twitter, “Bought a (Oregon Winery not mentioning) ‘07 Pinot Noir for roasted duck tomorrow. I can’t wait. But I will. Because I really have no choice.”  It was apparent we were looking forward to this.

So after tasting the wine with dinner, on Christmas night I tweeted, “I hate to be negative on Christmas. Had a (Oregon Winery not mentioning) ’07 Pinot Noir with duck tonight and it was watery and flaccid. Not worth the $31.”

Much to the credit of this winery they direct messaged me a genuine apology for our disappointing experience with their Pinot Noir and then asking, first, where I had bought it and then, in another direct message, asked for my address so they could ship another bottle of that same Pinot Noir and an alternative bottle of Pinot Noir. 

Now keep in mind, we are talking about alcohol here.  The reason I am not mentioning the winery by name is because two bad things could happen that would out weigh the good.  People might think that THEY TOO will write a bad review on Twitter or Facebook just to get some free wine!  Not only would those made up comments falsely tarnish the reputation of this winery (with the competition for the wine lovers dollar that is huge) it would also cost the winery money for GIVING wine away and also paying for the shipping. 

My comments were never motivated by the expectation of getting free wine out of it.  In fact, I didn’t even follow this winery until AFTER they direct messaged me, which makes their act of customer service so special.  I have had nothing but professional conversation through e-mail with Sasha, the Marketing Manager and Sales Analyst for the winery.

It’s SO nice to see that their are companies that understand and embrace true customer service.  They did NOT have to recognize the comment I made on Twitter.  They did NOT have to apologize for their wine not meeting our expectations.  They did NOT have to send me another bottle, let alone TWO!  But they did all three AND without being prompted to do so.  This is a great example of outstanding customer service.  I will do everything I can to promote their winery and their wine.  With that being said I really, REALLY hope the bottle that was sent is good so I can promote their winery with a good conscience!  : )

Other companies can use this experience I had as an example of great customer service.  It’s not about the problem but how the problem is taken care of.  If you do that the upside is SO much higher than the downside is down.  Nordstrom has made their reputation on that very same concept.  And they have lost a lot of money with refunds that should never have been refunded.  But the upside is so much higher than the downside is down for not refunding.

Thank you for reading.  Now go pour youself a glass of your favorite wine and think of all the great things you have in your life to be thankful for.  Right now, I am thankful that I will get another opportunity to enjoy a Pinot Noir from a winery that thought enough of themselves to send me another bottle of wine after I had a disppointing initial experience.  If they hadn’t done that I would never have purchased their wine again. 

Til next time, expect great customer service!

There comes a time in any business, I don’t really care what type it is, that you have a pivotal encounter with a customer.  During this encounter it will be decided, by the customer, if you are a company they want to do business with in the future or not.  One never knows when these encounters will take place or how often.  They don’t announce themselves.  They are most cerainly not on the calender.  In fact, during many of these encounters, neither the customer nor the actual company representative know it’s a pivotal customer encounter until well after the encounter.

A pivotal customer encounter happens when there is an opportunity to make a customer happy outside the normal, typical parameters of a transaction or desired transaction.  This happened to me when I went to purchase a gift certificate for my significant other for her birthday at a place called Bling, a local Nail Salon and Spa.  For some strange reason they close at 3 PM on Saturday’s and it was around 5 PM.  Their sign said they were open and somebody was sitting at the reception desk.  The door, however, was locked.  Not a good start.  (If you’re closed, have the “Closed” sign up.)

The lady behind the desk indicated through mouthed words that they were, indeed, closed.  I, in like fashion, implied I only needed to purchase a gift certificate.  She nodded and went somewhere.  She returned, opened the door and our conversation went something like this:

Me:           Hi, would it be possible to get a gift certificate?

Her:         I’m sorry, the girl that does gift certificates left around 3, when we close, and the computer’s closed up and everything.

Me:          Really?  Man, I had no idea you closed at 3 and your sign says that you’re open.  Her birthday is tomorrow; I know, I SHOULD have done this earlier.  I’ll write a check if it will help.  Isn’t there any way we can do this now?  Please?

Her:         <slight pause>  Yeah, I think we can find a way to do this.  C’mon in.

And THAT was the pivotal customer encounter for this person at that time.  I found out a couple of days later she is the owner of the salon.  It shouldn’t have even been a question.  Now, was I wrong in not planning earlier?  Of course.  But, had she not sold me (key word:  SOLD) the gift certificate because they were technically closed I would never have come back and she wouldn’t have the money IN HAND that I gave her for services that will be rendered in the future. 

Now, let’s say that nobody was in there and the door was locked.  Would I have felt the same way?  No, not at all.  But when there is somebody there and you’ve been acknowledged then it is necessary, in my opinion, to still serve your customer. 

Not only will I go back to buy things there in the future, I will also tell people about my experience AND they are getting their name mentioned in this widespread, ever poplular blog that reaches millions and millions of people worldwide. 

This person absolutely passed with flying colors in this pivotal customer encounter.  By doing things like this ALL the time it helps ensure the culture of the business and company to always serve their customers. 

Until next time, be sure to do the right thing for the right reason and the money will continue to come.  Expect the most and give the most.

Last week I was at a grocery store here in North Idaho that has obviously tried to step up their customer service.  I first noticed in Seattle when I lived there and now I see it here in Coeur d’Alene, so it’s something that the company has focused on training their employees to implement. 

If you ask an employee where something is they politely tell you the aisle and either say, “Here, let me show you”, or “Would you like me to show you?”  Both are great replies.  They will actually drop what they’re doing, whatever that may be, and walk you to the aisle and point out the product in question. 

I think this is such a simple but powerful idea and it shows great to the customer.  But can customer service ever go overboard?

Perhaps. 

Another thing they do is if you’ve bought two or more items they will ask you if you’d like some help out to the car.  At first glance that may also seem like a great idea.  But when I bought one energy drink and one small blank video tape (to tape a training I wanted to see over and over), the cashier asked if I’d like some help out to my car.

We’re talking a 16 ounce drink and a small tape that weighs an ounce, if that.  I joked that I would need one person to carry each item and then said, “No, I’ll be fine.”

I really like the idea of offering customers these added services.  And, although I’m not a body builder by any stretch of the imagination, I am 6 foot 3 inches and about 215 pounds and it should be rather obvious that I wouldn’t be needing any extra help out to my car with my purchases.

Is this nit picky?  Maybe.  But consider this:

By asking me that question I started to doubt the genuineness of the question.  You see, when an employee asks if they could show you where a product is, or if you need help out to the car, it brings a human element to the experience.  That is something that seems to be going by the wayside so when we experience it it makes us feel good.  It also can be the start of a relationship with store customers.  There are just so many positives that come out of these simple little things. 

But when it’s obvious that no help is needed but the question still gets asked it kind of loses some of its authenticity.  Of course, it’s probably always better to error on the side of giving more than less but it was just an observation on my part.

What do you think?

Knowing that I’m predominately positive I’m not liking the continuing trend of “NOT” customer service examples of experiences of mine. 

Just the other day I was calling my wireless service provider to ask a question.  This could be any company, by the way, that has a customer service department.  I happen to think that my wireless service provider, AT&T, does a pretty good job in the area of customer service, so this experience is not a representation of what I typically run into.  They are usually very professional, courteous, friendly and seem to genuinely care about answering any of my questions or issues.

What happened to me when I called them has happened to me numerous times with other companies’ customers service departments. 

This is what happened when I called:

AT&T          Thank you for calling AT&T, how may I help you?

ME               Hello, this is Phil Anderson calling and I have a question regarding my account.

AT&T          OK, I’ll be happy to assist you.  May I get your name please?

Hmmmm.  Do you really want me to give it to you AGAIN?  Will you listen THIS time when I give it to you?

It’s such a simple thing to listen, isn’t it?  Especially when you ask the question, “How may I help you?”  It’s obvious they listened to a portion of my initial comment but not the part that included my name.  If I am trying to do my part to start the dialogue out on the right foot, which helps both parties, wouldn’t it make sense to listen to ALL of what I have to say rather than just an exceprt?

I understand that customer service departments are trying to be efficient and consistent and so they have scripts set up to help with that.  Heaven forbid they let one of their representatives think outside the box by holding a real conversation.  I think companies short change their customers by hiring people that they can mold, people that won’t have to think.  The company, in their infinite widom, thinks that if all of their customer service representatives say the same things, in the same way, with the same tone, then the level of service will be perfectly the same.

Well, Yellowtail makes wine in the same way.  It’s consistent, all right.  Consistently bad.

I think it’s actually lazy of companies to adopt this practice of hiring this way and implementing the scripts all of the time.  Is there a time and a place for scripts?  Absolutely.  But if it leads to somebody asking a question that they have already been told the answer to, then it makes them look foolish.

It’s such a simple thing to just listen to what your customer says when they talk.  Pay attention.  It helps in the long run.

Do you agree?

Hello again and welcome to another post about mastering customer service.  I’m sorry it’s been so long since the last one. 

Today I’m going to talk about two extremes, one is bad and the other is great.  It’s a bit long winded but, in my opinion, really exposes how important it is to just spend a couple of extra minutes talking through a customers concern because it may help both parties in the long run.

About a month ago I brought my lawn mower in to be serviced at a place that we’ve used for three years, now.  We really don’t like it but it is a “mom and pop” shop and I’m always for giving business to those kinds of businesses if at all possible.  The reasons we didn’t like it were many but I’ll mention a few.

They are S-L-O-W!  SO slow.  Their book keeping is dismal.  They never knew when they were working on something or who it belongs to.  It’s a small and dirty shop.  Once they actually DID the work it was usually right, so THAT part was good.  But to have something take over a month to service is just unacceptable.  Yet, we brought our mower there three times and our weed eater there once.

Then, last summer around the end of August, our mower began running very sluggish, not able to get through the simplist of grass.  So, of course, I brought it in.  They said it would be two weeks before they could even LOOK at it!  OK, call me with the results.  After three weeks they called me and told me what the problem was.  I told them to go ahead with the repair (it was about 100 bucks).  Now we are into October and I want to get one more good mowing done before winter sets in.  Still not done.  Waiting for a part.  By November, I stopped calling. 

They called at the end of November to tell me that the mower was completed.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 

So, this spring, I went in to pick up the mower.  It was around early May.  I half expected them to tell me, since I didn’t pick it up, they got rid of it, but that wasn’t the case.  I paid for it, took it home and started catching up with the grass.  In June, there seemed to be a problem with the choke.  So, I naturally brought it in to my very (least) favorite shop.  What they told me was the last straw. 

Since it was a choke issue from before I thought maybe the new problem was related.  I wanted them to take a look at it just in case there was something I wasn’t doing right, or the problem was simple, or maybe they didn’t do something right when putting it back together or something.  I JUST wanted them to take a look at it.  Honestly, I felt they should know this mower inside and out since they just had it for NINE MONTHS!

The man behind the counter said to check it in and they would look at it and let me know what the problem was.  I asked how long that would take and he said they were 2-3 weeks out.  I said, “you can’t just take a quick look at it now?”  And he retorted, “no, it’s 2-3 weeks for me to do that.” 

There were a couple of other people in the area at the time, including one of their suppliers, and so I told him that we have only used this shop in the past but if it’s really going to take aNOTHER 2-3 weeks this time then they had just lost a customer.  The people that were there glanced up from what they were doing but all of the employees just watched me walk out the door.  Apparently, they have such a strong customer base that they can afford to lose people because they just watched me walk out the door. 

I was floored.  In all of my years as a customer service expert I have never seen something like that.  I will never go back in there and I make sure to tell everyone I know about the experience.  Suffice it to say, this is the “NOT” part of this post.

Well, I still had a mower that didn’t work.  So, I drove about a block up the road to another shop, about the same size, but MUCH cleaner.  I got out of my truck and approached the steps to the door when an employee came out to greet me, shook my hand and said, “welcome, what can we do for you?”  (See, from one extreme to the other.)

I explained my situation and he said, “let’s have a look.”  We took the mower out of the back of the truck and to my surprise, and embarrassment, I had been using the choke backwards so that’s why it didn’t start.  He pulled the cord and it started right up.  My fault, my error, my bad, but that’s all the other place had to do as well and they didn’t seem interested enough to even do that.  No charge and no wait and I drove back with my mower working just fine.

I thanked him profusely and told him he had a new customer and even explained my experience from the other place to him.  He wasn’t surprised as he had heard it before from other people.  Who knows, that might be why he opened his business in close proximity to the other place. 

This is an emphatic “HOT” as far as customer service goes.  You really MAY not have the time to take that quick look at a problem because you are so backlogged.  But if you do nad if it just happens to be a quick and easy solution then you not only don’t add to your backlog but you also have a very happy customer.  And if, in addition, you don’t charge for that quick look you’ll likely not only have a happy customer but a customer that will give you free pub which is the best type of advertising in the world.

Tell me your story of a good or bad customer service experience you’ve had and I’ll discuss it in a blog. 

Until next time, expect the most and give the most.

Alright, this might not be politically correct to write but, seriously, anybody in a customer service profession should stick to the language that is locally spoken. 

I was getting a haircut the other day and the person cutting my hair DID speak English and it wasn’t broken and her accent didn’t hinder the communication.  All that was good.  She also was very friendly AND she did something that I was very impressed with and that was calling me by name, once she knew my name, as if we’d known each other for years.  I really liked that and it made me feel very welcome. 

This might have even been a “HOT” post had she not done the following:  Spoken in Vietnamese with her co-worker while cutting my hair.  There really is no way to candy coat this becaue it’s just plain rude to do that.  I was in an area where English is vastly spoken, an urban white neighborhood, so there was no “mis-reading” which language should be spoken.  But there she was with her male co-worker speaking “their” language and making me feel completely left out. 

“What could they be saying”? I was thinking to myself (in English, by the way).  “Are they making fun of me being bald?  Maybe they were laughing at my bushy eyebrows.”  All these thoughts could have been going through my mind and more.  Good thing I was able to tune them out as I tried to enjoy my haircut but many people won’t be able to do that and will feel self conscious.

If you’re in the customer service industry, especially when you rely on tips for added income, your job is to make the customer feel as comfortable and welcome as possible.  These employees did not do that.  America IS a collection of many cultures and diverse backgrounds that come with different languages.  I understand that.  But English is the main language of this country and everybody, especially people in the customer service industry, where you have face to face contact with your customers, should know how to speak it fluently.  That doesn’t mean you can’t speak your language when you are away from the customers. 

I will add one more positive, although, it’s more of a personal thing.  When she shampood my hair she did a FANTASTIC job of massaging my scalp, something that I really need, love, want and desire when I’m getting a hair cut.  Many people either don’t care or don’t want that but I am not one of those and this lady did a marvelous job of that.

But even with these two positives, the one negative outweighed them.  It’s like most cases where you can do EVERYthing right except for one little thing and that’s what the customer remembers.  It’s not right nor is it fair but it is reality.  You can’t control everything but you can control what language you communicate with your co-workers in and that should be a language that is predominately spoken locally. 

Thank you for visiting and reading this post.  I have so many things to write about so keep stopping by.  You can also give me some of your biggest customer service complaints by making a comment.  I welcome any and all topics.

I have a new little hitch to my posts:  “HOT” or “NOT”!  After a few, tell me what you think, ok?

The last post was certainly a positive so it would be a “HOT” as it dealt with the staff of the Ayres Suites in Yorba Linda, California.  They always had eye contact while saying a genuine, “hello”.  THIS post is a big “NOT”. 

I recently went into a little town market in our neck of the woods (and we ARE in the woods) to buy some milk and bread and wine.  I was one of only two people in the store and then they got busy.  As I was being rang up for my purchases the teller apparently knew the person three people behind me in line and proceeded to “spar” with him.  During this little series of comments he told her, “why don’t you just hurry up?”  At that point she went from slow to slower.  No smile, no conversation with me, who she was in the process of ringing up.  This was painful.  The people behind me and myself were all being very patient while this clerk moved in slow motion. 

ANY body in ANY retail sales position absolutely MUST pay attention and BE AWARE of the surround situation.  There is a time and place for “sparring” with  somebody you know.  It’s good to have regular customers that feel comfortable coming back to the same place to do business because they feel acknowledged.  But in this situation you have to move things along so that you get through the line as effeciently as possible. 

I understand that these clerks probably make minimum wage but, in my opinion, this is no excuse for poor customer service.  A smile takes no extra education.  Eye contact and small conversation is easy to do.  Too many of these clerks have lazy attitudes and then wonder why they can’t move forward in their careers.  It’s the simple stuff that brings people back.  And it’s the simple stuff, or the lack thereof, that will keep them from coming back, too.

Have you noticed that sometimes just a simple, “hello”, from staff, any staff, at a hotel will make you feel more at ease?

I am staying in a hotel in Southern California.  It is a fairly nice hotel, one we’ve not stayed in before.  The rooms are somewhat old fashioned with antique styled furniture, drapes and colors.  It gives me a feeling of walking into a room at my great grandparents as a child.  The staff is nice enough–they listen to questions and answer in a way they’ve been trained to answer. 

When companies talk about having great customer service I think they sometimes miss the mark about what that means.  Of course you want to have issues handled quickly in a friendly, competent way.  And this hotel seems to do that.  What caught my eye was, ironically, their staff catching MY eye.

Every time I walk by a staff member they look at me, eye to eye, and say “hello” in a genuine way.  When I say every time, I actually mean every time.  And they do it like it’s their nature, like it’s the culture of this hotel.  In my experience, a genuine “hello” and a friendly smile is surprisingly hard to come by in the service industry.  Yet, they both go miles to make people feel comfortable and at home.

I talked with Eleanor Acosta, the Assistant Manager of Ayres Suites in Yorba Linda, where we’re staying, and asked her if the staff is trained to do that.  She said that, although they want everyone that works at the hotel to do that, they don’t train them to say, “hello”, to everyone. 

That actually makes me feel even better because it really IS genuine and comes from the heart.  Now, mind you, this is just my opinion and others may not share my sentiment about this.  There are certainly some people who just want to be left alone and this is also something management should train their staff to be aware of.  That’s why it’s so important to hire people who can think and have good decision making skills.

This post is not supposed to be an attempt at promoting this particular hotel but I do have one more thing I’d like to pass along.  While most hotels these days have “complimentary” buffet breakfasts (they work the cost of these breakfasts into the room rates) they usually fall short of anything close to quality.  The Ayres Suites actually made real scrambled eggs (one day with real bacon!) and real hash browns.  You can make waffles with their pre-measured portions so that they’re fresh and hot.  And lastly, they will even make an omlet for you!  I was impressed from start to finish with this place and it all started with a genuine “hello”.

 Next time you’re staying at a hotel be aware of how many staff members, if any, say, “hello”, to you and take notice how it makes you feel.