Work Miracles With Customer Service

 

For my money, one of the most powerful popular examples of outstanding customer service is found in the Academy Award-winning classic, Miracle on 34th Street, released by Twentieth Century Fox in 1947. I am sure you are already very familiar with the story of a mysterious and rather eccentric fellow who seems to really believe he is Santa Claus. One thing is for sure, he has a powerful affect on the people he meets, and that includes the shoppers he sees during his stint as a department store Santa at the venerable Macy’s Department Store.

One of the movie’s plot devices involves Kris Kringle – as the fellow calls himself – who begins directing Macy’s shoppers to rival Gimbel’s Department store because it has better deals on certain popular toys. At first, Macy’s management is outraged and intends to sack poor Kris, but the media picks up on this astonishing reversal to the standard, self-serving marketing approach, and gives Macy’s tons of positive publicity for putting customers above profits. This, of course, sends even more customers into Macy’s (which means even more profits!) and Mr. Macy quickly embraces Kris and his novel idea. He declares that from now on, it will be standard operating procedure for ALL Macy’s employees to refer customers to the establishment that provides the best deal on whatever they are looking for, regardless of concern for profit. Well, this is the movies, after all.

But it also foreshadowed an approach to customer service that some believe will be the model of choice for savvy businesses in the 21st Century. Sales and marketing strategies have evolved in remarkable ways over the past few decades. For the most part, over the years, businesses have relied on things like innovative product lines, efficient production and speed to market, just-in-time inventory, generous warranties, aggressive and creative advertising, and – of course – competitive pricing to gain and hold market share. However, astonishing advances in technology and communication have turned the 21st Century into one huge and bitterly competitive global marketplace where it is not clear that anyone can gain and hold an advantage for very long. Where do businesses turn next to create the traction they need to build their brand and hold their markets?

More and more, some are beginning to adopt – perhaps unwittingly – the strategy espoused by Kris Kringle: do what is best for the customer, no matter what. There are two ways to look at business – you can always do what looks best for the company’s bottom line, or you can do what looks best for meeting the needs of the customer. Of course, everyone is in business to make money, but these days customers are sophisticated enough to do business with people who demonstrate that they care about the customer instead of just caring about making a sale. Therefore, it is getting harder and harder to stay in business unless you can convince your customers that you really care.

Tim Sanders, author, speaker, and former Chief Solutions Officer for Yahoo!, observes in his New York Times best-seller, Love Is The Killer App, that the culture of business has begun to change. As he travels the country speaking to clients, customers, colleagues, and captains of industry, he is seeing a trend across the board towards on emphasis on experience over expedience. That is to say, people are stressed out, maxed out, hyped out and generally ready for the culture of business to address their worth as people instead of just trying to push a product into their hands. Sander talks about how important it is for all of us, especially when it comes to B2B relationships, to always be looking for ways to bring value into the lives of those we do business with, even if it doesn’t appear to drive business or money back in our direction. He also talks about the power of compassion – taking time to show you really care – in creating powerful networks that enhance the lives and the experience of everyone we do business with.

Look at this way: ALL business is really about customer service (no customers, no business, right?), which means ALL employees are really customer service representatives. Customer service should always be the top priority of your company, and this doesn’t simply mean that you should work on making sure that everyone in your company is nice to customers. The real power in this model comes in making sure that everyone in your company understands the value of SERVING the needs of customers and is committed to doing just that. I know it may sound somewhat counter-intuitive, but spending the extra time and money on serving the needs of your customers above the needs of your company, will always pay for itself in the long run. In the movie, once Mr. Macy saw the power in this model, it was katy-bar-the-door.

This isn’t the movies, but this is a new era for businesses. If you plan to stay profitable in this century going forward, you might take a few hints from that mysterious fellow who may, or may not, have really been Santa Claus. Here are a couple of questions you could ask yourself, and your employees, to get a quick read on your company’s level of preparedness to serve customers instead of just selling to them:

1. How far are your employees (all of them, not just the CSRs) encouraged and trained to go in the effort to meet a customer’s needs and help them to feel valued and cared about?

2. How would an employee in your company be treated if he did what Kris Kringle did?

Answering that second question may tell you all you really need to know.

 

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November Customer Service Quick Tip of the Month – Put Yourself in Their Place
What is the one thing that customers DON'T want when they interact with your customer service department? It should come as no surprise to anyone that the last thing that a customer wants when he is stressing over a problem is to have a customer service experience that creates even more stress! He is calling you to get help with a problem, and your first job is to make sure that his experience is as stress free as possible. You may not always be able to find the perfect solution for every customer, but you can work to eliminate many of the most annoying and frustrating aspects of the typical customer service experience. How is that, you ask? Start by making a list of all the things that irritate and frustrate you, as a customer, when you have to contact a company’s customer service department. Being put on hold? Being shuffled from department to department? CSRs who mumble? CSRs who act like they don't care? Put everything down on your list that you hate about contacting customer service, and then make sure those things NEVER happen on your shift. Put yourself in their place, and then treat them the way you would like to be treated!