Customer Service – Page 6 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Joseph Michelli on Distinctive Service and Seeing the Future – Guest Blogger

July 7, 2008/0 Comments/in Books, Customer Service, Guest Blogger, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s an honor and a privilege to bring you some thoughts from bestselling author Dr. Joseph Michelli (author of The Starbucks Experience) on using distinctive service as a strategic competitive advantage. Enough of me… here’s Joseph.

We all know businesses that at one time dominated an industry. Whether it was a company like Polaroid which kept a strangle hold on instantly available pictures or Ford Motor Company with its early market prominence, many great businesses ultimately have struggled to maintain their relevance to the customer.

As Mike shared with you in an earlier blog post, he and I attended an NYU/Ritz-Carlton Leadership Training course together. That program, along with an additional year of access to leadership at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, reinforced for me the importance of maintaining a constant focus on the changing wants of the customer.

In my just released book, The New Gold Standard – 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, I address this issue of relevance through a business principle I termed “Define and Refine.”

Much of the historic success of The Ritz-Carlton can be linked to its well-defined service culture complete with a compact and operational mission statement, a credo card carried by all employees, and daily line-ups reinforcing corporate values for every staff member. Given this tightly defined culture and iconic business status, brand relevance became a major challenge for The Ritz-Carlton.

Short Term Loss, Long Term Customer(s)

June 17, 2008/3 Comments/in Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

It happened again. Not once, not twice… but three times in one week. No, I didn’t get more speeding tickets. I had three outstanding customer service experiences.

So I’m on my way to a client engagement one morning. Of course, the hotel (which was fantastic – a newly renovated Hilton in Pittsburgh. I highly recommend it) did not account for my coffee drinking preferences. There were only two of the little LaVazza coffee packets (I need about six to get going – it’s a nasty habit). I downed them but it still wasn’t enough.

I strolled over to the client site and stopped by the nondescript little coffee shop in the lobby. No, believe it or not it wasn’t a Starbucks despite their ubiquity. This place is called Buon Giorno and it’s located in the lobby of the ABSC building in downtown Pittsburgh (near North Shore Center by PNC Park).

I looked over the fresh pastries and bagels but I was on a mission – coffee. The young lady behind the counter greeted me with a warm hello in between a lively discussion in a foreign Eastern European language I didn’t understand. She was arguing with someone unseen behind the back counter. I opened my wallet to do a cash check and saw nothing but blackness and old receipts. My eldest daughter had hit the BOD without me knowing it (Bank Of Dad). No cash whatsoever but I’m sure she enjoyed her trip to the mall. I asked the lady “do you take plastic?” You know what the answer was. My quest for caffeine screeched to a thundering halt.

New Book Recommendation – The New Gold Standard

June 16, 2008/2 Comments/in About Us, Books, Customer Service /by Mike Figliuolo

Heads up all of you who love to better understand customer service as well as those of you who love to read! Dr. Joseph Michelli (author of The Starbucks Experience) has released his newest book on The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.

The book is called The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. I actually had the privilege of attending the same training session at the Ritz-Carlton as Dr. Michelli did when he was doing his research. I’m even quoted in the book (you have to read it to see what I had to say)! As all of you know, I’m pretty big on customer service, so this book is a must read from where I sit.

I know you’ll value the insights he provides because I was there when he was gathering them. The Ritz-Carlton is a unique place we can all learn something from. Rather than me trying to explain what you’ll be getting out of the book, I’d rather let the professionals do it so here goes:

Discover the secrets of world-class leadership!

Perfect 10

May 26, 2008/3 Comments/in Customer Service, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

I know sometimes it seems like I have more complaints than I do uplifting, heartwarming stories like the ones you’d find on the Hallmark Channel.

But every once in a while, someone gets it right. Nails it. Perfection like Nadia Comaneci.This particular individual of whom I speak was slightly less athletic than the sprite-like Nadia. Okay, a lot less athletic. About 6’2″, 280. With a mountain man beard. But that didn’t matter because his skills in the service arena were absolutely spectacular.

It was a bright, sunny afternoon and I was performing one of my regular jobs – I was the IT guy for the day. It’s amazing how much maintenance running a home wireless network consisting of kid’s PC’s, laptops, XBoxes, and other peripherals can be. But it’s better than my other two jobs as plumber and chief bug killer.

Anyway, it was time to install the new printer. Everything was hooked up just dandy. But where was the wire to make the final connection to the PC? I emptied the box. I went through the 18lbs. of packing materials. No wire. I read the box and in the modern-day equivalent of “batteries not included” in tiny 10 pitch the box said “USB cable to connect to PC not included. Sucker.”

I swear, the “sucker” part was on there.

Customer Focus = Alignment in Strategy

April 22, 2008/0 Comments/in Customer Service, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Besides ruthless prioritization (see “Strategy is About Saying ‘No'”) and being sure you have a well-articulated goal that ties to your financials (see “Budget +10% Isn’t a Strategy”), strategy requires a crystal clear understanding and alignment around serving your customers. These are the people who pay your salary. Aligning the entire organization’s efforts around providing outstanding products and services to these customers is key, yet often absent.

Why? There’s lack of clarity and conflicting goals that often get in the way of alignment. Sure it’s easy for the front-line associate to understand customer service and wants/needs. These are your store personnel, service providers, sales teams, and anyone else who directly interacts with your end customer (be it an individual or a business). Usually there’s pretty good alignment within these ranks on the importance of serving customers well. The problem more frequently occurs in the “support” functions. That’s where it gets a little more difficult to align an organization with customer service but it can be done. The big question is “how?”

There’s a great phrase I’ve had used on me and subsequently used in other settings. I was working in a “support” function where I was responsible for some of our organization’s back-end technology and infrastructure. The organization was focused on metrics that made sense at face – budget, project completion status, up-time, etc. Unfortunately, when requests came in from the “front line” they were seen as obstacles to achieving some of the metrics the group was evaluated on. How could we possibly make budget when the front line was asking for additional capabilities and resources? Then I heard it – “If you’re not serving a customer, you best be serving someone who is.” It was a clarifying moment.

Forget the Free Breakfast! – Guest Blogger

April 15, 2008/0 Comments/in Customer Service, Guest Blogger /by Mike Figliuolo

I’m pleased to bring you Mark Henson as a guest blogger this week. You’ll find background on Mark at the end of this post. Enjoy the post…

I’m just getting back from a wonderful beach vacation in Hilton Head (trying to switch gears from palm trees back to palm treos…).

On our way back to Ohio, we stayed in Mooresville, NC, just north of Charlotte. It’s known as “Race City USA” because it’s home base to the majority of the NASCAR race teams and just a few miles to Lowes Speedway. It’s also home to one of the most disappointing hotels I’ve ever stayed at — The Wingate Hotel, part of the Wingate/Wyndham hotel chain.

We booked the hotel because it got a 3-star rating and it had an indoor pool. When you coop 2 small kids in a car all day, you MUST stay in a hotel with a pool…it’s the law. I’d have to say this hotel was really more of a 1.5-star dressed up to look like a 3-star. In fact, when we first arrived we were fairly impressed by the decor, the amenities, and at least one attentive front desk helper (the other one was doing a crossword puzzle while we checked in). All in all, it looked like a decent hotel with a pool and FREE CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST (which they really make sure you know about).

Within minutes, the tuxedo this hotel was wearing began to unravel. The hot tub wasn’t hot. Not a big deal, but when we reported it to the front desk, the crossword puzzle girl rolled her eyes and said, “It’s broken. There’s supposed to be a sign. Is there no sign?” Nope, no sign. No sign of help from her, either. But at least we were going to get free breakfast.

Customer Hostile Policies Feed Customer Hostile Cultures

April 8, 2008/9 Comments/in Customer Service, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

So I’m going to hearken back to my very recent post “$325 Equals $210? The Math of Customer Hostile Policies” because apparently these policies are indicators of a broader cancerous culture. I’m flying home right now from Virgina Tech where I spent two days with some wonderful, bright and talented students (thanks for having me come speak by the way). I arrive at my layover destination. I’m traveling on the airline with the customer hostile policies I mentioned in my previous post. My final flight is scheduled to depart at 2:40 PM. I look at my watch and it’s 1:05. I notice there’s an earlier flight to my destination that departs at 1:20 so I walk briskly to that gate (at my age, I no longer sprint through airports out of fear of pulling something).

When I arrive at the gate (at 1:08), I asked the gate agent “Is there any way I can get on this flight? I’m currently on the 2:40.” The jetway door was still open. Her reply didn’t shock me:

“Ummmm no. I’m busy doing my paperwork and I have to get it out by 1:10. And I’d be all rushed to take your credit card info and get you on the flight.” You have to be kidding me. Her tone was one of annoyance that I, a measly customer, would dare interrupt her all-important paperwork or heaven forbid ask her to rush a little and go out of her way to perform the onerous task of swiping a credit card.

“You can’t get me on the flight? The jetway isn’t closed yet.”

Not even looking up from her paperwork I got “Nope. Flight’s closed.” I guess I didn’t even exist anymore because I wasn’t even worth being looked at now.

$325 Equals $210? The Math of Customer Hostile Policies

March 25, 2008/5 Comments/in Customer Service, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

So I bought a plane ticket. It cost me $325. My plans changed and I now had a credit with one of the major air carriers. No problem. I know I’ll have to pay a change fee at a later date (usually $100) but not a huge deal. “At least I’ll be able to use the credit” I thought to myself.

I had occasion to travel again so I called said airline and told them I wanted to book my flight to Chicago for my presentation at the Leadership Excellence 2008 Conference. The new ticket was going to be $210. “Cool! I can use my full credit and even simply pay the change fee out of what I already paid” I naively mused. Then the ugly spectre of customer-hostile policies reared its head. It went a little something like this:

“Yes sir. The flight is $210 round trip.”

“Great. I’d like to use a credit I have with you folks. The old confirmation number is RIPOFF325.”

“Yes sir. I have that credit here. How would you like to pay the balance due today?”

“Huh? Balance due?”

“Yes sir. There’s a $100 change fee for using the old ticket.”

“Yeah. I know. Just use the credit for the $325 ticket toward the $210 ticket plus the $100 change fee and I should still have a credit of $15 with you guys, right?” I mean, I did pass arithmetic in 2nd grade. Here’s where things start going south…

Consultative Selling: Solve My Problem – Not Yours

March 4, 2008/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Customer Service /by Mike Figliuolo

Everyone has goals these days. The one that causes more disconnects than any other is a sales goal. It’s a number to hit (either units or dollars or both – the better ones are actually measured in profit dollars rather than revenue dollars). They’re problematic because by their very nature they get a salesperson to focus on their needs (hitting their goal) versus the needs of the customer (finding a solution to a problem). The best salespeople truly use a consultative selling approach. The others? Well, they’re just annoying. They throw around phrases in their sales rooms like “Okay guys! It’s time to get your checkup from the neck up! It’s go time! Everyone start smilin’ and dialin’!” Excuse me. I just barfed in my mouth a little…

I’ve had offers posed by both types of salespeople and I too have sold (sometimes like a huckster in my misguided youth but more consultatively as I’ve learned better). Allow me to offer some scenarios.

I was in the market for a software solution. Nothing major – just some basic functionality that would help me grow my business. I needed cheap (not a lot of budget dollars available), fast (I was trying to grow quickly), and easy (our technology department did not have a bevy of available resources to throw at this). I spoke with a few providers. One of them had a very cool solution. It had bells. It had whistles. If you pushed the right combination of buttons it would make you a frappuccino. It was expensive. Very expensive but somewhat justifiably so given all the features. I explained our challenges to the salesman.

Serving Customers is Easy – Just LISTEN

February 11, 2008/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Customer Service, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

You’ve already been exposed to a few of my customer service diatribes and bad customer service experiences in Customer Disservice. You’ve also seen how little things make a huge difference in my post on Customer Service Without Boundaries. What’s the difference? Two little awkwardly shaped pieces of cartilage covered with skin (and in my case a few errant black hairs that I occasionally have to pluck so I don’t look like Ernest Borgnine). Figure it out? EARS!

Listening makes all the difference. Whether or not your front-line employee (or even you for that matter) takes that moment to genuinely not just hear, but absorb and appreciate the concern of your customer is the determinant of which way the interaction will go. Use your ears and everything will be okay. Fail to do so and you could potentially create a blogger who has no problem whatsoever berating your or your company in front of millions (I’m a nice guy though – I don’t name names…).

“Thanks Mike. Helpful advice. ‘Listen.’ Gee whiz… you’re like the Yoda of customer service. You’ve given me nothing helpful or practical in this post. You must have been a consultant at some point in your career…” You must be a new reader (welcome to the blog by the way!). Regular readers of these posts know the drill. I tee up an issue, highlight why it’s important, tell a story or two, occasionally soliloquize, then give you one or two real-world tools to try out in your business. Strap in. Here we go.

Customer Service Without Boundaries

February 7, 2008/4 Comments/in Customer Service, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Every once in a while I have the pleasure of interacting with a service provider who goes above and beyond. They redefine boundaries and set new bars for what the expectation of customer service should be. While they’re rare gems, you can find them if you look hard enough. I’d like to explore a couple of such experiences and deconstruct what made these experiences so great.

It was the morning of Christmas Eve and all through the house, no one was sleeping including my wife, my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother-in-law, the dogs or my kids… The holidays at my house tend to be a bit chaotic. With a mix of excitement and dread, I prepared for my annual sojourn to the fish counter. I needed to buy the traditional seven fish for the Christmas Eve dinner (I’m Italian. It’s what we do. No one can tell you why exactly – there are about ten different explanations for the tradition. All I know is I’m not tempting bad ancestral juju by breaking with the ancient ways).

I ended up at Whole Foods because they have incredibly high quality fresh catches. They’re also one of the few places where you can buy smelts in central Ohio (it’s another Italian thing…). I bought my seven fish and headed to the register. As the cashier was ringing up my final items, I realized I had forgotten the eggs to bread the fish. Under my breath I said “Shoot. Eggs.” Now in 95% of the rest of the grocery stores in America, this comment would have gone nowhere (which is what I intended). Not here. This young woman (let’s call her “Julie”) heard my comment, stopped what she was doing and asked “Did you forget your eggs sir?”

“No Longer A Customer” Service

January 21, 2008/1 Comment/in Communications, Customer Service, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Is the customer REALLY always right? We throw that comment around haphazardly without truly considering the ramifications of such an approach. I’d submit that they’re not. There are plenty of times the customer is wrong (and sometimes, very much so).

First, let’s explore the implications of a “customer is always right” approach. On the upside, they are right in that they perceive a problem. They believe they are not getting the service they deserve. Treating a customer with the utmost of respect in this situation is absolutely good business. There’s nothing more infuriating than being blown off or not listened to as a customer (for a good example, see this post on customer disservice). Treating the customer with respect, whether the issue is resolved in their favor or not, will at least have them telling their friends they were treated appropriately. While they may not be exceedingly happy with the outcome, they won’t be out there bashing your company for both problems AND bad service.

So let’s explore a problem where the customer’s request is outside the bounds of what your company would ordinarily deliver. The customer might be asking for something because they’re not clear on what your organization delivers or promises. In these cases, sometimes a simple education of the product’s features (or lack thereof) can bridge the disconnect from their expectations to what you deliver. Okay. That problem is solved.

But what if they aren’t satisfied? What if they’re still insistent that they’re “the customer and the customer is always right?” What if they’re asking for something outside the bounds of what you can or should deliver? Let’s look at a real example. Read more

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