Creating Devoted Customers with Imaginative Service

Imaginative Service: Fly Your Customer’s Flag

The tall, rugged Russian wholesale auto buyer could barely speak English.  But, his passion for his export business was glaring to anyone within a block.  We were consulting with a large auto auction company to help them create a new service uniquely crafted for wholesale buyers who purchased vehicles at U.S. auctions specifically to ship them overseas to be sold by auto retailers.  Our interviews were conducted at particular auto auctions that had a large customer base of exporters.

“Why do you like this particular auction?” we asked the Russian buyer. “They fly my flag,” he proudly announced!  Later we visited the auction lanes where buyers and sellers gathered around several seemingly never ending rows of cars with an auctioneer at each lane refereeing the auto marketplace.  Along the upper wall of the giant warehouse flew a United Nations-like row of national flags—one for each country represented by the customers present at the auction.

“Flying your customer’s flag” is more than a symbol of personalization; it is a sign of deep and obvious respect.  Respect can come in the form of honesty and fairness.  It can be a compassionate deference to a customer’s unique circumstance and special interests.  But, its liveliest form is found in the exceptions that are grounded in customer understanding and fueled by generosity.  “We don’t normally, but in your case,” “I went ahead and took care of that…,” or “I comped the charge since I knew…” are all the sounds of customer-centric exceptions.

Exceptions tell customers you are there for them, not just for you. Customers want you to be successful and profitable; they do not want you to be miserly or greedy. Rigid commerce fails to accommodate the humanness of serving.  And, exceptions telegraph to customers there is a partnership governing the rules of engagement, not a programmed computer or frontline employee.

“Flying your customer’s flag” means touching your customer’s source of pride.  What can you do to deliver the kind of service that would make your customers proud?  How can you “fly your customer’s flag” in a way they will salute you by becoming your advocate?

 

 

Imaginative Service: Service Fantastic 2

It was too early to pick up our teenager so we decided to grab a quick dinner at Prime Restaurant in the mall. Our service antenna registered we were in for a great experience as we met James as our server. We knew we were in for a treat when we questioned James about our initial choice of wine. He rapidly shook his head and stated emphatically our choice was not a wise one. He brought us two glasses to taste – wines 1 & 2. We chose wine 1 which James had predicted and began asking James about the menu. When it was time to order James did not approve of my first choice and while he stated he could not be negative he “could be silent”. Obviously I moved on to another choice which James approved of and naturally proved to be delicious. He obviously had been empowered by the General Manager of the restaurant to provide customers with his experienced insight to ensure a fantastic experience. So went our entire meal including of course James’ favorite desert which was absolutely exquisite.

Do you have a “James” in your organization empowered to consistently take your customers breath away? Service fantastic 2!

Imaginative Service: Protecting the Good Stuff

“Matt, give a $10-12 Merlot with an attractive label.”  The request came from the customer in front of me at my favorite adult beverage store.  The customer smiled at the clever name on the bottle of wine Matt picked for him.  It made me recall my early experience with moonshine whiskey.

I grew up in a completely dry and very rural part of the South—the nearest liquor store was over thirty miles away.  It meant some of my wilder relatives with a hankering for spirits were good friends with a moonshiner.  One of these wayward kinfolks showed up one time at a family reunion with moonshine.  He removed the “good stuff” from his car trunk. It was in a clear glass jar placed inside a paper bag.  When I asked my granddaddy about the plain vanilla packaging, he said, “It’s not the container that’s important; it is what’s inside the container that matters.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. Connoisseurs of fine wine appreciate the worth of an attractive label or a memorable name.  But, if the good stuff inside is not first rate, the label just becomes false advertising.  

Customers are the same.  As customers, we appreciate the appeal of a decorative, engaging experience. But, if the core offering.is not first rate, the customer’s assessment is a lot like getting cheap wine in a fancy bottle.

In the last month I have talked with a super friendly tech who was clueless about how to fix my computer; eaten at a gorgeous new restaurant with inferior food; and, had an overly helpful teller short me $20 when making a deposit with a cash back.   All these service providers had their total focus on the packaging of service and completely forgot that, while I wanted a great service experience, first and foremost, I came for the good stuff. 

What steps can you take to make certain you never take for granted the basics of service?

Imaginative Service: If Service Were a Movie

Watching television was often the impetus for backyard play when we were kids.  Watch a baseball game and you were looking for your bat and glove by the end of the ninth inning.  If it was cowboys and Indians on the tube, we donned bows and arrows or cap pistols as we headed out back to mimic what we had watched.  As adults, we still do.  Movies and TV influence our work life. 

How many times have you heard at work lines like: “Make you an offer you can’t refuse” (from The Godfather), “Show me the money,” (from Jerry McGuire), “If you build it they will come,” (from Field of Dreams) or “Houston, we have a problem,” (from Apollo 13).  You can think of many more.  What if customer service was a movie?  What movie might depict the essence of service to your customers?  We asked one group that question and got answers ranging from Revenge of the Nerds to Transformers.  One group picked A League of the Own!

What kind of experience would you need to create for customers to think of classics like It’s a Wonderful Life?  One thing is for sure.  In today’s tough economic times, if customers do not get a consistently great experience they will be Gone with the Wind.  Sorry about that!

Check Out Carol Roth's Great New Book!

There is a great new book by Carol Roth coming out this week: The Entrepreneur Equation; Evaluating the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Having Your Own Business. Although the official release date is in March you can pre order a copy through Carol’s siteThe Entrepreneur Equation. This book is a must read for entrepreneurs and all small business owners as even today up to 90% of businesses fail within their first 5 years. Many other entrepreneurs are overworked and overwhelmed by their new ventures.

Carol’s book helps entrepreneurs do the necessary preparation before they invest time, money and energy in launching a business. It also helps existing entrepreneurs tweak their existing business models so they can all have the best chances for success. The Entrepreneur Equation is an absolute must for anyone who is thinking of starting a business or is in the early stages of a business! It is also incredibly valuable to those who have a business but may be stuck, re-evaluating their business model, and feeling overwhelmed or overworked, or trying to figure out how to get to the next level.

Carol is an investment banker, business strategist, popular media personality and one of the smartest, most capable people we know. Her book is a great read and a mandatory addition to your library. We hope you will jump on her site and preorder yours today.

 

                                    Chip and John

Imaginative Service: Service Fantastic!

Too often today all we hear about or read about are incidents where customer organizations fall short in the customer service they provide. But there are those times we do encounter outstanding customer service. Here are a few of my recent fantastic service encounters.

Late Friday afternoon I called the Dell Computer 800 number to replace my failed power adapter that left me with a dead computer battery on my last business trip. I spoke to their VRU and my call was quickly routed to “Gold Service” where Peter answered. After a warm greeting and rapidly validating that I was indeed eligible for Gold Service, Peter asked me about my issue, walked me through the process as he replaced the faulty part and explained how to return the used part after receiving the new one. He made sure I understood each step along the way and let me know how much longer it would take. When Peter was finished he asked if there was anything else he could assist me with and let me know how to reach him if I needed to. My new power adapyer arrived the next Monday. Service Fantastic!

That same Friday evening my wife and I visited the genius bar at our local apple store. My wife had upgraded her iPhone to the 4 and wanted to switch the 4 to our eighteen year old daughter and take over her 3. She had trouble getting the phone numbers switched to the correct instrument and after several calls to ATT was told she could only get the problem resolved at an Apple store. When we arrived at the Apple store our genius patiently explained that actually Apple could not perform the necessary task only ATT could! He asked if we could wait a minute and disappeared into the back of the store. In about 5 minutes our genius returned with another genius named Sam. Our genius explained that Sam would walk us to the ATT Store in the mall and ensure that they resolved our issue expeditiously. We were stunned but set off on an amazing adventure with Sam. The ATT store is a good 7-8 minute walk and we chatted amiably with Sam on our walk. Sam led us into the store and as you would expect garnered a great deal of attention! He graciously explained what needed to be done and a very polite ATT technician quickly greeted us and started to work. Sam stayed with us until the 10-15 minute operation was completed. He requested that we test the two iPhones and thanked the ATT Technician for his assistance. We joined in and shook hands with the ATT Technician and happily set off with Sam to return to the Apple store where Sam showed us one more amazing feature of an Apple computer and we parted ways with Sam’s business card carefully tucked away! Service fantastic!

How are you managing your customers’ experience to consistently create “Service Fantastic”?

Imaginative Service: The Service Dream

Famed Coach Lou Holtz says, “If you are not dreaming, you are maintaining.  And, if you are just maintaining, you are dying.”  So, what is your service dream?  Here are a few dream starters to consider:

What is something no one in your industry is doing that might be appealing to your customers?  We wish our e-reader had links to cool stuff or interesting communities of readers or maybe a holograph that came out of the e-book.

What is a new service delivery channel you might want to pilot?  We wish our grocery store had home delivery or on-line ordering to be picked up without ever getting a shopping cart.

What is a feature or characteristic of your customers you’d like to know more about?  We wonder why restaurants don’t test first class sections with valuable extras.  Do you know the reading level of your average customer?  Might that insight impact your signage or ads?

What could you do that would stimulate more physical senses and enhance customers’ experiences?  What does your bank smell like?  What does your attorney’s office sound like?  What could make customer wait time more entertaining? How can you make your service setting have better eye candy?

A billboard of a prominent home builder proclaims:  “If you can dream it, we can build it!”  Take that same approach with your customers.   What is your service dream?  What can you do to make your customers’ dreams come true? 

Are You Ready to Get Wired and Dangerous?

We are so excited that our book “Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It” is up and running! If you would like to learn more about our new book please check out our website wiredanddangerous.com. Even better if you want to pre-order (it will be out in May) the book – here are the links:

800-CEO-READ

Amazon

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

We are also grateful to Tony Hseih, CEO, Zappos.com for his endorsement–

"At Zappos, we found that the more we invested in customer service, the more loyal our customers became. Wired and Dangerous can help anyone interested in delivering happiness to today's Internet-empowered customer."– Zappos.com CEO and COO blog

And to Charlene Li who said, "Bell and Patterson explain how to master the new service paradigm––a partnership between you and your customers. Their rich stories and practical advice will prepare you to give up the control needed to make these partnership covenants succeed.” (Charlene Li Blog).

Heck, we’re grateful that the book is done and we know it’s going to power your understanding of the fundamental shift in the balance of power between customers and service providers that the Internet has fueled. If you’re not wired and dangerous yet, you’ve got to get going!!! Let us know how you feel about the book because we’ll be sharing those insights on future blog posts!

                                        Chip and John

Imaginative Service: The Super Bowl of Service

There is always something about those “best in class” or “top 10” lists that attract us.  Unless selection is determined by some objective score, we argue with the results.  “I had lousy service from Acme Pyrotechnics!  How come they are on this big deal list?”  But, there is a feature we often miss about those lists that makes it a bit like the Super Bowl.  The Packers and Steelers did not get their ticket to the Cowboys Stadium in Texas because they beat another team by some huge margin.  They got there because they consistently won football games.

Amazon.com, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Enterprise Rental, Zappos.com are the darlings of the “best lists” in service.  Might you have a bad experience with a superstar service provider?  You probably have.  The Steelers and the Packers both lost games in the 2010 season leading up to the Super Bowl.  The key is consistency.  Go to school on the best service providing companies and you will discover they push hard for consistency.  That means having a common service vision, universal standards and norms, a clear set of metrics to gauge variation from the standards, and leadership with the determination to stay the course and continue to improve. 

Consistency comes from a culture that demonstrates a commitment to great service and treats every customer encounter at every touch point like pushing to gain a “must win” yard on a fourth down.  What steps are you taking to promote great service that is consistent, not just an occasional occurrence?  How can you make great service a way of life in your sphere of influence?

Imaginative Service: The Anthropology of Customer Service

When famed anthropologist Margaret Mead first visited Samoa in the South Pacific, it led her to write in the preface of her book Coming of Age in Samoa, "Courtesy, modesty, good manners, conformity to definite ethical standards are universal… It is instructive to know that standards differ in the most unexpected ways.”  Her non-judgmental approach to the target of her research enabled her to gain a level of intimacy with Samoan inhabitants that few researchers had been able to attain.

Customer service is anthropological.  As customers we look for symbols, artifacts, language, and customs to signal trust and the potential for a happy ending.  Doctors display credentials, bank branches parade the iron door of the safe, airline pilots sound safety conscious, and hospitals are spotless.  We respond to cues that tell our subconscious where to go, what to like and what to avoid.  We have learned the meaning of caution lights, shaking heads, yellow tape, sirens, church bells, furrowed eyes, electrical smells, and dashboard icons. 

There are many components in the social encounter we call service.  As service providers, how can we be effective at learning the cues and customs to be imbedded in our customers’ experiences? By taking the Mead approach—non-judgmental recognition that customer “standards differ in the most unexpected ways.”  Woe to the service provider that assumes, guesses or stereotypes. 

How are you gaining customer insight into your customers’ anthropology?  What are ways to unearth the more subtle aspects of your customers’ expectations?