Your Quest for Excellent Customer Service May Be Killing Your Business
(Originally published in the Hudson Valley Business Journal – September 4, 2007)
Excellent Customer service continues to be a hot button in business today. With voice mail trees becoming more prevalent it is becoming increasingly difficult to speak with a live voice and to get a return phone call in a timely manner.
In a quest to differentiate in an increasingly competitive environment, small business owners, proprietors of professional service firms and individual sales representatives are attempting to ensure their customer service over-delivers. The strategy which most are applying is counterproductive and possibly destroying their business.
With this self-defeating definition of outstanding customer service the perpetrators are stretching themselves too thin, creating a self-imposed sense of overwhelm. The behavior in which they are engaging is setting an expectation for service that is unrealistic and unsustainable leaving them vulnerable at the first digression.
Many business professionals are returning service calls immediately and reacting to non-emergency requests as though they are five-alarm fires. This behavior is creating multiple immediate priorities putting a stress on available resources, including an already overworked staff, if there is one.
This behavior is also sending a signal to your customer that is counter to what you may think. Most people believe that if they are returning a customer’s call immediately and placing the customer’s request, no matter the urgency, at the top of the priority list, they are showing that customer they are important to their business. The real signal they are sending is that this is their only important customer.
This behavior gives the customer total control by providing the false impression the business isn’t as successful as it may actually be. Additionally, it is a non-professional image being conveyed which may deter current customers from providing referrals. The image being projected is that the business doesn’t have a significant client base and workload.
With these counter-intuitive impressions being promulgated, what can an entrepreneur do when the business’ sole differentiation is based on ‘service?’ Here are a few tips:
1) Set a reasonable expectation for returning non-emergency phone calls, such as within a half-day, or by noon the next day if the call comes in after 3pm. Make this part of your promise on your outgoing voice mail to begin training your customers as to how you intend to operate. Once you begin this policy and make it public your customers will leave messages letting you know that the issue is ‘important but not an emergency allowing you to prioritize returning the call on your schedule, not theirs.
2) Educate your customers at the very beginning of the relationship by explaining your return call policy.
3) When you have the conversation with the customer allow yourself time to assess the need, prioritize it, look at your present workload and suggest a reasonable response time asking if it works for them (99% of the time they will be fine with your suggestion). Take this approach even if you have to ask if you can call them back in a few minutes to evaluate the situation so you can “give them your best.’”
4) If a customer absolutely needs a request fulfilled immediately, or sooner than you feel you can provide it, communicate that you must first check your present priorities and see how you can move things around. Then, suggest a reasonable timeframe in which you will get back to them to let them know exactly what they can expect from you and when.
5) Be sure you maintain the trust by over delivering on the expectation by fulfilling the request early, if at all possible, but no later than within the time frame promised.
Understand that customer service is not about jumping through hoops to serve your customers; it is about serving your customers in a positive and proactive manner while managing expectations and exceeding those expectations.
Last summer while on vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine I had an outstanding experience of what I’m espousing.
Upon arriving at a restaurant for dinner we found a line of people waiting for tables. The hostess told us that the wait would be about 15 minutes and we were handed a pager, which would vibrate when our table was ready. As we left the hostess stand my wife and I headed to the rest rooms to kill time. Upon reconnecting outside the rest rooms the pager went off less than ten minutes into our wait, exceeding our expectations by at least five minutes.
Had the hostess used the non-specific language most service professionals are in the habit of using informing us the wait ‘would be only a few minutes,’ we would have been less pleased as the wait exceeded our expectations. In this instance the seating time exceeded our expectations providing a very positive experience.
A recent client relayed his experience to me after applying this new customer service definition and strategy, “I’m finding my clients not only understand my new approach but respect me more. I’m already feeling much more in control of my business while significantly reducing my stress.”
When you shift your definition of customer service and begin applying the tips provided above, you will begin to achieve similar results.
