Tongues Wagging: The Real Value of Customer Service
***Tongues Wagging: The Value of Customer Service***
My hand trembled slightly as I reached for the phone. It was a
call I wanted to avoid.
I shifted in my chair. I thought of a hundred other things to do.
I picked up the phone and pushed buttons anyway.
***Let Me Explain***
Justin, my nine-year old son, received a Canon digital camera
from his grandparents over the holidays.
He's a natural with a camera. He takes better photos than I do.
When he opened their gift a few days after Christmas, his eyes
became wide and his smile reached from ear to ear.
He was thrilled.
***The Defect***
After taking a few photos and importing them into the laptop,
it became evident that his new camera was defective.
The pictures were lined in horizontal strata. Each picture
looked like a jigsaw puzzle.
Something was wrong.
***Never Buy: As Is Merchandise***
When I called my father and told him of the problems with the
camera, he hesitated.
I could hear his shifting from one foot to the other. Shift.
Pause. Shift.
I finally asked him if there was a reason why he couldn't return
it?
The he told me the whole story.
The camera was a display model; the last one available.
It had all the bells and whistles that he wanted Justin to have
at his fingertips.
And it was a good deal too!
But, it was obviously defective. My father, without question,
would take care of it.
***Office Megastore: A Nightmare Waiting to Happen***
I could picture it in my head. I'd had the experience a hundred
times.
My dad was doomed even before he left the driveway.
He'd walk in and explain the defective camera to some part-time
college student who thought "the rules" were equivalent to the
Ten Commandments and he'd refuse to take back the camera.
I was prepared for the worst.
A few days later, I got the call. It was my dad.
He'd been to the Office Megastore and he had some news. He'd
taken the camera back. He'd supplied the receipt and even
demonstrated how the all the pictures were doing the horizontal
mambo.
I was prepared for the worst. I knew it was a hopeless venture.
How would I break the news to Justin?
***The Nightmare Unfolds***
So what did the rule-spewing megastore employee do about the
problem? (keep reading...)
***The Nightmare Unfolds***
She looked at the camera. She took a few photos. She saw the
horizontal strata.
She looked at the receipt and circled the expired return date
in red ink.
Then she looked at father in the eyes, took a deep breath and
then she did the unthinkable.
The broke the rules. That's right. :-)
Not only did she overlook the expired return date, but she
replaced with camera with a better one.
More mega-pixels, more memory, more bang for his buck(s). She
broke the rules for a reason.
In my father's words: "She didn't have to do that. But because
she did, I'll return to that store and buy from her again."
***The Value of Creating Wagging Tongues***
When was the last time one of your client's wagged his tongue
about your customer service?
Do you go out of your way to make things right for your clients?
When we do, wagging tongues result. Wagging tongues belong to
what Ken Blanchard calls "Raving Fans."
A raving fan is a client, so happy with our services, that they
can't help but talk about us to their associates, their friends,
their grandmothers.
That kind of attention is priceless.
Start breaking your heart-felt rules and give every client the
level of customer service that they'll feel obligated to wag
their tongues for you at every opportunity.
And that's the real value of customer service. It creates
wagging tongues.
***A Double Edged Sword***
But it can cut both ways. Poor customer service will also
contribute to tongue wagging.
Like this example...
Years ago I drove my kids through a Carl's Jr. drive through
restaurant.
(Yes, drive-through..I refuse to spell it T-h-r-u. Maybe this
is the reason behind this example?)
I ordered. I spoke clearly into the microphone. I drove forward.
My order was completely wrong. No! Really? That never happens.
Dead wrong. I drove around and parked (which defeated the
purpose of the drive through) and asked to see the manager.
I did this because the person stationed at the drive- through
window spoke no English at all. (Did I really think we'd receive
an error free order?)
When I questioned the *wisdom* of placing someone at the
drive-through who didn't speak English and how it unwittingly
contributed to my grossly incorrect order.
The response I received from the *Manager*, was to explain how
he couldn't find enough people to fill the positions whose first
language was English.
I responded that I didn't care about his issues. I cared that
my order was correctly charged at the register and the contents
of the bag reflected the accuracy of the transaction.
He placed his hands on his hips and said: "Well Sir, you can
always go to McDonalds."
I did. I drove my hungry children to the golden arches
immediately.
Do you think my tongue wagged for a week? Oh yeah.
***Final Thoughts***
Customer service makes tongues wag.
It's totally within our control how complimentary the comments
formed by those tongues will be.
Here's an article that I believe goes a long way in
demonstrating a correct response to a customer complaint.
It's the infamous Burger King article. Hmm, is there a trend
here?
CHeck it out: http://barrymorris.com/Botched_Burger_King.pdf