5 Elements to Customer Service: A Fresh Look
About 20 years ago while I worked for American Stores Company
(now part of Albertson's) I headed up a customer service program
named "Smile and Speak Up." Employees attended a two-hour
customer service training class and then tried to be seen being
courteous to customers by mystery shoppers who visited stores
twice each week for ten weeks. An employee could win small cash
rewards plus the recognition of being a winner. My job was to
organize the program and take to various groups of stores.
Most people associated with the Smith and Speak Up program
praised our efforts to improve customer service in the stores.
The wife of the chairman of the board, for example, once told me
that she could see a difference where the program had been
implemented. But even with the general acceptance of the
program, I was never convinced of its effectiveness. This is
why.
True customer service in a retail store is a combination of five
basic elements: (1) organizational culture, (2) employee
temperament, (3) leadership example, (4) communicated
expectations, and (5) man
agement leadership training. My good friend Chuck Coonradt
once defined organizational culture as the way things
really work when the boss isn't looking. At a Nordstrom
department store, for example, I generally experience superior
customer service, even when the boss of the clerk serving me
isn't looking. That's because over an extended period of time
Nordstrom has created an organizational culture of superior
customer service. How was this accomplished? The leaders of the
organization had to not only communicate the importance of
exemplary customer service, but they also had to personally
demonstrate high levels of service with their own actions. Then,
over time they created a culture helped define employee
behavior.
The second element is employee temperament, which is a
technical term for what we commonly call personality. It is true
that some temperaments are better suited to deliver superior
customer service than others. Sorry, but it's true. But that
does not mean that those of us whose personality isn't naturally
well suited toward customer service can't improve our skills
above our natural inclinations. As evidence, stores that have
consistent customer service are not staffed with employees of
the same personality. Rather, the store has set a high standard
and communicates its expectations to every employee, regardless
of his or her personality.
The third element is the example of customer service
demonstrated by the leaders. It is foolish for a leader to
expect his or her employees to deliver customer service at any
level higher than what the employee sees on a daily basis from
the leader. In other words, the leader determines the upper
control limit of service in a department, store, or company.
Watch the company president, vice president, or district manager
while visiting a store and you'll see a demonstration of the
upper control limit of service. As an example, for over 20 years
I have shopped a supermarket only a few blocks from my home.
Without exaggeration I have shopped that store over 1,000 times.
And in all of those visits there have been five instances where
an employee has spoken to me on the sales floor. Lately I find
myself playing a game of walking near employees, just to see if
I can hear a "Hello," or heaven forbid something like, "What
could I help you find?" What's the problem? At the least it's
the example set in store and company leadership by example.
The fourth element is the extent to which the leaders have
effectively communicated their expectations to the
employees. It's not enough to merely set an example,
employees must hear, and hear again, specifically what is
expected of them with respect to customer treatment. I once
encountered the president of a retail chain who told his
employees, "Whenever one of our faithful guests has a question,
I want you to remember my motto. My motto is 'The answer is yes,
what's your question?'" He communicated his expectation that
loyal customers were the life-blood of the store and everything
within reason should be done to keep them coming back.
Customer Service and Man
agement Leadership Training is the fifth element. Because
everyone isn't naturally effective at delivering customer
service, and there are some techniques that work better than
others, it is vital that every employee receive adequate
customer service training. In fact, to create a culture of high
service, employees must receive regular training. Management
leadership training creates a front-of-mind-awareness that
determines not only what is important, but also how things are
to be done. Unfortunately, most customer service training
consists of nothing more than "retail charm school." Smiling and
speaking up to customers you encounter in the aisle isn't
enough. Real opportunities for customer service all too often
happen when something goes wrong. For example, out of stocks,
price checks, voids, refunds, returns, and exchanges are prime
situations where a customer can be won or lost, depending on
what the employee says and does while handling the transaction.
Employees must be trained in specific methods and techniques of
how to handle these special situations, or customers can be lost
for life.
The five elements of customer service are a framework to develop
a climate or culture for consistent superior service. It's
important to remember that the issue really isn't "customer
service." More accurately, it's creating a memorable experience
for customers. Don't forget that customers return to stores that
are memorable, and they don't return to stores that are
forgettable. What are you creating in your store, a memorable or
forgettable climate?
Consider the PE formula where P equals the customer perception
of what actually happens while shopping in a store. And E equals
the customer's expectation of what will probably happen when he
or she does shop a store. If P equals E then the store did
exactly what the customer expected. If P is less than E the
store fell short of the customer's expectation. And, if P
exceeds E the store did something more than what the customer
expected. The only truly positive memorable experience is where
P exceeds E. That must be our goal.
Superior customer service, that is memorable, can be defined as
a situation where the shopping experience exceeds the customer's
expectation of what was going to happen. This means a clean and
safe store, where desired products are in stock and easily
located, where employees are friendly and helpful, and where the
checkout is accurate and fast. Effective customer service is far
more than merely being caught by a mystery shopper saying
something nice to a customer. That's why I had a problem with
the smile game I played 20 years ago. It was nothing more than a
band- aid or a temporary fix to a very complex problem. The good
news is that I think I've learned a lot since the Smile and
Speak Up days.