Customer Service Tips

Customer Service Training:
A Commitment to Red-Carpet Customer Service Training

When this economy bounces back, will your company bounce back with it? Will your customers have stayed loyal to you and your business, or will they have gone elsewhere?

It depends on how you are using this time. Smart organizations are using the economic downturn to refocus and reposition themselves for a more successful future. You can ensure you have loyal customers if you use this time to enhance your customer experience. A 2009 survey revealed that companies that invest 10% or more of their revenue in customer experience have lower attrition rates and higher referral rates and customer satisfaction scores than companies who invest less.

High Point University in High Point, North Carolina is one example. HPU was featured in the book The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red-Carpet Customer Service (Wiley, 2008) and recently ranked #1 in Up & Coming Schools in the US World and News Report. Visit HPU and you will find a student (aka customer) experience unlike any other including daily birthday card deliveries, personalized parking signs, valet parking, free car washes, live music in the cafeteria, a "Director of WOW!" and a staff and faculty totally committed to delivering an extraordinary experience and education to their students and guests. In the past 4 years HPU has doubled their freshman class. This year they have increased it yet again by 120 new freshmen, in a year when the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities reported that more than 1/3 of private colleges expect freshmen enrollment to decline in the 2009-2010 academic year. Not at High Point.

Dedicating yourself to red-carpet service is one of the best ways to ensure your customers remain loyal and become raving fans that proactively refer others to your company or organization. Dedication is the key word. It is not enough to throw a few red-carpets around, put up a couple of welcome signs and declare that you give red-carpet customer service. In order to dramatically improve your customers' experience, and create a continuity of service, it takes a real commitment from people at every level of the organization. Regardless of whether you are a for-profit company or not-for-profit organization, you can develop celebrity status and a brand so strong you become synonymous with red-carpet customer experience. However, it's not the red-carpets that turn into repeat business and referrals. Consistently delivering red-carpet customer service is a decision and a process. Every bit of your organization has to be aligned with your new vision. Here's how you start:

DECIDE: Your leadership team must make an unwavering decision that the experience your customers have will be the absolute best it can be, and that you will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

CREATE: Next you must create a clear, compelling, tangible vision of what that looks like. Start with your mission and values, and come up with tangible ways you can express those values in terms of your customers' experience. Vague platitudes are not enough. What will your customers specifically experience each and every time they walk through your doors?

EVALUATE: Now, you must look at your team and evaluate whether or not they have what it takes to fulfill that vision. Once you begin the process of raising the bar some of your team members will jump on board and others will fall away or be asked to leave. In this case, turnover is a good thing. You need the right people to deliver on your vision.

HIRE: As some of your people go on to become successful elsewhere, carefully hire their replacements. Remember, you're putting together a team who can deliver on an extraordinary vision. You'll find that as you create a culture of excellence, the right people will find you. In the meantime, you have to find the right people. Always be looking, even when you don't have openings. When you meet someone who would be a great fit for your team, stay in touch with them! It's imperative you've got the right people on your team. Your customer experience is only a good as your least engaged employee.

TREAT THEM WELL: How do you get people who have never received red-carpet customer service to deliver it? You must treat them the way you want them to treat your customers. Think of your employees as customers and commit to delivering an exceptional experience for them from start to finish.

TRAIN: If you're making a commitment to red-carpet service, your team members must be equipped with the tools of success. Employees want to know clearly what's expected of them and how to perform well on their job. An investment in training is an undeniable requirement for companies who want their people to treat their customers like stars.

COMMUNICATE: One meeting, one poster, one memo does not a culture change make. You've got to continually be communicating about your vision with your team and constantly reinforcing your goals. You've got to talk about your values at every single team meeting, discuss how you're tangibly expressing them, brainstorm new tactics and strategies, and share success stories.

CONTINUALLY IMPROVE: Work as a team to get rid of every practice or system you have that is not aligned with your vision of red-carpet customer service. Constantly be on the look-out for the flaws in your service delivery and turn them around. Share failures with your team as learning tools and discuss how to avoid them. Come up with new ways to WOW your customers. Once you do, ask - "how do we top ourselves?" A commitment to real red-carpet service is a never-ending journey. However, those who truly make the culture shift find it a fun and rewarding challenge.

EMPOWER: Throughout this process, find ways to ask your front line to contribute their thoughts and opinions. Proactively seek their advice as to how to carry out the vision. What should be improved? What should be eliminated? What would WOW the customers? Give them the tools and the trust they need to deliver on your vision. If you have the right people, and you involve them, they will own it.

CELEBRATE: Reward and celebrate every example of a team member delivering on your red-carpet brand. Every time someone does something that goes above and beyond what used to be the norm, recognize that person both publicly and privately. It will keep them passionate about your mission, and it will challenge everyone else to follow in their footsteps.

HOLD ACCOUNTABLE: Empower your people, but check in and check up to ensure they're on the right track. Instruct and coach privately when they're not. Be clear about the expectations you have and when they aren't met hold people accountable. In terms of customer service, most organizations today are sorely lacking in accountability. Are your employee evaluations aligned with your new vision? Is how you promote or distribute raises tied into the new behaviors you expect? Remember, if you make the choice for a red-carpet service culture, mediocrity is not acceptable.

AIM HIGHER: Once you've reached your vision, create a bigger vision. Get a bigger goal! Keep your people reaching for the top and be sure to celebrate every single success!

As you can see, it takes more than a red-carpet to give red carpet customer service. The Strativity Group Survey indicated that a commitment to customer experience remained high at 79%, but that close to 50% of executives claim they do not deserve customer loyalty. It is a tiny percentage of that first group will dedicate themselves to a complete culture shift as described above.

It's that group, completely focused on delivering red-carpet service, who will reap the bottom line rewards, gain the most customer loyalty, receive the most customer referrals and find themselves loving a job that enables them to do the extraordinary even in the face of an adverse economy.

Source: Donna Cutting: http://www.donnacutting.com/

Article Content: Customer Service Training

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Customer Service Training:
A Commitment to Red-Carpet Customer Service Training