Customer Service around the world

Canadian Tire customer service - yet again

Wow - three great experiences in three months.  This time it was a young man named Jonas in their Kanata store who went the extra mile to get me a product I was looking for, which, as it turned out, was tucked away somewhere in the back room.  All wasn’t perfect in the store though, as the cold, unsmiling young man (seemed to be a supervisor) who he asked for guidance gave the impression I was just an annoyance.

Still, the overall improvement is worth an attaboy.  It wasn’t that long ago that, in our workshops, this company was being identified by participants as one of the worst for customer service.  I’m not sure what they’ve done to get themselves where they are - but it’s working!

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Great customer service earns Arnprior a mulligan

Arnprior Ontario is a small town a half an hour from Ottawa.  This evening six of us went to a fabulous little restaurant called The Old Staye House.  The food was spectacular, and the service staff were outstanding.  But here’s the interesting part.  Although all the food was delivered to our table, almost every dish was delivered to the wrong person.  In addition, the air conditioning wasn’t on, and the restaurant was well over 80 F degrees. 

Guess what?  despite the issues, I’d go back in a heartbeat, and will still recommend the restaurant to everyone.  It was hard to get perturbed at the young servers who wore constant smiles on their faces, and were extraordinarily gracious.  Proof yet again that outstanding customer service is the best way to prevent grouchy customers

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

You can’t have a customer service department that doesn’t provide customer service

I was in a well-known large-format retailer yesterday, and went to the large island in the middle of the store bearing the name “customer service.”  I stood at the counter, in front of the employee who was engrossed in paperwork, for a full 20 seconds before she looked up at me.  She didn’t actually speak to me, just raised an eyebrow as if to say, “Yes?”

The Bad Shaun appeared briefly as I allowed myself a touch of sarcasm.  “Gee,” I said, “I hope I’m not taking you from something.”

It clearly went over her head, as she just looked at me, stone-faced, and said “No.”

I’m not sure who is more to blame for this - the employee who clearly lacks interpersonal skills, or a manager who seemed to feel it was appropriate to have this woman representing their ‘customer service’ department.

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Customer service at the reception desk

Over the last few weeks, I’ve visited maybe a dozen different offices.  In at least half of them, the receptionists were very distant and disengaged.  There was no smile, no welcome, no greeting.  They just looked up and said “Can I help you?”  In each case, I felt like some kind of intruder at a security checkpoint. 

 The receptionist is, in many ways, the face of an organization.  How he or she behaves sends strong messages to customers and employees alike as to what type of business you are.  Mediocrity in this position is not an option if you are hoping to have a World Class Customer Service organization

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

The top 5 reasons for not having customer service training

Most companies don’t take the time to provide professional customer service training for their employees.  Here are the top five reasons they will give you (and why these reasons aren’t very good):

1.  Our customer service is already very good
Perhaps, but if you don’t strive for continuous improvement, you are destined to have Bad Things happen.  If your competition is working to get better while you’re standing still, you will soon fall to the back of the line.  Complacency is insidious.  Believing you’re the best is a great, positive attitude.  Believing you can’t get any better,  however, is arrogance, and will come back to haunt you.

2.  We can’t afford it
There is a mountain of irrefutable evidence that tells us that you can’t afford not to do whatever it takes to ensure you’re delivering outstanding customer service.  The medium and long-term repercussions of just one dissatisfied customer are greater than you might imagine.  If you haven’t seen this white paper on the cost of a lost customer, this would be a good time to read it.  Customer service training is an investment, not an expense, and the payoff can be huge.

3.  We have too much employee turnover
The argument is, why train employees if they won’t be here in a year or two? Even if you discount the payoff that will come from well trained and motivated staff, there is still a colossal benefit to training even temporary employees.  Every time you train people on customer service, you raise the bar a little (or a lot if you do it well) for your organization.  The new people who join then strive to reach the performance level of those around them.

The ultimate result is that you are not training to improve individuals, but to improve your overall environment.  Do you think that people beginning their first day working for Disney or a Four Seasons have the same set of expectations as those starting work for an organization who has never trained their staff?  Not likely.  Disney and Four Seasons employees walk in knowing that the standards are high, and thus begin working at a higher level almost immediately in order to fit in.

4.  Our managers cover customer service in staff meetings
This might work if all good managers were also good trainers, but that just isn’t the case.  There are many outstanding managers who just don’t have the competencies for being good trainers.  More importantly, however, if customer service is just another line item in a monthly meeting, then there’s no way you are getting any significant return.

5.  What’s the point?  6 weeks after the training, everything is forgotton
Fair enough.  It is absolutely true that the impact of training begins to decay after a while.  Performance levels never revert all the way back to where they were, but it can still be discouraging.  That’s why it is so important that the training is memorable at the outset, then followed with systems, coaching and non-negotiable standards that keep performance levels high.  World-Class customer service training programs will always include these elements.

Did I miss any?

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

The Customer Service Slingshot Effect

There is a very interesting customer service phenomenon we are all about to witness, called The Slingshot Effect.

In a nutshell, here’s how it works:  Over the last 18 months, as business revenues have contracted, they have had to cut back on customer service staff, support staff, sales staff, training, and incentive programs.  Customer experiences have deteriorated as they are waiting longer in queues, dealing with under-trained and under-motivated staff, and becoming frustrated by unsupported automated systems.

People are getting frustrated by organizations that appear not to care.

Very shortly, however, as the economy begins to right itself, consumers and business will begin to loosen their tight grips on their wallets and start to spend again.  Who are they going to choose to spend it with?  Certainly not with the organizations who treated them badly,or even those who stuck with the status quo.

Companies who have been, or begin to invest in improving their customer service experience won’t see the big payoff immediately - they can’t because the money just isn’t out there yet.  But the goodwill they are creating is like the elastic in a slingshot. Every positive customer experience adds a little more weight to the potential, pulling the elastic tighter and tighter. 

Once the twine tied around people’s purse-strings are cut, the pent-up goodwill created will lauch the companies into a bright future.  People have long memories, and will always favor the organizations they want to deal with over the ones they have to deal with.

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Another great Canadian Tire customer service story

Canadian Tire (Canada’s unique hardware, automotive, houseware, leisure store) never used to be known for it’s customer service.  In fact, it was more known for it’s absence of people to help, and he disinterest on the part of people who you finally meet.  In all fairness, the company can only do so much.  Each store is owned by an independent dealer, and because of this it’s not easy for their corporate head office to achieve uniformity in service levels.  If a dealer just didn’t get customer service, which may didn’t, the store reflected it.

 Either customer service at Canadian Tire has changed dramatically for the better, or I’ve just been getting lucky.  Yesterday, I had another great experience - this time in their Kanata gas station.  I filled up, and grabbed a bag of ice to take to the cottage.  There were three employees standing behind the counter.  They all looked up with big smiles and greeted me.  One said, “Hey, if you buy two bags of ice, you get a free cloth shopping bag!”  I said it sounded like a great idea, and the next thing I know, one of the other people had gone around the counter to get me another bag of ice, while the third person dug out a free cloth shopping bag. 

The guys were happy, chattering to me and each other, and extremely pleasant.  If they can keep this up - even without the freebies - why would I go anywhere else for gas?

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Customer Service in The Bahamas

I spent last week working in The Bahamas.  Three days in the bustling city of Nassau, and one day in Freeport. 

Bahamians are wonderful people.  The island chain (over 700 beautiful islands) are greatly dependant on tourism, so by and and large, the customer service there is very good.  There are a couple of interesting anomolies to note, however.

 The first is that island life is very different than mainland life.  People have a much different way of looking at time and quality.  Close enough is close enough, and good enough is good enough.  There just isn’t a real sense of urgency in the laid-back island life.  Island people in general love to laugh, but don’t like to be pushed.  Islanders have the demeanour for great customer service, but in all honesty, not the culture.  Bahamians are no different in this regard.

Customer service is all about being focused on the customer and attempting to meet and exceed a customer’s expectations.  It’s about sending the message “I care about you” in all of our words and actions.  Executing consistent good customer service is hard work.  Creating Wow! experiences is extremely hard work.  You will get good customer service almost everywhere in The Bahamas.  Wow! experiences are not as common.

The second thing I noticed is that Bahamians don’t seem to treat each other nearly as well as they do the tourists.  Several times, when I was in stores outside of the traditional tourist areas, I watched local customers being treated with indifference - even disdain at times.  When I, an obvious outsider, got to the counter however, both the attitude and experience would change for the better.  One very poignant experience was when I watched an older woman struggling to get some large pieces of building material into her car, while two people with store uniforms sat watching her from ten feet away.  They just watched, and the thought of helping out didn’t seem to cross their minds.

As a tourist, there is no place I would rather be than The Bahamas.  The islands are breathtaking, and the people will treat you exceptionally well.  You’re pretty much guaranteed a great customer service experience.  As a resident, though, I’m not so sure.

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Winning at Work!

Just a quickie for those who weren’t aware.  In addition to this Blog, I publish a weekly newsletter called Winning at Work!  It has tips tools and techniques for dealing with difficult customers,  employees, bosses - as well as strategies for achieving success in the workplace.  You can see more about it at:

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Halifax Customer Service ups and downs

I love the Canadian maritimes - Halifax in particular.  The culture is quite distinctively… friendly.  I was there for two days last week, and had some great customer service experiences as well as some mediocre ones.  Normally I wouldn’t mention the mediocre ones, but this is Halifax, and mediocre stands out in contrast to the generally good customer service you’ll find.

Here’s an example:  I bought a pair of pants at Banana Republic in Halifax Shopping Centre.  The young woman who looked after me was terrific.  In fact, to be honest, had she not been as good as she was I might have just walked out without a purchase at all.  She was friendly, knowledgeable, and tremendously helpful.  Once it came time to pay, however, she handed me over to a cashier, and left me to go back to her department.  I kind of felt abandoned.

Now don’t get me wrong, the cashier was great too.  But I question the wisdom in Banana Republics’s customer service model.  Why would you have an employee build a great rapport with a customer, then have her turn that customer over to someone else?  In this case, fortunately for them, the cashier was very nice and it didn’t really diminish the experience.  But why take that risk?  Why not let employees build rapport and customer loyalty throughout the entire process?

The other experience was at the Petro Canada near the airport.  I ran in to grab a map and a snack.  A young trainee was at the counter.  Very pleasant and helpful, and I could easily overlook the longer than average time it took to ring me through.  The disconcerting part,  however, was his supervisor and a coworker sitting up on the counter behind him eating their Wendy’s and talking loudly about personal stuff.  They clearly didn’t care that a customer was standing in front of them.  It wasn’t a devastatingly horrible experience - but it sure wasn’t what you usually see in Halifax!

This week coming up I will be in The Bahamas.  Stay posted!

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Mr. Sub - good sandwiches, outstanding customer service

I stopped at a Mr. Sub in the little town of Port Perry yesterday on my way back from Toronto.  Mr. Sub is Canada’s answer to the ubiquitous Subway chain. 

The young man behind the counter was friendly, outgoing and engaging.  He rated a ful 10 out of 10 on the customer service meter.  If you’re looking for good food and great customer service, it’s worth a visit.  If you’re looking for a great customer-focused employee to steal for your own business, I think this young man is worth looking at!

I’m off to Halifax, Nova Scotia for a few days, then to the Bahamas for a week.  The Canadian maritimes typically have great service levels, so I’m looking forward to writing about them.  The Bahamas, as with all countries heavily dependent on tourism, have been hit hard in this recession.  I’m anxious to see how they are responding. 

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Wal-Mart customer service faux pas!

How is this for making a customer feel welcome:  I’m standing in line in the Kanata Wal-Mart, and as I approach the cashier (Crystal), she turns to a woman (looked like a supervisor) and said loudly and repeatedly, “I really want to go home. I really don’t want to be here”  I just stood there until she was finished, then she turned and silently rang me through.

I have the opportunity to visit Wal-Mart maybe 3x a year, tops.  Not a great ‘please come back’ experience.  The funniest part, perhaps, is that the supervisor Crystal is whining to is standing at a podium/desk, with a clipboard hanging off of the front that says “Mystery Shopper.”  If only she knew that one of our companies was RetailTrack Mystery Shopping!

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Emily has got to go!

Many years ago, Bell Canada launched “Emily” the female voiced IVR (Interactive Voice Recognition) system.  I’m normally pretty good with technology, but Emily is unquestionably the most annoying of these things ever invented.  In our Canadian customer service training programs, when we ask people to identify their most frustrating customer service experiences, Bell and Emily are brought up by participants more  than any other company. 

Emily has single handedly caused us to leave Bell for most of our home phone, internet, cable and wireless.  We only have a couple of small products left, and, as I type this, I am on hold after a brawl with her trying to get through to an agent. 

Seriously.  Bell can’t afford to annoy this many customers in this economy.

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

World-Class Service: Pickle Barrel and Mandarin Restaurants

I had lunch yesterday in The Pickle Barrel at Centrepoint Mall in Toronto (Canada).  Our waiter, Kevin, was absolutely outstanding.  Fast, courteous, funny - he was everything that a service professional should strive for.  Interesting note - my wife did not want to go into the restaurant because of a horrid experience she had in the chain a couple of months earlier in Yorkdale Shopping Centre.  She had sent an email to let them know about it, and was completely ignored - as so many companies do.  Kevin had balanced the scorecard with his fabulous service.  I guess the next visit will be the tie-breaker.

On another great note - we had dinner last night at the Mandarine Restaurant in St. Catharines, Ontario.  This is, without exception, the most consistent World-Class Service provider I have ever encountered anywhere around the world.  I would hold them up over the Ritz-Carleton, Four Seasons, Disney - any of the classic customer service examples.

Describing the experience adequately is beyond me, except to say that they completely exceed expectations at virtually every turn.  I can’t recommend them highly enough.  To find out where their restaurants are, visit: http://www.mandarinbuffet.com/

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Customer service will be the common denominator for success

There’s a lot being written these days about how customer service is the most effective way to stay competitive in a soft economy.  It’s hard to argue.  In virtually every industry, those companies with visibly superior service levels are faring better than those who have not made this a priority.  One of our clients shared this great story with me last week:  http://www.gourmetretailer.com/gourmetretailer/content_display/in-print/current-issue/e3if2aba79ad08ad34caaf50cb61097cd89

So why isn’t everyone jumping on the customer service bandwagon?  There are two primary reasons.  The first is that, despite what they’ll say to your face, there are many people who really don’t believe that customer service is that important.  Oh sure, it’s a nice little extra, but they don’t believe it actually drives a business as significantly as more tangible things like price, convenience, selection, etc.  They’re wrong, of course, but don’t try to convince them otherwise!

The second reason is that companies are trying to be fiscally responsible, and running customer service training programs or other customer service initiatives can seem like unnecessary expenditures. 

When weighing whether or not to embark on reinvigorating your team with customer service training, here’s a question you should ask yourself:  How many customers can you afford to lose this year?  No - seriously - sit down and do the math.  Remember that customers are now more selective than ever about whom they do business with.  And all of your competitors are more aggressive than ever - trying to capture a bigger piece of the pie.  All it takes is a single customer service failure to have very serious repercussions.  To do the math, here’s a white-paper that discusses the cost of a lost customer:  http://www.beldingskills.com/Images/resolution-importance.pdf

In retail environments, where the direct impact of customer service is perhaps easiest to measure, increases in sales invariably pay for the cost of training within 3 short weeks.  The long term effect is profound.  It’s harder to measure in other industries, but doesn’t it make sense that the impact would be similar?

By all accounts, we’re a while away yet before the economy rights itself.  It will be interesting, a year from now, to see who survived, who didn’t make it, and who thrived.  I’m willing to bet that the ones who thrived will all have outstanding customer service as one of their common denominators.

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Maybe execs should connect for customer service

I just saw this article: http://www.bizreport.com/2009/04/should_customer_service_twitter.html. It occurred to me. Why don’t CEOs keep a twitter page or blog on their corporate website?

Oh, I know the answer many would give - “I don’t have time to deal with customers one at a time.”  Unfortunate, because I believe that would be a cop-out.  Why not try it - it may not be as bad as you think.  Truth is, those customers who take the time to write to you about your customer service are the ones giving you valuable information about your company.  Wouldn’t you want to have a dialogue with them?

My suggestion to comanies everywhere - try making yourself more accessible to your customers.  Sometimes the biggest frustration that customers have is that they don’t feel their concerns are being heard by people who can actually make a difference.  The only downside of this that I can see is that some people might lose a lot of sleep when they find out how profoundly disappointing their customer service really is.

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Nice save by Hamilton Beach (Proctor-Silex)

A couple of Christmases ago my wife gave me a cappuccino maker.  Nothing fancy, but it makes great cappuccino, and it quickly became a favourite in the house.  Suddenly, last week, the steamer stopped steaming.  It was a catastrophe. 

Yesterday I got around to calling Hamilton Beach’s warranty support line.  To my great surprise, it only took me about 5 minutes to get a real-live person.  I didn’t even have to push a single button.  Hamilton Beach clearly has not gotten around to implementing the telephone system Hell that most companies seem to prefer. 

The lady on the other end was pleasant and efficient.  Unfortunately, she advised, the warranty was expired.  Of course it was, I thought cynically.  That’s why it broke.

I bid my adeiu to the woman, and was about to hang up when she said, “Can I ask what seems to be wrong with it?”  I told her, and she came back with, “Here’s something you might want to try…” and proceeded to tell me how to clean the system with vinegar.  I wasn’t convinced, but tried it anyway.  Sure enough, it worked!  I’m on my 3rd cappuccino now, and have thought about that woman each time.

How easy it is for us to just do our jobs, hang up the phone and forget about the customer.  This woman took the time to actually try and solve an issue - beyond the scope of her job.  The result?  Rather than me hanging up, complaining about a restrictive warranty, I hung up pleased that she had at least tried to help. 

To whoever I spoke with at Hamilton Beach - thanks!

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Customer Service at Canadian Tire

I have to confess that sometimes I get so focused on looking at customer service in my travels, that I forget about my own backyard.  A couple of days ago I had a refreshingly positive experience at our local Kanata Canadian Tire.  For those who don’t live in Canada, Canadian Tire is like an automotive store, hardware store, sporting goods store and home & leisure store all squished into one.  It’s the one big-box retailer who remained unscathed after Wal-Mart entered the market in the early 90’s.

I needed a new telephone for our house, and finally tracked down the area where they were kept, only to find them under lock & key.  A sadly understandable precaution, but a little counterproductive in most Canadian Tire store because of the traditionally low staffing levels.  (I’ve walked away from purchases literally dozens of times because I can’t find someone to unlock things for me.  I’m sure I’m not alone.  I wonder how much money they actually lose in trying to reduce theft).  I really needed the phone, though, so after a few minutes of hunting, I eventually found Chad (I hope I read his name badge right).

Chad was outstanding.  Smiling, personable and exceedingly helpful.  What he didn’t know, he took the time to find out.  I really had not expected more than an uninspired interaction with a sales associate, but Chad was engaged and seemed genuinely interested in me.  A delightful surprise!

The best part actually came after I had selected a phone, when he said, “Are you okay for telephone wire?  I can also get you an extra battery if you’d like…”  While I didn’t need the wire, and passed on the battery, I am a sucker for an associate who will take the time to ensure that I have everything I need.  When salespeople do this, it’s a win-win:  The customer leaves with everything they need - not having to come back for that extra little thing they forgot; and the store gets an upsell.

There are far too many retail sales associates who have the attitude “I hate upselling - it’s pushy.”  They are right, of course, in cases where one is trying to sell a customer something they don’t need.  But allowing a customer to make a purchase without ensuring they have everything they do need is just plain lazy, and demonstrates that you don’t care about your customer or your employer.

Great job Chad.  Thanks for making my day!

Posted in Customer Service | 1 Comment »

A sure-fire plan to drive your customers away

A friend of mine was telling me a customer service story last week, and it touched on a familiar note.  I’ve heard it thousands of times, and it bears mentioning yet again.  He was telling me how he had called and left a message with a company, advising them of an issue he had experienced.  No one, of course, even bothered to return his call .

Here’s the deal.  If you or your company are guilty of this, quickly go grab a big stick and whack yourself upside the head with it.  Think about this.  Fewer than 5% of unhappy customers actually take the time to call you.  Most just leave you forever.  This same 5% are the people who are also likely prepared to take the time to write in blogs, letters, twitter - you name it!  Your failure to respond will have far greater repercussions than you can possibly imagine.

Honestly, if you won’t take the time to respond to a telephone call or letter, the next document you write will be your resume as your company downsizes or goes out of business.

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Customer Service - Pittsburgh Style - with Chocolate

It’s been almost a year since I’d been to Pittsburgh.  I remember being pleasantly surprised at the warmth and helpfulness of all the people I encountered - even the TSA agents at the airport. 

I don’t know if it was just my imagination, the product of a recession in a blue-collar town, or just that Pittsburghers were preoccupied with the 2nd largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S., but I found a…distance…to the customer service that I hadn’t noticed before. 

If you have never been to Pittsburgh, I can’t recommend it strongly enough.  It is truly a beautiful city.  You can’t fully appreciate it, I think, until you’ve ridden up the cliff on the Incline, and eaten in one of the fabulous restaurants that overlooks the Pittsburgh skyline.  You also have to take a walk along The Strip - a half-dozen blocks in downtown Pittsburgh with some of the most wonderful shops you’ll ever visit.

For the most part, we found the service mediocre.  As I said, it was quite a change from my visit last year.  There were a couple of really notable exceptions.  The best was a little chocolate shop called Mon Aimee Chocolate.  We had just gone in to look.  Really.  But by the time the nice lady in there was finished with me, we almost had to purchase an additional seat on the airplane to take the stuff home.  She took so much time with us, making sure that we got everything we needed.  She explained each chocolate to us, and why each one tasted so good.  The fun part was that, by the time she was finished with me, there was a small parade of customers following us around the store, hanging on to her every word.  Wonderful! (the chocolate is good too!)

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »