Customer Service as a Plus or a Disaster

There have literally been many hundreds of books written on the subject of Great and Bad Customer Service. Most people understand what it means too. But where most companies (and their owners and managers) fall down flat on their face on this subject is in empowering their front line people to make decisions to keep the customer happy.

For example, I have worked with hundreds of companies over the years and in my business analysis process, Customer Service is one of some thirty main areas were I do research and rate a company
on a scale of 1-10. 1 is totally unacceptable and 10 is exemplary. Now here is a surprising thing I will find most often. While management and employees usually rate the company’s Customer Service overall in the 7’s, 8’s and 9’s, the employees at the front line lose important clients because they do not see the “big picture” and/or they have not been trained and empowered (usually a dollar amount limit) to make decisions right on the spot to keep the client happy.

More often than not I have heard horror stories about companies who lose an account they want to keep over a very small incident (and/or dollar amount) that was handled improperly at the front line. For instance, let’s say you are a steady customer at a restaurant and you get bad service and feel no one seems to care about it. Well the records on this will show that most people will not say or do anything except walk away and never come back. But you can bet they will tell tons of people about how badly they were treated and that bad message gets expounded on “big time” as it spreads from person to person. You cannot imagine how often what my investigation turns up in regards to how small an issue the incident was that caused the loss of the customer.

The solution is simple. Educate and empower your front line people to make field decisions to keep the client happy so you do not loose them over a small, resolvable incident. I once had a boss who demonstrated this to me, first hand, again and again, what to do in these situations. He diffused the customer so fast that he was able to ask them to buy more things. It was amazing and the cost to the company was minimal in the long run in taking care of the problem. And most important of all, we did not lose clients over such issues.

There is a sign that has been hanging in many mailrooms and offices since as long as I can remember. It says… Rule #1—The Customer is Always Right. Rule #2—If the Customer is every wrong, refer to rule number one. Now I know there are a few customers out there who, you will tell me, “this is a crazy rule to honor”. Alright, so be it. But let’s not lose a hard earned client over a nickel or dime issue that could be questionable as to whether it was their fault or ours. We also know it costs far more to gain a new customer (hard and soft marketing and sales costs) than it does to keep them (anywhere from 5 to 10 times more in most cases).

Remember, when an issue like this comes up, this is your chance to show your class and blow the customer away. Wouldn’t you rather have them telling hundreds of people about what an incredible company you have and how well they were treated, instead of how badly they were treated (which always spreads faster and with more exaggeration)? And it takes so little training and empowerment to make this company policy. I don’t think in this day and age of extreme competitiveness you have any choice but to make sure you implement this as policy immediately. But of course, the choice is yours.