I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas and once again was amazed with the high level of service offered in the top properties.  My last service encounter was was something that happened in Vegas that CAN’T stay in Vegas!

My husband and I were eating our last breakfast before flying out.  Our group was not going to have time to eat prior to departing and we needed to pick up 6 sandwiches “to go”.  The time was 9:30 a.m.   We went to one coffee/sandwich bar in the hotel and were told that “no” there were no sandwiches available until after 11am.  This wouldn’t do as we were leaving at 10:00.

We then went into the Grand Lux restaurant where the hostess told us another “no” - that no sandwiches would be ready until after 11:00.  A young server named Malia overheard and asked if she could help.  We told her of our need and that we could not stay for breakfast unless we could get these sandwiches as we would have to spend our time looking elsewhere.  She said, “Wait right here, I will go ask a manager.”   She rounded the corner a few minutes later, giving us the “thumbs up”.  The kitchen would be happy to prepare the sandwiches for us.  She seated us in her section and earned a tip on two breakfasts and six lunches!  A win for her and for her employer!

Why is it that front-line people always know what they can’t do but rarely are taught how to “color outside the lines”?!

If you get the chance TODAY… meet with your staff, discuss one thing you CAN’T do for a customer and talk about how they can turn that around into a CAN DO for the customer…

Who knows - that customer might even write about it in their GetCommonSense Blog!�

I have a program that I present in the healthcare industry titled The Presciption Rx for Service.  In this program, as in all of my customer service training programs, “Saying It Better” is a big focus.

 Today I was reminded yet again of how important the words we use are in the impression received.  I went for an appointment at my doctor’s office.  The last time I visited the office, as is common with most doctor’s offices, I had to wait about 45 min or an hour.  Thus, I was not that concerned when events of the day caused me to arrive about 12 minutes late.  After signing in, the reception looked up at me and said, “Mrs. Allen, since you are late and have missed your appointment, we will have to try to work you in.”

“WHAT?!” I exclaimed with a rather preturbed look on my face.  “Well you missed your appointment time so we will now have to work you in”

My reply to this?  “You have got to be kidding me.  The last time I was here I waited about an hour and a half and now you are telling me I have missed my appointment when I am 12 minutes late?”

“I wasn’t here the last time you were in.” She replied

Well it just went way downhill after that.  I told her this was the most redicilous thing I had ever heard. 

Now let’s talk about this whole scenario.   First to note is that the current situation is not always what the customer is judging you on.  My severity of judgement came due to the many times I had to wait long periods of time and the fact that I had never complained about that even though I am the customer of this office!  I have been well trained by medical offices in my life to EXPECT to wait.

The really silly thing is that in about 15 minutes the inner sanctum door opened and I was ushered in to see the doctor.  I had been fuming for the entire 15 minutes thinking about how I will never again wait patiently (no pun intended!) in this office.

Did you notice that I exaggerated how long I waited the last time. When a customer is mad at you, they will often do this.  Try to focus on the source of the anger instead of the actual words.

 Later when conversing with my doctor (who I REALLY LIKE by the way) I shared with her that perhaps they needed to rethink this approach.  I also told her I would apologize to the young receptionist as I know that someone told her to say that and it really wasn’t her fault.  I just have a feeling that some brilliant consultant informed the practice that this would be a good idea to keep things moving better.  What they forgot about is the reaction of at least part of the client base.  That would be the half like me that is not intimidated by the medical profession as the other half is.  Why do I mention this - remember that when anyone issues a complaint to you there were a host of others who felt the same way but weren’t as bold (or as obnoxious as the case may be!)

So how could it have been “said better” in this scene?  The best thing would have been to say nothing at all.  Since there were another 6 people in the waiting room, I don’t think my tardiness was causing the doctor to sit in her office and catch up on the latest medical journal.  Now let’s say this was an office where you always were seen in a punctual manner (we can dream can’t we?).  In that case the receptionist could have said.  “Mrs. Allen, you are just a few minutes late, but we should be able to get you in shortly.”   That would have gotten the message across without the ballistic reaction.

How about you?  What do YOU have to tell us about your customer service at the doctor’s office?  I am sure there are plenty of great stories out there…let’s hear them!  Post a comment and YOU might win the next Starbuck’s gift card!

In my book, Common Sense Service,  there is a chapter titled: In Love With the Voice!  This chapter chronicles the skills of a real life service rep with an exceptional voice and how this voice built amazing relationships with customers.

This week I was reminded of this when I spoke to Suzy, a telephone representative with a vacation rental company (YES- I am finally going on a vacation!)

Suzy’s voice carried such enthusiasm that I thought she might just jump right through the telephone and into my office.  Her voice was in definite contrast to the representative at the same company with whom I had conversed earlier in the day.  That representative was polite and professional but “unremarkable” (is that a word?!)

Suzy was definitely remarkable.  When I complemented her and asked her how she came to project such a vibrant attitude she told me that as a child she had a major speech impediment.  This caused her to attend speech therapy where she learned to articulate each and every syllable of every word.  She said that she combined this skill with a “touch” of enthusiasm in her current role as a telephone reservation specialist.

What a lesson for anyone who ever picks up a telephone.  Combine articulation with a touch of enthusiasm and YOU can be REMARKABLE!

Does it not drive you crazy when you have to handle something not once but 2 or 3 times?  Most people are busy enough these days that they barely have time to call to complain or schedule a repair or get a price quote.  But if you have to follow up as the customer on something that the salesperson or service person should have acted on with the initial contact, it can become extremely frustrating!

 Yesterday I had “one of those days” and suddenly it occurred to me that it was “one of those days” because I had three different things I was handling where I was forced to make contact not once, not twice, but THREE times.

 I always believe when someone else is doing something wrong that there is a message in it for me.  I guess that message is that follow up and follow through are important - and that the timing of that follow up and follow through must be timely.  Let me hear from you…

I just had a participant in a class yesterday who talked about a situation that is common in the service world.  Many times a customer will call to order a product or service.  They think they have described what they want in perfect detail, yet we know that we do not have enough information.

 It is very important in a case like this to master some basic questioning techniques.  To avoid upsetting the customer we must first repeat what the customer said and then make a statement such as this: “Thank you for providing me with that information.  I now hope you can provide me with the following information so that I am sure to order exactly what you need.”  This statement validates that they are on the right track and basically asks permission to ask some additional questions.  Notice that the focus was on “I” not you. In other words, it is me who needs help, not YOU.  If the customer was told, “You haven’t given me enough information to place this order”, the customer might become defensive.

I just saw a commercial on television that referred to the “Perfect 10″.  Remember Bo Derek running on the beach?  When this commercial alluded to the “Perfect 10″, my thoughts drifted to how we often handicap our business by waiting for the “Perfect 10″.  Years ago (and I mean YEARS AGO), I was in the computer business and competed against IBM.  We used to joke that IBM stood for “I’ve Been Misinformed”.  Not too kind a joke about a competitor, but it originated from the fact that in those days IBM would put a carboard mockup of a future computer in front of their customers and the customers would place more orders than the competitors would receive from existing products… a supreme example of their Ready, Fire, AIM strategy.

I am not advocating that we deceive customers, but I am making the point that we can’t wait for all to be a “Perfect 10″ before we make that sales call or make a move forward in our business.  In today’s world, even more true than in Bo Derek’s era, the agility of a business and its ability to respond quickly to the demands of the market is sometimes more important than getting it perfect.  The computer world has trained us to buy the latest software and use it while we wait for the next release that “gets the bugs out”.

What is it that is causing you to wait?  Perhaps you should ACT NOW.  If you are waiting for the “Perfect 10″ moment, your competitor may beat you to the punch with a Good 8.  Something to think about!

A final irrelevant AND irreverant postcript - in ‘research’ for this posting, your 5′10″ blogger found out that Bo Derek was a mere 5′3″…. so maybe she wasn’t a Perfect 10 after all - what a delightful thought!

I am just surprised it is not Friday the 13th.  Yes, the dreaded THING happened thisafternoon.  My hard drive on my main laptop crashed.  Not good.  YES, I KNOW, no biggie if you have backup. Good news is I do have backup.  Bad news is NOT as RECENTLY as I should have.  So for any of you who have sent me a critical email in the last several weeks, just feel free to resend to me!  If I have sent something important to you… feel free to send that back to me.

 I guess this all points out that I am not perfect… not that this is news to anyone who knows me very well.  So IS THERE a GET COMMON SENSE customer service message hidden in here somewhere?   Well have you heard of a company called DELL????  I have Gold Support with Dell and was on the phone with them within 5 minutes of when my system was kind enough to tell me that it had just done a “physical memory dump”.  Even though I was somewhat close to a nervous breakdown, the rep was cool as a cucumber.  His calm for the next 20 minutes (as he confirmed that my hard drive was toast) was almost as good as some prescription meds….well maybe.  Anway… I had just experienced one of the most stressfull things that I can think could happen in my business and when the call was over and they asked me to stay on for a short survey, I rated this guy a 5 out of 5 in every category.  When they they asked if I would buy a Dell again, I said yes for some unknown reason even though they have in 3 years replaced my keyboard 3 times (I take out all my frustration on it evidently!!) and my screen twice, and now my hard drive.  So WHY did I say yes?  Because they always have someone competent on the other end of the line when I call and their response time is always great. (worth the extra money by the way to get GOLD service as that gets you an ENGLISH speaking rep within a couple of minutes who you can actually understand).

Thanks to those of you who have posted comments.  You are now entered in the February drawing.  Keep those comments coming!  And we will all hope that next week is better than this week!

The Get Common Sense Blog can now give you a chance to get your needed caffeine boost!  Everyone who enters a comment will be entered in a monthly drawing for a Starbucks gift card!

It has been very windy this week.  As you watch trees that are stretched into the sky think about the roots that run deep to support the swaying of the tree.

In business, we will face windy times.  Thus, we must grow our roots during the calm seasons so that our structure will not topple when the winds get high.

 What are you doing to grow your roots?

• Are you keeping in touch with customers even when things are going just fine?
• Are you asking customers to tell you how you could better serve them?
• Are you reminding customers on a regular basis “what you have done for them lately”?

This last point is a critical one.  I once worked for a company that required that the sales people send out a letter at the end of each quarter to tell the customers what special service we had provided during that quarter.  This did two things for our company.  First, it made everyone on our staff conscious of doing the extra mile activities in our accounts since we knew that we would have to tell the customer something in that quarterly communication!  Second it reminded the customer of the benefits of our relationship.  This helped if the road got rocky with an error or conflict.  When those inevitable bumps in the road occurred, we were never far away from that recent letter reminding them of how important they were to us and what we had done for them.

Do you have a regular contact plan that reminds customers of the merits of your relationship?  If so, share with us in a post… we’d love to hear from you!

Yesterday, I was ordering a Mardi Gras King Cake from a great local bakery, The Dough Basket. www.doughbasket.com   Tanya Clark, the owner, knew that I was ordering the cake as a gift for a family with a small child.  When I told her that I wanted to order my favorite flavor, the praline cream cheese, she pointed out that although that is a great selection, it might not be the favorite for a child since sometimes they don’t like things with nuts.

“Thanks!”  I replied, as I truly appreciated her insights as the expert king cake sales consultant!

 Tanya truly listened to my order and went beyond just filling the order and filling that king cake with what I told her I wanted.  She consulted with me to a BETTER purchase.

What insights are You giving YOUR customers when they call to order a product or service?  Are you merely filling the order as requested OR are you listening for ALL the information and serving as a sales consultant?

 Customers remember when you go beyond the robotic order taking mode.  After all…. if all I needed was someone to “punch in” my request, why would anyone answer the telephone at The Dough Basket?  Tanya could simply have an answering machine that said, “leave your order at the beep”.  Instead, she adds value to her product by looking for the best customer solution every time.  Congratulations Tanya… and by the way… I think I need to order a second king cake… all this talk has made me want one of those praline cheesecakes for myself…. after all… I’m an empty nester now and don’t need to worry about what the kids do or don’t like!