Why is it that close encounters at restaurants have some of the most profound lessons for customer service?  As many of you know, close encounters from restaurants make up several chapters of my book, Common Sense Service: Close Encounters on the Front Lines.

Last evening, we went with some friends to celebrate a birthday.  When you decide to use one service/product provider from a plethora of choices, there are usually several reaons that factor into the decision.  (At this point, I would like to remind you that it is VERY important that as the service/product provider, you know what those factors are!!)  Our choice on this particular night was that we did not want to go to a chain restaurant, we wanted a quiet atmosphere with good food and great service at a reasonable price (Notice I did not say cheap! – as consumers we are willing to pay for above average service and products.  See link to American Express Study at end of article.*) 

After ordering our drinks, we waited and waited…. and waited.  During this wait we noticed that the table next to us had received their drinks and bread.   Since I was the one who had suggested this place, I started to get nervous and a bit embarassed.  I walked to the front where the proprietor stood and told him that we were not getting any service and that I was a bit embarassed since I had selected THIS place for THIS event.  He immediately apologized and asked me to show him where our table was.  He again apologized and said that he would handle it immediately.  A few short minutes later he appeared with not the standard bread, but a beautiful plump loaf of bread that looked like it could have been the featured item in a local bakery.  He then spoke to the table as a whole, “I greatly apologize that you have not received our normal level of service.  Unfortunately, I have had several servers who did not show up tonight.  I know that is not your problem, but unfortunately it is my problem tonight and I will certainly make sure you have better service from this point on this evening. 

“I know that is not your problem, but unfortunately it is my problem tonight”.  Instead of just saying, “Sorry, we are short of servers tonight,” he added the fact that this was not our problem but then actually managed to elicit an empathetic response from me (a fairly difficult thing to accomplish I might add) by stating that it was unfortunately his problem.   BUT – he did not stop there – he asked what each of us was drinking and told us that he wanted to provide that “on the house”.

The meal did finally arrive and the food was spectacular as always, validating our decision to come.  So what lessons were learned from this close encounter?

1.  When you have messed up, admit it.

2.  When your service delivery fails, apologize to the customer.

3.  Work to immediately make it better.

4.  Go beyond fixing it.  (A new national study found that a majority of customers want something MORE than just a fix – i.e. the drinks on the house)

5.  Let the customer know that it is your problem, not their problem and that you will definitely do better the next time if given the chance. (This was the last thing I heard when leaving the restaurant – a comment regarding our next visit!)

 As Julia Child would say… Bon Apetit… and may all your lessons at the dinner table be so profound!

* http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-will-spend-9-more-with-companies-that-provide-excellent-service-2010-07-07?reflink=MW_news_stmp

I went to FedEx today to mail a package.  I was waiting in line behind a man and a woman.  As they reached the front of the line, the clerk said to the man, “Are you her husband?”.  “Yes I am” he responded proudly.  “Well,” said the clerk, “I’ve been doing business with your wife for two years.  It’s nice to meet you!”
What a great common sense service close encounter to witness!  If the clerk had stopped with “Are you her husband?” it would have been a case of small talk.  Even at just that, she surpassed most people on the front lines.  But to convert the small talk to business is an art that should be encouraged by all management of front line personnel.  By adding the line about the length of the business relationship, the clerk showed that the business relationship was valued.  She didn’t even have to say that… it was evident.

 What is the small talk in your business that can be turned toward business?  Why not make that the focus of your next staff meeting?!

Like most businesses in a tough economy, I have been looking for ways to cut costs.  One of my greatest costs is telephone… cell phones, land lines, and 800 numbers are a huge percentage of my fixed monthly overhead.  After investigating several options, I discovered that I could cut my phone expense by hundreds of dollars a month by switching from ATT to a VOIP service.  As a speaker on customer service, my biggest fear in all of this was getting in a position even for a short time of missing calls or having 800 numbers hanging in telephone cyberspace not being able to find me.

My fears were calmed when I spoke to the representatives of Ring Central.  This is a company which had been recommended by other speakers.  Even though their customer service and sales personnel were obviously from another country, their voices were easily heard and articulated in such a manner that communication was as easy as if they were in the next room.  The representatives without exception were well trained in the principles of customer service, constantly using my name, and telling me every step of what they were doing, what I could expect, and what I needed to do to smoothly make this transition.

I wish the same could be said for ATT.  My land lines and 800 numbers were “ported” to Ring Central in mid June and here we are in September and ATT still can’t seem to figure out a way to stop billing me.  I have now made at least 4 phone calls, each close to an hour in duration, speaking to some people who seem sincerely interested in helping me and some who definitely need a customer service refresher course.  In my last phone call I was quite exasperated by the fact that a promise made in the previous phone call by a supervisor to get this finally corrected had never been fulfilled.  The representative tried to tell me that ATT still provided my phone service and that was why I was still being charged.  I knew that to be false as Ring Central has a wonderful feature whereby I receive a text message on my cell phone every time my main business line rings.  (This is an optional feature that might seem cumbersome to some, but for a speaker and trainer who is rarely in the office and often out of town, it is heaven!)  I told the representative that I knew for certain the lines had been ported due to this feature.   Her response…. “Maam, if you knew everything, you wouldn’t be calling us… isn’t that right”.  What was my response?   “Get a supervisor on the line RIGHT NOW”.    While the supervisor was kind and assured me that this would be resolved, I have heard that before.  When I told her what the other representative had said to me, she didn’t even acknowledge it or act concerned about it.  To me this was a grevious breach of service etiquette and one that certainly demanded at least a statement of regret by a “supervisor”.

 So what is the Common Sense message here?

1.  In a tough economy, be sure you have a pricing structure that your customers can afford.  That doesn’t mean to give the farm away, but find a way to meet the budget needs of customers in a cost crunch.

2.  In bad times, make sure your service is not just up to par but exceptional.  Ring Central is proof positive that a small company can compete against a huge one by training an exceptional service and sales staff.  If the voice on the other end of the line on my initial call of inquiry had not been competent, courteous, and confident, I probably would not have made the switch no matter how much money I was saving.  Reaching more competent, courteous, and confident representatives during and after the transition reinforced my decision as a good one.   This leads us to the next point.

3.  A new customer is the easiest kind to lose and the easiest to make into a walking advertisement for your company.  By the way… did I tell you to check out the Ring Central website? www.ringcentral.com

 Does your staff need a common sense service wake-up call?  Call Teresa today!

800-797-1580   email: tallen@AllenSpeaks.com

This week I had to go to our local cable provider, Comcast to upgrade service for a rental property.  Now imagine that you have to go to your cable company to do the same.  What would you expect?  Terrible to say, but when dealing with most utilities whether they be public or private, our expectations tend to be pretty low.  It is almost a dreaded experience.  This was the case for me.  I expected to wait in line forever and thus was not looking forward to the experience.

When I arrived, however, I was met by several surprises.  First, I did not have to wait at all, and as I walked in, I heard a representative call out to me.  “Good afternoon, may I help you?”  I walked over to her window and was immediately impressed by her warm smile and her question of how she could be of assistance.  I told her that I needed an upgraded cable box and she said she would be happy to help.  I noticed that she immediately began calling me by name and even though behind bullet proof glass, was able to make me feel very welcome in her enivironment.   I inquired as to the increase in rate and she told me the new billing amount.  As I had called to ask this question before coming, I was surprised when the rate quoted was more of an increase than I had expected.  Now this would normally be a pretty quick conflict trigger, especially for my “A” type personality.  Her calm response explaining that my promotional rate had expired followed immediately by a statement that she would check for any other promotions that I might qualify for kept that “A” at a “B” level!  This is something I teach in my customer service programs.  Whenever possible, move to the best time zone… THE FUTURE!   Noting my concern over price she asked me if I was sure I wanted the upgrade.  Here is another feather in her cap….she let me have control.  When you have to give not so pleasant news to a customer, find a way to let them be in the driver’s seat.

Nancy was so professional, understanding, and courteous that before I left, I upgraded not only my renter’s cable box as he had requested, but also my own cable box (even amid fears that my husband will now watch golf 24 hours a day on 12 golf channels – - – OK that might be a slight exaggeration!)  Nancy, the Comcast representative, was able to show me how I could upgrade and actually save money on my current billing.  She also pointed out that the special she was offering was only for 6 months and that I might want to write that date down incase I wanted to review the decision at the end of the six months.  (What a personality study she was… She remembered my ire that no one had told me the renters original pricing was for only 12 months!)

The rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say, is that when my renter tried to hook up the box that evening, there was a problem.  I had to return his box.  Interesting that now instead of dreading the return visit to Comcast, I was hoping that Nancy would be there and was fully confident that if she was, she could handle my situation with ease.  When I walked in the door, she was at the “Payments Only” window.  Even though she was helping a customer, she looked over his shoulder and smiled at me.  When another representative called for me to proceed down to a different window, Nancy who had recognized me from the previous afternoon told her “I’ve got it!”.  She then tested my faulty equipment and got me a new box and then tested that in front of me just to make sure it was OK before I left.

 Congratulations Nancy… you have forever changed my outlook on visiting Comcast.  At least in my eyes, you have won not only service professional of the month acclaim but also sales representative of the month with your upsell skills.  And what is your secret to success…. Common Sense!

All this talk of recession is downright depressing if we let it be.  The natural tendency is to tighten the belt and batten the hatches.  Not all bad, but be careful not to make a bad situation worse.

I don’t know about your part of the country, but in ours, retailers are closing at breakneck pace.  Some are local but many are national.  One of the most recent is Circuit City.  This was especially disturbing to me because I had always felt that they had better customer service and more educated salespeople than some of their competitors.  So WHY did Circuit City fail?  Some attribute it to a cost cutting measure back in 2007.  At that time, Circuit City let a good percentage of their sales force go to cut costs.  In so doing, they not only diminished their own people assets but guess what happened?  Alot of them went to work for the competition, namely Best Buy.  Needless to say, cutting costs but cutting experienced salespeople was a very short sighted solution.

Bad times call for trained, experienced salespeople.  If you are looking for a way to survive and thrive in an economic downturn, your salespeople are probably the best place to invest.  Invest in training not only in advanced sales skills and customer service skills, but refreshers on the basics that they may have let slide in good times when orders were rolling in.  Once trained, make sure you compensate them well enough to keep them away from your competitors or you will have paid for the competition’s sales training!

I just ran into a friend who said, “Boy do people out there ever need YOU!”   Since I was not sure what she meant by that, I extracted an explanation….

“Well I was just at the grocery store and these cashiers drive me NUTS…  Here she is checking out my groceries and the whole time is smacking away at her chewing gum.”

Chewing gum is not professional, but in a place that sells food it goes to a whole new level of unprofessional.  Now this might appear to be a “little” thing, but how interesting that while this particular store is spending thousands of dollars on renovations, the one thing noticed by this customer was the gum in the cashier’s mouth!

 Have you made time to walk the halls of your business and see what is being seen by your customers?  …something to think about!

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…