If you have not read my first blog on this topic of July 20, I suggest your read it first.
Having focused on the issue, here is a short memory jogger for making great communication the cornerstone of great service.
- If you need to update the customer, commit to a time frame - even a general one.
- Make sure you call the customer back, even if you only call to say, "we're still working on it - but I wanted to honor my promise to call."
- Be organized and have your stuff together. Nothing will destroy customer confidence like not being able to correctly identify the correct case/account/issue and speak confidently to the status of the issue (i.e. "I was calling you back about...let's see...where was that sheet?...can you remind me what we were doing for you?")
- Speak honestly, clearly and concisely to the issue. If something isn't going right, explain the action plan to make it right and provide an ETA to resolution.
What say you? Comments? Ideas?
Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Oh those redundant customer procedures…
Think about all those shopping experiences you have had… you had to return merchandise or someone ahead of you was doing so… the cashier calls for a supervisor and everybody in line waits for that person to arrive and then to bless the important and suspicious act of granting a refund… and, yes, (s)he arrives… puts a signature somewhere, without looking, and then returns to other important duties in a rush.
Does this have an eerie familiarity? How many times have you seen or heard supervisor refuse a standard refund??? Probably, like me, never. What is the use of this anyway? Stores have clear return policies. And yet, these things keep happening, over and over again, year after year. It really makes you wonder if anybody there has any sensibility to Moments of Truth, the waste of supervisory/management time and the sense of disempowerment this creates for a front line worker, the cashier.
Unfortunately, these things don't happen in retail only. I cannot even recall the number of times when I worked with frontline people during one of my many Customer Experience Workshops on analysing and improving Moments of Truth, that I heard about similarly redundant policies. And then I always think how great organizations often are in budgeteering and 'cost control' [read 'cutting']. They do this while at the same time creating and condoning the waste and damage created by non-value adding and redundant procedures.
You may well ask what my definition is on value adding. I always remember one of my very seasoned colleagues at (then) Coopers & Lybrand Consulting teaching me how simple the issue is. Ask yourself: Would the customer pay for this if (s)he knew we were doing this?
I am so convinced that the 'tightest' companies waste enormous amounts of human resources due to bad policies/processes and bad management. My bet is that most would be lucky to get 70 cents on the payroll dollar. And that is a pretty sound guesstimate, based on twenty years of experience and more. Count on me writing more about this. After all, it is a hugely pervasive organizational issue and it often stands in the way of making investments in initiatives that DO create value for the customer.
What say you? Comments? Ideas?
Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com
Does this have an eerie familiarity? How many times have you seen or heard supervisor refuse a standard refund??? Probably, like me, never. What is the use of this anyway? Stores have clear return policies. And yet, these things keep happening, over and over again, year after year. It really makes you wonder if anybody there has any sensibility to Moments of Truth, the waste of supervisory/management time and the sense of disempowerment this creates for a front line worker, the cashier.
Unfortunately, these things don't happen in retail only. I cannot even recall the number of times when I worked with frontline people during one of my many Customer Experience Workshops on analysing and improving Moments of Truth, that I heard about similarly redundant policies. And then I always think how great organizations often are in budgeteering and 'cost control' [read 'cutting']. They do this while at the same time creating and condoning the waste and damage created by non-value adding and redundant procedures.
You may well ask what my definition is on value adding. I always remember one of my very seasoned colleagues at (then) Coopers & Lybrand Consulting teaching me how simple the issue is. Ask yourself: Would the customer pay for this if (s)he knew we were doing this?
I am so convinced that the 'tightest' companies waste enormous amounts of human resources due to bad policies/processes and bad management. My bet is that most would be lucky to get 70 cents on the payroll dollar. And that is a pretty sound guesstimate, based on twenty years of experience and more. Count on me writing more about this. After all, it is a hugely pervasive organizational issue and it often stands in the way of making investments in initiatives that DO create value for the customer.
What say you? Comments? Ideas?
Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com
Friday, July 20, 2007
About Coffee Stains & Moments of Truth
My sister and her husband just arrived back in Holland after returning from New York via Heathrow. The transfer there was a bit tight: they made the connecting flight but their luggage did not.
Now, Heathrow has always had a bad reputation for losing luggage, but (of course exacerbated by the recent foiled bomb attacks) this was taken to a new height. They found out that it could take up to four weeks for them to receive their cases. I gasped with amazement when I heard this. I just could not keep asking myself what the process map here looks like. That's the analytical consultant in me…
This morning over coffee I mused how strange it actually is that two of the most used service concepts were actually airline vernicular. They were coined by figure heads in this industry that is often so disliked. Let me be more specific. I am thinking here of Coffee Stains and Moments of Truth. Both deal with the perception created by customer observations and experiences. The focus here is on managing the detail.
Were did Coffee Stains come from? More than three decades ago an initially successful airline was People Express. They were the forerunner of Southwest Airlines: Low cost, no frills and amazing service by turned on people. The evangelical founder was Donald Burr. He was the one who said that if a passenger would see a coffee stain on the fold down table, s/he would think that the technical maintenance would also be sloppy and an engine might fall off the plane.
Then there are Moments of Truth or customer touchpoints as they are more formally known. This term was coined by Jan Carlzon, President, Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS). In his view Moments of Truth happen … Every time a customer comes into contact with your organization: During contacts in person, by phone or other means; Planned and unplanned; During service as expected; During service recovery.
He summed up his service vision as follows: “Manage the dickens out of those unique, never-to-be repeated opportunities to distinguish ourselves in a memorable fashion from each and every one of our competitors.”
This airline vernicular has become the bane of customer service delivery. Now, look at the industry that spawned it and makes you wait for up to four weeks for your luggage. As I finished my coffee musings I thought: Hmmm….
What say you? Comments? Ideas?
Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com
Commercial:
Managing Moments of Truth is essential to delivery of a great Customer Experience. I have developed and widely delivered a pragmatic Customer Experience Workshop, a quick-results method to help my clients "manage the dickens" out of their Moments of Truth and improve their day-to-day customer service. I have also published an insightful article on using this approach for the purpose of Customer Journey Mapping. Contact me for this article or an information file on the workshop.
Now, Heathrow has always had a bad reputation for losing luggage, but (of course exacerbated by the recent foiled bomb attacks) this was taken to a new height. They found out that it could take up to four weeks for them to receive their cases. I gasped with amazement when I heard this. I just could not keep asking myself what the process map here looks like. That's the analytical consultant in me…
This morning over coffee I mused how strange it actually is that two of the most used service concepts were actually airline vernicular. They were coined by figure heads in this industry that is often so disliked. Let me be more specific. I am thinking here of Coffee Stains and Moments of Truth. Both deal with the perception created by customer observations and experiences. The focus here is on managing the detail.
Were did Coffee Stains come from? More than three decades ago an initially successful airline was People Express. They were the forerunner of Southwest Airlines: Low cost, no frills and amazing service by turned on people. The evangelical founder was Donald Burr. He was the one who said that if a passenger would see a coffee stain on the fold down table, s/he would think that the technical maintenance would also be sloppy and an engine might fall off the plane.
Then there are Moments of Truth or customer touchpoints as they are more formally known. This term was coined by Jan Carlzon, President, Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS). In his view Moments of Truth happen … Every time a customer comes into contact with your organization: During contacts in person, by phone or other means; Planned and unplanned; During service as expected; During service recovery.
He summed up his service vision as follows: “Manage the dickens out of those unique, never-to-be repeated opportunities to distinguish ourselves in a memorable fashion from each and every one of our competitors.”
This airline vernicular has become the bane of customer service delivery. Now, look at the industry that spawned it and makes you wait for up to four weeks for your luggage. As I finished my coffee musings I thought: Hmmm….
What say you? Comments? Ideas?
Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com
Commercial:
Managing Moments of Truth is essential to delivery of a great Customer Experience. I have developed and widely delivered a pragmatic Customer Experience Workshop, a quick-results method to help my clients "manage the dickens" out of their Moments of Truth and improve their day-to-day customer service. I have also published an insightful article on using this approach for the purpose of Customer Journey Mapping. Contact me for this article or an information file on the workshop.
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