A friend shared his recent experience with his bank.

A  few days ago, he had made a bunch of deposits.  He also had a plethora of checks coming out of his account. Because of the volume of checks, he was concerned that his account would go negative if the bank posted the checks first and the deposits later.

He was pleasantly surprised to learn that the bank actually credited his deposits first and then posted the checks. By doing it this way, his balance remained positive and he had no ugly fees due to overdrafts.  He was so surprised and pleased, he had to tell someone.  So he called me.

Too often we expect the companies we deal with to take advantage of us. And just as often such expectations are fulfilled. We’ve been conditioned to expect business people to act in their own interests first, and consider their customer needs later, if at all. The evidence of this is everywhere.

While traversing the Web recently I found a site I’ll be visiting again frequently.  It’s called Not Always Right.  It’s full of funny customer service examples as told by the employees.  Most of them involve challenging (and often unintentionally funny) customers.

Here’s one I especially like:

Recently I read an article by Steve Strauss.  I’ve read a lot of Steve’s columns and I (mostly) like what he says.  But not always.  In this article Steve says several things with which I would quibble.

Try to find someone in business who says they don’t value their customers.  It would be surprising if you found one – everyone values their customers.

Or so they say.

However, valuing your customers is little different than loving someone – saying it isn’t’ enough.

I’m starting to sound like an old man because I find myself saying things only old men say. Things like, “Get off my lawn!”, “Slow down you little punk!” and “If you can’t do something well, why are you doing it at all?”

Case in point: my recent lunch at Buca di Beppo. Buca is a chain of very colorful, slightly irreverent, highly tasty Italian restaurants. For a chain, the food is really pretty good. But this isn’t about the food.

In the course of my daily reading, I ran across this article. In it the author advises us to point our fingers squarely at management when an organization fails to deliver decent customer service. And I agree, to a point.

But the job of delivering great customer service does not rest on management’s shoulder’s alone.

Certainly management plays a big role. They set the tone and culture of the organization and the culture will drive the service. Employees learn quickly what management values and that will determine (for the most part) how they do their work. And, management controls the resources. They make the decisions that determine whether employees have the time and tools to deliver great customer service.

So it makes sense to hand much of the responsibility for customer service to the people who make the decisions. If an organization fails at customer service it means their management has failed (or they don’t value good customer service).

But

Spotted a recent article online in AARP Magazineoffering strategies when you do not receive the customer service you deserve. If you are unfamiliar with the AARP, it is the largest membership organization (40 million members) for people 50+ in the United States and is affiliated with similar organizations around the world. In total, a pretty significant and influential target audience for many businesses — many of whom have lots of time on their hands. It demonstrates the potential impact of an unhappy customer and the power of word of mouth advertising.

Here’s a new video featuring comments from Steve Salazar, of Gallery Furniture, a big furniture store in Houston, TX. I like two things about this.

First, they talk to their customers so they know what their customers think about them.  Second, it sounds like they have created a culture based on service rather than individual compensation. Steve says many of their customers comment on how well the employees take care of customer’s needs rather than focus on making sales. This is crucial. Customers want to feel their needs are more important than someone else putting money in their own pocket.

In a recent article on airline performance and  customer service, the author cites the 19th annual Airline Quality Rating which shows most airlines had improved their on time performance and their customer service in 2008.  This sounds like a welcome change for any of us who travel.

But one of the study’s authors noted that passenger volume was down for the same period. He suggested that made it easier for airlines to improve service:

“We know the system performs better when it’s less stressed by high passenger volume,” said Dean Headley, an associate professor of marketing at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State. “The economy scared away both business and leisure travelers in 2008.”

Taking the idea further, Headley’s colleague, Brent Bowen said

Yesterday morning I opened the door to our lower deck and let the dog out and I was shocked. Rather than seeing the signs of early spring in our back yard, I saw white stuff everywhere. Everything outside was covered with new fallen snow. And it was still coming down.

It looked beautiful.

But it took me by surprise because it was April 5. And even here in the “North Country” it’s rare to have everything covered in snow this late in the season.  Especially since we’ve already enjoyed some 50 and 60 degree days.

I wasn’t especially pleased because

Last week I was reminded of how expertly and efficiently a company could drive away a new customer. It was a classic example of a company doing almost everything wrong – and losing a customer in the process.

The company offers teleconference (and other related) services. I found them through a web search and they seemed to meet our needs. So I looked for the link on the web page that said “buy now” or “sign up now” or something like that. But I couldn’t find it. All I found was a phone number.

At that point my little voice piped up and said “be careful”. As usual, I ignored it. I knew this was going to be fine. I knew there would be no problems.

I was wrong.

One of the most popular songs from the Disney film, Beauty and the Beast, was the song, “Be Our Guest.” Belle, the heroine of the film, is enthralled by the magical preparations of a spectacular dinner as the animated candelabra, Lumiere, sings “Be Our Guest.” It’s a fitting song for a Disney film since the company has a long history of referring to its customers as “guests.”

Walt Disney’s philosophy at Disneyland was that they didn’t have customers, they had welcome guests. It was a mindset he worked to instill in the park’s cast members. Keep in mind that prior to Disneyland, amusement parks were often dirty and unsafe places, staffed by gruff, surly employees. Walt’s vision was for Disneyland’s visitors to feel that they were guests in his home, and he expected every cast member to treat them that way.