Recently an AT&T customer was talking with their customer service service department. He started having symptoms of a heart attack and eventually passed out during the call. Rather than hang up (because the customer became non-responsive) the AT&T employee (Kelly Hart) knew something was wrong so she called 911.

The customer ended up in the hospital with a stent in a major artery.  When he got out he let AT&T know what a wonderful person they have working for them. In fact, he and Ms. Hart finally met in person on CBS’ “The Early Show” where the tears flowed all around.

(Read the full story here.)

Too many of us have experienced customer service calls where the employee can barely manage to work their way through the script in front of them. And if you say anything not related to their script, they have no idea what to do. Some freeze. Others stammer and sputter. Sometimes you hear someone (in the ‘background’) telling them exactly what to say to you .

If a person can’t answer a simple question or have a “how’s the weather” type conversation then I doubt they’d be much use if their customer dropped to the ground with a heart attack during the call.

Of course, most customer service employees will (thankfully) never have to deal with this situation. But that’s not really the point is it?

If you hire people only to train them to a rigid, programmed script, you’ll give your customers a lower quality experience. But if you hire smart, caring, motivated people and let them be themselves, you’ll get better results. Your customers will have a better experience. Your company will get better feedback. You’ll keep more customers coming back.

And, once in a great while, something amazing will happen.Other articles you might like:

• Customer Retention Tip: Let your employees be real
• Real people rock
• Scripts can ruin a business
• Have Real Conversations with Your Customers
• Customer Service Advice: Lose the Scripts. Hire Friendly.

Think about the power of that ability. In the past there was at least a cool down period between the negative service situation and the opportunity to share the news – and we might’ve just let it go without taking the time to write it up. Now, we can now share the situation while our emotions are still high, and do it in 140 characters or less. It takes mere seconds.

I’ve seen tweets such as; “Can you believe Dr. (insert name) has kept me waiting for two-hours?” “I’m at (insert name of restaurant). The service here stinks.” No blog needed, just a Twitter account and a smartphone. It’s liberating for customers and scary for businesses.

But I believe there’s an opportunity here for businesses to stress the importance of service. What if every customer interaction was conducted with a “Twitter-worthy” mindset? In your next team meeting, ask your employees to think about this question:

“In every customer interaction you have, imagine the customer is going to immediately ‘tweet’ about their experience. What would they communicate instantly to all of their contacts about their interaction with you?”

It isn’t just a hypothetical question – it’s a real issue that is increasing every day.Other articles you might like:

• How Do You use Twitter for Customer Service?
• Do Your Favorite Companies Use Twitter for Customer Service?
• Who Uses Twitter for Customer Service?
• What’s Your Twitter Customer Service Story?
• Social media rescues customers before company does

I clearly remember being in the conference room thinking What the hell are we doing? Our CEO just finished a rant on why should be paid well for the products and services we provide.  The crescendo moment came when he railed against a customer who was behind in payment — they were withholding payment because the products and services we provided them weren’t working as advertised.

A fact we didn’t deny.

Instead of falling on our sword and doing whatever could be done to fix the problem, we blamed the customer for not paying as agreed and threatened to withhold support.

Chicken and egg.

We didn’t deliver as promised — unwittingly, not intentionally.  And the customer didn’t pay as agreed — hey, it didn’t work.

The thing that bothered me was our attitude.  The conversation rant didn’t consider our customer’s view of the world.  We ignored their perspective of things and instead of empathy, we vilified their position and postured.

Eventually, we did the right thing.  But should have acted sooner — my opinion.

Seth Godin offers some thoughts on how you can win the fight, lose the customer.  The punchline is If someone thinks they’re unhappy, then you know what? They are.

Sage advice on keeping a customer — assuming that’s what you want to do.

Other articles you might like:

• See things from your customer’s view
• JPMorgan Chase Backtracks on Fees After Firestorm of Feedback
• Getting back to basics (of customer service)
• Should Entrepreneurs Twitter? Steve Strauss Says No!
• Don’t justify your policies from your perspective

A few weeks ago I tasted their fabulous pickles and bought a jar. My husband and I were overloaded with goodies and the bag that dropped right by our car was the one that contained those pickles. The jar was smashed into smithereens and we wrapped it in plastic to get it to the garbage at home. The car had the wonderful aroma of pickles but we didn’t get to eat any.

So as I walked up to their booth, two weeks later, I told them about my accident.Their response:

“Why didn’t you come back in we would have given you another one for free?”

But instead of just saying I should have come back, she handed me a new jar and said “Here take this one please.”

I didn’t accept her very generous offer, I happily paid for it.  I thought to myself, “You just made me a raving fan customer.”

Here is the lesson to all of us. Being generous is the key to exceptional customer service. She could have easily said “Oh, you dropped the last one, sorry to hear that.” and I would have been fine. I would have still bought another jar and gone on my way. But, because of her kindness I feel a huge sense of loyalty. They wanted to take care of me now I want to take care of them.

It is sometimes the smallest acts of kindness that can turn someone into a lifelong customer. What can you do in these difficult times to go the extra mile and do something to help your customers and win their loyalty?Other articles you might like:

• Do Something Extra
• What are you really doing for your customers?
• Here’s what a London cabbie taught me about customer service
• AT&T customer service employee saves customer’s life
• How can you go the extra mile for your customers?

Here is what I like about them, in addition to their simplicity and their friendliness: FISH.  No, not the seafood, but the customer service philosophy of Mighty Fine Burgers.  They have taken advice from the book called Fish! (if you have never read it, you should check it out), which suggests that the way the Pike’s Place fishmongers deal with customers is a good lesson in how to have the right attitude at work (and in life):

• Make Their Day – Look for ways to create memories for guests and co-workers.
• Be Present – Make every guest feel they are the most important person when you talk to them.
• Choose Your Attitude – Learn to love what you do, even if you aren’t doing what you love.

Living in California, I can’t easily experience this attitude at Mighty Fine for myself, but I will take John’s word for it!

This reminds me of another burger joint out here in the West, IN-N-OUT Burger, which, according to their website, created California’s first drive-thru hamburger stand in 1948.  The menu at Mighty Fine is very similar (simple, meaning basically fries, hamburgers, and shakes), and Mighty Fine has the same “everything is fresh, and you can even watch us making it” behind-the-scenes window to watch food prep that they have at IN-N-OUT.  Let’s hope Mighty Fine are as wildly successful as their Western counterparts have been!  My guess is they will be if they keep up the simply good food and service.

Drop a comment if you have been to either one of these establishments here in the USA, and let us know what you thought about the experience!

Update: I just found a great blog post on Doug Meacham’s NextUp about Five Guys Burgers and Fries; check out the Thank You Customers sign he included.  You rock, Doug!Other articles you might like:

• Match your actions and attitude for better customer service
• Burger King learns lesson about customer loyalty
• Why Does Jay Leno Like Subway?
• Give Your Customers a Great Experience
• Recipe for a great customer experience

Be Prepared

Be prepared to take care of them better than anyone else can or will take care of them. If every customer you work with is impressed at how knowledgeable you are, they’ll tell others. If you are able to help them get what they want every time without fail and without hesitation, they’ll come back.

But we know every organization has a lot of information buried inside. For you to be prepared to help anyone, you need to learn and understand a mountain of information. Here’s a system to make that task a little easier. I call it the Five Ps of Customer Service.

The Five Ps provide an easy way to group the stuff you need to know about your company. They help you sort and organize the many things you should understand about your company so you can help your customer better than anyone else. The Five Ps of customer service are:

1. People
2. Products
3. Policies
4. Procedures
5. Places

1. People

Nobody can do everything on their own. We all need help from others to do our jobs the best we can. That’s why teams are so important. The more people you know in your company (not just on your team) the better you will be able to serve your customers. Get to know people throughout your company. Make sure you know people at all levels and on every team, in every department. Having good relationships with people in every department can help you cut through red tape and get right to the answers you need as you work to help your customers.

2. Products

Of course you need to know your products and services. You need to know their features, benefits, prices, shortcomings and competing products. You also need to know what problems they solve or what opportunities they can help create. The more you know about all your company’s products, the better you can suggest and advise your customers. A great way to get to know your products is through customer application examples. Collect stories about how your company’s customers have used its products to meet their needs. Document these examples so anyone in your company can use them. This information is golden and will help you do more for your customers than anyone else.

3. Policies

Your company’s policies tell you what you can and cannot do for your customers. They give you boundaries. One of my good friends likes to say it’s easier to break a rule when you understand it. His point is, policies can be broken but you need a good reason. You need to understand the reason for the policy before you can know when it’s okay to violate it.

Knowing your company’s policies can save your customer time. Some things simply cannot be done. If you know this upfront, you can help your customer understand it. Other policies might be flexible. If you are aware of where the rules can be bent, you can help your customers have a more realistic expectation of how you can help them. You can show them you’re working for them and maybe prevent them from being disappointed.

4. Procedures

It’s almost impossible to help a customer if you do not understand how your company does things. Procedures are the life blood of a business because they tell us how to get things done. And, if things are not working well, established procedures provide a place to start to fix the problem. Know all you can about the procedures your company uses to deliver its products and services. Only then can you help your customers navigate the maze and get what they want.

5. Places

If you company has more than one location, you need to know about it. Sometimes, different locations are similar, as in retail stores. Often they have different functions, such as a warehouse and a showroom. Either way, you should know about every location your company has and what they do at each one. Find out how each location plays a part in helping your company deliver its products and services. Then you can put that knowledge to work as you help your customers.

As you increase your company knowledge across these five categories, you’ll find your confidence and credibility increase. More people will come to you for answers because you’ll be able to help them. You’ll become the “goto” person others look to for help. And, you’ll find more customers want to work with you because you’re able to help them get what they want better than anyone else.

That’s how you keep customers coming back.Other articles you might like:

• Thank your customers for complaining
• To Improve Customer Service, Be Easy to Work With
• Remember and share customer feedback
• Don’t justify your policies from your perspective
• Would You Recommend Your Competition?

That’s why I love Chris Brogan’s recent post about a small comic shop in Amesbury, MA that uses Twitter very effectively. As Chris points out:

And Mick runs a small store with just a few employees. If he can find the time to sell this way, you have to really think about it.

Mick, the owner of this tiny technology savvy comic book shop send tweets to people, one at a time. He makes them relevant and meaningful to each person.

So rather than blasting hundreds or thousands of generic, bland, impersonal messages to people, he honors them by connecting one on one.

And it works.

What could YOU do to connect with your customers, one person (and one message) at a time?Other articles you might like:

• When Customers Tweet – Do You Listen?
• Do Your Favorite Companies Use Twitter for Customer Service?
• Top 10 Social Media Brand Segments
• How Do You use Twitter for Customer Service?
• Twitter Gaining Street Cred as a Customer Service Tool

Service is the New Marketing

Been hearing that for ages; I even spoke at  a conference of that name 2 years ago! But what I believe is really trying to be said by this statement is that each interaction with the customer (each customer touch) has an impact on the customer’s impression of your company. That impression often imparts more about the brand than any marketing campaign. The contact center/customer service team/retail clerk is usually the place in the company with the most direct customer interaction (this is especially true for B2C companies). Hence, each customer service “touch” is an opportunity to “market” to the customer – or to leave them with a positive impression of your brand. In that sense, customer service is marketing – but I wouldn’t consider this to be new!

Community

My current role is in this area, and it is indeed a complex one. There are many types of communities: branded, customer-run, service-focused, etc. Interestingly, customers who are part of an online community are even MORE sensitive to “corporate marketing” than other customers, and they have a strong voice that will ring out over it. The main thing to remember here is that many of these communities have been around long before social media (for example, the customers participating in the San Diego Chargers forums are much more loyal than other customers participating in their other social media outlets), and the communities belong to them.

Brands need to be aware of this type of “social customer” and realize that they cannot take-over these groups. They need to collaborate with  their communities to be successful.

Customer Experience

The customer experience is very important to understand across the organization. There has been talk about whether various departments will merge together in the future as social media begins to blur the lines of corporate siloes. However, I don’t believe the customer experience can or should be managed just through one department; our customers don’t see us that way! There is indeed a place for separate functions within the organization. There is also a place for metrics that will help companies understand how well they are doing with the customer experience and how well they are performing against customer expectations. Companies that are customer-focused tend to have customer-focused metrics that bring disparate business functions together, working towards one common goal: customer retention, loyalty, and evangelism. When these metrics are corporate, everyone wins.

The Social Customer

Yes, customers are much more socially connected in this day and age, so many of the aforementioned “marketing” activities are now taking place between customers (ratings/reviews/blog posts/tweets/etc.) rather than being broadcasted by the company.  However, that does not mean that each customer doesn’t want to be treated as an individual by the company. One-to-One Marketing has less to do with sending separate direct mail pieces to each person as it does with treating different customers differently. Having worked for/with Peppers & Rogers Group for many years, the 1to1 marketing process is mostly about managing the entire customer experience – which may be different for different customers (and likely is!). In order to do this properly, one needs to understand the needs of the customer. Now that many customers are interacting online, it is easier to listen and hear what they need. Companies just need to make sure they act on what they are learning – before their competitor does.

Your Turn

What do you think? How does an organization’s view of their customer need to change in today’s “social” world?Other articles you might like:

• Top 10 Social Media Brand Segments
• McDonald’s Connects with Employees and Customers
• When Customers Tweet – Do You Listen?
• Better customer service means staying in the game
• Every Contact Counts

The problem is that most people (including me) tend to over complicate things by thinking that all of the elements of the initiative need to be done right now. They don’t. Like Stephen Covey says in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, we need to put first things first.

And the first thing is to agree to keep things simple. If you over complicate a service initiative (which is easy to do) or try to rush things, you’re setting yourself and your organization up for burnout and disappointment.

One way to keep things simple and on track is to continually reflect on what the service initiative is all about. It’s like taking a step back and taking a few deep breaths as you put everything into perspective.

At the risk of oversimplifying things, I’d like to provide a perspective of customer service from a customer’s point of view. While simple, I think you’ll find that this perspective applies to pretty much any organization’s customers when you get to the essence of what they want from you.

As your customer, what do I want from you?

1. I want you to know what you’re doing.

2. I want you to be efficient while you’re doing it.

3. I want you to be nice to me.

Really, that’s it. Peeling away all of the stuff that confuses the issue, these are things I want as a customer. Let’s look at each one (again, from the customer’s perspective):

Know What You’re Doing – I expect you to do the job right. And if for some reason you do the job wrong, I expect you to fix it with little or no inconvenience to me. I expect that you’ve had the proper training and that you can accurately answer my questions (or find someone who can). I expect you to do what you said you would do.

Be Efficient – My time is valuable. I shouldn’t have to put up with processes that are designed for your convenience at the expense of mine. Please understand that it’s inconvenient for me to be on hold for 20 minutes as I listen to a recording that says my call is important. Leaving me sitting in the waiting room 30 minutes past my appointment time just isn’t right. And waiting at home for a delivery that might occur sometime between noon and 5 PM takes me away from my job. I understand that things don’t always go as planned, but I want to see a sense of urgency if something does go wrong.

Be Nice to Me – I’m giving you (or already have given you) my hard-earned money. Please act like you appreciate it. It just takes a smile or sincere tone of voice to show you care. I feel much better when I deal with an employee who clearly enjoys his or her job and seems happy that I’m there.

I know that this view of customer service is stripped down to its essence, and it’s meant to be. I’d ask you to look at your operation through the lens of these three elements and I think you’ll find that the service behaviors you’re trying to achieve fit nicely in this stripped down view.

Whether you’re at the beginning of a service improvement initiative when everything appears daunting, or you’re in the middle of an initiative that’s gotten confusing or bogged down, it helps to be reminded of what you’re trying to accomplish and to weed out the stuff that takes you off target. Getting back to the essence of the initiative is re-energizing and makes it all seem doable.Other articles you might like:

• Organization Helps Avoid Procrastination
• See things from your customer’s view
• Don’t justify your policies from your perspective
• Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 3
• Put fun in your work

That may sound like a simple question, and you may immediately want to say, “Yes!” However, I urge you to take a close look at how you are perceived by your customers and fellow employees.

Certain companies create an image that they are extremely easy to do business with. Their sales people are friendly. They bend over backwards to take care of you. They provide a “hassle-free” experience. They never question a return. Most people (especially me) love doing business with a place like this.

I recently had the opportunity to refinance my home mortgage. Interest rates have been dropping for a while, and I felt now was the time. I shopped to find the best rates.

I ended up doing business with Nexstar, and the guy that helped me was Brian Parks. He is the perfect example of how to be “easy to do business with.” He assured me the application, taken over the phone, was going to take less than fifteen minutes. He assured me how much things would cost and explained everything in detail. I completely understood the process and along the way there weren’t any surprises. He followed up after the “closing” with the title company to make sure that went well. If I called to ask a question and Brian wasn’t available, the person on the phone was able to access my information and thanks to Brian’s great notes, they could answer my questions.

My experience with Nexstar was nothing short of perfect. Most important, it was easy!

I recently bought a pair of pants from the Men’s Department at Neiman Marcus. My sales rep, Patty, assured me the pants wouldn’t shrink if they were washed at home. Her comment was simple. She promised, “If there is anything wrong with the pants after you wash them a few times, bring them back.” It was that simple!

Look at your business through your customers’ eyes. Have you made it as easy as possible for the customer? Or are some of the procedures in place simply for the convenience of you or your company? Ask your customers. Listen to their answers. Find out ways to improve.

The bottom line is the easier you are to do business with, the happier your customers will be.Other articles you might like:

• Nordstrom’s makes customer service look easy
• Customer Service Example: Meet your customers where they are
• Foolish Consistency is the Hobgoblin of Poor Service
• T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round five (the wrap-up)
• Connect to your customers on their terms

A few years ago the city took 2300 phone numbers and a very difficult to navigate phone tree and merged them into a 311 call center. This call center is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is also available in 179 languages.

The Mayor said that they were looking into a text-messaging component to this call center but the price was prohibitive. He found that integrating Twitter into the system was the perfect answer. Twitter and the city’s Dept of Technology worked together on this project.

Citizens can now press d sf311 on their Blackberry, I phone or non-smart phone as well as through their computer in order to send a question or complaint to the 311 call center. Once the tweet has been sent, the call center routes it to the correct department. Citizens can send photos (graffiti tags, abandoned mattresses or potholes) along with their tweet.

Bix Stone, co-founder of Twitter, said ” People are moving their communication to a more open medium using tools like Twitter and Social Networking and Youtube.” Clearly Mayor Newsom understands this better than anyone. His speeches are broadcast on Youtube and he is the first Mayor to integrate Twitter into his 311 call center.

Newsom said that he wanted to empower his citizens. He wants “800,000 eyes and ears on our streets.”

Whether or not your local government can use technology as creatively as San Francisco, you do need to make exceptional customer service a priority.

Find ways to make it easy for your citizens to talk to you. If nothing else make sure you have a simple phone system that has no more than a few prompts. Respond to emails and letters quickly. Return your phone calls promptly. Follow the spirit of Mayor Newsom’s goals.Other articles you might like:

• Boston understands customer feedback (and iPhones)
• How Do You use Twitter for Customer Service?
• Who Uses Twitter for Customer Service?
• Tiny shop uses Twitter to connect to one customer at a time
• Do Your Favorite Companies Use Twitter for Customer Service?

That’s what Tata Indicom has done. Even better, they’re telling their customers about it.

They have made five specific promises to their customers in these areas of service:

1. Call drops (More than 1.5% and you get cash back)
2. Billing disputes (72 hour resolution)
3. Call backs (No waiting on hold more than 90 seconds)
4. Handset repair (They promise you’ll always have a working phone)
5. Free trial of value added services (You always get a 7 day free trial of additional services)

They call this their “Customer Charter”. I call it smart business!

I like this because they’ve made a promise to their customers. And they’ve told them about it. This helps them stay accountable. Promises are useless if the other person has no idea what you’ve promised them. (Yet many companies never reveal their customer service promises.)

By making these public, they give customers a good reason to do business with them, or to remain customers. They also give customers something to evaluate them with. This Customer Charter becomes the measuring stick customers can use to determine if Tata Indicom is doing their job. And it makes it easier for customers to give them useful feedback.

My only question would be: Are these 5 promises meaningful to their customers?

If they are, then Tata Indicom has done their job. If not, then they have wasted their efforts. Time will tell.

What about your business? What promises do you make to your customers? How do they know?Other articles you might like:

• What promise do you make to your customers?
• Make a Promise to Your Customers…Then Keep It!
• Customer Retention Tip: Tell your customers what to expect
• Why Slogans are Worthless (and What You Should Use Instead)
• Plant your flag

It made business headlines. The most popular brand in the world focused on the experience, not just their long-famous product.

Coca-Cola introduced their “Freestyle” vending machine. Their ad copy described it as “all packaged in an innovative and interactive fountain experience.” It was designed with help from Ferrari! Step one, pick your favorite Coke beverage: Fanta, Sprite, Minute Maid lemonade, CokeZero, etc. Step two, pick your favorite flavoring. Want a raspberry Coke, a peach Fanta or a coconut flavored lemonade? There are over 100 combinations. A plastic cup is filled with ice and your special concoction.

Now, here is the best part. At the end of the day the new “Freestyle” vending fountain electronically sends all the combinations chosen to the R&D unit at Coca-Cola headquarters. By watching patterns Coca-cola is able to introduce new products tailored precisely to customers’ latest whims. Who knows, a revolutionary new Coke product may be coming to your zip code soon! So, what’s the point? If the Coke vending machine down the street can do that, what will your customers expect of your service?

Let’s examine two other service metaphors.

USAA is the highly popular financial services company to a special market niche, active or retired military and their families. They introduced in January, 2010 an iPhone application that let’s their customers (members) deposit a check anytime from anywhere. The customer endorses the check, takes an iPhone photo of both sides, and sends it to USAA for instant credit.

And, America’s e-marketplace, eBay, introduced in November, 2009 a new iPhone app that lets you buy and sell from anywhere using your cell phone. In the first month, some guy bought a $75K antique Corvette probably while waiting in the parking lot for his wife to come out of Wal-Mart. eBay estimates new revenue from the application of over $400 million bucks in the first sixty days.

Customer expectations have been rising for years. Customers want service faster, cheaper and without a hassle. They want to interact with their chosen provider when and how they choose. But, with the advent of technology and telecommunications advances plus “just in time” manufacturing, they have added “have it your way” to their service expectations.

Long gone are the Henry Ford-like sentiments that communicate: “the customer can have any color they want as long as it is black.” The more organizations offer a wide array of service choices and channels, the more all of the “one-size fits all” approaches look way out-of-date.

Freestyle service means rethinking the time-place-process of how you interact with and deliver service to customers. What would it do if your customers had a $20 webcam and a Skype® account to communicate with you live but remote? How would it change your service quality if you completely rethought the place service occurred? How would your business change if all the processes were completely reinvented.

A hospital in the Midwest is experimenting with a magnetic plastic card tied to the parking lot that tells the admitting office computer to generate the paperwork as soon as the patient’s car enters the hospital parking lot. Is there an application of that concept for your work?

In today’s fast moving world customers are not used to waiting. They want everything FedEx fast and Amazon.com easy. Don’t stay literal; get creative. Challenge every assumption about your offering. Explain your service offering to a group of elementary school age children and get their advice on how to turn it into a really cool tool. What new application does their answer suggest?

Look at your organization through the lens of some other great service provider. How would Nordstrom, Ritz-Carlton, Best Buy, Progressive, UPS, Lexus reinvent your service experience?

NetFlix did not pattern themselves after Blockbuster Video, their biggest competitor. They looked at Amazon.com. NetFlix is growing as fast as Blockbuster is declining. Bass Pro Shops did not see Bubba’s Bait and Marina as their role model, they looked at Disney World.

As the old saying goes, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always gotten.” And, your customers’ expectations are not only increasing; they are dramatically changing.

What can you do to pleasantly surprise your customers? A dry cleaner gives high volume customers a card good for “emergency service.” Forgot to go by the cleaners and get your clothes before they closed on Saturday afternoon? The card has the owners home and cell phone on the back with a simple note that reads: “If you ever need Sunday emergency service, just call me and I will meet you at the store to retrieve your clothes.” Even if a customer never used it, think of the great peace of mind of knowing you could if you needed it.

Great service includes freestyle thinking about novel ways to serve.

BMW took freestyle to new heights with their Mini Cooper. New owners got adoption papers when they plunked down a deposit to buy a new Mini. It came with a means to go on line and watch their specific Mini being “born” on the factory assembly line. Lately they made news with their special billboards in major cities that respond to a radio chip embedded in the owner’s key fob (that logo-ed gizmo dealers like to put on your key ring). Ride by the billboard and it will flash, “Hi Susan, nice day for your red convertible” or any message Susan chooses.

The Aflac duck has teamed up with Hallmark cards to create a unique birthday card that screams “Aflaaac” when you open it.

Are you learning your customers’ preferences to turn that insight into tailor-made experiences? Would “have it your way” describe your customer service today? If not, it might be smart to get busy finding ways to make every customer feel as if he or she is your only customer.

Freestyle is not only service that frees customers from the typical constraints they dislike, it is also service with style!Other articles you might like:

• Boston understands customer feedback (and iPhones)
• I’ll Take a Number Three Please
• Solving a Customer Frustration
• Treat your customers like special guests
• Don’t Make It Hard For Customers To Spend Their Money

This is where customer service guidelines come into play.  As a manager or business owner, it is essential to train for situations such as this in order to keep all customers happy and to alleviate stress on your staff.

In this example, my advice would be to train the clerk to make eye contact with the customer as she walks in, smile, nod, and give some gesture that she will be right with the customer.  Since we can tell by the way the customer is appearing rushed, looking at her watch and glancing around to see if anyone else could help her, the clerk at this point should ask the caller to please hold, then take care of the physical customer. Once that customer is taken care of, then the caller receives the rest of the help they need.

All three people in this scenario are important and dependent upon each other.  The trick is to identify these situations in advance and train your staff on how to properly handle them.  Assuming you’ve hired right and have staff who truly strive to deliver the best customer service possible, they will also be able to gauge any situations that don’t fit the guideline and make the necessary adjustments and still keep the customer happy.

Your staff need to have the customer service skills necessary to manage the demands of the customer.  It is essential to train for this and to keep training as a continual process, not a one time event.  When you train and empower your staff, they will serve your customers better.

And, your customers will thank you for it.Other articles you might like:

• Black Jack Pizza Should Win a Customer Service Award
• Focus on what you control. Don’t worry about the rest.
• Customer Service Quote for September 17, 2009
• Seven steps to more customer referrals
• Remember What You Control (And What You Don’t)

Recently, J.D. Power and Associates reported that exceptional service satisfaction enhances automotive dealer and manufacturer profitability by improving customer retention even as sales decline.

I have one comment on their finding. “Duh!”

OK, seriously, they are absolutely correct. NO business can afford to NOT provide exceptional service 100 % of the time.

You have experienced it yourself. You walk into a business, whether it is your physician’s office, a fast food franchise, a department store or the offices of a large corporation, and you are welcomed like a valued guest. The greeting you receive is warm, sincere and immediate. The rest of your experience is made better by this simple act. But, you have also experienced the completely opposite experience—probably more often. You walk in and you are treated badly or maybe worse—totally ignored. No matter how positive the rest of your experience with this business may be, you are much less likely to be a satisfied customer.

Great customer service has always been important. But, in these tough economic times, businesses can’t afford not to get their customer service absolutely right. And yet, more often than not, this best practice eludes most service providers.

An online survey showed that 77 percent of customers will never return to a business simply because of how they were greeted. Most of them leave without ever saying why. With that huge of a loss in business, it’s clear all businesses need to greet their customers properly.

Today, create goodwill and great experiences at your business by providing exceptional customer service. Write and share what you did.Other articles you might like:

• Is Your Business Ready for More Customers?
• Practice What You Preach
• Bad manners are bad for business
• Customer Service Quote for September 9, 2009
• How to reduce customer complaints

So what do customers want? I am sure the list could be quite extensive however here are my top five.

1. Do what you say you will do.

That simply means deliver on your promise whether that is a brand promise or a promise from an employee. Just do it. Be reliable. You don’t deserve to deliver a lot of fluff or wow if can’t deliver on the basics to start.

2. Be responsive to their needs.

Even better, anticipate their needs. So how do you determine what they need – ask and listen, then act.

3. Take responsibility.

Walk them through the problem to a solution. In other words, OWN their concern and see it to a resolution.

4. Pay attention to the details.

Use their name, call back when promised, choose your language carefully and create an experience because you are passionate about customer service!

5. Remember it is the customer’s time and money.

You are not doing them a favor. They are doing you one – don’t forget it.

Customer satisfaction means relying on the basics. They work every time. The problem is we make it all too complicated. Yes, we need customer relationship management strategies, customer engagement and a customer centric focus. But we don’t have the right to go there until we deliver the basics first.

I speak at many company meetings where the slogan for that gathering is something like – “The Year of the Customer”. I always wonder what year is NOT the Year of the Customer?Other articles you might like:

• Assure Your Customers
• Customer Retention Tip: Tell your customers what to expect
• Get More Customers by Sending the Right Message
• More Loyal Customers book featured on CRMIndustry.com
• What promise do you make to your customers?

Without need for build-up, here’s the point of this post:  Customer relationships matter because they create loyalty.

Customer loyalty represents the opportunity for predictable and profitable growth.  If you don’t care about those thing, there’s no reason to care about your customers.  In fact, if you’re not interested in predictable and profitable growth, simply abandon the customers you have and try to make up the revenue with continual new customer acquisition.

That’s the rub.  And the reality many businesses live day-after-day.

Customer relationships matter because of their value to your business.  It’s not selfish to say so, it’s more reality, we need loyal customers more than they need us:

Referrals

Loyal customers refer more business our way.  The better we treat our customers, help them, and add value to our relationship with them — the more our customers are willing to tell others.  We become a story they want to tell.  And they’ll tell it often.  What results in more people and businesses are drawn to us and the opportunity to become our customer.

Profitability

It costs less to sell to an existing customer than it does to find a new one.  We can speak with them differently, like family.  We don’t have to sell ourselves for each sale — they already bought that part of what we offer.  We simply need to make the right offer at the right time — our relationship creates those moments naturally.

Predictability

Often, customers who purchase more than once do so at predictable intervals.  The ability to accurately forecast and count on revenue is critical to a business.  Repeat purchases are usually far more predictable than new sales.  Predictability reduces pressure on cash flow and expense management.

Asset

Customers are arguably a company’s greatest asset.  If the time comes to sell our business or borrow against it, the customers we have help establish the multiple we set on the price of our business and supports our worthiness to borrow.

Definition

We’re defined by the company we keep.  And so is our business. The same applies to the company our customers’ keep.  We’re part of their ecosystem, as they are part of ours.  Quality of customer is greatly established by the customers we claim and routinely engage with in business opportunities.

Viability

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me. That saying is one reason ongoing business relationships with customers is important — it proves viability of your offer.  This is especially true with new companies.  You can sell something once by being a great salesperson.  To sell it two or more times to the same person or company, you have to be a real business and your offer has to demonstrate value to the buyer.

Confidence

There are many times in the life of a business when talking openly with a customer has incredible benefit — prioritizing new features and projects, considering business opportunities, evaluating would-be competitors, researching markets, identifying trends, etc.  Having a pool of customers you can call on in such times to ask candid questions and explore ideas is invaluable.

Above are seven reasons customer relationships matter deeply to a business.

Do you agree? What would you add to my list?

Other articles you might like:

• Don’t upsell or cross-sell
• Should Entrepreneurs Twitter? Steve Strauss Says No!
• Keep Your Customers by Avoiding Toxic Revenue
• Be or Know the Go To Person
• Can you afford to give exceptional customer service in tough economic times?

But you wouldn’t know about it. I haven’t mentioned it. That’s the lesson of this post:  if I don’t tell you I’m working on something, you have no idea what I’m doing.

If you don’t communicate with a customer or prospect, how are they to know the reason you haven’t gotten back to them lately is anything other than you being a flake?  Once you’ve gone dark, the assumption is you’ve lost interest and I no longer matter.

I assume the worse when I don’t hear from you.

This is important to be mindful of when working with customers.  If it takes you longer than thought to submit the proposal, provide feedback, or update on a issue, you need to communicate that fact to the person who’s waiting for your response.

If you owe me something by Monday and I still haven’t received it or heard from you by Thursday, my assumption is you aren’t trustworthy.  On the other hand, if you contact me on Monday and say it’s taking longer than expected to respond and reset my expectation, I may not be happy, but I know you’re working on it.

When we don’t know what’s going on, we assume the worse.  And the worse is something we’ll likely to share with others.

Thanks to Kevin Stirtz for his post prompting mine.

What say you?Other articles you might like:

• What Can You Do While Waiting on Hold for Customer Service?
• Don’t Interrupt Your Customer
• Do it because you care
• How to Beat the Recession – Part 3
• Customer Service Book Review: Monday Morning Customer Service

No matter who responds, I’m always impressed. Because it means they’re listening and they care. They care enough to speak up and get involved.

My guess is over 90% of the companies get talked about on the Internet. Every time it happens, some company has an opportunity to keep or recover a customer. And they have an opportunity to hear valuable information about how to improve their business.

What are people saying about YOUR company. More important, what are you doing about it? Other articles you might like:

• 5 Steps to turn complaints into loyal customers
• 5 New Year’s Resolutions for Amazing Customer Service
• AOL Tops in Customer Service, aka the “Best of a Bad Bunch”
• Six Steps to More Loyal Customers
• Be an Amazing Listener

This sounds simple enough but it’s not as common as it should be. One reason is because it’s not always been easy to learn what our customers want. It’s hard enough just managing a business without having to add the burden of trying to get our customers to give us more information.

But times have changed.

Thanks to our Internet-driven social technology world, it’s easier than ever to get useful feedback from our customers. And while this might not be 100% effective for every business (yet) it will work for many. The key is to get started.

The good news is you can get started for free.

The smart folks over at WebWorkerDaily have made it easy by publishing a list of five tools you can use. They review the two best known services (GetSatisfaction and UserVoice). And they add a couple others that are worth looking at.

I’ll be looking at all these more closely in the near future, especially Google Moderator (mainly because it’s from Google). Another one, not on the list, is ZenDesk, which does things differently than the others. It has its roots in the help desk software world but it’s gone way beyond that. I’ll be reviewing it soon too.

For now, look at Doriano “Paisano” Carta’s article at WebWorkerDaily. And take a look at the ZenDesk Tour. These will give you a feel for what’s available so you can begin your journey to better customer feedback.

Then let me know what you think. Are these worthwhile tools to help your organization get to know your customers better?Other articles you might like:

• Here’s why Google dominates in customer service rankings
• 3 ways to improve your online customer feedback
• How to make the most of Customer Service Week 2009
• How to Handle Customer Complaints: Tip 5
• Google’s strength is offering value, engaging customers