Most organizations say they put the customer at the center of everything they do. Experiencing the service they provide, however, quickly proves otherwise. Their processes and policies demonstrate that the focus is on their convenience, not the customer’s. We’ve all been frustrated, for example, by phone trees that say; “For sales, press 1; for reservations, press 2; for customer service, press 3.” For real customer service we shouldn’t have to press anything, we should get to talk with someone! They’ve made things more efficient for themselves, but they’re irritating customers in the process.

Recently I went to the Royal Oak Farmers Market. I was happy to see that the wonderful folks from McClure’s Pickles were there again.

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.

The first rule of stellar service delivery is: Service is all about expectations. You buy a product; you expect it to work the first time. You go to a discount supplier, you expect the quality to be less than the high end dealer, but you still expect what you buy to work, first time every time. When it comes to products, expectations are pretty clear.

There’s a coffee shop in London where the owner sends his customers away, into the arms of his competitors. He does this knowing they’ll come back. And when they come back, they’ll probably be more loyal to his coffee shop.

His strategy is surprising but simple. He wants his customers to understand his product. He wants them to know what is available in their market, the good, the bad and the ugly. The more they sample other coffee shops, the more they will develop their own taste in coffee, the beverage and in coffee, the  experience.

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service:

Your first contact sets the bar for customer expectations

And here are some additional thoughts on this topic…

Is it always a good idea to “wow” your customers the first time they do business with you? Maybe not.

Your first contact sets the bar for all future interactions. So if you really knock their socks off the first time, be ready to continue at that level.

Too often when a company (or person) fails at customer service, they run from the failure. They never return to the “scene of the crime”. I understand why. Most of us would rather move on to future successes than be reminded of past failures. But the best customer service companies take their failures head on. They fix them and they learn from them.

We talk a lot about how important it is to give our customers the right experience. It’s extremely important. Because their experience becomes our brand and that determines their loyalty.

The challenge with customer experience though is that everyone is different. So every customer wants a slightly different experience.

But it’s not as hard as it might seem. Because at a basic level all customers want three things:

Many companies expect their employees to cross-sell and upsell customers. We see this all the time. Paying for a book at Barnes & Noble I ALWAYS gets asked to buy their membership. Recently, our waitress at Doolittles tried four times to sell me something I didn’t want. I can’t even workout at my fitness club without them trying to sell me personal training sessions.

It’s annoying. And it drives customers away.

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service:

Recognize your loyal customers

And here are some additional thoughts on this topic…

Recently I was dining at a favorite local cafe. I’ve been going there regularly since they opened. Our server had waited on me dozens of times in the past. Yet when someone in our group asked our server if she knew me, she said (with no hesitation) she had never seen before.

People miss meetings or show up very late. They take phone calls or let people walk into the middle of scheduled meetings. They don’t return phone calls. The list goes on. We all deal with these annoying behaviors as we do our jobs and manage our businesses.

I did some research on Google and I discovered I’m not the only one who pays attention to these things. Others are indeed bothered by bad manners. You can buy a book, take a class or even hire a consultant to help you address the problem of bad manners in your business.

According to one study I found

While preparing my tea this morning I took an extra moment to read a message on the packaging. It explained why they don’t use strings, staples, tags or individual wrappers on their tea bags. By leaving them off they prevent 3.5 million pounds of waste from being produced.

I have to admit, though I noticed Celestial Seasonings didn’t use strings and other things on their tea bags, I never knew why. But now that I know, I applaud them. Their choice to not have the extra material saves money and helps the environment. And the tea tastes just as good.

Here’s why I like this.