In March 2007, Massachusetts began holding teenage drivers to a higher standard than those of us who are older and have been driving longer. Yes. Let me repeat that. Rookies, with minimal experience, are being held to a higher standard than drivers with lots of experience. It’s known as “the junior operator law”. We “non-juniors” can make a mistake. “Junior” cannot. Can you imagine trying to get that rule passed in your business?

Since I am not the parent of a teenager, the 17 month old law had escaped my attention. But today’s Boston Globe has an article by Keith O’Brien. He reports that hearings at the RMV are up 20% since the law took effect suspending teenagers’ licenses for 90 days after 1 single speeding ticket.   He reports that parents and teenagers are “furious”. He quotes an RMV hearing officer who seems surprised at the “vulgar language” she hears.

I’m not sure which part of this story has me ranting most:

1. There’s the stupidity of penalizing new drivers for a single mistake rather than treating them like learners who need coaching.
2. And the idiocy of suspending licenses - which takes away the rookie’s opportunity to practice the skill s/he needs to improve and almost guarantees worse performance down the road (literally).
3. Or the reporter’s having missed the point completely by failing to identify the cost of this new program to the state (20% more hearings); to the families (working parents driving their kids again); and to the kids who are unfairly targeted by youth-hating adults (almost guaranteeing mistrust when they end up as our new hires in a few years).

In business we understand that people grow and improve through a fair and useful balance of rewards and consequences. It’s “Management 101″. Anyone who doesn’t get this simple principle does not keep a leadership job for very long.

Perhaps it’s time to start holding government to the same standard as we business professionals are held to. Because as they make up foolish and wasteful rules, they are hurting the people we should be helping.

Technorati Tags: ronna caras, boston globe, keith o’brien, rmv

It seems like everyone is complaining about the airlines these days, but recently a colleague reported receiving some great customer service from Delta.  I would like to share it with you. Here is the letter that he received:

For a company to be ahead of a potential complaint is revolutionary.   Being proactive will save a company from being skewered in the social media circles and can provide a big win. Good for Delta to go the “extra mile” to recognize customer loyalty.   

Technorati Tags: airlines, customer loyalty, customer service, Delta

I’ve been blogging a lot on customer service lately because we are actively involved with 2 firms aiming to change their cultures to improve the customer experience. So customer service standards and strategies and training are on my mind. Everything I read, see and hear stimulates an idea.

I also have a prospective “culture change” client whose legal department just finished reviewing my company’s contract. Their reaction was to make almost no changes. I was told they appreciated the “fairness and flexibility” they found in our service agreements. We don’t charge for time they don’t use, even when the change occurs at the last minute. We don’t ask reimbursement for every bottle of water and bagel we eat in airport….  I get the impression this was a bit of a surprise.

And it got me thinking… is it possible to have a culture of customer service when standards do not seem “fair and flexible” to customers? How do companies around the world even pretend to be customer-centric when they have terms like these 10 examples:

1. A posted policy says “returns must include a receipt and be within 15 days of purchase.” If the merchandise is made of strawberries, then I can understand it, but silk blouses don’t grow mold….
2. 0% financing is voided when 1 payment is even 1 day late. And bank has the right to select any interest rate it chooses to take effect immediately.
3. Personnel will travel through airport security lines to make sure passengers are not carrying too much stuff on board. (check out this Wall Street Journal article on the subject)
4. Sign on an office wall says, “Your failure to plan does not create an automatic emergency for me.”
5. Personal training appointments cancelled on the day of service will be charged full rate. But if the personal trainer cancels on the day of service no compensation exists for the customer.
6. We only serve burgers well done. (A policy I learned about in a restaurant that also serves sushi.)
7. New customers pay $1 for the same phone that current customers pay $100 for.
8. We only accept MC and VISA.
9. Training materials instruct staff to never say “I’m sorry,” unless it has been determined that the company is actually at fault.
10. Managers devote no time at all to observing and developing direct reports yet when it comes time for performance reviews, they list skills that are lacking and mistakes that were made.

This is a pretty short list of common practices that make it hard for customers - both external and internal - to believe the “powers that be” have their best interests at heart.

And if you show customers that you’re all about protecting your own interests, no matter how it impacts your customers, can you ever call yourself a “great customer service organization”?

There’s no doubt that creating a culture of service must include reviewing every written policy and contract. The unwritten ones need review too. They impact the way employees behave toward each other and business or consumer clientele. Small changes can go along way toward setting a fresh tone for the future.

Now, believe me when I say I am not trying to discourage the development and implementation of training - obviously. But let’s be sure the training focuses on supporting systems that let customers know they matter.

Technorati Tags: Ronna Caras, Customer Service Culture, Customer Service Policies, Training

My friend and colleague, Nick Miller, of Clarity Advantage, Inc. emails “Weekly Sales Thoughts” to his vast list of impressed followers. This week, he captured a subject I have been dancing around as I tell everyone about the value of membership in SOCAP - an organization where people connect and collaborate and help one another solve problems. With Nick’s permission, I am sharing with you his ideas about connecting.

I’m standing in the low ceilinged, dimly lit, stuffy-aired classroom of a driving school - a company owned by brave souls who make a living teaching 16 year olds to drive dangerous objects. My daughter is taking her road test with a State Police officer, her last step before qualifying for her license. I’m waiting, idly watching the TV in the far corner of the classroom. 

The movie, Shrek II, is playing. While I haven’t followed the story line very closely, there is a moment in which Shrek-the-green changes into Shrek-the-handsome-human. Instantly, several young women appear, pushing each other out of the way to gain his attention. They are ATTRACTED to him by his size, good looks, and witty tongue. (This was, after all, a CARTOON movie.) Shrek seemed unaffected by this. (This REALLY was a cartoon movie.)

This story would have played out very differently if Shrek, upon assuming human form, immediately chased the women. The scene would have degenerated into the usual Thursday night at most singles bars. “Hey, ladies, va-va-voom, come along, you’ll have really good time with me, yes”? 

Most prospecting, in its current form, is a variation of this Thursday night singles bar “me push.”  We sales people launch ourselves at prospects with snappy chatter, hoping we can overcome prospects’ resistance or their impossible schedules, thinking that, if prospects would just invest a few minutes, they would understand how wonderful we sellers are and how powerful our products. High frustration. Low success rates. At the singles bars, too.

What would we do differently if we changed the prospecting paradigm from “push” to “attract?”

Attraction involves appealing to natural interest or emotion, arousing hope or desire, or lighting a spark of possibility.  In the “attraction” paradigm, prospects and customers want us to talk to them and be part of their work because they see or experience that we have an insight, an expertise, or an energy they want. (That’d be some Thursday night at the bar, eh?)

How do we convey this? Following the Shrek model, we substitute other characteristics for his.

1. We become resources. When we network, we figure out what is challenging our conversation partners and we find people in our companies or our networks, articles or other resources that can help them. We become known as providers, interested in helping everyone be more successful.

2. We position ourselves as experts in addressing our clients’ problems and complaints. We develop more and broader knowledge about their challenges and potential solutions than they have. We share this perspective by writing, speaking at business or community events, and developing and sharing best practices and success stories. We give away some of our value in the form of articles, podcasts, stories, best practices, network connections, and advice without asking anything in return at the time.

3. Remembering Shrek, we do all of this as if it’s not a big deal. We can’t feel or be “needy.” Needy is NOT attractive. [Refer back to Thursday nights, poor results, above.] Instead, we engage our prospects, draw them out, and warm them up with Shrek’s easy nonchalance that communicates confidence (remember, we are experts), “whole-ness,” and the ability to engage peer to peer.

So, here are my questions to you on the subject of attracting business rather than pushing to get it.

In this world where service and sales lines are being crossed; where everyone is being asked to find more business and keep it; at a time when up-selling and holding back competition is a top priority, how easy will it be to teach your staff to give more without looking for an immediate transactional payback? Are there some success stories in your company about sales leaders who model this behavior and can show its power?

Consultants have been using this model for many years. But I don’t see it being taught to sales folks in any other industry. And, perhaps, the timing is right to take a look at “the attraction paradigm according to Nick Miller”.

Technorati Tags: Ronna Caras, Nick Miller, sales prospecting, law of attraction, sales training

I am currently on the receiving end of extraordinary generosity. My offices are piled high with boxes from Arm & Hammer, Campbell’s, Colgate, Coors, Dannon, Duncan Hines, Frito Lay, General Mills, Kashi, L’Oreal, Nestle, Pepperidge Farm, Sargento, Telerx, Tyson, Unilever, and Zotos…All ready and waiting to be made into enormous gift bags for the New England Chapter Socap June 17th Meeting I am helping to run.

I am blown away by the stuff. We have toothpaste, t-shirts, granola bars, measuring spoons, chip clips, pens and lip balm. We have dog food, hand lotion, mascara, iced tea mix, cake mix, shampoo and even condoms.

Participants will get grocery items and coupons from some of the best brands in the world totaling $100 and then some.

But more than the snacks and cooking items and sex toys which are filling the room, I am blown away by how easy it was to get very busy, very important executives to lend a hand to help us start this local chapter that is many miles from where they actually live and work. Two local member companies contributed to the haul - Ocean Spray gave us their new Cranergy drink and Liberty Mutual Insurance provided jelly beans, if Gloria doesn’t eat them all before the event. But the other 30 goodies are from companies from across the USA.

Obviously, this blog post is a love letter to Beth, Cathy, Cheryl, Dale, Dan, Denise, Donna, Eileen, Jeff, Joy, Karalyn, Karen, Kim, Linnea, Louise, Mena, Willie and more… who took the time and the care to send a variety of items so our welcome gift shows just who SOCAP includes. And that was the point. To show prospective members and guests from New England who they can get to know as professional resources when they get to know Socap. Why shouldn’t local companies want to be a part of a group that includes these powerhouse corporations and people?

It is also a message to anyone who thinks that companies don’t care about people anymore. That there’s no loyalty in workplaces. That business leaders are out for themselves. That networking is a necessary evil rather than the building of real relationships.

The membership at this organization have filled my office with proof that some networks, some people, some companies know what it means to reach out and connect.

Now I have to admit that I have never been much of a group joiner. With their cliques and clichés. But this group is the exception.

If you want to know how to solve any of your business problems, call a Socap member or two or three and they will share a strategy or a resource you can use. No one says “no” here. No one says “we can’t” or “I’m too busy”.

So I’ll end this week’s rant by stating loudly and clearly - if you are a professional in a contact center, customer care or consumer services role who has not connected with Socap, then you are missing out on the best opportunity to achieve greatness in your work. Because greatness is here. And it’s available to all of us.

Technorati Tags: consumer affairs, customer service, ronna caras, executive development, new england chapter socap

As much as I try to take a day off from work, even a trip to the paint store sparks a realization about why customer service folks need to do a little selling in order to give really good service. Here’s what happened:

Memorial Day Weekend is a big clean-up spruce-up time here in New England. This year we had perfect weather - 70 degrees with nary a cloud. Not too hot for heavy lifting and a pleasure to be outdoors. My contribution to the “make it pretty again” efforts was to repaint my black front door and all its shiny white trim. To make sure I got everything I needed, on Saturday, I went to the best paint store I know, Walls of Décor on Lowell Street not far from my house.

The gentleman got me the right paint for the black door and casement, not too shiny, not too flat. He knew just what I needed as soon as I asked. He found me the white trim paint and I got a gallon so there’d be plenty for the trim around the garage doors too. I asked about brushes and he helped me select a thin angled brush for tight corners and a wider brush for large surfaces. Here’s where my problem started.

“I can use the same brushes for the black and the white, can’t I?” I asked him. “As long as you clean them well,” he replied and carried my merchandise to the counter to ring it up. $90 later I was on my way.

If you are an experienced painter you already know what happened.

On Sunday I painted the door black and gave it three good coats. Then I tried to clean the brushes. I washed and washed and of course, their once-beige bristles still looked blackish.

“Why didn’t I spend another $10 on more brushes?” I wondered. And with my annoyance growing, “Why didn’t the nice gentleman at Walls of Décor warn me how difficult it would be to change from black to white?”

Obviously, trying to re-use the brushes would be more hassle than it was worth. But now it was Sunday and Walls of Décor was closed. Good bet they’d be closed on Memorial Day Monday, too.

Have you been to a home maintenance super store on Memorial Day weekend? 15 minutes just to park and another hour to find the brushes and get through the checkout line. Not exactly the delightful shopping experience that had made me choose Walls of Décor in the first place.

But what of that initial customer service? In this day and age, when businesses fight to increase their sales by just a few percent, wouldn’t an additional $10 sale have been a good thing?

It certainly would have improved this customer’s experience to have been warned by a pro that black paint and white paint deserved their own separate brushes.

So what can retailers do to make sure they are capturing the business they deserve and making their customers loyal at the same time?

1. Coach their staff to think big. When a customer describes a project or a need, they should be offering suggestions for all of the supplies that will save a customer time and make sure the outcome is right.
2. Coach their staff to identify customers who need extra help. “I came here because you folks always help me”, was my obvious cue. That’s a request for expert advice.  Staff should not be afraid to give it.

Forcing customers to go elsewhere for the rest of the stuff they need reduces profits and long term loyalty. Just a bit of coaching here can go a long way.

Technorati Tags: customer service, customer service training, Ronna Caras, sales training

We can’t expect companies to do everything right all the time. Problems arise, mistakes occur. Service providers are human. Equipment breaks. Accidents happen.

The test of a company’s service takes place after the problem, mistake, breakage or accident. That’s when consumers and business clients notice what you did to make it right. Want to get noticed? Let something go wrong. And fix it.

If you want to see an example of great customer service, read “Another Fairmont Moment” an earlier post in this blog. Their management made sure at least one guest had a fantastic recovery story to tell.

If you want to learn about a totally different hotel experience, read my story:

Last month I stayed at the Renaissance Hotel, Times Square. On the first morning I was 5 minutes into a 40-minute hair drying session using the hair dryer they provided. Suddenly, the lights in my room went out.

I called the front desk. I explained my problem. “Were you using the hair dryer?” she asked. “Yes, was I not supposed to?” “No, I didn’t say that. Do you want me to send someone up there?”

 “Do I want you to send someone up here?” I tried not to yell and was only partially successful. “I want the lights back on so I can finish getting ready and go to my meeting. Does that involve sending someone up here?”

“I’ll get someone up there,” she said talking fast. “And you have a nice day.” She hung up before I barked my thanks.

I sat for a moment thinking about her sarcastic “Have a nice day,” and the lack of apology or ownership of the problem - an obviously known problem that could have been prevented with a small note of warning. There are notes about re-using towels. Why not a note about hair dryers that blow out fuses?

I wondered what kind of management let this happen and forced front line staff to deal with the problems. Are they lazy or crazy?

I wondered what kind of customer service training this woman received (can’t help myself). Are they a prospect for my company’s services, or don’t they invest in their staff’s development at all?

Then her comment about the hair dryer registered. I have very thick hair that needed some serious drying. If it shut off every 5 minutes I was in big trouble.

I called back and asked if using the dryer was going to continue to cause a problem if I plugged it back in and used it. “I didn’t say that,” she responded. I’ll get someone up there.” “When should I expect someone?” I asked. “I’ll call him as soon as you let me off the phone.” Nice. Really nice.

2 minutes passed and the lights went back on. Then a knock at the door. “I reset your lights.” The man told me. So I asked him about the hair dryer. “Will it keep shutting off?” “Only if you plug it in the same outlet.” “But it’s the only one near a mirror.” “Oh,” he said. Then he scanned the room and decided he could move the dresser and plug in the hair dryer behind there. I thanked him and he left. I dried my hair standing in the small space between the bed and the cabinet with a tiny bit of light. It worked fine and I left for a great day in Manhattan.

Now, I realize I was only delayed by 10 minutes. It could have been a lot worse. But I had just read about how the Fairmont, Newport Beach had jumped through hoops to satisfy Gary Connor who was complaining about the noise of a party outside. Mine was a known problem - something they could have prevented and just didn’t. And no one had even apologized to me.

But I remained hopeful and I waited for my hoop-jumps. Would someone leave a note apologizing for not warning me that hair dryers could not be used in the bathroom? Would I get the promise of an upgrade at my next Marriott property visit? A free night’s stay? Would my $25 bagel and coffee be provided at no charge? Would anyone even acknowledge my problem or experience?

So far the answer is “no” “nothing” “nada”. It’s been a few weeks so my hope for their service recovery has been replaced by pity. They’ve lost my business and don’t even seem to know about it or care about it.

When I travel to Manhattan again next month I’ll be staying elsewhere. I advise you, kind readers, to do the same.

Technorati Tags: ronna caras, customer service, renaissance hotel

To say the public is frustrated by customer service is an understatement. But the idea that service is dead and that corporate execs are just paying lip service to the public and not trying to improve the customer experience - well that’s just not true. So I respectfully disagree with Fred Yeomans whose blog “fredspace” tells a compelling story about bad policies and bad treatment from a telescope manufacturer. Customer service is on its way up, not down.

I just returned from Socap (Society for Consumer Affairs Professionals) Annual Symposium. Not much of a “return” actually because it was held at the new Westin Boston Waterfront all of 15 miles from my house. By the way, excellent customer service at this property. And I owe someone there an apology - I forgot to leave a tip for the housekeeper who kept the crisp white room and poofy bed linens from looking like a dumpsite during my whirlwind stay. If anyone knows what I can do about my bad manners in this situation, please write and tell me how I can fix this.

But back to the point of this post. Here’s what I observed, learned and concluded about Customer Service in America today:

OBSERVATION
More than 100 of the largest consumer product companies in the US and abroad spent about $1.5 million to bring their service leaders together to collaborate on ways to make customers happier without raising the prices of their products. Learning from the trials, errors and solutions of the companies in our network is much less expensive for a manufacturer or retailer than putting programs in place that may or may not succeed. This was leadership development at its best. Without forward-thinking leaders who actively try to improve themselves and their businesses, things will only get worse. In that respect, I agree with Fred. If companies don’t invest in professional development at the top they will not improve their policies or the behavior and effectiveness of their customer-facing folks.

LEARNING
Companies are improving the customer experience by improving the employee experience first. BJ McDonald, who leads a team of 2000 customer care agents at Continental Airlines, spoke about what it took for his company to go from “Worst to First” in service. They addressed the fundamental needs of the company - people need to show up to work every day so bags have the right amount of handlers and maintenance takes no longer than planned - with the fundamental needs of the employees - it’s hard to go a year without calling out sick when sick days are part of a basic comp plan.

If you’re thinking Continental took sick days out of the comp plan then I really hope you are not a Customer Care or HR Manager.

What did Continental do? They started a lottery for 100% attendance employees that gives away 8 fully loaded Ford Explorers twice a year. We saw the pictures of the cars with their big bows waiting for their new owners. It was ingenious. I had never thought about employee attendance as being one of the major problems that caused customer dissatisfaction, but, as Fred points out in his blog post, we’ve all waited around in airports thinking the delay made no sense…

CONCLUSIONS
Above and beyond employee satisfaction, there was a lot of talk about customer satisfaction surveys. Most companies are actively asking customers what they experienced. A large percentage of them are even making changes based on the information they received.

In our session on Blogging, Susan Getgood shared the model Dell Computer uses for tracking customer satisfaction and how the 50 different companies in the audience can use the internet to make sure the quality of their customer care is improved by the efforts they are making. Based on the mob of executives waiting to talk with her further, I conclude many more Socap member companies will be participating in the conversations and taking action to make customers happier on the first try.

So, if you have begun to think that clipping coupons in the Sunday paper should be abandoned because those companies don’t care about you, think again. They are listening as long as we are talking. Don’t quit yet. The conversation is just getting interesting.

Technorati Tags: customer service, continental airlines, dell computer, susan getgood, bj mcdonald, ronnna caras, socap

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Coupons and rebate programs bring customers into stores and onto websites. Marketing knows the give-away is typically spent on a much larger purchase. Management signs off because they see how well their generosity yields customer loyalty and larger orders at the same time.

But sometimes, the message is not filtered down to the front line. A recent post at consumerist.com caught my attention because it applauded Staples (our wonderful client and friend whom we love) and criticized another large office supplies chain. The topic? The $3 rebates for turning in empty or unwanted printer ink cartridges.

The story is simple: A computer repair business owner was accused of stealing the ink cartridges he is turning in because his volume is so high. He was threatened by a front line employee and told his activity “has to stop”. The employee went so far as to threaten to circulate his picture around so he could no longer acquire hundreds of dollars in merchandise credit coupons through the cartridge recycling program.

This is not the first time I have heard front line staff acting as though the use of a coupon or discount should not be allowed. In environments where dimes are watched closely and raises are practically non-existent, employees can mistakenly associate customer incentive programs with their own inadequate paychecks.

Companies can fix this problem by doing 3 things:

1. Encourage generosity. Toward customers and toward each other. Teach staff to err on the side of kindness and to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Organizations create more customer loyalty and a better image when they empower the front line to accept an expired coupon or to give a customer a slightly larger credit than the customer expects.
2. Coach employees to mention coupon programs or special promotions to their customers. Marketing spent a lot of valuable time creating the offer so everyone should be promoting it. When your customers start looking in the newspaper or on line for the coupon your team member mentioned, you get a repeat visit and that is always a win. Why shouldn’t an office supply store with an ink recycling program tell customers about it whenever the sale includes a printer or ink?
3. Don’t make customer #2 live without a discount they saw customer #1 receive. Sometimes coupon offers get lost in the mail or lost in the pile. We consumers know the stores that keep this week’s 20% off coupon behind each cashier stand and we shop them more frequently. Their employees get to act like heroes and save us from overpaying. It feels good to everyone and that atmosphere improves every aspect of the customer experience.

It may be too late for the offending store in the ink cartridge story to fix what they have done. They’ve already closed in my neighborhood. But there’s plenty of time for consumer relations and marketing and sales to bond together to make special offers a winning experience for everyone. And it’s easy.

Ronna Caras 

Technorati Tags: 10 tips for better sales and service, sales, customer service, coupons, consumerist, marketing, ronna caras