Friday, October 22, 2010

Garda Gotta Get it Together

The phone rang a couple of days ago. A woman introduced herself as M. ___ from Garda; she was calling to do a background check for one of my students who had given my name as a reference. Now, I have been contacted by this firm before, so I know that what follows is not the normal way in which they conduct their affairs, but I also know that I will no longer recommend their services to clients.

So what is it that has my Customer Service Excellence hackles standing at attention?

When she asked how I knew the young women, I explained that I had been her prof. Ms. M. from Garda responded with a challengingly-toned, “So, she didn’t work for you?” The tone of the question threw me off a bit so, for a moment, I thought I might have been thinking about the wrong person. After a little back and forth, it turned out the call was indeed about student “K”.

At that point, she asked: “So what were her responsibilities to you?”

I reiterated that I knew “K” as a student so she didn’t have responsibilities to me beyond classroom participation and hand-in assignments. At that point, the Garda Gal starting talking to me as if I were mentally-challenged and didn’t understand the whole process.

I really didn’t appreciate it. Nor, I’m sure, would the bank client on behalf of whom she was conducting these interviews.

When I pushed back a bit to try and explain that it was a different situation that the traditional employer relationship, she said in clipped tones, “Yes, but I still have to ask the questions.”

From the way in which subsequent questions were posed, Ms. M. made it clear that she was pissed off with me.... which resulted in me giving shorter answers than would normally have been the case.

Not wanting to hurt my student, I said nice and appropriate things, but it was not the normal way I would give a reference for someone I believed would indeed be an asset to their client.

Not good for my student – and not good for the bank, either as they may miss out on a good candidate as a result.

If I were using this as a teaching case or training example, what lessons would I convey? A couple that come to mind:

• Due diligence is critical when selecting a third-party firm to represent your company in any way. If their employees don’t treat people the way you treat your customers and employees, then you should not work with the firm.

• It’s important to do a good job of training and monitoring the people who represent your company to the public – especially when they are not on your direct payroll. You have the right to request random recordings of the calls, or to listen in from time to time.

• Create separate guides for the various types of people in your target audience (in this instance +90% of the questions could have been identical).

• Structure your discussions guides/ interview questions in such a way that enables the interviewer to choose a different line of questions if necessary, based on the previous answers given.

• It’s as important for your staff to be well-versed on the way you want them to handle out-bound calls as they are on how to handle in-bound queries.

There are other things to have learned from this example, of course, but those of the ones that stick out.

If you’d like to chat about this further, please feel free to leave a comment of drop me a note. JMC

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Now the Flowers are Fresh and Fabulous

My replacement flowers just arrived and they are gorgeous! Not only that, they smell divine. Just looking at them and smelling their wonderful scent makes me feel happy.

I called the florist right away to let her know how much I appreciated the new bouquet – and the way she had handled everything. Callie (the woman who rectified the problem for us) seemed as pleased as me about the way things had turned out... and that as much as anything has totally restored my faith in the Flower Nook.

You can be sure that I will make sure to recommend them whenever anyone in the area needs flowers. Which just goes to show that another of the standard customer service truisms is indeed true:

Namely, that when you resolve disgruntled customers’ problems in a way that makes them feel important to the company, and do so with good grace, they will usually tell twice as many people about what transpired as they would if only recounting the bad experience.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Fixing Flowers that Flopped

Earlier today flowers arrived that my youngest had sent me for my birthday – they were a day late and more than a dollar short.

Okay, okay. I sound ungrateful. The flowers were nice (read ‘nice’ with that elongated sing song tone men hate so much that really means “good effort dear but no cigar”). Of course I called my daughter immediately and thanked her profusely – after all I was truly touched by the gesture and that she had spent so much on her strict student budget. That part really did move me. Still does.

Then she asked about the flowers themselves. I sort of hedged (okay, except for things related to Christmas gifts and the like, I have a hard time lying to my kids) and she just knew. That finely-honed intuition of hers kicked in on cue and she said, “They’re not the pink, purple, cream and white flowers I ordered, are they?”

I described the bouquet that had arrived: Fall-coloured daisies punctuated with bright purple asters. Ughh. Kat was already groaning knowing that I hate rust-coloured flowers, but when she heard the description her displeasure increased.

Why? I had described a much cheaper bouquet she had seen on the website. It appeared as though the florist has simply added a couple of clashing asters as a token response to her actual online request for spring blooms.

I’ve heard of florists sometimes sending “less-than-fresh” flowers, or less expensive bouquets when they are pretty sure the sender will never see the actual bouquet, but have only experienced such a thing once before.

Knowing that my daughter puts a lot of thought into birthdays and other occasions, I couldn’t let it rest. I called the florist to complain. I remained friendly and started with a gentle, “What I’m going to say is going to sound ungrateful, but...” and went on to explain what my daughter had intended and that the sum involved constituted a major expense for a university student.

While I was on the phone, I learned that my daughter was on their other line. Kat knew who to call because our family has purchased bouquets from this florist on numerous occasions over the years.

Long story short: The florist was upset/ embarrassed by what had happened and will be sending me a new bouquet in the morning. She has also offered to use a few extra flowers in the new bouquet to make up for our collective disappointment.

The genuine concern the florist expressed, the pleasant/professional way in which she responded to our calls and her correct (from both professional and personal perspectives) response to the situation means that we will continue to be loyal customers.

Had the response been different in any way, the retailer would have lost us as customers. Given that my mom, sister, sisters-in-law and colleagues also use this floral boutique, and that we collectively orders many, many bouquets each year, they would have lost a sizeable piece of business.

The reasons I consider the florist’s response to have been correct go beyond the potential business loss from our family:

• The Life Time Value of loyal clients (+$1500 for diapers, +$12,000 for fast-food, etc.),

• The cost to acquire new clients vs. the cost to retain existing ones (5x – 25x depending on the industry),

• The number of people that unhappy customers tell about their experience (the accepted average used to be 16, but recent studies that has increased slightly... even without taking into account public posts on sites such as facebook),

• The potential for online “retribution” when disgruntled customers air their grievances in social media forums (remember what happened to the Motrin advertisements thanks to a mom with 5,000 twitter followers)

• etc.

There are bound to be “Life Happens” moment in every business, but how you handle them can determine whether or not these moment hurt you in the long run. Hopefully we will all be able to fix our flops the way this florist did!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Kudos re Queue Comments

I had to call Goodlife Fitness the other day and got put in the proverbial queue. I heard a pleasant voice tell me that I was #8 in line. As I sighed, thinking that I could be a while, I heard the same voice tell me that I was now #7. “Hmmm,” I thought, “A company that knows how to treat its callers”.

All too often customers are left listening to sappy music (why can’t they find something good?!!), sometimes waiting in limbo for over 20 minutes. Awaiting your turn to be abused by a customer service rep can be a frustrating experience. Even if you have hands-free and can continue to work while waiting, it’s a pain. If another call comes in, you have to decide if you want to risk losing your place in line to take the call. Ditto if you need a bio break or need to leave the phone unattended for any other reason.

Not great if the person is at work. (Side note: It is estimated that 95% of workers make personal calls from work because of a) queue wait times and/ or b) the ability to do other things while on hold.)

Anyway, back to my Goodlife Fitness call. As I waited, I was told they valued my business and would answer my call just as soon as possible, was informed when I moved up on the queue and got to listen to fitness tips while on hold.

As far as having to wait, it was the best such experience I’ve encountered in a while. Even better, when the rep took the call, he was knowledgeable, helpful, polite and friendly. Kudos to Goodlife; they seem to know how to treat their telephone callers.

Why does this matter? Because research we conducted on behalf of a client in early 2010 suggests that 74% of people living in North America believe that the way customers are treated by telephone CSRs is a reflection of how the company’s employees will treat customers in person. In fact, handling in-bound calls well can have a dramatic impact on customer retention rates.

To quickly recap points from earlier posts and articles (see www.theqgroup.com/articles-a.php):

• Make it easy for a caller to get in the right queue; aim for 3 prompt levels or less.

• Minimize the number of minutes a person has to wait in a phone queue. Aim to have callers talking to a human in under 2 minutes (not always possible, but it’s a great goal).

• Let callers know where they are in the queue and how long it will take for their call to be answered.

• Provide the caller with interesting things to listen to while on hold. In order of consumer preference: Information related to your company’s service or product, news reports, upbeat middle-of-the-road music (not elevator muzak or sleepy/dull stuff).

• Give callers the option of listening without music. With this option you will need to sound a soft beep every 30 – 40 seconds, along with a message every 1 ½ minutes or so, to let the person know their call is "being held in priority sequence".

• Have the calls answered by friendly, professional staff who know the company’s product line, services offered... and who have the ability and authority to make decisions/ take action that can help the customer.

If you would like help in determining the best ways to handle your customer call queues, please feel free to drop me a note (jmc@theQgroup.com) or call me at 416.424.6644.

Either way, I wish you all excellent customer service experiences! JMC

Friday, October 8, 2010

Amazing Customer Service = 500% Sales Increase

I don’t normally go to “super sales” – you know the ones that are held at special, warehouse-like venues. Yesterday, however, was different. I was on my way home from the university and heard a radio commercial for Tom’s Place. They were holding a 4-day designer suit sale taking place at the International Centre. I was on the 401 and the next exit was the one I needed. Since the sale had only started 3 hours earlier, I figured the selection would still be pretty good. Before I could tell myself that I had been planning to get a new suit anyway, my car headed for the exit “all by itself”. It seemed like the universe was working with me.

When I got there, the sheer vastness of the place was overwhelming. As I tried to get my bearings and figure out where the women’s clothes were in the sea of men’s suits, a woman named Angela took me under her wing. Angela turned out to be aptly named; she was indeed an angel.

First she led me over to where the women’s suits. What I didn’t realize until later is that she had led me directly to the rack that held suits in my sizes. After I had a couple in my arms she approached my smilingly and asked if she could put them in a “change room” (picture curtains handing from rods) for me. As she lightened my load, I asked her where I could find jackets that were not being sold as part of a suit.

Instead of taking me to another part of the football field (actually, the BMO field would have fit into this place!), the young woman invited me to start trying on the suits I had selected and offered to find jackets for me. After confirming my size and colour preferences, she went set off on her search.

After the first group of things she brought to me, Angela seemed to get a good sense of what I liked and what I didn’t. Over the course of the next hour and a half she took the things I didn’t want from me, kept passing me in clothes and was truly objective and helpful when I came out to peer in the mirror.

A couple of the other sales women would say, “That looks nice” as I grimaced at my reflection. Angela, however, would shake her head and say “It’s too short for you”, or “The other one flattered you more”, or “We can do better”. Politely, but most definitely, she let me know when something was not flattering... but only when I seemed uncertain or asked for input. Somehow she got the others to stop their phony flattery, too. What a relief if was not to have to contend with the insincere sales talk.

Angela’s help resulted in me leaving with multiple suits and tops – when I had only planned to pick up one suit (and maybe only a jacket at that). I spent more than 5 times what I had planned to spend.

When that happens, people often end up with buyer’s remorse.  Not me. What I ended up with are suits I love and a jacket I know I would not have tried on if left to my own devices.  I’m still excited by my new clothes, and as those close to me will tell you, clothes don’t exactly turn my crank.  Shoes yes; clothes no.

Not only did Angela help me with my clothes, but she helped me find a few accessories and things for my daughters’ stockings.  She held things up, tried belts on so I could see what they looked like and was generally wonderful.

Did she ignore other customers in the process?  No. I heard her taking things to and from the lady in the next “stall” while I was changing. I watched her gently get a dad to agree when his daughter wanted the slightly more expensive suit that clearly looked the best on the young woman (it was for her first job interview). And I saw her greet a woman entering the fray while I sifted through blouses.

I was so impressed by the way Angela had handled things that I asked to speak with her manager after I had paid for my treasures. What I learned is that he often receives compliments on the way she treats customers – and almost always outsells everyone by a significant margin.

He seemed surprised by this given that she is so quiet.  I’m not. Angela did a lot of things right:

• She greeted me politely, then escorted me to the right section of the sale.  She didn't simply point and leave me to find the racks on my own.

• She greeted me politely, then left me alone as soon as I was in the right area of the “store”.

• She was friendly without crossing the line into “too familiar” (which one of the other women most definitely did!).

• She was helpful – truly helpful.

• She asked questions and heard what I had to say (which goes beyond simply listening).

• She didn’t fawn in an attempt to make the sale.

• She engendered trust by giving me objective feedback when asked.

• She didn’t try to force the sale. When I appeared uncertain, she would say, “If you’re not sure, then don’t take it”.

• She was courteous and treated me with respect.

If Angela helped me spend +500% more than what I had intended to spend - and if she consistently outsells everyone - then there are a few key lessons here about how to sell to professional women.

If this applies to your business, please let me know if you make any changes to how you approach women in business... and what results you experience.

In the mean time, I wish everyone a wonderful weekend. JMC

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Train Your CSRs – Second in a Series

Tonight I had to go to an electronics store and was not really looking forward to the trip because the people in our local store are usually somewhat unfriendly. I could not, however, resist the siren call of the sale.


To my pleasant surprise, I was waited on by a very friendly, polite and enthusiastic young woman. She did just about everything right. She greeted me pleasantly, but didn’t pounce. She let me browse for a bit before coming over to ask if there was any way she could help me. Then she listened to what I needed in the way of recording equipment – really listened.

After a few minutes she suggested a few options. When I asked what the differences were between the models, she replied, “I really don’t know. I’m so sorry, but this is only my 5th shift and I have not yet been given any training on the products.” As you can imagine, this caught my attention.

I spoke with Linda for a few minutes and found out that everything this grade 12 student knew about the products she had learned by reading labels when the store was quiet and by looking up things online at home. Clearly this young woman wanted to do well and took pride in her part-time job.

Sadly her employers didn’t think it necessary to give her this input. They had been more concerned about making sure she knew how to spot a shoplifter and not to take a break until cleared by her supervisor. No wonder the employees in that store are they way are; they’re working blind.

Contrast that with the people at La Senza. The employees there are trained and given a large binder to study that tells them everything about the products, how to fit under garments properly, how to do just about everything to help the customer. I have always had good experiences in that store – and the women leaving usually have white bags over their arms and smiles on their faces.

In the same vein, let’s look at what happens at Montana’s. My eldest daughter works at this family-style bar and grill after school. She has just been promoted from hostess to expo, which means that she is now responsible for putting the garnishes, sauces and other extras on the plates before they are picked up by the servers.

For a week before she took on this role, Kris had sheets to study that told her what goodies went with what dishes. When she started in this position, someone worked alongside her to help guide her if necessary. Tonight she soloed (and was excited about it as she left the house) and was helped by the servers when needed.

Montana’s trains its staff in all other areas, too. For instance, when a new menu comes out, the managers hold a tasting/ training night where everyone learns about the new items and gets to try them. Making sure their employees know how to do their jobs well makes a big difference in how people feel about working there – and it translates into better morale and a better overall customer experience.

Lesson to employers: Invest in your customer service people and it will pay dividends.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Train Your CSRs - First in a Series

A tale showing the importance of a) having customer service reps who speak the same language as your customers, and b) training them before you let them loose on customers.


Our company bought two Dell computers recently. When I set up my computer I had chosen Canadian English as my language preference; this resulted in my keyboard converting to the French layout. In case you don’t know, the letters are in different places. For instance, if you type the “Q” key and your computer thinks you are typing in French, an “A” will appear on your page. Type “W” and you get a “Z”. Type “M” and you get a “?”. You get the idea, I’m sure. .

We had paid for three year’s worth of support, so I called the help desk to find out how to keep the Canadian version of English spell check having without having contend with a French keyboard layout.

I was told to change things back to US English and that would sort out the keyboard. No problem.

“Now what?”, I asked. I was told that I didn’t need to do anything because U.S. and Canadian English are the same.

I explained that there were many words that Canadians and Americans spell differently, so I wanted to use the Canadian English option. I was then told, in very broken English, that I was wrong and that the Canadian English option was only for people in Quebec who speak French. “Well, that makes no sense,” I thought to myself. Hmm. I tried another approach only to get a similar response.

Although I was now starting to become frustrated, I kept cool. Well, maybe I started to move into warmer emotional territory, but I know I was still being polite. Trying yet a different tack, I asked if he knew how to have both an English keyboard and an English option that was not American English.

I think he was trying to be kind when he patiently (and somewhat patronizingly) explained that it wasn’t necessary because American and Canadian English are identical.

One last time I tried to explain that there are many differences between the two. I was in the process of asking for a supervisor when he interrupted to say, “Madame, you need to understand about how English is working to know what I am telling to you is true.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

Instead, I hung up in frustration. Between the hold times, the double verification procedure and the inept answers, I wasted over 20 minutes getting nowhere. I had to call back twice more before I got my answer.

If Dell had trained its reps better (i.e. gave them the correct info, or taught them to pass a customer on to a more skilled rep when facing a problem they are unable to address), the company would have saved itself over 30 minutes of customer rep time, plus nearly 60 minutes of 1-800 long distance charges.

And I would have been left with a much better impression of Dell.

According to a December 16, 2003 BBC News article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3323243.stm) Dell had started moving many of its call centre jobs back from India because of “alleged complaints over Indian accents, and problems over solving technical queries over the telephone. There have also been claims by some analysts the move is a temporary one until more overseas staff are trained.”

That was nearly 7 years ago. More recently there have been stories about the efforts Dell has taken to improve its customer service. The fact that Dell is/was aware of the problem, yet seems to have made little headway in truly resolving the matter, sends the message that customer service is not really a big priority for them. Maybe acquiring and maintaining new customers isn’t either!