Service with a Smile

Raise your hand if you have ever experienced any of these situations:

• called customer service and felt like you were bothering them
• at the checkout line and the cashier acted as if you did not exist
• asked for help at your local superstore and were met with ambivalence by the employee
• sent an email to a company and it was finally answered 2 days later without an apology for exceeding their typical response time

These are just a few examples of how service with a smile does not exist today.  I often think about the old fashioned way of doing business. In my mind, I picture a 1950's department store. Although I was not around then, I believe the frontline role was a career, not a job and customers were loyal to their store and frontline professional. The sales assoicate in a department store was charming, pleasent and had a twinkle in their eye. Furthermore, they smiled and knew their customers.

This picture does not exist in today's America. The basic concept of service with a smile is a lost art. As consumers we have become tolerant of this indifference that has defined the modern day frontline's attitude towards service. 

I have recently begun to take notice of how common it is not to smile when dealing with customers. Last week, I went to BabiesRUs where one would expect a happy, cuddly and family friendly atmosphere. As I combed through the aisles stocking up on my monthly supply of baby products, I was met with several, smiling and eager to help employees. What a treat! That warm, fuzzy feeling was short lived. As I approached the cashier, I can describe the experience as:

• Ughhh ... she was not in the mood to deal with me
• No eye contact
• Not even an attempt to smile and say, "how are you today?"
• Not an attempt to recogonize that I had a full shopping cart and to ensure that I found everything ok. (It was pretty obvious I am a loyal customer)

In addition, some of the coupons that I presented to her had expired but I did not expect that she would accept them. In fact, she did not. She did not voice any empathy to my situation. On the brighter side, I was surprised that she volunteered to give me some additional discounts without too much hoopla. A slight recovery for her. Perhaps, my bar was set so low that any slight positive behavior was a major thumbs up.

This is how I realized, that we have, as consumers, allowed companies and the frontline to ruin the art of service. Such that, we are willing to pay more for a product of the same quality but met with better basic service experiences. That is crazy. Are we actually paying more for a smile?

What if every frontline professional smiled?

• Customers would return to those stores or websites
• Companies could invest in improving the actual product instead of investing in acquisition to make up for lost customers
• Companies could afford to keep jobs in the country and outsource only to companies in the US. Customers would not tolerate anything less than an exceptional service experience and only Americans know how best to service their customer base.
• Our economy would improve and consumer confidence would be on the rise as products improved, innovation  was on the rise and customers found US products, produced and serviced in the US to be the best quality at the best price.

This is not far fetched at all. Companies, take note:

1. Hire service professionals for any role that touches a customer. This means just because the person is breathing and perhaps has showered, it does not make them a good enough candidate for your frontline.
2. Test the candidate on their attitude towards different customers and how they might react under the circumstance. If they are a cashier, ask your loyal customers to come in and role play scenarios. If the role is in a call center, have their future collegues role play with them.
3. Advocate for your service professionals and make them the center of your service based culture. Employee of the month is always nice but highlighting great service moments every day is even better. Extend these stories outside of the frontline organization to marketing, finance and technology.
4. Invite non frontline teams to meet with your frontline and chat about service in your company (i.e. finance, marketing, technology). These teams can use their specific skillset to help solve customer problems
5. Use customer feedback aimed at every frontline interaction to coach. This includes surveys, complaints and use of social media to determine what your employee impact is.
6. Instead of paying more on hourly wages to attract good talent, invest in a good pay for performance system. This should be tied to customer feedback as much as possible. When this is done correctly, you will encourage your good service professionals to improve. This will also attract others who know they can make more money and enjoy their job for being service oriented.

Of course, if consumers are not telling companies that they are not good at servicing, then there is not an incentive to take action. Perhaps with smartphones and new apps aimed at gathering customer feedback in the very moment it occurs, one can hope customer voices around this topic will be harder to not to listen to. (Check out Gripe and Tello)

Mr. President, I have an idea for your next bill regarding the economy; a simple smile might solve our economic crisis. Just saying!

Happy Cyber Monday (for all of you who want to avoid dealing with a human)

Michelle
the customer experience factory

The Mom and Pop Store's Social Strategy

I recently put together a deck describing in basic words why this small family owned jewelry store should consider a social strategy. The grand-daughter of the store owner has started the trip down this path but wanted some additional ideas. 


Below are the highlights of the presentation and I invite more tips if you have them.

Why Create a Social Strategy

•

• Customers who know you like to see what you are doing. This gives them a reason to visit the store and get excited about their next purchase. 
• New customers who do not know you, will do their research and will want to understand how you do business.  
• Create excitement and buzz (i.e. coupons, customer polls) •
• Create a forum for loyal customers to visit and comment about the service, product and recent purchase 
• Gives businesses insight on their quality of service and product 
• Showcase the brands that you carry 
• Low cost marketing and advertising 
• It is not just for the young and the older demographic is using social strategy to connect to friends and family. 

Some Useful Tips about Social

• Ensure messages are consistent and updated at least weekly 
• Highlight your customer base and ask them to find you online.
• Consider promotions to attract walk-ins and returning customers.
• Post pictures of the store, products and customers frequently
• Highlight staff and make suggestions about products
• Link to brand pages and relevant articles
• Provide customer tips
• Reply to customer inquiries as soon as possible
• Track your site metrics 

Proposed Social Roadmap

• Make sure your website has interesting information and is not just a site for basic hours of operations.
• Make Facebook customer central
• Use Twitter to highlight upcoming events and activities
• Use YouTube to make customers famous
• Create a LinkedIn company page
• Blog about your store and industry using Blogger or Tumblr

Facebook Tips

• Update the logo with the picture of the store
• Ask walk in customers in the store to go home and “like” your page and offer an incentive to do so.
• Ask to take a picture of the walk in customers and post to FB. Tag the Customer so their friends can see that they were in the store.
• Email customers your Facebook site and ask them to “like” the page.
• Make this an exclusive site for offering contests and coupons.

1. Sponsor monthly favorite fan contest where they can get $100 coupon (good up to one year)
2. Give coupons for trunk shows ($25 - $100 off)
3. Give away an item every month to a lucky FB fan (i.e. charms)

• Launch customer polls for topics such as favorite brands, favorite piece per brand (i.e. showcase three sets if earrings and ask which is most fabulous), or other hot topics.
• Ask customers what products they want
• Talk about hot topics in town and collaborate with other retailers on Facebook Events
• Highlight staff and their recommendations. This is especially great for holiday gifts 

Twitter Tips

• Add the storefront logo 
• Anytime FB, Blogs or Linked In is updated, tweet an update. 
• Tweet when there are significant happenings in the store (coupons, contests and community events) 
• Tweet about customers coming in (ask permission) 
• Tweet about brands 
• Highlight staff and their recommendations. This is especially great for engagement rings and holiday gifts 

Youtube Basics

• Ask customers what they love about their purchase and experience
• Make this a place where customers can check out each other and then send these links to their friends
• Make the customer famous! 

•

LinkedIn Basics

• Create a company page 
• Ask each employee to sign up and connect with their business associates 
• Connect with local merchants 
• Connect with friends 

Sample Schedule for the Week

•

• Mondays: Schedule tweets and start a hot topic of the week 
• Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: Join one hot trend conversation on Twitter, if appropriate, and add new content to Facebook (new items you are selling, photos, discounts and other promotions). 
• Tuesdays and Thursdays: Respond to blog comments. 
• Fridays: Check traffic at your blog or website. 
• Saturday: Post a new blog 

Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

To a short, holiday week!

Michelle

the customer experience factory

The Power of the Thumb

As a customer of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, I appreciate and enjoy the opportunity to see how my friends and family are doing but I am beginning to really love the education I am getting by following a bunch of people I have never met. I never thought that this would be my cup of tea, but I am totally loving it. I have started to read up on the latest business trends around social marketing and the emerging field of Customer Experience. Through this casual reading, I have come to realize the power of being a customer in this emerging social world.

I know what you are thinking ... yeah, that's old news. Probably for you but while I have been updating my FB page and adding connections in LinkedIn, I never valued the voice that these platforms had until now. I participated because it is a social norm to do so.

In my experience, this describes who is on Facebook or LinkedIn:

−       Every Age Group

−       Every level of tech sophistication

−       Pretty much, everyone is doing it

−       Parents and Grandparents sharing the latest pictures of family life

−       Professionals of every kind seeking contacts (current, past colleagues and classmates)

−       Every business, small and large has a page

−       Your friends present, past and future

−       Your neighbors

−       Your family (all over the world)

−       The people that you see at the local grocery store, the dry cleaners, the cleaning person and the landscapers

−       Bargain Hunters galore

−       Brand Loyalists

−       Extra-Curricular activity groups including those crazy Fantasy Team owners

If this is right, then it just shows how powerful we as consumers really are. However, I am not so sure that the people in this group understand their "social" power. The average consumer does not think about how their one comment or thumbs up can reflect on a brand. The power of the thumb is insane and rapidly gaining strength. I propose that as a consumer, we redefine how we want our customer experience to be and start a new movement, Occupy the Thumb. Ok, far fetched, but is it really?

I also realized that that we are consumers of, well, consumers. We "buy" into each other's opinions. As a basic testament to this theory, think about the Like button or the symbol of the Thumb. This simple thumbs up is a sign that whatever is on that link is customer approved and therefore “my” friends will like it too. It was cool for family photos and personal quotes but now I can “Like” an entire company, product or customer experience.

However, what if I don't like it?

While this industry is still emerging and taking shape, I truly believe there are some unbelievable opportunities to design great customer experience solutions using the social space for input and experimentation. Every person reading this blog should invest in tweeting, writing and discussing your personal service moments. Make sure you go to the company pages and share your comments to your network as well. You will be surprised by the influence you have. So the next time you want to complain or thank someone for a great experience, skip the part where you ask for the store manager or supervisor if it is on the phone. Just take it over to their Facebook page and Twitter handle and see what happens.

As a new business owner, I have been spending time developing concepts for products specifically to address how the service experience can be improved by using customers as champions for change. It is my belief that businesses that invest in defining a great Customer Experience program and that can execute with a balanced team of marketing, operations, sales and technology will be able to reap the financial rewards of attracting more customers and developing a stronger base of loyal brand advocates. Businesses want long term relationships with their customers so just consider the old saying, “Happy Wife, Happy Life”.

My head is spinning with a plethora of ideas and I hope I can get them out to market in 2012.  In the meantime, I will continue to share my service experiences as well as anyone who wants to share theirs via this blog. I hope this blog can be a place where customers and businesses check in, share and rate service moments.

If you have recently shared a service experience via your network, please post it in the comments as well or send to @thecxfactory on Twitter or post on Facebook (link above).

It is almost Friday!

Michelle,

the customer experience factory!

Moments of Truth

Please send me your stories and experiences as consumers about any moment of truth you had which defined the entire experience. You can email me at michelle@thecustomerexperiencefactory.com

To a Terrific Tuesday!

the customer experience factory

Toys R Us vs. The Grocery Store

Saturday Afternoon in NYC

For anyone who has ever visited Times Square and in particular, Toys R Us Times Square on a Saturday afternoon, I am sure you can fully appreciate the experience I had this past Saturday. We had friends in town and their kids wanted to hit the tourist spots of NYC. Even though I have lived in NYC and the surrounding area for 13 years, I absolutely love to see this amazing city through the eyes of a child. You just can't beat it! So with 4 children, 2 strollers and 2 very hungry men, we set out to visit mid-town Manhattan on a Saturday afternoon with all the other NYC visitors. When you live or work in NYC, you do your absolute best to avoid these places because it is just pure mayhem with the crowds, street performers and of course, traffic. However, as a tourist, this is the center of it all and you must mentally prepare for the experience. 

Our excursion included an up front view of the Empire State Building, a walk through Times Square, a 2 hour luncheon at Smith's Bar and Grill Times Square on 44th and 8th Avenue and then one final stop at Toys R Us for the kids. After stopping into this amazing store, the adults were wiped out and had little desire to add Rockefeller Center to the day. 

So what does this have to do with customer experience? 

Although it is free to walk around New York City, I absolutely see this as an experience designed by storefronts, architects and government officials. This was in my mind, welcome chaos and exciting. NYC knows how to entertain their guests and design a plethora of new ideas such that every time you come, you discover something new. 

Overall, NYC ... I rate you an A+.

I mentioned we stopped for lunch at Smith's Bar and Grill which was not overwhelming for a large group of customers including 4 children and 2 strollers. It was nothing spectacular and felt less like a tourist spot and more of a local hangout which is always nice for a Saturday afternoon. The food itself was pretty standard, nothing to complain about and nothing to write home about. The waitress was pleasant but the service was slow and the food came out in 4 different stages. By the time I had my food, I was completely over it. 

So overall .... I rate Smith’s Bar and Grill a C+.

Lessons Learned

• Fulfill on the promise. Being nice isn't good service. Good service is as simple as making sure everyone gets what they ordered when they want it. 
• When no one is complaining, that doesn't mean you should not make a goodwill gesture to overcome a service disruption. (i.e. The waitress could have offered a free drink or simply took the charge off of the bill for one food item.)

We ended our visit at Toys R Us in Time Square and all I can say is WOW! Walking into this place, we were greeted by photographers, a giant Ferris wheel and 100% pure chaos. The fact was that it was pretty organized chaos and our group had to rethink their strategy about how to procure a few simple toys. At this point, we split up and my husband and I and our 2 strollers attempted to take the elevator upstairs. We were met by a bevy of what seemed like the Hells Angels with strollers. A simple task of getting upstairs took a little strategy on our part but when the door opened; I soon realized it was totally worth it. 

Walking through the tight aisles, are toy magicians, showcasing a flying or spinning out of control object which they do this as if they were in the circus. Looking around at the toys, I soon realized that this store was full of products made exclusively for this store which made the experience a bit more entertaining vs. shopping at my local Toys R Us.

Toys R Us NYC: Jurassic Park Dino

Our three year old son was on a mission for either Buzz Light Year or Spiderman. While my husband was focused on the task, I focused my eyes on the amazement of the ceiling and the giant toys up in the air. I was so impressed and not at all concerned with getting tackled by exhausted and stressed out parents eager to get over to the check out line. 

When my son finally settled on Spiderman, my husband took the risk of getting into this line with the stroller but the cashier pointed to him and told him to cut the line. She explained that she wanted to make it easier since the physical space was tight. I thought this simple gesture was an extraordinary service moment and for any parent driving a stroller in a crowded store, you can attest to the significance of this moment.

Waiting in Line

So overall .. I rate Toys R Us NYC an A.

Lessons Learned

• Service Recovery is great but preventing a stressful or an unpleasant moment is even better. To do this, your service professionals need to open their eyes at every chance and be on it. They must be taught to look out for specific signs but also to think about moments of truth, where customers will define their entire experience in just one moment. Our visit to this store was described as chaos but the cashier did something to make the experience less chaotic.

My Average Grocery Store Visit at Shop Rite

Growing up in upstate NY, I was exposed to great grocery store experiences and most famous of these is Wegmans. Anyone who has ever stepped into one of their stores can tell you what is great about the shopping experience. Typically, when you walk into their stores you are greeted by their produce section which resembles a scene from a Broadway show depicting the farm life. The physical produce looks like it just finished a photo shoot for Bon Appetite. Hugging this section is an eclectic mix of specialty shops and of course an enticing bakery.

I could go on and on but what is worth noting is the fact the aisles are very large, the space is clean, the people that work there are very happy and will do whatever it takes to help you. In addition, they have what seems like 100 different check-out aisles and, did I mention the nice, smiling people behind them? It isn’t a mystery then, that Wegmans has been noticed for being a great place to work and for providing excellent customer experiences.

Living in NJ, I find that it is impossible to find anything close to this at my local grocery stores. I currently shop at Shop Rite and I have been to at least 3 different stores and they are all pretty bad. The only store I find close to the Wegman’s experience is Whole Foods, which of course has limited inventory.

So what is the issue with Shop Rite:

þ    Carts are either too big or too small and are always filthy

þ    Aisles are tight and products always seem to be scattered in random places.

þ    Stores seem dirty and overall the style is out-dated

þ    They need to open up more check-out aisles and introduce self-service

þ    The people can barely toss a smile your way

þ    You have to bag your own groceries otherwise you will be there forever

What I find even worse than this is that the customers, themselves, create a horrible experience. What we are talking about are grumpy people eager to run you over at every opportunity they get. This is very much unlike the Toys R Us experience, where the customers, albeit chaotic, were happy to be there and made the experience fun. This grocery store and many others in the area, must recognize that making their stores inviting will create happy customers who will be enjoyable to shop alongside of. The nicer the customers are, the more I am willing to shop there.

So overall ... I rate NJ Grocery Stores a D.

Lessons Learned

• Good energy can invite more business so invest in the aesthetics of your shops. Raise the bar on an average service experience by making it a destination where customers look forward to returning. Customers have choices, including shopping online, therefore to be ahead of the competition, you need to stand out. Price alone is not good enough.
• Happy employees make a routine shopping trip pleasant and inviting. To make employees happy, you have to reward happy behaviors and compensate employees to do so. This means investing in the employee infrastructure which means meaningful salary, benefits and awesome perks.

The Post Office

When you think of great service, it is rare to think of the US Post Office. In fact, I normally try to avoid going there at all costs. My usual experience can be characterized as long wait lines, slow service, unhappy service people and cold/sterile storefronts. When I stepped into the Milburn, NJ post office yesterday, I expected this very same experience. What I expected was:

• check!    a long line --- there were 2 people ahead of me and 2 people behind
• check!    slow service --- there was only one person attending the front desk and he seemed to go to the mysterious back room a lot (what is in the back of these places, btw?)
• check!   sterile / cold storefront --- this post office was built a long time ago, with it's light blue wall color and colored linoleum floors
• wait!     unhappy service people --- not here! 

The man behind the counter was nice, friendly and warm. He clearly had many years of working for the post office and did not seem angry for having to work there. The customers in the line all knew him and were actually smiling and patient with the fact that the line was long while he was not braking a sweat to take care of them. Interesting.

So this made me think...can a nice, friendly service experience overcome all the other negatives? Are we as consumers that sensitive to a kind smile that we will forgive all other shortcomings? The answer is yes!

In addition, repeat customers have more patience and will overlook your shortcomings as a business. So the trick is not to wow on all factors of a great experience but perhaps to wow on the one that is the most important to the customer. The trick is, what is this one factor? I would think it is different for all of us?

My grade for this experience at the Milburn, NJ Post Office is a B. 

I value my time and my issue was pretty simple. I needed to buy stamps. This location did not have any machines so as a customer, you need to wait on line. In addition, if the Post Office is to survive, they may want to consider borrowing a page from Starbucks and make their environment a place where people want to come and do business. I am not suggesting that they serve coffee but, hey, maybe some tables and chairs with decent working pens would be great. Offer free Wi-Fi and perhaps people servicing you at your table to see how they can help you with your postal issues? Far-fetched but I bet if you took out the bureaucrats and brought in some savvy, creative entrepreneurs, they could save the Post Office. Just a thought.

Share your thoughts on the Post Office and by fixing service alone, how might they survive.

To a great Thursday!

the customer experience factory

Apple vs. Verizon

I just came back from the Short Hills Mall where I needed to stop by the Apple store to fix my iPhone and go to Verizon so they could move my contacts from my blackberry to my new iPhone phone. In addition I needed to return a charger that my husband no longer needed. 


So here is the experience:


Apple Store:


Greeter, holding an iPad, asked how she could help me and I explained my issue. She took my phone, showed me that all of the apps were open by holding the button and then she proceeded to clear these apps. This 30 second activity cleaned up the giga..whatever you call it so that the video could operate. 


A++ for quick, simple and nice service.


Lessons Learned:

• use common sense to avoid creating processes to solve basic problems. I did not have to wait to speak to anyone to get help. help was there
• friendly service is always the way to go

Verizon Store:


Greeter, holding an iPad, asked how he could help me and I explained my issue. He asked my name, typed it into my iPad and then told me to stand over there. So I patiently waited while the desk was packed with what seemed to be customers who had all day. It appeared that all the service team members were pretty busy so I waited and waited. I was standing there all alone. Finally, customers were finishing up and I would be next. So I thought. Immediately, the service employees ran away to the back room or to another customer without asking me if I was waiting for someone. I felt ignored.


I noticed the computer was showing names on a wait list and my name did not appear. What was the purpose of the iPad and the greeter? When I asked a woman to help, not one smile or acknowledgement of my waiting. She took my phones went to the mysterious backroom (what happens back there?) and came back in 5 minutes with my phones and still no smile. As if I was bothering her.


It gets better! I ask to return this charger that my husband purchased at another Verizon location. She took it, without saying a word, looked at the receipt and said she could not accept it and I had to go to the other store. At this point, I am confused and say why? She says that the store in the mall is corporate and the other store is a retailer. Very confused. So what??


By the way, the first Verizon store where I went initially to ask about my iPhone could not do a simple troubleshoot which would have avoided the entire trip to the mall. 


D for poor service


Lessons Learned:

• retailers take note! just because you have a greeter with an iPad in their hands does not make you Apple. Pretending you are efficient just makes customers more frustrated.
• notice and acknowledge your customers when they are not dealing with your frontline
• break the rules on policies if it is basic stuff
• smile ... smile .... smile. Service professionals are there to serve and should never look or act like they are being bothered. Customers should not feel uncomfortable asking for help.

Send me your comments on Apple and Verizon. Hopefully they will listen!

the customer experience factory is launched

It is official and I have now launched the customer experience factory. the customer experience factory is all about designing servicing strategies for companies interested in innovation and trying to exceed their customers' expectations. My past 8 years working for American Express has taught me what extraordinary service should be and how customer feedback should be the core for changing any process, program or strategy. 

It is too often that the servicing organizations of most companies are over-looked and seen as large cost centers. It is not a surprise then that many voices have emerged noting how the call center is a profit center where fee based servicing is a large mechanism for creating additional revenue streams. However, how many are saying that call centers and servicing professionals in general are an investment? This is probably one of the largest lessons I learned in working with some pretty amazing people at American Express. 

I have traveled to call centers all around the world and I have seen how companies value service. I am eager to raise the voice on the service experience for all consumers and I want to blog about your stories. If you have a story and you want to share it with me, please email me at thecxfactory@gmail.com. I will re-tell your experience and add some thoughts on what the company should have done as an alternative. In addition, I will share ideas on how they could have created a WOW experience. Please share the good, the bad, the ugly and the WOW.

Hopefully customer service professionals across all companies will begin to read this and start sharing their stories, experiences and ideas about how to improve service. 

To get things started, I am headed over to the Apple Store at the Short Hills Mall later this afternoon because the camera on my iPhone is not working and the sales associate at the Verizon store told me that he is not able to troubleshoot with iPhones based on Apple policy. He also mentioned that they will probably replace the phone. So I wonder:

• Has Verizon passed the buck to Apple? Have they set my expectations high and will I be getting my new phone fixed or will they replace it with little hassle?
• Why is Apple not giving their retailers full access to troubleshoot on their products? Shouldn't they try to help and have the customer avoid a physical service transfer?

I am sure there are many good business reasons for why Verizon could not help me. Let's see if Apple will fix my problem. 

enjoy the day!

Michelle

CEO, the customer experience factory