2. 7 Reasons Why Nice People
Don't Get Good Customer Service
Paralleling stages
in the
corporate strategy known as
1. Basic Knowledge of Good Service. Don't ask for it. Too naive toward flaws in the service provider's
organization. Don't know alternatives to request or demand.
2. Don't Realize Own Buying Power. Not aware of customer status. Allow vendors to set the terms.
Knuckle under to companies' promises, half-truths and lies.
3. Limited Exposure to Excellence. Don't know what is considered Excellence in service. Don't demand
excellence. May not really want-desire excellence.
4. Buy the Company's Hype. Believe that because they are high-profile, they are a good company.
Falsely equate marketing to goodwill or standards of quality.
5. Indifference. Too shy or lazy to stand their ground for custom rights. Don't bother to state their case
or set boundaries. Settle for mediocrity because not up to demanding quality.
6. Continue Being Nice About It. Not willing to write letters, speak to supervisors or make demands.
Prefer to play the martyr but not assert own position over vendors.
7. Continue to Accept Less Than the Best. Let problems continue without correction. Get upset but
do not let people in authority know. Continue going back to where shabby treatment was experienced. Rationalize
the companies' mistakes away for them.
3. 7 Ways to Lose Business
...the Biggest Customer Service Mistakes Made
1. Forgetting Why You Are in Business. Failure to keep a clear focus upon the product, its marketplace,
its customers and people who influence your company's ultimate success. Thinking too limited, applying "band
aid surgery" and pursuing activity without a cohesive plan.
2. Failure to Retain Customers. Figuring that lost customers are easily replaceable. Retaining 2% more
customers has the same effect upon the bottom line as cutting costs by 10%. A longtime customer is 2-3 times
more profitable for the business than a recently added customer. Longtime customers make referrals, which reduce
the company's marketing costs. Dissatisfied customers will tell 10-20 other people. Thus, the successful business
must put the customer into a co-destiny relationship. Customers want to build relationships, and it is the obligation
of the business to prove that it is worthy.
3. Deceiving the Customer. Failure to deliver what was promised. Bait and switch advertising. Failure
to handle mistakes and complaints in a timely, equitable and customer-friendly manner. Unexpected or unauthorized
charges. When the bill is substantially more than was quoted.
4. Order-Taking Mentality. When the person taking the order delegates to others to fulfill in his-her
absence. Fill-in people rarely deliver as though their livelihood depended upon it.
5. Lack of Service Orientation. Don’t post a CSI rating unless you and every member of your team really
know what it means. There must be a commitment to maintain it. Consumer complaints must launch a genuine
action to improve. To avoid customer concerns and do business as usual is a mockry of the quality process. Such
a company does not have the right to flaunt its perceived CSI rating any longer.
6. Poorly Trained Employees. Employees mirror management's philosophy. If they're only concerned
with the cash register ringing, without giving any more, than they do not have a right to keep customers or stay
in business. Workers in companies think and behave as though customers are necessary evils and tolerate them.
This mindset kills any Vision or Big Picture thinking that company founders have built, as well as marketplace
goodwill.
7. Lack of Participation by Management. If problems are handled through form letters, subordinates or
ignored, then management is the real cause of the problem. Management must speak personally with customers,
to achieve understanding and set a good example for employees.
4. Typical Excuses Given for Poor Service
They always want to make themselves right and the customer wrong.
To them, customers are a pain in the neck.
You're supposed to understand their position and stop complaining.
Some of the worst rationalizations by service personnel:
Don't blame me. I'm just doing what I was told.
I'm not doing anything wrong. What's your problem?
It's our policy to _____.
Things are tough enough today. Like I really needed your problems.
Come back another day. Things will be better.
That's not my job. This isn't my work station. Wait until your assigned server gets here.
This isn't my regular job. I'm just filling in.
Those are the rules.
What do you say when people gripe to you all day?
Please understand...we've had a lot to do lately.
That's the way it is. If you don't like it, then take your business elsewhere.
Customers like you think you own the place. Where do you get off?
I don't work for you. I work for the company. My boss is satisfied by the job I do.
Looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.
There is nothing wrong with our company. So, what's your problem?
We're very busy at this time of year.
We sell the best products at the best prices. That should speak for itself.
Even worse--setting the tone for bad service—are excuses voiced by their supervisors:
We're very busy and understaffed right now. You must understand.
I'm sorry that you feel that way. But, that's the way it is.
I'm management, and our customer service people have the ability to behave as they wish.
Not everything is the way that I would like it to be.
What right do you have to complain? What are your credentials to judge the quality of service?
The boss doesn't give us enough resources. We're doing the best we can.
We always give quality service. I cannot understand why you feel otherwise.
He's so good in other areas. I cannot change his behavior just because you say so.
I have to work with him and cannot upset the boat. I will not say anything to him about this.
_____ refers him so much business. He cannot be all that bad.
That's management's policy, not mine.
Why don't you go back to the clerk and settle your grievance.
I understand that you have a problem.
We're Number One in sales. We must be doing something right.
Our customer service department handles all problems. See them.
We're operating according to company policies and procedures.
5. 7 Cardinal Rules of Customer Service
Paralleling stages
in the
corporate strategy known as
1. It is Politically Incorrect to Make the Customer Wrong. Service personnel cannot appear "right" at the
customer's expense. They are there to serve and, more importantly, to collaborate in the customer's satisfaction.
2. Everyone Makes Mistakes. The mark of Quality is how you handle them. Learn the art of diagnosing
problems, taking customer input and effecting workable solutions.
3. Sales and Service Are Not the Same Package. People with sales expertise must develop customer
service orientation. Know the difference, and train on both.
4. Businesses Live or Die By the Customers. If you think otherwise, you do not have the right to remain
in business.
5. Attitude Affects Everything in Business. Customers and other stakeholders know when it is sincere.
They support a company that tries harder and resent one that does not.
6. Service is Nurtured, Not Edicted. It doesn't just happen. Good customer service is the end product
of experience and training. Employees must want to participate and continually improve. Consistency, resources
and support assure the company's success.
7. Corporate Arrogance is Unacceptable. Management has the obligation and responsibility to see and
deal with things as they are...not as they would like them to be. Otherwise, they are fooling themselves and letting
customers and the entire organization down.
6. Or Else...Tally the Damages and Lose Customers.
Heed these business truisms:
* Having annual sales projections does not substitute a customer service program.
* Training for employees is not a panacea for necessary long-term strategic planning.
* Just because you tried something pro-active once does not mean that it sticks, nor
lasts forever. Continued fine-tuning, training and benchmarking are necessary.
Sure signs of self-defeating problems with companies:
* Having a bottom-line-only mentality.
* Squeezing every extra dollar, as if it’s your God-given right to pursue greed.
* Failure to really listen to customers. Inability to read and hear between the lines.
* Condescension toward customers.
* Sloppy administrative handling of customer paperwork.
* Failure to initiate communications with the customer.
* Keeping the customer waiting unnecessarily.
* Giving the customer unsatisfactory explanations for things not done in a timely manner.
* When the customer has to prod your company to get action.
* Lying to the customer.
* Making the customer wrong.
* Never giving the customer anything value-added.
* Management pays lip service to quality...but does not “walk the talk.”
* Company vision is not fully articulated, nor communicated and understood by all
within the organization.
* Employees do not have a clue about the subtleties and sophistications of life...especially when their customer
base is upscale.
* Taking inappropriate actions to repair the damage.
* Getting advice from the wrong consultants.
Major concerns which every company must address to improve customer service:
• Hold On to What You’ve Got...what you think you’ve got and what you’ve actually got.
• Understanding what the marketplace thinks you’ve got...in relation to customer needs.
• Keeping What You’ve Earned...what you think you’ve earned and what you’ve actually earned.
• Comprehending How Companies Lose Their Business.
• How to Grow Companies While Giving Good Customer Service.
• Asking Yourself, "When is Enough Enough?"
• Unmanaged Growth is Not Good Growth.
• Learning What it Takes to Really Stay in Business.
• Excellence and Partnering with the Customer ("Potlache," a Step Beyond Value-Added).
