I’ve been in a bit of “radio silence” lately, greatly ignoring this blog and my participation in other social media outlets. I’ve been incredibly busy, which to me, is always a good thing. I really don’t know what to do when I have lots of free time on my hands. It’s the holiday season, so I’ve been spending my weekends working at my not-quite-local Eddie Bauer store. I do it for fun, because I enjoy spending time with my coworkers, with the customers and with the product. I also do it because it helps me keep my finger on the pulse of the economy and I never lose sight of what’s going on in the lives of our customers.
People I work with often ask me why, since I have a master’s degree, am I working for an hourly wage as a regular sales associate. Why would I “stoop” to the level of stocking shelves, ringing a cash register and handling sometimes unpleasant customers? I do it because I think it’s important not to lose sight of exceptional customer service. I’ve worked in a number of professional positions over the years and I’ve found that in many companies, the further the position is from the front lines of customer interaction the less likely it is that the people in those positions will remember that at the end of the day, THE CUSTOMER PROVIDES THE PAYCHECK. Without customers a business is without purpose and will cease to exist.
I don’t care if you’re sitting in a corner office or penthouse suite. If you’re not talking to your customers and your front-line employees you’re not doing your job. Also, if you sell a product or service directly to a consumer make sure you’ve made a purchase yourself. You should experience the same thing your customer does, from your customer’s viewpoint. This is especially important for those of us in e-commerce. If you’re selling a product online make sure you’re familiar with the online browsing and purchase experience. If you’ve just joined an organization your first task should be to go through the purchase flow.
Sometimes, there’s a fine line between staying afloat and truly servicing a “customer is always right” policy. I’ve found many businesses afraid of empowering employees to make decisions necessary for customer satisfaction. There’s a fear that employees and customers will abuse the policies and cut deep into profit margins. My experience, at both Disney and Eddie Bauer have shown me that this rarely happens. Disney gave Cast Members the power to make sure a guest was 110% satisfied and Eddie Bauer has the most generous return policy I’ve seen in retail. Do some people take advantage of this? YES. Do most people? NO.
I often choose my employer based on its commitment to customer service and satisfaction. I’ve left some stable opportunities when I found that upper management didn’t have a connection or concern for the customer experience. I’ve recently joined a start up company that I think is always thinking about how to best serve the customer.
Most of this post has been written with a view for those of us who are in business and serving customers. That’s only one part of the equation. I think it’s just as important for customers to take charge of their experiences with vendors. If something isn’t to your satisfaction, tell someone. Yes, in an ideal world every employee would be bending over backwards to make sure you have the best experience possible with their organization. In practice, we don’t always get a chance to service every customer that comes through our doors. If we ask you if you found everything you needed or if you’d been helped and the experience wasn’t to your standards, please let us know so we can attempt to make it right. If we can’t fix it for you, perhaps we’ll come across some process improvement to make it better for future customers.
If we’ve done something right, tell us. We’re not just looking for a pat on the back. It’s helpful for us to know what’s working. Did you receive exceptional service from an associate? Let us know who it was that delighted you. We’ll want to hire more people like him/her. Is there some company policy that’s just so amazing you want to tell everyone about it? Please do. We may want to extend that policy to other areas of our business. In the end, businesses want to WOW CUSTOMERS so completely that customers come back multiple times. It’s mutually beneficial: the business gets a customer with a high lifetime value and the customer has an experience that is consistent and fulfills a need.
In every interaction you have, make sure you’re asking the question HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
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