Guest post by: Anna Marie Cabagsican
Business is not merely marketing and gaining profit. In fact, it is about real-time experience that should last for a lifetime. With start-up businesses, this is something they often fail to foresee. On the other hand, this could be a thing missing in big companies who have already taken a name in the industry. They might somehow lose the enthusiasm they had on the first onset of the company. They are popular so people would go after them – a big No No. Whether it’s a small or big business, it isn’t always about money. One impressive way of handling the market is to build good relationship with your customers. So, this would mean having well characterized customer service and representatives.
I’ve read an article from Social Entrepreneur, The Secret to Entrepreneurship is to Give More Than You Get, which talks about entrepreneurship as creating value. Right away after reading the item, I was directed at looking into customer service on the other side. The side that is usually blocked by the idea of customer service as giving assistance alone. It somehow made me realize that customer service takes in a lot of values usually found and needed in our daily venture.
Here are some of the quotes of values taken from the article that really struck me:
- you must give to get
- give before you expect to receive
- you need to give the earth a number of seeds so that crops my grow in your field
- you need to give your business nurturing so that it may bear fruit in the way of profit and value for other people
I know these quotes of values are familiar to you and even graders could know them too. But sometimes we miss the point of why we demand for a good business on our employees or expect higher sales from consumers. Andrew Mennie of CRM gave it a point: Ever wondered how much customer satisfaction is worth? We all know and accept that it is a strategic goal for all organizations involved in the delivery of customer service? Definitely, customer satisfaction is hard to attain, maintain, and measure.
However, the Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos also once said, “If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”
Here’s another hot serving of CustServ roundup. Read and learn about customer service and customer experiences. 
RJ Owen shares on O’Reilly InsideRia Paul Ford’s article on “The Web is a Customer Service Medium.” The article presents a very compelling case that the Web is specifically “for” the purpose of letting people express their opinions. I agree! Anyone who has access to the Internet and social media can air his sentiments and opinions on any matter and in a matter of seconds, his ideas are picked up and shared on the Web. Read more…
On the Financial News of MyBankTracker.com is an article on “The Future of Customer Service Professions.” The article says, Customer Service is the true determinant of any business’s success, but as technology advances it looks like customer service is a dying profession. Read more…
Kate Legget shares with CustomerThink about “Forrester’s 5 Key Capabilities for Customer Service.” The article has good insights on how to survive in a highly competitive business arena through customer service. Read more…
I understand how JD Longstreet feel in his article, “The Hell of Dealing With Customer Service in America.” Read on…
Hospitality Times gives focus on calculating the ROI for customer service. The article, “HR must change how ROI for customer service is calculated.” It says, HRDs must shift customer service away from measuring customer satisfaction and into much more complex areas, such as how customers perceive the value of their relationship with the company. Read more…
Does climate change affect customer service?
In light of the flooding and landslides happening in unexpected places, I can’t help thinking about how these events can impact customer service.
Here in the country for example, when the power goes out due to heavy rains or wind, the hotline of Meralco almost always becomes unavailable. Perhaps, due to the volume of calls coming their way, too.
Good thing, I stumbled upon an article by Douglas Hartman. Titled How Climate Change Impacts Utility Customer Service, the article discusses what to do.
PRESS RELEASE
Entries up 60% This Year; People’s Choice Stevie Awards Voting Opens Tomorrow
Fairfax, VA – January 13, 2011 – Finalists were announced today in the 5th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success.
Organizations as diverse as Apple, Capital One Financial, India’s Tata Motors, and Telecom Italia are among those recognized in the customer service awards, call center awards, and sales awards categories. Organizations with Finalists in multiple categories include CIGNA Government Services, Austria’s Competence Call Center AG, Direct Alliance, the UK’s Everything Everywhere, Marsh U.S. Consumer, PetRays, Canada’s SMART Technologies, and SurePayroll. For a full list of Finalists, visit www.stevieawards.com/sales.
Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 21 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Tickets are now on sale. The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.
Entries were up 60% this year for consideration in more than 90 categories, including individual and team sales categories as well as individual and team customer service and contact center categories. Several new categories were added this year, including 12 categories to recognize new products and services for sales, contact/call center, and sales professionals as well as seven categories to recognize the achievements of solution providers to these professionals.
Members of the Awards’ Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors will select Stevie Award winners from among the Finalists during final judging later this month. Finalists were chosen by business professionals worldwide during preliminary judging.
Beginning tomorrow, the general public will be able to cast their votes for their favorite providers of good customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service Department. Voting will open at http://www.stevieawards.com/Service.peopleschoice. Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service in multiple industries will be determined in mid-February and honored at the awards gala in Miami Beach on February 21.
About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.stevieawards.com.
Sponsors of the 5th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Infogroup, The Sales Management Association andValueSelling Associates.
Before Christmas last year, I emailed my friends and asked them to give me their Top 10 Stores in the Philippines in Customer Service. Perhaps, because of the Christmas rush, only a few of my friends replied to that email. It turned out to be the a list of top 10 stores in Metro Manila.
Mari shared her Top 10 Stores in Metro Manila:
- SM Hypermart – courteous and helpful staff (no tipping rule!)
- Xend – Free pick up and they make sure they pick it up THAT day (better late than never!)
- Central BBQ Boy Grill – happiest staff I’ve ever seen in any restaurant!
- BPI Express (Cash and Carry) – efficient tellers
- Watson’s – great social media marketing on Facebook!
- Oody’s – attentive and helpful wait staff.
- Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf – gives great recommendations when you order.
- Asian Food Village (Manila Ocean Park) – comes around to ask you how’s your meal.
- TGIF – it’s the “americanized restaurant customer service”… they take care of you
- Zara – the customer is always right… jeans that I wanted marked on sale but it wasn’t but they still gave me the sale price.
Lisa replied: My number one right now is Manor Hotel in Baguio. Service is sincere and personal. Very attentive. Communication is seamless. Teamwork is admirable. The food is great. From one person to another – they all know what you ordered, what is pending.
Efren replied: Mercury Drug – fast service from taking orders to delivery, technically capable attendants, efficient computer systems where a transaction can anytime be deleted, amended, changed in short easy to order, and well almost complete stocks.
Do you have a list, too? Do share it here.
For 2011, we should strive for excellent customer service.
Marvin Ellison, the executive vice president of U.S. stores for The Home Depot, took his VP post at a time when Home Depot’s customer service dipped and people had stopped spending.
The challenge to improve Home Depot’s customer service and get people to visit Home Depot and buy was really daunting. But Ellison seems to have helped Home Depot made the turn around.
BusinessWeek checked on Mr. Ellison in May 2009 and learned a lot from him. A few insights follows:
- The best way to grow is to get more customers who are promoters and fewer who are detractors.
- Define the associate’s role in taking care of the customer first.
- The recession gave Home Depot an opportunity to revamp its supply chain, improve merchandising systems, and focus on serving customers better.
- If you combine a compelling merchandising offer with outstanding customer service, you will get improved transactions.
- Simplify things for the stores, giving them three primary things to focus on: remaining in stock, store appearance, and customer service.
When I read this part of the article, I said to myself, “now this is serving with the heart.”
In July, the mother of four spotted hundreds of teens milling about the Milton GO station well after service had halted for the day.
The teens didn’t know better. They’d been at a rock concert all day and now they were stranded.
Fleet immediately called her supervisors. “I told them we needed extra assistance,” she said. Soon, a rescue mission was in the works as drivers, volunteering to work on their day off, took the teens home.
“They’re the customers of our future,” said Danielle La Plante, a GO safety and training instructor who personally drove two teenage girls home in a company car.
“I have kids,” La Plante added. “You don’t leave a 14- or 18-year-old in the middle of nowhere.”
Proc said that’s the kind of pride and care for customers that GO has been attempting to instill in its staff during six months of training.
I am a mother, too, and I so I know how it feels to worry about kids not home yet when they should be. All sorts of scenarios would often cross our minds: they could be stranded, or worse, held up by bad people. It’s heartwarming to know that there are people and institutions out there who serve with their hearts.
- Finish strong. This somehow debunks the notion that “first impressions last,” because according to behavioral psychology (BP), a relatively weak start and a modest upswing at the end is better than a great start and a mediocre finish.
- Get the bad experiences out of the way early. Deal with anxious and inexperienced customers on a regular basis. BP believes that people prefer to deal with not-so-good news first and then the good news so that they can savor the latter.
- Segment the pleasure, combine the pain. Break pleasant experiences into multiple sateges to stretch out the enjoyment and combine unpleasant activities into a single stage or event.
- Build commitment through choice. It is better to allow customers some measure of control over their customer experience even at the risk of introducing extra cost and complexity.
- Let people have their rituals. Build and nurture tradition/rituals with your customers. That also means building relationships with them.
My family and I went to Jollibee Glorietta last Sunday. As usual the place is packed and there were long lines going to the counters.
Since it’s the kids’ favorite fast-food restaurant, we endured the long lines and ordered our food. When we were seated, I noticed a new feature in the store. Take a look:
Yes, we customers are asked to ring the bell if we are happy with their service. So, while we were eating, we would be roused by the ringing of the bell as happy customers leave the place.
It is actually a cool way to let people become aware of good service and teach them how to show appreciation for good service.
My initial reaction was, how does Jollibee management track of the ringing and not ringing of the bells?
I observed two ladies near the bell but all they did was to explain to customers what the bell was for or encourage customers to ring the bell if they are happy with the service. The ladies had a pen and paper, too. Perhaps, they did monitor the ringing of the bell. I just forgot to find out.
In any case, any activity that helps you know the voice of the customer (VOC) is good. What is crucial is how to analyze the data and use it to improve your customer service or your business.
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