D. All new staff gets customer service training when they are hired.
E. Everyone has gone through our customer service training and they are consistently and persistently reminded about our customer service expectations. Good results are recognized. Problems are discussed. Statistical measurements of retention and referrals are shared.
With every audience, almost all hands go up for answer E. They know conceptually what customer service training should be. But then if you ask them to confess what they are actually doing about customer service training, they’ll sheepishly raise their hands for A, B, C, or D. If pressed on the issue, they’ll defend the contradiction by saying they are too busy with more urgent matters or can’t get good employees—so what’s the use? or can’t afford it or a myriad of other excuses. My mentor and friend Dan Kennedy bluntly says: “Making excuses and making money are mutually exclusive skills. Somebody good at one never seems to be very good at the other.” He also talks about not being the fat doctor who smokes—meaning, if you know what needs to be done and don’t do it, shame on you.
At www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com, we’ve surveyed thousands of business owners before they purchase The Happy Customer Handbook. We ask them: What best describes customer service training in your organization? Only 2% answer E. Why is that? Why is it that everyone knows their team should have consistent customer service training upfront plus consistent reminders, but almost no one does it?
Here’s why: With the best of intentions, the business owner has a “rah rah” meeting about customer service, and the service improves for a few weeks. Then, without reminders, you’re back where you started. And the reason is simple: The reminders don’t come because you’re a busy business owner and you have a lot of other things to do. Without consistent reminders, things are doomed to drift back to the way they were “before,” every time.
But this may even be more amazing. More than 75% of all businesses have no upfront customer service training for new employees—NONE! They give them essential technical training, but do not give them customer service training.
So, the answer to the question, “What can business owners do to improve their customer service?” is: Don’t take any of this for granted.
1. Train your entire team to deliver exceptional customer service.
2. Consistently reinforce your customer service expectations with your team.
To start, your entire team needs to get trained with your exceptional customer service expectations. And beware the “rah, rah” training I talked about above. It shouldn’t be a pep rally. Nido Qubein, a business leader associated with a number of fine companies like The Great Harvest Bread Company and La-Z-Boy Furniture, and President of High Point University says: “Motivation without foundation leads only to frustration.” (Nido’s amazing transformation of High Point University is featured in Dan Kennedy’s book No B.S. Marketing to the Affluent, Second Edition.) It shouldn’t be an aggravated critique, a harangue. It needs to be real why-to-do-it and how-to-do-it training. But it can’t stop there!
You also need to consistently and persistently reinforce those expectations. Zig Ziglar said, “Repetition is the mother of all learning.” But learning something doesn’t necessarily lead to behavior change, so when it comes to customer service in your business, I say, “Repetition is the mother of all learning and constant reinforcement is the father of permanent behavior change.”
Once you have your entire team trained and you’re consistently reminding them about your customer service expectations, what happens when you get a new employee (team member)? You need to make sure every new team member gets exactly the same initial customer service training that your entire team received. No one can be allowed in without getting this training. And, by the way, no one resistant to it, noncompliant with it, or sabotaging it can be permitted to stay.
The best thing you can do to show your commitment to exceptional customer service for every new employee is to train them with your customer service expectations immediately. After your new team member fills out the required government employment forms, what do they do? In most businesses, it’s not customer service training, but it should be. If you want maximum referrals and customer retention, whether you create your own training, or use the training we have available at www.KeithLee.com, the very first training every new employee receives must be customer service training. It can’t wait for another day.
The very best customer service that any customer will ever get in your business is when you’re there, right next to your team member. At that point, if you accept “good,” the service when you’re not around will, without question, be less than good. That’s not good for the health of your business, measured by retention and referrals. This is why you need to raise the bar. Even when you’re committed to exceptional service, your team will fall short sometimes. But when you do, you’ll often still be providing good customer service. In addition, when your customers are used to getting exceptional customer service they’ll be much more likely to forgive you in the rare instance when your customer service falls below good. Or to let you know, and better to be asked to improve than left behind.
RESOURCE
Secret Number 3 in my book The Happy Customer Handbook, 59 Secrets to Creating Happy Customers Who Come Back Time and Time Again and Enthusiastically Tell Others About You is, “Your customer service expectations need to be extraordinary.” As a reader of this book, you can get The Happy Customer Handbook AS A FREE GIFT at www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com.
Under the best conditions, with the best training, with the best people, things often slip when the cat’s away. This requires enforcement married to training. The most candid, toughest-minded book of practical advice on this is Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits, Second Edition.
Expectations and Possibilities
You’ll never achieve a high level of customer service unless your expectations for customer service are extraordinary. Great customer service that supports the maximum possible retention and referrals will never occur above or beyond the expectations you put in place for it and communicate about it, through training and ongoing, consistent reminders.
Your Customers Need to Know Your Customer Service Expectations
This may strike you as dangerous. If it does, you’ve just told yourself that you urgently need work on exceptional customer service!
In my businesses, we share the same customer service expectations conveyed to the employees with the customers. Our customers know how we define and aim for Make-You-Happy Customer Service®. We put ourselves on the spot! My American Retail Supply business sells to about 10,000 customers each year, and all of those customers have my direct, personal phone number to call if we’re not taking care of them. Each year I get about a half dozen phone calls from customers who think they did not receive Make-You-Happy Customer Service® from us. Almost all of these calls start with, “I read in your newsletter that customer service is important to you, and I just wanted you to know . . .” or “A few months ago when I was on hold I heard that you wanted me to call if I had a problem that wasn’t being taken care of . . .” or “I really didn’t want to bother you, but in your Retail Tip of the Week, you said you want to be notified if I’m not happy.”
Again . . . I LOVE COMPLAINTS!
What’s