Customer Experience - The Sincera Way

Customer Service and the Lowest Paid Employee Paradox

It is an interesting paradox I often observe in Customer Service Experiences...

• Who typically has the most exposure to the Customer or Patient and yet is the lowest paid employee team member?

• Who single-handedly has the greatest potential to create or destroy Customer Value via the delivered Customer Service Experience?  The Patient Experience?

• Which single position often has the deepest impact on the traditional Customer Service Experience or the Patient Experience and is often the lowest paid?

Perhaps you have already arrived at the potential correct answers...  The receptionist or "Director of First Impressions" has significant contact with your Customer and represents your organization and are often amongst the lowest paid.  Ironic is it not?

As a Customer Service Experience consultant, I see this "compensation paradox" ALL the time and quite frankly, this "paradox" makes little strategic sense.  How can it be that the one position that has the greatest potential to create or destroy so much value is compensated so little.  Consider...

• Average organizations measure the direct bottom line, monetary value.  Therefore, the receptionist is a "cost" - not a "benefit" nor someone who returns a tangible return on investment.

• Rainmaker organizations measure the potential psychological impact and recognize that it has a long-term impact on the bottom line, monetary value.

What should be done differently?

Rather than randomly hire people to fill receptionist and phone-answering positions, create a strategy that truly adds value and respects the potential these positions represent.  Following are critical steps to maximize your Customer Service Experience.

1. Reframe the Mindset of Management and the receptionist alike - Management and the Director of First Impressions alike must get into the right mindset about what the role performed by receptionists.  It is not a cost - it is a strategic benefit that reaps rewards when done correctly and loses Customers when done poorly.
2. Benchmark the Position - Identify the Behaviors, Values, and Attributes necessary to do the job well
3. Set Performance Expectations - Define performance success and expect it.  Identify Customer Service Experience Touch Points that are non-negotiable.  Set expectations regarding non-performance and the ramifications of doing the job well or failing to do so.

4. Create Performance Accountability - Employee team members who do not perform their duties as expected shall expect to be replaced or at the very least - provided additional training.

5. Compensate High Performers / Remove Low Performers

Receptionists and those who answer the phone are doing very important work.  The reality is they are making your First Impression.  Make your First Impression count by recognizing the strategic importance of what the receptionist (Director of First Impressions) actually does.  Select the right talent that can fulfill this important role well and compensate them well for the value added.

Now Go Maximize Possibility

Mortgage Company Customer Service - Some Get It, Some Do Not

We recently decided to take advantage of low mortgage rates to buy our dream home. 

I have three major "beefs" with mortgage companies thus far.

• The options are complicated.  I realize it must be purposeful - to create differentiation.  My wife and I have very good credit and we naturally want the best interest rate and repayment terms possible.  Yet each mortgage company I have been speaking with has a little different way of presenting the terms.  It would be easier for the consumer to get the information in a manner that quickly told them where they stood relative to other lenders.

• The hours many mortgage companies are open are "working hours" rather than reasonable hours.  We are obviously in a major recession where people should be working as diligently as possible.  Therefore, it would make complete sense to me that the mortgage company would be open into the evening hours - say 8 pm. Few are open past 5 pm.  I actually found one out of 8 in my area that actually answered the phone after 5 pm - they were at home making dinner.

• "You-should-be-grateful-you-are-speaking-to-me-syndrome".  Some of the mortgage companies I spoke to basically spent the better part of the initial conversation letting me know how booked up and busy they have been and how long it will be until they will be able to fit me in.

The mortgage industry is fascinating to me.  Supposedly the country needs new mortgages to free up dollars that are held up on mortgages that may be then spent (or saved) elsewhere.  Yet the apparent non-standardization of options and the limited hours mortgage companies are open seems to constrain what the economy really needs right now. 

Do You Treat Your Best Customers Like Royalty?

Or are your best Customers receiving the very same Customer Service Experience as your least important Customers?

Do you know who your best Customers are?  By name?

Stop for a moment.  List off your ten best Customers. 

Can you list your ten best Customers?

What kind of Customer Service Experience do you deliver to your ten best Customers?

Is it different from all the rest?

Like you (or perhaps not), I tend to be a pretty loyal Customer.  I am a member of several rewards programs such as Northwest Airlines Worldperks and Marriott's Rewards Program.  No...  It is not all about the points I accumulate - although I do love points.

A significant reason I am a loyal Customer is due to the Customer Service Experience I receive.

• On the plane, I typically fly First Class due to my free upgrades.
• In the hotel, I typically am at least recognized for my status as a frequent stayer of Marriott.

Why am I member of Customer-centric programs like these?  The answer is really simple.  I like to be treated like the Customer I am.  I am unique.  As a Customer who spends a lot of money with some companies, I expect to be treated differently than people who do not spend as much and/or are not as loyal.

You might say, "Chris...  NWA and the entire airline industry are not shining examples of fine Customer Service Experiences."

I tend to agree and disagree.  In general, the airline industry does not do a very good job taking care of the Customer.

Yet, I can say with 100 percent confidence that when companies like NWA and Marriott realize who I am and how much I have spent with them over the years, I am treated differently - when they realize who I am.  They know who I am.  They communicate with me.  They thank me for my business days and weeks after I did business with them (mail and email).  They remind me that I am a preferred Customer.

I like that.  As a Customer, I like being treated differently from all of the rest very, very much.

Most Customers agree with me. 

Are you differentiating your Customer Service Experience based on who your Customers are?  Or are your high-value Customers being provided the same Customer Service Experiences as your low value Customers? 

Key Customer Service Experience Message...  If you want my loyalty and my money, you must treat me differently - better than all of the rest.

Last summer I had my deck rebuilt.  The huge "home improvement" chain treated me just like everyone else - on the day I purchased $10,000 in materials and every single time I have been there since.  This company has lost a powerful opportunity to treat me differently.  They have lost a powerful opportunity to capture a long-term relationship that is not based only on price, price, price.

The huge office supply store I frequent treats me like everyone else - everyone gets the little rebate credit - everyone gets treated courteously as they enter the store - everyone gets upsold when they buy electronics.

How can you deliver a better Customer Service Experience to your best Customers?

1. Acknowledge your best Customers are different from all the rest.
2. Tell your best Customers you appreciate them - often.
3. Give your best Customers Service that is beyond what everyone else gets.
4. Select only employee team members who are capable and willing to deliver your desired Customer Service Experience.
5. Do the above four Customer Service Strategies consistently.

Now go Maximize Possibility!

Other blog posts you may be interested in:

• Don't Destroy Customer Value by Assuming You Know What the Customer Wants
• Cultural Change Begins with Personal Accountability
• Five Signs Personal Accountability Isn't a Core Cultural Value
• Creating a Powerful Customer Experience by Exceeding Expectations

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

 

 

Copyright 2008, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc. 

Customer Service Strategy: Don't Destroy Customer Value By Assuming You Know What the Customer Wants

Is it safe to assume that all Customers want to save money?

I think so…  But I think it is important to keep in perspective how your Customer wants to save it.

We could fix their problem two ways…

1.       Fix it cheaply now – but not completely (a “bandaid”) – the problem may come back later at a worse time.

2.       Fix it right – now – fully, without a doubt that the problem will not recur.

Key thought – Are you creating Customer Service Value or are you subjecting them to your perspective?

Are your assumptions of trying to save your Customer money actually causing more harm than good?  Are you putting a “bandaid” on a problem that will recur at the worst possible time for your Customer?

It is important to remember…  Many Customers will do EXACTLY what you suggest.  They trust you.  You are the EXPERT.

Do not assume they want to save money.  Assume your Customer wants the most valuable solution to their problem that will fix it completely.

Please allow me to share a story to illustrate.

A year ago, we purchased a building that has four apartments on the second floor.  We allowed the existing property manager to continue managing the apartments.  Little did we know that the property manager was a “penny pincher” to the extreme. 

That might sound really great – to have a property manager who is conscious of cutting costs.  But this property manager took it to a level we did not want.  He thought he was helping us when he was actually hurting us by destroying Customer Value with our Tenants.

The benefit of having a property manager is that they deal with all of the renting, maintaining, repairing, and cleaning of the apartments.  When there is any type of problem that a tenant has, the property manager brings in a repair person.

The four apartments are heated and cooled from one furnace and one air conditioning unit.  The “magic” of being able to do so and keep everyone comfortably happy is through the use of “zone controllers” that are wired to a thermostat in each apartment.  The “zone controllers” enable each tenant to choose their own desired heating and cooling setting.  There is one “zone controller” for each apartment or four total.

During a big storm in March, one of the “zone controllers” failed.  The property manager brought in a heating and cooling contractor who asked the property manager what he wanted him to do.  The property manager thought he was there to save us money so he said, “remove all but one of the zone controllers”.  In other words, the contractor removed three of the four zone controllers to “save” us money.

The results were ugly.  With only one zone controller working – one tenant had their desired temperature of 70 degrees.  The rest varied from 73 to almost 85 degrees.

Imagine living in 85 degree heat.  Yes…  The tenant became very, very upset.

The bottom line – the tenant with the 85 degree heat became VERY frustrated and ultimately left the window open all the time (wasting energy) and then proceeded to flood the apartment in frustration.

We (the building owners) did not know what was going on until we had water damage on the main floor and the 85 degree apartment was flooded.

What was the real problem?

The property manager wanted to save us money on repair costs.  His primary objective was to “save” us money.  Our primary objective was to take great care of our Customers.  In other words, we wanted each tenant to comfortably choose their desired temperature.  Therefore, we did not want only one zone controller.  We wanted the heating system fully-repaired to maximize comfort for our valued tenants.

Our property manager destroyed the Customer Value we were hoping to create by trying to save us money. 

The question I have for you…

What assumptions are you making for your Customers that may not be accurate?  Are you trying to save money for a Customer when it is actually hurting them more in terms of additional costs down the road and causing their Customers to be upset?  How are your assumptions about what the Customer wants destroying Customer Value rather than creating it?

The best solution is to solve both today and tomorrow’s problem.  Solve the current problem and solve the future problem.  Doing this will Maximize the Customer Value that your organization is able to create.

Now go Maximize Possibility!

Other blog posts you may be interested in:

• What we can all Learn About Customer Service From Ozzy Osbourne
• Cultural Change Begins with Personal Accountability
• Five Signs Personal Accountability Isn't a Core Cultural Value
• Creating a Powerful Customer Experience by Exceeding Expectations

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

Copyright 2008, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc. 

Why Customer Service Training Is Usually Lipstick on a Pig

Every day we get calls from people across the United States seeking Customer Service Training.

The conversation goes something like the following...

"We need someone to come in and do some Customer Service Training for our hospital.  Can you give me a price?"  The statement and question are seemingly tied together to get the conversation started and concluded as quickly as possible.  We have been here before.  They want a price and a program.

"Can you tell me a little about your organization please?" we ask.

"I'm just an admin assistant.  My boss, the CEO just wants to know how much," is the typical response.

Quick aside...  What does it say about the leadership of a hospital, clinic, law firm, or a business if they hand off something as strategic as Customer Experience Strategy to an admin assistant to do their research?  Hold a minute.  I need to call my stock broker so that I can sell some shares... 

Continuing on... 

"Oh...  Well, unfortunately, we are really not able to be of real assistance unless we know more about your situation and organization."

Their response is almost universally incredulous, "You can't give me a price for Customer Service training?"

"No, I am afraid we cannot until we understand your unique situation."

"I just want a price."

Click.

Sometimes the conversation goes deeper and we learn more but rarely and here is why...

Most organizations are really not very interested in changing their Customer Experience.  Customer Service is lip service at best.  We see this problem in medical facilities with alarming regularity.

The Customer Service Training Initiative is usually kicked into high gear as the result of the CEO saying, "Someone get someone in here to do some Customer Service Training!"  What usually sparks this order is a lousy Press Ganey score.

The wheels start in motion.  The CEO thinks they are going to solve a Customer Experience problem through training alone.  Imagine that. 

Can I be frank?  Of course I can...

Customer Service Training is ''lipstick on a pig".

Customer Service Training by itself does NOTHING to change your Customer Experience.  I do not care if you are a clinic, hospital, law firm, call center, or a restaurant.  Your Customer Experience hinges on the following three critical elements...

The Right People (1) doing The Right Things (2) working in The Right Culture (3).

• Ignore having the right talent doing the job and your Customer Experience will suffer greatly.
• Ignore having the right talent doing the right things at the right time and your Customer Experience will be lousy on a good day.
• Ignore having the right talent doing the right things at the right time in a world of leadership accountability and your Customer Experience will be memorable and avoided.   

If you are missing just one of the above three critical Customer Experience Elements, you are in dire straits.

In other words, Customer Service Training out-of-a-box does nothing, zero, zilch, nada to improve your Customer Experience.  If Customer Service Training is entertaining, we call it "Trainertainment".

If you really must check the box saying "We did some Customer Service Training for our team this year," then call a local college and bring in someone who is a "talking head" and get it overwith cheaply. 

Or better yet - save your money - get serious about your Customer Experience and bring in real change agents. 

Now Go Maximize Possibility

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

Copyright 2008, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc. 

Creating Powerful Customer Service by Exceeding Expectations

A friend of mine, Josh, told me of an incredible experience he had this past weekend while shopping for a new pair of shoes.  Normally when purchasing anything routine at a retail outlet, Josh likes to keep his customer service expectations low, and therefore he claims to be seldom let down.  Perhaps I am being a bit cynical, but over the past few years it seems that stories of exceptional customer service have been few and far between.  However this story I was told reassured me that customer service is not dead…

For some time Josh had been considering the purchase of new pair of sports shoes to use at the gym.  This past week he decided he could tolerate his current shoes no longer so he broke down and headed to Scheels All Sports, the local sporting goods center.  Scheels is awesome, they seem to have everything you could dream of, and a friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Josh strolled into the men’s sport shoes department of the store and started browsing his favorite brands to see what they had to offer.  He narrowed his decision down to two different shoes.  While holding one in his hand, he was approached by a most “delightfully friendly” sales associate.

“Hi, how are you doing today sir?” she asked with a pleasant smile.

“I’m pretty good.  Thank you” Josh replied

“That’s a great running shoe you’ve got there – we’ve been selling quite a few of those lately.  Are you looking to hit the gym during the winter?”

Their continued interaction was friendly and informative as the sales associate asked a number of qualifying questions and helped him to determine the best shoe based on his needs.  She measured his foot and hurried to the storeroom to bring Josh a pair to try on.

She returned with the shoes and laced one up for him to try on.  He put the shoe on his foot and thought it felt a little snug.  She felt around the shoe on the toes and the behind the heel and sure enough she told Josh he needed a ½ size larger.  Josh agreed and she hurried back to the storeroom to get the right size shoe.

After a short time she returned empty handed.  ‘Here we go again,’ he thought to himself. 

“I’m sorry sir, but we sold the last pair of 11s in that model earlier this afternoon.”

“Ooh, shoot” He replied.  He couldn’t help but think to myself that this sort of thing always happens to him!  However, Josh tells me, before he had the chance to feel like the world was out to get him, the friendly sales associate sprang into action.

“However I did call the Minot store,” 70 miles to the north, “And they do have that shoe and size in stock”

“Oh, they do…would they be willing to ship it down here?”  Here came the real shocker.

“Yeah, we can do that.  However if you would like, tomorrow is my day off and my mother and I were planning on driving to Minot to visit my grandmother.  I could swing by the store up there and pick up the shoes for you so you wouldn’t have to wait for them to get shipped”

Josh was taken off guard. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.  I’d hate to be an inconvenience”

“It’s no inconvenience sir.  I drive by the store on my way to grandma’s.  You could pay for the shoes here and I will drop them off at the register when I get back tomorrow and you can pick them up in the evening.  Do you think you can handle your old shoes one more day?” She said with that now familiar and pleasant smile.

“Wow! Are you sure it’s no trouble?”

“Not in the least bit, I assure you”

At this point Josh claims he could hardly contain himself, “That is incredible.  Thank you so much!”

She accompanied him to the register and made sure that everything went smoothly.  The next evening, as promised, his shoes were waiting at the register.  Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty!

There are two thing that incredible woman did that were extraordinary.  The first and most obvious was her willingness to go out of her way (at least in my mind and Josh’s too!) to find and deliver the product that he wanted.  The second may not be quite as apparent.  She identified a problem, and instead of being discouraged or trying to make excuses as to why the shoes were unavailable, she quickly identified a solution.  She did not ask the store manager or a colleague what she should do, but rather took the matter into her own hands and found a way to deliver a real solution.

In my opinion, this sort of thing is becoming increasingly rare these days.  This sales associate could have tried to get Josh to purchase a different shoe, but rather sensed his enthusiasm for the shoe and found an appropriate and timely solution to the problem.

For her what may have been a quick and painless detour on the way to grandma’s, was to Josh a giant display of kindness and customer service at its finest.  Would he have waited for the shoes to be shipped and still been reasonably satisfied?  Sure, but the extraordinary customer service he experienced drove his satisfaction level through the roof.  He couldn’t have been more pleased. 

I like to call this the “WOW” factor.

It should go without saying that Josh, and myself for that matter, will return to Scheels in the future for our footwear and other sporting goods needs.  Will  I receive this sort of exemplary service every time?  Doubtful, but I won’t soon forget this incredible story that I heard.  An experience like this reflects favorably on the organization, just as a negative experience reflects poorly on the organization.

In my opinion this particular store and organization have done an excellent job of identifying individuals who are likely to deliver exceptional customer service and reinforcing the need for this level of service to their staff.

Now go Maximize Possibility!

Other blog posts you may be interested in:

• Consistency is Key to Creating a Memorable Customer Experience
• Understanding a Customer's Emotions is Critical in Providing Excellent Service
• What Time is the Three O'Clock Parade?
• Cultural Change Begins with Personal Accountability

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

Copyright 2008, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc. 

Hospital Customer Service

In terms of Hospital Customer Service, where are the stakes the highest?  Where emotions run frayed and the potential to emotionally hurt a patient is very likely?  The answer is the Emergency Room.

Over the years, we have had countless visits to Emergency Rooms - both via our consulting practice as well as via my 6 year old son, Macauley who has broken his arm twice.  What little boy doesn't spend time at the ER?

Macauley has broken his arm twice now.  The first time was on a bouncy thing in our living room and while painful, it was manageable for Macauley and ourselves.  We went to the ER and were treated.  That ER Customer Experience wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just an ER visit.  It was blah.  Average.  Normal.  Nothing major to note.  We came and we left.  End of story.

Nice building though.  But wait.  That's expected.  If you don't have a nice building, and a competitor ER down the road does, patients might go there next time. 

The second time, Macauley's break was more painful - for him as well as Mom and Dad.  I remember three things about that day.  I remember the sounds of the thud and the scream of Macualey hitting the ground.  I remember praying that his pain would go away and saying to myself, "I wish my arm was broken and not Macauley's."  It was emotionally traumatic.  And I vividly remember how we were treated by Dr. Gordy. 

As luck would have it, our ER Doc was none other than Dr. Gordy.  I haven't done this before, but I am tempted to ask Dr. Gordy what he does for a living because he is unlike other ER staff I have seen both personally and professionally.  Dr. Gordy touches lives emotionally in ways I think few ER doctors do.

As a scared Dad, I didn't ask Dr. Gordy to show me his credentials.  I assumed that because it is a well-respected hospital that his doctor abilities would be nothing less than the best.  And they were.

And there lies the problem.  Hospitals focus on the technical side of things - the ability to do procedures, to follow protocol.  And they should.  But there needs to be an emotional element or standard as well in the Hospital Customer Service Experience.  And it is missing BIG TIME.

I don't want to say that Hospital and ER staff don't care about people.  I know they do.  ER staff are under tremendous pressure and are highly educated and trained to overcome life's small and large challenges.  They save lives.  They make a difference.  But all medical organizations make this difference because one may assume (incorrectly) that all medical organizations that are certified are good at what they do.

My concern is that most Hospital Emergency Room Customer Service Experiences are focused solely on the physical or technical issues of the patient.  You are probably wondering...  "Tell me what you mean..."

Please allow me to share an example of my son's broken arm and the treatment we all received by Dr. Gordy...  Remember.  We were scared to death.  My son was crying.  I was crying on the inside.  We were worried.  Dr. Gordy walks into the room and among his first words, he said something like, "Do you have a punchcard?  I think by now you might have a free visit." 

I laughed.

Macauley laughed. 

My wife laughed.

For a moment, we forgot that Macauley's arm was broken.  We were touched.  And we became a Dr. Gordy fan.

Dr. Gordy stood out.  Why?  Because he touched our lives and not just physically but also emotionally.  He left us in better condition than he found us and he treated everyone there today, not just my son, Macualey.

Unfortunately, not everyone that day shared Dr. Gordy's philosophy.

I don't mean to sound cynical here.  I really don't.  But I see it all the time.  I see banners suggesting that hospitals really care about patients.  I believe they do.  Average Hospitals care about the physical needs of the patients.  Amazing Hospitals care about the emotional needs as well.  Here are just some of the things I have seen over the years in a Hospital ER:

• An amazing experience with a nurse who spends quality time and appears to really care and then a doctor walks in and treats the patient like a piece of meat. 
• An amazing experience with a doctor who spends quality time and appears to really care about the patient as a human being and then a professional staff person walks in treating the patient indifferently.
• Over a 20 minute time period, I have seen over 100 Hospital ER team members walk by a patient on a gurney in a hallway exposed to the world and not one of them acknowledged the patient.  Several team members walked by repeatedly - all without acknowledging the patient.
• I have seen medical staff laugh and chit chat outside the room of someone who just passed away where friends and family members are grieving and saying their "good byes". 

I can't tell you how many wonderful Hospital ERs I have been in.  I have been shown blueprints of new medical facilities and I always wonder, "Where's the blueprint of how the patient will be treated?"  The problem is most people think that the Medical Customer Service Experience is about nice buildings filled with technically proficient staff.

It's a standard.  It's a given.  If you aren't technically proficient, you aren't treating patients.  So technical proficiency is a given. 

If you don't have a nice building and a hospital 3 blocks away does, then you aren't innovative and cutting edge.  In other words, you are old.  So everyone is putting up nice buildings.

Fact.  Nice buildings with technically proficient medical staff are a dime a dozen.  They are everywhere.  There is no competitive advantage.  Either you have the technical staff and the nice surroundings or you don't and you lose if competition nearby does. 

The REAL opportunity is through how you treat the Patient.  Your Patient Customer Service Experience is what will set you apart from your competition.  Why?  Simply because most people only pay lip service to Patient Customer Service.  It's in marketing brochures and commercials plastered everywhere about how you will be cared about at XYZ Hospital.

The problem.  Go to XYZ Hospital and see how many times you are greeted by a staff member as you walk the halls.  Chances are, you won't be greeted unless you obviously look like you shouldn't be where you are.

Why create emotionally-engaging Patient Customer Service Experiences?  Most importantly, your patients deserve it.  During the toughest emotional times of our lives, we as human beings deserve to be treated with respect, love, and empathy.  Unfortunately, most medical organizations don't get that.  They think it's about the building and technically proficient staff when that's icing on the cake.

What do you do about this problem?  It's really quite simple.  Cultural change takes time.  Do the following four things, and your Patient Customer Service Experience will soar.

1. Create a culture of Medical Customer Service Experience Accountability.  If you can pass by a patient without acknowledging them, you don't work here anymore.
2. Build Hospital Customer Service Touch Points - Create "Moments of Truth" where your team can purposely help your patients feel emotionally better.
3. Hire and retain the right people.  I see too many Medical Organizations who are quick to hire and slow to fire when people don't live up to Customer Experience expectations. 
4. Help your medical staff understand why they are really there.  To make a difference in the lives of those they touch.  If they can't get that, then help them find work with your competition.

Now go Maximize Possibility!

Other blog posts you may be interested in:

• Seven Contributing Factors to Glenn Beck's Hospital Visit Gone Wrong
• No Problem is a Customer Service Phrase Problem
• Consistency is Key to Creating an Exceptional Customer Experience
• Creating a Powerful Customer Experience by Exceeding Expectations

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

Copyright 2006, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc. 

Angry Customers Mirror You!

When the chips are down and your Customer is angry, the best defense is a SMILE!  Customers will reflect how you treat them.  Treat them indifferently, they will act indifferently.

Over the weekend, I was at a Civic Center event that involved a lot of people waiting in line.  The promised time the "gates" would open was at 4 pm.  The appointed time came and went and with it the tempers of many people waiting in line.  To make matters even more interesting.  The event was a general seating program.  First come - first served. 

What went wrong was at least two things.  First of all, the expectations of the crowd was 4 pm, not 4:10 or 5, but 4 pm.  Key thought here.  Always exceed expectations.  Always.  The public address announcer even mentioned the time less than an hour earlier and it was publicized on the radio and in the newspapers.  The second thing that went wrong was how the person working the "gate" handled the situation.  She didn't smile.  She didn't say, "I am so sorry this is happening to you."  She didn't say, "Let me see what I can do for you."  She said, "I don't make decisions around here.  The guy upstairs does."

It was like gas on a fire.  People were ANGRY! 

I won't repeat some of the nasty things I heard.

Part of the problem is the person managing the gate thought they were there to manage the gate.  They didn't realize that the real reason they are their is to make a difference in the lives of their Customers. 

Remember what kind of doctors get sued the most?  That's right...  Rude ones.

You might read the blog: What kind of doctors get sued the most?

What kind of people draw the most fire from angry Customers?  Rude ones.

The Law of Attraction is that we get what we expect.  We mirror one another's emotions.  And your Customers mirror your emotions.  This "mirroring" happens whether you like to believe it or not.  Treat someone indifferently, they will do the same back to you.  If you seem interested in them as human beings, they will do the same to you and one another.  Treat them rudely, and they will treat you rudely. 

The Antidote to angry Customers is quite simple...  Don't be indifferent.  Use the power of emotion through:

1. Eye Contact - Use it - it shows sincerity.
2. Smile - Use it often - it disarms even the hardest of hearts.
3. Name - Where possible - tell people who you are and ask who they are.
4. Be a Difference-Maker - tell a joke, laugh, be human.
5. Empathy - Acknowledge emotions.
6. Expectations - Always exceed them.  Always.

When a Customer is angry is the precise time to show them that you care!

Now go Maximize Possibility!

Other blog posts you may be interested in:

• Customer Service Defined by Four Little Words
• Consistency is Key to an Exceptional Customer Experience
• Bad Customer Service - What is it Costing You?
• Are Your Vendors Hurting the Customer's Experience

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

Copyright 2008, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc. 

Why Customer Service Initiatives Fail

Customer Service Training Programs and Customer Experience Initiatives fail simply because they don't encompass a holistic approach based on...  People, Culture, and Touch Points.

I recently had a meeting with a hospital where they said, "We spent a whole bunch of money training our entire staff and it failed."  As we reviewed what "went wrong" I found the voice in my head saying, "It was doomed from the start."  I can't tell you how many times a month I hear this exact same thing. 

The client in particular has several thousand team members and they wanted to improve their Hospital Customer Service and decided to put everyone through the same Medical Customer Service Training Program.  So they hired an outside consultant who gave them learning materials and showed the medical organization's internal trainers how to train it.  The trainers had their hearts in the right place, but they didn't feel like they were connecting during the actual training process.  They noticed that some people seemed to "get it" yet some didn't seem to care.

The medical facility trainers also noticed that some team members said things like, "Why isn't so-and-so here?" and other comments like, "When will that department do their job?"

The problem is three-fold...  The first problem is what we call "drive-by training."  What is it?  It's simply where we apply a large training band-aid to improve the Customer Experience by getting a bunch of people together in the same place and the reality is it may only be accomplishing the task of creating awareness about the issue.

Unlike technical training, Customer Experience deals with human emotion where the answer isn't "yes" or "no" but rather varying shades of gray.  Human emotion is like that.  Therefore, the one-size-fits-all approach does not work. 

Like many organizations, the typical medical organization is quite large and complex.  What is needed in one department to improve the Customer Experience may not be what is needed elsewhere in other departments.  This is why system-wide learning objectives fail.  Imagine going to a doctor who only prescribed aspirin.  If you have a headache - that's great!  If you have a broken leg, it might take the edge off the pain, but it won't deal with the core problem.  The end-result of blanket training initiatives - poor results and reduced team member morale as they go to yet another training on "how to be nice." 

If you want to improve the Customer Experience of an organization, you need to work on the individual parts as part of the whole.  Having people corralled into a classroom from ten different departments will do little for you in terms of creating lasting change.  Work on one department at a time.

The second problem is cultural.  If you are in an organization where it is acceptable to assign blame to others, play the victim, and/or procrastinate, you simply cannot train anything until you create the culture of Personal Accountability.  For more on enhancing your organization's Personal Accountability - please see www.personalaccountabilityatwork.com. 

The third problem is your team members are unique.  People are complex Behaviorally as well as from a Values and Personal Attributes perspective.  What does this mean?  If you don't know how to talk with your team members - to really touch them and help them emotionally own the changes - you are missing an opportunity to connect to inspire them to want to create the desired Customer Experience.  It is impossible to connect with people at the emotional level required to make the sustainable change you want via an organization-wide learning program.  It doesn't work.

What to do? 

1. Realize that cultural change isn't going to happen with a class or two.  And generalized training is extremely ineffective.  It's largely a waste of time when applied to Customer Service Improvement.
2. Recognize that if you don't have the right people inspired to make their difference in the world via an organization with a culture of Personal Accountability doing the right things at generally the right times, your Customer Service Training Change Initiative will fail.  And fail miserably.  When you have all three critical areas in alignment, we call that a Sincera Customer Experience.  It's the real deal. 
3. Begin with basics.  Review your Mission, Vision, and Values at the organization-level.  Ask yourself in your department.  What human condition (emotionally) are we here to improve upon?  What will our legacy be?  Answer that question before doing any Customer Experience enhancement work at all.  If your people don't know where they are going - any road will get them where they aren't going.
4. Create a culture of Personal Accountability.  Without it, most learning and change initiatives fail miserably?  Why?  Because people love to create excuses both verbally and in their head about why it won't work.  Personal Accountability learning will stop blame, victim-thinking, and procrastination cold.  If you are interested in learning more - drop me an email at chris@therainmakergroupinc.com and I will send you a 70 minute book called QBQ - The Question Behind the Question.  Powerful thought process and learning program.

Now go Maximize Possibility!

Other blog posts you may be interested in:

• Why Traditional Customer Service Training is Usually a Lousy Idea
• Consistency is Key to an Exceptional Customer Experience
• Bad Customer Service - What is it Costing You?
• Are Your Vendors Hurting the Customer's Experience

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

Copyright 2008, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc. 

What Kind of Doctors Get Sued Most Often?

There isn't a lot of concrete evidence regarding the financial impact of poorly treating Customers - or in this case Patients.  One can assume that if you treat the Patient poorly, that's a strong negative...  A 2002 study sheds light on the impact of how a surgeon's tone may influence a patient's decision to sue the surgeon...

Whether you are in the Medical Customer Service field or not, this article and thought process will benefit you...  Feel free to remove the medical thought process and replace it with your organization's job titles, situations, and Customer Experiences.  This is a universal thought process.

What kind of doctor gets sued the most?

Brain surgeon?  There's a lot at stake...

Cardiologist?  Lots can go wrong...

Pediatrician?  Hurt me and I can live with that.  Hurt a child and the jury will award significant damages...

Anesthesiologist?

Give up?

The answer...  Rude doctors.  Consider the following excerpt from the medical journal - Surgery (Volume 132, Number 1)

When things go wrong, a surgeon's tone of voice may influence a patient's decision to sue the surgeon, according to a study supported in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HS07289). After controlling for content of conversations, the researchers found that surgeons whose tone of voice signaled less concern/anxiety and more dominance during routine visits with surgical patients were more likely to have been sued than those whose tone was less dominant and more concerned. Researchers audio-taped 114 conversations during routine medical visits between 57 orthopedic and general surgeons and their patients.

Raters who were blind to surgeons' malpractice claims history evaluated 10-second voice clips with content and 10-second voice clips with just voice tone. The sound bites were taped during the first and last minute of each surgeon's interactions with two different patients. Based on the content-filtered audiotapes, surgeons who were judged to be more dominant and less concerned or anxious in tone were more likely to have been sued than surgeons who were judged to be less dominant and more concerned and anxious.

These findings suggest that how the surgeon conveys a message may be as important as what the surgeon says. Expressions of dominance may communicate a lack of empathy and understanding for the patient, while concern or anxiety in the voice is usually associated with empathy. Dominance coupled with a lack of anxiety in the voice may imply surgeon indifference and lead a patient to launch a malpractice suit when poor outcomes occur, explain the researchers. They suggest that listening to brief audio clips might be a useful way to provide feedback and give surgeons a sense of how they sound during interactions, which may improve care satisfaction and reduce lawsuits.

More details are in "Surgeons' tone of voice: A clue to malpractice history," by Nalini Ambady, Ph.D., Debi LaPlante, M.A., Thai Nguyen, B.A., and others, in the July 2002 Surgery 132, pp. 5-9.

How we treat others will determine how they feel.  If something should go wrong in the Patient or Medical Customer Service Experience, the potential of being sued increases dramatically based on whether or not the patient feels emotionally positive about the doctor.

Question.  Does it matter if we are thinking about doctors, nurses, nurse aids, phlebs, administrators, admissions representatives, custodians, or surgical techs?  It absolutely doesn't matter.  How we treat the Patient will have tremendous ramifications for whether or not they sue, come back, or tell others to come to your facility or avoid it.

The choice is yours. 

Points to consider...

What is your Medical Customer Service Experience like right now?  Where are your critical "touch points" where your Patient may be emotionally-harmed?  Again - don't limit it to the doctor's office. 

• Is your voice mail painful to listen to?
• Is your admitting process devoid of empathy?
• Is your waiting room painful to sit in?
• Is the promised wait time longer than promised?
• Do team members walk past lost Patients?
• Are Patients properly greeted upon arrival?
• Do Patients feel important?
• Is your billing complicated and frustrating?
• Are Patients acknowledged by all medical team members?

How do your team members treat your Patients, the lifeblood of your organization?  Indifferently?  Patients who are treated indifferently - sue indifferently (see the article - The Opposite of Love is Indifference (http://www.sinceracustomerexperience.com/2006/10/customer_experi.html#more).  It's tough to be angry with someone you like. 

Lastly...  Another big question.  What is your hiring and coaching strategy regarding your Medical Customer Service Experience?  Are you purposely using personality profiling tools to ensure you are hiring the kind of people that are fully capable of delivering a warm Medical Customer Service Experience?

Now go Maximize Possibility!

Other blog posts you may be interested in:

• Seven Contributing Factors to Glenn Beck's Hospital Visit Gone Wrong
• No Problem is a Customer Service Phrase Problem
• Consistency is Key to Creating an Exceptional Customer Experience
• Creating a Powerful Customer Experience by Exceeding Expectations

Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.  Bring Chris in today!

1-866-988-RAIN

Copyright 2008, Chris Young - The Rainmaker Group, Inc.