As indicated in this video link, it doesn't matter WHO inspires change and causes special moments to be built with your customer base, just that the attempt by SOMEONE is being put into practice...
If clicking on the hyperlink below doesn't access the video, then please cut and paste it into your web browser to view.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=F0JFCMNU
I hope Johnny's story touches a special place in your heart as it has mine. I also hope that it is the thing to realize that if you think of your customer while keeping your approach simple, you will most likely be able to produce the type of widespread change and customer loyalty he was able to generate...
Remember, all he did was have a good, sincere heart and he began by simply asking himself, "What can I do?!"
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
I'd Like to Speak to Your Supervisor -- NOW!!
by Julian Ignatowski, Sr.
We have all had the unfortunate experience where we have not received either the answer or the resolution we were hoping to receive from the customer service representative on the other end of the phone. You know what I'm talking about. It's that representative that is reading (and, if it's a department that is outsourced to a third world nation, boy is it obvious they are reading) from a book of objections. Every concern you raise is followed by, "I understand what you are saying Mr./Mrs. (fill in butchered last name here), but...." Then there are the representatives who are just outright unhelpful and quite rude. These are the types whom you'd like to "readjust their face" if you were given the ample opportunity. Finally, there are those who ultimately are rogue customer service representatives that do not act responsibly -- they are not accountable to anyone, let alone any "imaginary supervisor". Take a look at this link and you'll see what I'm referring to...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Sure, it's satirical, but not so far from the truth. There sure are "Peggy's" out there ready to ruin our lives if given the chance! I know that this type of transaction can actually take place. I've worked for the telephone sales department of a newspaper publishing company back in college. We were not only told to use fictitious names when speaking with people on the phone, but if the prospective customer we were speaking with on the phone had a beef with one of us and wanted to speak to the supervisor, then we would just put them on hold hoping that they would hang up out of impatience. If, after a few moments, they were still on line, we would tap a fellow salesperson on the shoulder, give them "the look" and they would know exactly what to do. They would take the phone and make up some pretend apology and tell them they were going to refer the matter to the night manager. The name and phone number would be read back to the angry customer to let them think we cared enough to follow through on the matter and then as soon as the call as over, the scratch piece of paper went directly into the trash. It's a shame, but it's actually how some firms conduct themselves.
I personally always hate it when you ask to speak to the manager or supervisor and they say that "the person you need to speak with isn't available, but I will take down your name and number and have them call you back". Yeah....uh huh...I wasn't born yesterday...
Don't sit around waiting for the call...it's not coming.
We have all had the unfortunate experience where we have not received either the answer or the resolution we were hoping to receive from the customer service representative on the other end of the phone. You know what I'm talking about. It's that representative that is reading (and, if it's a department that is outsourced to a third world nation, boy is it obvious they are reading) from a book of objections. Every concern you raise is followed by, "I understand what you are saying Mr./Mrs. (fill in butchered last name here), but...." Then there are the representatives who are just outright unhelpful and quite rude. These are the types whom you'd like to "readjust their face" if you were given the ample opportunity. Finally, there are those who ultimately are rogue customer service representatives that do not act responsibly -- they are not accountable to anyone, let alone any "imaginary supervisor". Take a look at this link and you'll see what I'm referring to...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Sure, it's satirical, but not so far from the truth. There sure are "Peggy's" out there ready to ruin our lives if given the chance! I know that this type of transaction can actually take place. I've worked for the telephone sales department of a newspaper publishing company back in college. We were not only told to use fictitious names when speaking with people on the phone, but if the prospective customer we were speaking with on the phone had a beef with one of us and wanted to speak to the supervisor, then we would just put them on hold hoping that they would hang up out of impatience. If, after a few moments, they were still on line, we would tap a fellow salesperson on the shoulder, give them "the look" and they would know exactly what to do. They would take the phone and make up some pretend apology and tell them they were going to refer the matter to the night manager. The name and phone number would be read back to the angry customer to let them think we cared enough to follow through on the matter and then as soon as the call as over, the scratch piece of paper went directly into the trash. It's a shame, but it's actually how some firms conduct themselves.
I personally always hate it when you ask to speak to the manager or supervisor and they say that "the person you need to speak with isn't available, but I will take down your name and number and have them call you back". Yeah....uh huh...I wasn't born yesterday...
Don't sit around waiting for the call...it's not coming.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Pillar Two: Meet Your Customer's Purchasing Needs
By Julian Ignatowski, Sr.
Knowing how to meet your customer's purchasing needs is just one of those unspoken rules in servicing the customer which is often overlooked. This occurs primarily because you honestly don't know what your customer's purchasing needs are, or you outright failed to listen to the customer. And, the only reason why you wouldn't know your customer's purchasing needs is because you haven't been interested enough in finding out exactly what they are. That's right, here's another Pillar that will involve you asking the pertinent questions of your customer. When you don't take the valuable time to figure out exactly what your customer's purchasing needs are and you try to service the customer regardless, you may find yourself slightly embarrassed in the least and only end up making a total jackass of yourself. Furthermore, your customer will end up feeling anything within a spectrum from being slightly annoyed to that of feeling completely frustrated with you. It is this type of reaction(s) from the customer that could end up leading to bad press for you. Plus, such a debacle could result in the possibility of a potential loss of future business from the customer that now feels so irrelevant.
Let's put this into practice to make my point come into view. Let's say it's my mom's birthday and I ask her what she wants. Well, her response indicates she'd be delighted to own some new music. Because I know my mom's purchasing needs, if she mentions music, it's either going to be gospel, Motown or country. Anything outside those genres and I'm in trouble; she will hate the gift and hand it back to me to return and get her what she wants. If I purchase a Jay-Z or Lil John CD, my mom will probably meet with her attorney and have me written out of her will.
I'm reminded of another example. A couple weeks back, our family was out grocery shopping and this lovely senior citizen woman was working this coffee stand and promoting a new coffee creamer product. She beckoned us over to her modest stand that boasted a coffee maker, samples of the product she was trying to promote, a stack of napkins and a sleeve of sample-sized styrofoam cups. She said hello and asked my wife and me if we were coffee drinkers. We told her that it was one of those commodities that every home enjoys. So, she started to go into her spiel about the product -- a caramel chocolate syrup to flavor your coffee (which sounded delightful). Unfortunately, it sounded better than it tasted. The thing is our family is "anti-high fructose corn syrup". And, guess what, the primary ingredient was just that. We didn't want to break her heart, especially seeing that she "broke the rules by giving us three coupons for the product when she's only allowed to give out one per customer". But, the sweet lady didn't know our purchasing needs. We weren't there for coffee to begin with, we don't normally flavor our coffee and finally, we avoid all artificial sweeteners. Had she asked us some more qualifying questions, she would have been able to determine whether or not we'd close the deal and actually grab the product in the freezer section and carry it out the store with us. But, that was not the case. We brought the three coupons to the place where the syrups were located and left them for the next buyer.
Take a look at the following clip of the movie, "Must Love Dogs" starring Diane Lane and John Cusack. I want you to especially pay attention to the first 25 seconds of the actual movie clip. Please note that there may be an advertisement that prefaces this clip (if it doesn't open up by clicking on the link, you may need to cut and paste it to your web browser):
http://www.fandango.com/movie-trailer/mustlovedogs-trailer/87870
I think Diane Lane's character "Sarah" pretty much sums it up on how many of us feel when those who are supposed to be "taking care of us as customers" are just too plain busy going through the motions "serving us" to stop and really ask us what our purchasing needs as a precursor to actually servicing us. If I live alone, why would I need to be sold on a year's supply of toilet paper? If I'm a vegan, why would you offer me barbecue spare ribs? If I'm allergic to latex, why are you handling me with latex gloves in your medical office? It's because you haven't asked the right questions. As your customer, you should care enough about our relationship to be willing to qualify my purchasing needs before you attempt to meet those needs. Otherwise, you're just wasting everyone's time guessing.
Knowing how to meet your customer's purchasing needs is just one of those unspoken rules in servicing the customer which is often overlooked. This occurs primarily because you honestly don't know what your customer's purchasing needs are, or you outright failed to listen to the customer. And, the only reason why you wouldn't know your customer's purchasing needs is because you haven't been interested enough in finding out exactly what they are. That's right, here's another Pillar that will involve you asking the pertinent questions of your customer. When you don't take the valuable time to figure out exactly what your customer's purchasing needs are and you try to service the customer regardless, you may find yourself slightly embarrassed in the least and only end up making a total jackass of yourself. Furthermore, your customer will end up feeling anything within a spectrum from being slightly annoyed to that of feeling completely frustrated with you. It is this type of reaction(s) from the customer that could end up leading to bad press for you. Plus, such a debacle could result in the possibility of a potential loss of future business from the customer that now feels so irrelevant.
Let's put this into practice to make my point come into view. Let's say it's my mom's birthday and I ask her what she wants. Well, her response indicates she'd be delighted to own some new music. Because I know my mom's purchasing needs, if she mentions music, it's either going to be gospel, Motown or country. Anything outside those genres and I'm in trouble; she will hate the gift and hand it back to me to return and get her what she wants. If I purchase a Jay-Z or Lil John CD, my mom will probably meet with her attorney and have me written out of her will.
I'm reminded of another example. A couple weeks back, our family was out grocery shopping and this lovely senior citizen woman was working this coffee stand and promoting a new coffee creamer product. She beckoned us over to her modest stand that boasted a coffee maker, samples of the product she was trying to promote, a stack of napkins and a sleeve of sample-sized styrofoam cups. She said hello and asked my wife and me if we were coffee drinkers. We told her that it was one of those commodities that every home enjoys. So, she started to go into her spiel about the product -- a caramel chocolate syrup to flavor your coffee (which sounded delightful). Unfortunately, it sounded better than it tasted. The thing is our family is "anti-high fructose corn syrup". And, guess what, the primary ingredient was just that. We didn't want to break her heart, especially seeing that she "broke the rules by giving us three coupons for the product when she's only allowed to give out one per customer". But, the sweet lady didn't know our purchasing needs. We weren't there for coffee to begin with, we don't normally flavor our coffee and finally, we avoid all artificial sweeteners. Had she asked us some more qualifying questions, she would have been able to determine whether or not we'd close the deal and actually grab the product in the freezer section and carry it out the store with us. But, that was not the case. We brought the three coupons to the place where the syrups were located and left them for the next buyer.
Take a look at the following clip of the movie, "Must Love Dogs" starring Diane Lane and John Cusack. I want you to especially pay attention to the first 25 seconds of the actual movie clip. Please note that there may be an advertisement that prefaces this clip (if it doesn't open up by clicking on the link, you may need to cut and paste it to your web browser):
http://www.fandango.com/movie-trailer/mustlovedogs-trailer/87870
I think Diane Lane's character "Sarah" pretty much sums it up on how many of us feel when those who are supposed to be "taking care of us as customers" are just too plain busy going through the motions "serving us" to stop and really ask us what our purchasing needs as a precursor to actually servicing us. If I live alone, why would I need to be sold on a year's supply of toilet paper? If I'm a vegan, why would you offer me barbecue spare ribs? If I'm allergic to latex, why are you handling me with latex gloves in your medical office? It's because you haven't asked the right questions. As your customer, you should care enough about our relationship to be willing to qualify my purchasing needs before you attempt to meet those needs. Otherwise, you're just wasting everyone's time guessing.
My Customer Service Story About Walgreens Pharmacy
By Julian Ignatowski, Sr.
My wife sent me out on an excursion earlier today. She asked me to go to our local Walgreens Pharmacy to pick up a supplement that she normally takes, which she realized she was running low on. Plus, she wasn't feeling all too well, so I decided to do a few errands and give her ample opportunity to rest and relax in my absence.
When I arrived at the store, I got the few items that were on my list and then I started my hunt for her supplement. I started in what I had deemed the most logical aisle -- the vitamin aisle. I looked up and down, left and right and I could not find it anywhere. So, I looked up and down the aisle as well as the neighboring aisles to see if there were any available Walgreens employees meandering about (as there usually are in most retail environments such as this). Hmmmm....No one. So, I continued my search for this valuable "hidden" treasure of sorts by looking in all the pain medications, the health section, weight loss, still nothing...
After about 20 minutes of searching for this little bugger, I decided I should go seek assistance as I didn't have all day and I was starting to get a bit annoyed at my inability to locate this item. So, I ventured over to the pharmacy. If anyone should know where it was, it should be the resident pharmacist…this was his kingdom after all. There were three people in line and I was thinking to myself, "I might not make it home until Christmas!" But, then the Pharmacist did something very magical. He looked in my direction, got my eye contact, smiled at me, raised his hand with the gesture of 'just a few more minutes', and to top it off, he even vocalized an assurance to me, "Sir, sorry for the wait, we'll be right with you." Although that is what he said to me, what I actually heard was, “Mr. Ignatowski (because he knew me in some mysterious way), you are important. I can’t wait to help you!” I immediately thought to myself, “Well, of course, I don't mind waiting in line now. You not only acknowledged me as a person, but you went even farther by accelerating to the next step of acknowledging me as your favored customer.” Up until he "reached out to me" in this delightful fashion, my mind began to race with various criticisms of his domain called the Kingdom of Walgreens: When was the last time they mopped the floors?! The shelf over there just has stuff thrown way up top -- who does that?! I never have to wait like this at the Kingdoms of CVS or Rite-Aid.
Sure I had to wait another five minutes or so, but when it was my turn in line, the King, er…. uh, pharmacist greeted me with a smile and asked politely, "How may I assist you today?" I told him that I was looking for a supplement and that I've spent considerable time looking everywhere for it and couldn’t seem to locate it. He said, "Ah, yes. That is not your fault. I believe we just moved it from its usual location. Let me show you exactly where it is." He began to walk around the counter, through the line of people and said to me, "Right this way, sir." He brought me directly to it, which was next to the distilled water and old people diapers (go figure!) and then he grabbed the bounty I had been looking for all this time. He grabbed both the brand I was looking for as well as the Walgreens version of the supplement. "Sir, as you can see, these are the same exact supplements made up of the same ingredients (as he turned the boxes around to show me the listing of ingredients), except that this one carries a name brand and the other carries our name for $2.50 less. Which would you like?" I was honestly smitten with the great customer care he was providing me. I said, "Thank you so much for providing me with an alternative which provides a cost-savings, but because my wife has asked me for this specific brand, I will have to go with the more expensive choice. But, thank you for your consideration." He then said, "Well, keep your receipt. If your wife doesn't mind the Walgreens brand, we'd be happy to swap it out for you and provide you with that cost savings." I thanked him again and although I had been there for what seemed years, the extra care that he extended to me, not only helped in wiping away the critiques I was carrying in my mind about the store during my lengthy wait, but the grief of being inconvenienced had all but banished from my mind.
I allowed Walgreens the opportunity to make a bad impression convert into a lasting good one, and they succeeded at their attempt. For this, I give my local Walgreens a "Yay!" in my assessment of their customer service performance today.
Note: If you are not familiar with Walgreens Pharmacies, you can check them out by going to: www.walgreens.com
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