Customer Service:
It's Not Just a Department, It's An Experience - July 2010
Welcome to the July issue of "Customer Service: It's Not Just a Department; It's an Experience."
This month we're going to focus on a company that "gets" customer service. I am in awe of them and I think we could all learn about improving the customer experience from looking at some of their business practices. Do you think you know which company I'm talking about it? And no, it's not YOURS!
I like to keep these newsletters short because I know you have customers you have to take care of, however, when resarching stories for this newsletter, I kept finding more and more stories about how amazing they really are. It was hard to choose what to share with all of you! I hope they inspire you as they have me.
Welcome to our many new subscribers and new clients. Our goal is to help you improve the service you are providing to your existing customers as well as prospective customers, increase customer retention and generate additional revenue through cross-selling, up-selling and referrals.
Enjoy this month's newsletter!
In This Issue:
When Your Brand Is About The Customer Service | Building The Culture Through Training | Forget The Company Shirts | Oops! I Made A Mistake | What Are YOUR Family Core Values?
When Your Brand Is About The Customer Service
Zappos is not in the shoe business. They are in the customer service business. At least that's what CEO Tony Hsieh says. He started Zappos ten years ago and has turned it into a BILLION dollar business. He might be on to something folks!
Tony knows that customer satisfaction is not earned through one interaction. It is built over time with consistent, positive experiences with a company. Many customer service departments work to achieve the uniqueness of the Zappos.com experience by creating a surprise or WOW moment. However, when it comes right down to it, the delight of the Zappos great customer experience is its consistency and authenticity! While their contact center representatives work very hard to offer customer solutions, they do it without scripts and with very few boundaries. Each contact center agent is encouraged to use his or her own style while focusing on the customer which makes it authentic.
It starts by engaging your customer-facing frontline as your first and most loyal customers. It's so much easier to support a product or service that you love! You want everyone to love it as much as you do and you're eager to go that extra effort to recover from company or product missteps.
What is YOUR brand about?
Building The Culture Through Training
At Zappos, after hiring, the next step to building the culture is training. Everyone that is hired into the headquarters at Zappos goes through the same training that their Customer Loyalty Team reps go through, regardless of their title or department. They can be an accountant or a lawyer or a software developer, and they all go through the exact same training.
It's a four-week training program, in which they review the company history, the importance of customer service, the long term vision of the company, their philosophy about company culture, and then the employees are actually on the phone for two weeks, taking calls from customers. This goes back to their belief that customer service shouldn't just be a department (hey, that's the title of my newsletter!), it should be the entire company.
At the end of the first week of training, the company offers everyone $2,000 to quit! They want to make sure that employees are there for more than just a paycheck. They want their employees to believe in their long-term vision and want to be a part of their culture. As it turns out, on average, less than 1% of people end up taking the offer.
How many of YOUR employees would take $2,000 to quit??
Forget the Company Shirts
Lots of companies give out company shirts to their employees. It's great branding for the company but how powerful do you think a shirt really is?
Enter the company cape!
Check out this one minute video from Zappos on why they give their employees capes rather than shirts.
Link to YouTube video
Anyone know a company that makes capes? I sense some orders are about to be placed!
Oops! I Made A Mistake
It happens. We're only human. But how we handle it makes all the difference to our customers. Check out how Zappos recently handled a pricing mistake that they made.
Pricing mistake story
What Are YOUR Family Core Values?
Why would a business have "family" core values? Ask Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, and here's what he'll tell you:
"As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies. These are the ten core values that we live by."
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble
Does your business have family core values? They do over at Zappos. And they're a One Billion Dollar Company!
Which of these can you steal shamelessly for your company to create the kind of environment that Zappos has for both its customers and its employees?
If you are on Long Island...
Join us at the LIASB (Long Island Advancement for Small Business) seminar, "Customer Service The Right Way". The seminar is on Wednesday, August 11th at 8am at the Adelphi University
Education & Conference Center in Hauppauge.
You can learn more about the event and register by visiting the LIASB website:
Website Link
Hope to see you there!
In Conclusion...
Thanks for taking the time to read this edition of "Customer Service: It's Not Just a Department; It's an Experience". It is our hope that you not only get the customer or client, but that you also hold onto them! If you have clients, colleagues or friends who wants to hold on to their customers too, do them a favor and forward them this newsletter.
Until next time, take good care of your customers, or someone else will! See you next month!
Sincerely,
Randi Busse
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