Did you set your "out of office" message?

I never thought I'd write a blog post about the amazing virtues of an "out of office" email responder. It hadn't dawned on me until recently to point out that you can change your outgoing voice mail message to indicate you won't be returning phone calls for some time. I had simply assumed everyone knew about these wonderful inventions. After this December, I now know what happens when you assume things.

Why is this important?
With so many holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, and Festivus, December is obviously a time of year when many people take a few days off from work. When you are out of the office it is important to set appropriate expectations about when you might return a phone call or email. Otherwise, you may cause someone to anxiously wait for your response and even think a little less of you when they don't hear back.

This December, I estimate that only 50% of my vendors, clients, and colleagues who were out of the office had an out of office message. Those that didn't contributed to several delayed projects, multiple emails and voice mails, and a lowered impression. Plenty of others did provide out of office messages, and it was easy to know when I could expect a response from these folks.

What makes a good out of office message?
Email and voice mail out of office messages should all have a three key elements:

• Inform the person you are not responding to email or voice mail
• Tell the person when you will resume normal communication
• Provide an alternative contact should the person have an urgent need

One quick tip -- be sure to turn off your email auto responder and change your voice mail greeting back to normal as soon as you return!

How to work with unreasonable customers

I was recently waiting for a flight when I overheard a woman loudly complaining to her friend. She was upset about having to pay a fee for checking a suitcase that was two pounds over the 50 pound weight limit.

To me, this person seemed very unreasonable. First, she explained to her friend that she knew in advance that her bag was over the weight limit. This meant she was knowingly violating the policy and was expecting an exception to be made. Second, the myriad of additional complaints she dumped on her friend led me to believe she was probably quite rude to the ticket agent.

Since I couldn't help hearing what this loud woman sitting next to me had to say, I began to wonder. How could someone work with a customer like this?

I thought of three great options.

#1 Make an exception
One option would be to make an exception and waive the fee. I'd make a big show of telling the customer I was waiving the fee for them since the weight was so close. This customer would probably have felt a little special instead of being so irritated.

#2 Give options
Waiving the fee might not be possible due to strict policy guidelines, safety concerns, or the assumption that once 52 pounds is okay customers will start trying to get away with 55. If I couldn't waive the fee I would give her options. Providing a customer with choices, even if the choices aren't terrific, is always a better approach than simply saying no. Telling a customer "No" makes them feel powerless and defensive. Giving a customer options makes them a participant in the outcome.

For example, I might have suggested the customer either remove a couple of items from her suitcase and carry them on the plane or pay the fee and avoid the extra hassle. 

#3 Provide a good explanation
Some customers will be more accepting of a policy if they understand there is a good reason behind it. I've heard many an airline employee tell me that heavier bags pose a potential safety hazard to baggage handlers.

I might have explained this to the passenger and told her that we really care about employee safety and the fee was meant to discourage customers from checking heavy bags. I might have further explained that checking a heavier bag was unavoidable for some passengers, which is why the airline still allows bags between 51 and 100 pounds to be checked for a fee.

For all I know, the airline's ticketing agent did all of these things and then some, but the passenger was just an angry jerk. What else could the ticketing agent do in that situation?

Three upselling mistakes that hurt customer service

It's natural for companies to want to upsell their customers on additional or more expensive products or services. Just be sure your company doesn't make one of these three mistakes that can hurt customer service.

Mistake #1: Being pushy
I took my car to my local car wash last Saturday. "I'll just have a regular wash today," I told the ticket writer. He responded with the obligatory upsell, trying to get me to upgrade to a more expensive package. "Not today," I replied. "I just want a regular wash."

That should have been it. He made an offer. I declined. End of transaction.

Unfortunately, this guy wasn't going to take no for an answer. He continued to push the offer even after I repeatedly said no. He didn't relent until I finally I said I'd have to take my car somewhere else if he couldn't honor my request.

Upselling is never okay if it is annoying to the customer. Employees should be trained to back off once they receive a clear signal that the customer isn't interested.

Mistake #2: Upselling on price alone
Part of what made the car wash guy's sales pitch so weak and annoying was he only talked about price. The upgraded car wash may have been an insanely cheap deal, but that didn't matter because it wasn't something I needed or wanted. 

He may have had better luck if he had explained some of the benefits offered by the upgraded package. An even smarter approach would be to ask me a few questions first and then tailor his offer based upon my responses.

Upselling based on a customer's wants and needs can actually be helpful to the customer. Upselling on price alone can often feel pushy and transactional.

Mistake #3: Making your customer feel stupid
The car wash guy tried really hard to make me feel stupid. He repeatedly asked if I was driving someone else's car since the only people who wouldn't go for his sweet deal were people who didn't care about the cars they were driving. 

The kicker was when he finally agreed to do a regular wash and I started walking towards the waiting area. While I was still within earshot, he turned to another customer and began bad mouthing me and my poor decision making. 

It's never a good tactic to talk down to your customer when upselling. Especially if they have a blog.

Epilogue
I was tempted to take my car somewhere else after hearing the ticket writer's disparaging comments, but I'd be the one who lost the most on that deal. This car wash does a great job, is reasonably priced, and is convenient to my home.

Instead of leaving I went to the cashier and politely asked to speak with the manager. When he arrived, I calmly explained what had happened. He was very apologetic and told me he would be happy to take care of my car for me. Thanks to a few tips from my recent blog post on how to get better service, I left the car wash with a clean car and confidence that I'll get better service the next time I visit.

I should also note the manager's actions are the reason I'm not mentioning the name of the car wash in my blog. My personal policy is to give businesses a chance to handle a complaint before I air my gripes in a public forum.

How to get better service this holiday season

Every year I compile a list of tips for getting better customer service during the holiday season. This year, I decided to ask for tips from some of the customer service authors and bloggers I admire most. Their wonderful suggestions form a list that is sure to result in outstanding customer service.

Treat employees with respect (Patrick Maguire)
Patrick Maguire’s terrific blog, I’m Your Server Not Your Servant, highlights customer service experiences from the employees’ point of view. He reminds us that getting better service starts with treating employees with respect.

We need to remember that human workers are not the same as self-checkout stations, and that workers should be treated with the same mutual respect that we would expect if we were doing their jobs. If you treat workers with common courtesy and make a sincere effort to have some fun and make a genuine connection with them, your chances of receiving excellent service will improve dramatically.

Be engaging (Steve Curtin)
Visit Steve Curtin’s customer service blog and you’ll see a picture of him holding a pineapple. Why a pineapple? The pineapple is a universal symbol of hospitality. (Seriously, who could get upset when there is a pineapple involved?) Naturally, he recommends being a more hospitable customer.

When a customer glances at an employee’s name tag and uses her name at the beginning of the interaction along with a smile and eye contact, it has a disarming effect that quickly breaks the ice. The customer may also ask, “How is your day?” or compliment the employee by saying, “You look like the one in charge...” Just as employees tend to reflect the dispositions of their supervisors (for better or worse), they can also reflect the dispositions of the customers they serve.

Be reasonable (Shep Hyken)
Shep Hyken, best-selling author of the Amazement Revolution, also writes a very insightful customer service blog. One of his suggestions is that a reasonable customer will almost always get better service.

Let’s start with a confrontational situation to illustrate the point. There is an old story that goes something like this:

A passenger approached the airline representative about his lost luggage. Obviously upset, he more than complained. He yelled and made derogatory remarks about the airline. The airline employee’s response was simple. “Sir, I can see you’re upset. Right now there are only two people who care about your lost luggage and you are starting to make one of them upset.”

The moral of the story is that as a customer, you can’t get what you want by being unreasonable. If there is a problem, a level headed approach with reasonable suggestions will always win over confrontational arguments.

Place your irritability on hold before complaining (Guy Winch)
Sometimes, we have customer service complaints that need to be resolved. Who better to give advice on complaint resolution than Guy Winch, a psychotherapist who literally wrote the book on how to complain the right way (check out The Squeaky Wheel)? Here are complaint tips from an article he wrote for Psychology Today on how to resolve Christmas shopping complaints.

Complaint in person: “We should arm ourselves with receipts, patience, civility, and authentic smiles.”

Complaint via toll-free hotline: “We should place our irritability on hold (even if we are placed there too), remain calm and present the facts simply.”

Complaint via Twitter: “If you do tweet a complaint about a company, be fair, especially if you have oodles of followers. Remember, frustration fades but tweets are forever.

Don’t take yourself too seriously (Write the Company)
Write the Company’s blog features witty customer service correspondence with real companies. Read between the lines and you’ll realize that his tip is a great reminder to not take ourselves too seriously.

Getting better customer service during the holidays requires a secret weapon. This should not be confused with producing a concealed weapon, which has also proven to be very effective in getting the full attention of service personnel. One secret weapon to consider is sympathy. Not for the service representative, for yourself. You'll be amazed by how much faster and more compassionately you'll be treated by simply taping a slightly soiled white gauze pad over an eye or applying fake blood under your nose with even more on a tissue. Holidays are a crazy time to be a customer, so go crazy!

Enjoy the holidays and good luck getting outstanding customer service this holiday season!

Customer service survey mistakes to avoid

It seems like such a good idea.

Send out a survey to your customers to get some feedback. Your company looks like it cares and you might actually gain some ideas for improving service.

Just beware that any good idea poorly executed can quickly become a bad idea.

Here is a case in point.

I recently took my car to the dealership to get an oil change and complimentary inspection. A day or so later I received an email from my service advisor giving me a heads up that I would soon receive a survey asking me about my experience. The service advisor referred to the survey as her “personal report card” and urged me to contact her immediately if I was unable to rate my experience as truly exceptional.

The survey arrived via email the next day. I clicked on the link to open it up and was astonished to find 36 questions crammed into one long, rambling page. That’s right – 36 questions to ask about my oil change!

The survey seemed like a hassle. I was also concerned that my responses would reflect poorly on my service advisor if I responded that I was satisfied with my oil change but didn’t view it as truly exceptional. I decided to send her an email instead to provide my feedback and also share my concerns about the survey process. She didn’t respond.

The intent may have been good, but there are at least three big problems with this survey. Make sure you don’t make these mistakes if you plan to survey your customers.

Wrong Goal
The point of doing a survey should be to find out how satisfied your customers are and learn ways to further improve. The goal of my auto dealer’s survey seemed to be getting a good score. The heads up email, telling me the survey is my advisor’s “report card”, and urging me to give her a chance to fix any issues the survey may uncover all tell me her primary goal is earning a high score. If this wasn’t the case, why not just call or email me to ask about my service without mentioning the survey at all? Why not respond to the feedback that I did email?

If you are going to survey your customers, make sure you are doing it for a good reason.

Too Long
Does it really take 36 questions to accurately assess my satisfaction with an oil change? Really?! My level of satisfaction declined significantly with each survey question after the first five.

Keep survey questions to an absolute minimum and never ask for any information that you don’t specifically plan to use. Be respectful of your customers’ time when asking them to help you improve your business.

Dumb Scale
Most of the survey questions contained a response scale from one to ten with the following points labeled:

1 = Unacceptable

4 = Average

7 = Outstanding

10 = Truly Exceptional

This scale invites problems. If I answer truthfully, I’d give my oil change a 5. Is that bad? Not at all. It’s actually slightly above average. The problem with the survey is the average experience with my dealership’s service department is pretty good. There were a few minor points on my recent visit that were slightly better than usualy, so I’d rate the experience a little better than average.

I could also answer untruthfully if I felt compelled to rate the service as “truly exceptional” so my service advisor would get a good grade on her report card. The problem is I find it hard to imagine an oil change being truly exceptional. Maybe if they waived the charge, gave me a $100 gift card to my favorite steakhouse, and filled my car up with gas I’d rate it as truly exceptional. But they didn’t and I was just fine with their service anyway.

If you are going to ask for feedback, make sure you design a response scale that doesn’t lead to inaccurate or inconsistent responses.