The secret sauce behind a strong service culture (Part 3)

This is the third post in a series where I share the three main ingredients that make up the secret sauce behind a strong service culture. The first ingredient was clarity (read that post here). The second ingredient was consistency (read that one here). The third ingredient is commitment.

You need more than a banner
I howled with laughter when I saw the 1999 movie Office Space because I had lived through so many of the scenes. One situation I'll never forget happened when I was a training supervisor for a large catalog company. The Vice President of Customer Service called a meeting with all the managers and supervisors to unveil his new "one call resolution" initiative. He explained we could serve our customers much better if we resolved their complaint or problem on the very first call. Here was the entire initiative:

Step 1: Hang up a "One call resolution" banner.

Step 2: Hold a meeting to point out the new banner.

Yup! That really was it.

This banner didn't fix any of our real problems. For example, if a customer returned an item for a refund or exchange, it would sit in a truck trailer on a back lot for four weeks before the trailer was unloaded. This caused customers to repeatedly call and ask, "Did you receive my return?" Reducing that backlog of returns would have reduced a lot more phone calls than a stupid banner!

True Commitment
One of my current clients provides a great example of true commitment to service. Here are just a few things they do to preserve their culture:

1. Job applicants are screened for their ability to embody the organization's service values
2. New hires receive extensive customer service training
3. Executives and managers consistently discuss service with their employees
4. Customer service is a component of everyone's performance review
5. The company's strategic plan includes a customer service goal

The amazing thing is everyone is really expected to live these service values. I recently attended meeting where a frontline employee challenged a vice president on an operational procedure. The vice president accepted the challenge and engaged in a conversation with the employee and everyone else in the meeting about what would work best for the customer. They ultimately came up with some great ideas that everyone was excited about.

I left that meeting feeling sure this company had a real commitment to their service culture.

The secret sauce behind a strong service culture (Part 2)

This is the second of a three part series where I'll share the three main ingredients that make up the secret sauce behind a strong service culture. The first ingredient was clarity (read that post here). The second ingredient is consistency.

Consistency impacts a service culture in two ways.  First, organizations have to consistently deliver outstanding experiences. Second, organizations have to deliver service that is consistent with what their customers should expect of them.

Consistently Outstanding
I recently had hardwood floors installed in my home.  (Geneva Flooring did the job – they are terrific.)  The project caused me to make quite a few trips to my local hardware store, San Carlos TrueValue, to get various supplies throughout the project.  Every time I went to the store, I was greeted with, “What can I help you find today?”  All of the associates I encountered were friendly, helpful, and didn’t make me feel bad about my lack of home improvement knowledge.  Best of all, their recommendations were spot on and I got in and out quickly with as little damage to my wallet as possible.

Getting it right every time requires individuals to be consistent, but it also requires every employee to step up to the same level. For example, Gallup did a study on a major telecommunications provide and found they enjoyed an 88% overall satisfaction rating among customers who called their call centers. They dug a little deeper and found that the bottom 10% of the company's reps had a customer satisfaction rating of only 43%. The 88% overall score clearly didn't matter too much to the unfortunate customers who happened to get one of the 'bottom 10%' on the phone!

Consistent with Expectations
Let me risk a short, but instructive tangent.  Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler’s toughness and dedication was widely criticized during the 2011 NFC Championship when he came out of the game and was seen standing on the sideline in full uniform.  It turned out that Cutler had suffered a sprained MCL and was truly unable to play, but his behavior was inconsistent with what the fans expected.  If you look like you can play, you should be playing.

Compare that to Green Bay Packers defensive back Charles Woodson who was injured during the 2011 Super Bowl.  He has been widely hailed as an inspiration to his team rather than facing the same criticism as Cutler.  Why?  Because Woodson reappeared on the sideline in street clothes and his arm in a sling.  He looked injured so fans didn't expect him to re-enter the game.

Bringing this back to the business world, employees' behaviors need to align with what companies tell their customers to expect. A company that advertises amazing service better have employees who are able to do just that, or they'll risk alienated customers.

The secret sauce behind a strong service culture (part 1)

Do you ever wonder why some organizations 'get it' when it comes to customer service and others don't? The organizations that consistently deliver outstanding service all have one thing in common - a strong service culture. There are many aspects that make up an organization's culture, but there's a secret sauce that brings it all together. 

This is the first of a three part series where I'll share the three main ingredients that make up the secret sauce. The first ingredient is clarity.

Work with no clarity
Several years ago, I worked with a credit union that was trying to improve its service.  They had just rolled out a set of five core values to their employees and hired me to determine how well the employees understood and lived these values.  My report turned up both good and bad news.  The good news was 97% of employees could name all five core values.  The bad news?  Nobody could agree upon what these values actually meant, including the credit union’s executives.

A lack of clarity makes it hard for employees at all levels to know what to do. If we can't describe what outstanding service looks like to our customers, how can we train our employees to deliver it, bake it into our policies and procedures, or hold people accountable for their performance?

Getting to clarity
An excellent example of providing clarity is the online retailer Zappos. They have become famous not only for their customer service, but their willingness to let the world peak inside their corporate culture. Check out the video below where Zappos describe their culture. (Email subscribers: check it out on their webpage.)

What do you *REALLY* think about your customers?

Late last week, my Mozy online backup software started acting up (again). I went to their website to troubleshoot the problem and was advised that the issue stemmed from a bug in a recent software update. Unfortunately, the solution involved reinstalling the software and then backing up all my files from scratch - a process that took several days to complete.

This morning, I received an email from Mozy notifying me of a price increase. Nice timing.

Any company can say they care about their customers. The truth emerges when there is a problem or some change to navigate. Your actions reveal what how you really think about your customers. Do you care or don't you?

There were two articles in the February 2011 issue of Inc. magazine that illustrate this point. The first was in Jason Fried's Get Real column, where he detailed a recently technical problem that his company, 37signals, experienced with their online collaboration software called Campfire. Their service was intermittently disrupted for several weeks in December, so they decided to give every customer a month of service for free.

Even better, their communication with their customers was very candid, even when they didn't have the answers. Although they initially faced a torrent of criticism on Twitter, their approach gradually bought them a slew of good will. 

The second article described what happened when Chargify, a web-based service that manages billing for small companies, suddenly announced a price increase. Their customers were given 45 days notice that they were moving away from a 'freemium' model where basic services were free to a pricing structure where everyone pays. Like 37signals, Chargify faced a wave of criticism and bad PR. Unlike 37signals, Chargify took an 'us vs. them' approach. Co-founder Simak Taghaddos even had the stones to send this Tweet in response to customer criticism:

Moving away from freemium gets rid of freeloaders & bad customers, so you can provide better products & support to the good ones.

Wow. Thanks for letting us know how you really feel!

Back to Mozy. Every 6 months or so, some sort of problem occurs with their service. Getting slapped with a price increase immediately after the latest time sucking fiasco is like salt on the wound. I think I'm ready to move on to a company that really cares about it's online backup customers. Any suggestions?

10 Ways to Avoid Email Overload

Most people I know share a common complaint - too many emails! However, I observe many people creating extra work for themselves in their haste to plow through it all. The results include miscommunication, slow response times, and even more emails!

I'm generally on top of my emails and my inbox only contains the current day's messages. I doubt I'm any less busy than the average person, but I do follow a few simple tips.

#1 Think before you "Reply All"
A boatload of our extra email comes from people hitting the "Reply All" button, even when "All" of us don't need to see the message. Only use this feature when necessary.

#2 Cc and Bcc cautiously
A close cousin of the "Reply All" problem is the Cc and Bcc. Copy someone who doesn't need to be copied and you risk having them add more unnecessary emails to your inbox.

#3 Read carefully before responding
A lot of unneccessary email traffic comes from people sending partial responses to emails. In their haste to reply, they may miss a key detail. For example, I recently emailed a friend who invited me over for dinner to let her know I was available on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I asked her to choose the day that worked best for her and her husband. She replied, "We can't do Friday, but we can do Saturday or Sunday." Ugh - now I have to send a second message and she'll no doubt send a reply. Two additional emails would have been avoided if she had simply selected the day that worked best for her.

#4 Write concise but thorough messages
Think of a question your recipient may have about your email and include the answer in your message. A short, well-written email leads to less back and forth which ultimately reduces your email load.

#5 Describe what you want in the first paragraph
Make it easy for your recipient to understand what you are looking for. Put any request for action or information in the first paragraph of your message so it won't be missed.

#6 Email isn't for conversations
Look at the messages in your inbox and see how many are from the same conversation. Do you need to discuss something with a colleague? Pick up the phone and knock it out.

#7 Write descriptive subject lines
The subject line should give the reader a clear idea of what the message is about so he or she can determine how quickly to read it. A descriptive subject line also reinforces what you are asking the reader to do.

#8 Set rules to automate email management
Outlook and many other popular email programs let you set rules to automatically manage certain types of emails. For example, you can have all your email newsletters automatically routed to a "Reading" folder that you can check once or twice a week. This unclutters your email box and allows you to get to those lower priority items when you have a free moment.

#9 Use one program to manage all your email addresses
Many of us have multiple email addresses, but that doesn't mean we can't get all our messages in one place. This allows you to manage just one email inbox instead of several. I have rules set up in Outlook that route messages sent to my secondary email addresses to special folders so they don't get mixed in with messages sent to my primary account.

#10 Check email only a few times per day
Constantly checking your email every time a message arrives is a huge distraction and productivity drain. Instead, set aside blocks of time to focus on email and power through your messages. Force yourself to make a decision about each message (respond, file, or delete) rather than just leaving it sitting in your inbox for later. You'll find this approach allows you to write better messages, get fewer responses in return, and dramatically reduce the number of emails in your inbox. Tim Ferriss, author of the Four Hour Workweek, has some even more extreme advice that can actually work quite well.

Do these tips work for you? Do you have a tip of your own? Please leave your comments!