What wineries can teach us about service

Me smelling the 'bouquet' at ConsentinoMy wife, Sally, and I recently returned from our annual trip to Napa Valley to taste wine, tour wineries, and relax a little. The service and hospitality you experience at most wineries is amazing and some of the techniques they use can be readily applied to other situations. Here are a few examples:

There's a fine line between banter and shtick.

I often enjoy some friendly banter with people who are providing me with customer service. Many of the people I met in Napa Valley were great at engaging us in conversation. They'd ask questions like, "Where else have you visited?" or "Have you been to Napa Valley before?" or "Where are you from?". Their questions inevitably led to a more engaging experience and more chances for them to sell us their great wine.

On the other hand, I'm generally annoyed by shtick. 'Shtick' is when the winery host delivers a standard presentation, often well-rehearsed, that's long on personality but short on any real connection. They may provide all sorts of interesting and amazing facts about the winery, but they couldn't care less about answering my specific questions.

Banter is great -- it focuses on the customer or mutual interests. Shtick is almost never good.

It's OK to educate, just don't make stuff up

Sally and I love being educated about wines. We like to ask all sorts of questions about how the wine is made, how the wine maker achieved a certain style or flavor, and even what food they'd recommend pairing with the wine. Visiting a winery can be a great learning experience.

We don't like it when people try to brag by making stuff up. At one winery, our host bragged about the unusual fermentation process for their Chardonnay (which turned out to be the way most California wineries do it), the 'fact' that almost nobody did a Pinot Blanc (we had just tasted one at the last winery), and the 'exclusive' ratings they had just received from a prominent wine critic (who had recently rated many similar wines the same or higher).

It's a good idea to educate your customer and even highlight your competitive advantages. You run the risk of looking a bit shallow and uninformed when you make stuff up!

Bending (but not breaking) the rules can be good

Many wineries have a set tasting list. Sally and I have learned that an enthusiastic customer who asks lots of questions is often given the opportunity to taste wines that are not on the list. Many times, these 'additional' wines lead to purchases.

Some wineries are very stringent about sticking to their tasting menus. It's an understandable practice for wineries that don't want to be treated like a bar. It doesn't make much sense for someone who wants to try before they buy.

Bending the rules in the right situations can often lead to good things like more sales and happier customers.

Where did we go?

If you are interested in learning more about the wineries we visited (and the wines we tried), you may visit our personal wine blog at www.vinotabulous.com.

Update: Introducing our customer service idea bank

I'm launching a new resource to help anyone who serves others serve a little better. It's our "customer service idea bank" and my intention is to stock it with the very best customer service ideas that are practical and easy to implement right away. For now, the ideas are a "best of" from our customer service training programs. In the future it will also contain submissions from our clients, blog readers, and anyone else who has a good idea that works.

Please check it out and send me your feedback. You can leave your comments attached to this blog or send me an email: jeff@toistersolutions.com.

Customer Service Idea Bank

The Minus Touch: don't miss those coachable moments

I needed to get a headlight bulb replaced on my car earlier this week, so I decided to stop by a local automotive repair shop while I was out running errands. Without naming them specifically, let's just say it's a national chain that rhymes with "Minus".  

The guy behind the counter greeted me as I walked in. I asked if they could replace the headlight bulb on my car. "We probably can," was the response. OK - how do we narrow this down to "Yes, we can" or No, we can't"? He said he'd have to check, but he mysteriously kept working on the paperwork he had in front of him. Not a great first impression.

As the first guy was finishing up his paperwork, a second employee walked into the lobby and started looking something up on the computer. The second guy appeared to be more experienced than the first guy, though not necessarily his boss. I got this impression when he turned to the first employee and asked "Are you helping this guy?" I should have said, "No!", but I missed my moment and the first employee said "Yes."

That was the first guy's cue to check the computer and see if they had the proper headlight bulb for my car. He clicked around on the computer for a moment before he turned to the second guy and asked, "Do we have these headlight bulbs?" The reponse was a gem:

"If it says we have them, we have them. If it says we don't have them, we don't have them."

Needless to say, after a bit more fumbling I figured the answer to my "Can you help me?" question was "No." With that, I did what I should have done in the first place and took my car to Kearny Mesa Acura which was quick, convenient, and they even washed my car. (Four stars on Yelp - see the review.)

Coachable Moments

The more experienced employee in this scenario missed two golden opportunities to help his co-worker perform at a higher level. It didn't matter if the experienced guy wasn't the boss -- his co-worker's poor performance cost them both a customer. Here are the "coachable moments":

First Contact: Mr. Experience should have greeted me as soon as he walked into the lobby and asked, "Is my co-worker (________) assisting you?"

Inventory Check: Mr. Experience should have given his co-worker a more polite lesson in inventory. For example, he could have said, "The computer is pretty accurate, but if we're out of a part we can order it and get it here quickly."

How do you decide when to cut your losses with a poor performer?

A colleague of mine in Washington D.C., Hallely Azulay, tweeted (@HalellyAzulay) a deceptively simple question this morning:

Sometimes U can reform a poor performer + sometimes U have 2 cut yr losses + start from scratch. How do *U* decide which way 2 go?

I've had the fortune (or misfortune) to come about my answer the hard way - through trial and error experience. Years ago, I was a training supervisor for two large call centers at Chadwick's of Boston. Our HR department was judged by how many people they hired, regardless of qualification, so we received lots of new hires who couldn't do the job. My department was judged by whether or not the people who graduated our new hire training program could do the job. I was the hatchet man who had to fire people who weren't going to make it. I hated that aspect of the job, so I learned how to ensure that the only time I fired someone was because it was the last resort and the right thing to do. 

I start by asking three questions:

	Yes	No
Is the person aware of the desired performance?	See next question.	Make sure they know what is expected! It seems obvious, but until you confirm they know what is expected it's tough to hold someone accountable.
Is the person aware their performance needs to improve?	See next question.	Give them honest and direct feedback. I've seen a lot of passive aggressive managers try to dodge this one by dropping hints or venting about the person.
Is the person willing to perform at the desired level?	See next question.	Cut your losses. This isn't a good fit for you or them.

Now, it gets tricky. They know what to do, aren't doing it, but are willing to keep trying. Here's my general approach:

Step 1: The initial conversation.
Have a conversation with the person to strategize on to get their performance up to speed. The person ultimately has to take ownership, but make it clear you are there to help. Sometimes, the result of this conversation is the person decides the role isn't a good fit for them after all. It's a tough decision, but it's theirs.

Step 2: Let them fail.
If Step 1 doesn't work it's time to remove the safety net, the training wheels, or whatever else is propping up this person's performance. They need to be completely on their own and experience the struggle of trying to perform. Letting them fail generally results in the person deciding the role isn't right for them (again, their decision) or realizing what it truly takes to succeed. In rare cases, the person fails but doesn't have an epiphany, which means it's on to Step 3.

Step 3: Cut your losses.
This step is truly the hard part, but it needs to be done. You've given them every chance to succeed, but they've demonstrated they are not going to and are struggling to realize they can't. It's now time to make the decision for them and move them along.

How magazine publishers are like drug dealers

Disclaimer: I don’t really know much about drug dealers, other than what I’ve seen on television and in the movies.  I also read Freakonomics which discusses why drug dealers often live with their Moms.  Given that base of knowledge, magazine vendors are really just like drug dealers. Here's why...

I’m a recreational magazine reader.  I suppose that’s the gateway to magazine addiction, but I’ve never really felt I had a problem.  Sure, I keep a few magazines at the house.  Once in awhile, a friend will share some of his magazines with me or give me some magazines as a gift.  I might read a magazine if I’m sitting in a waiting room and have some time to kill.  That’s about it.  I mean, I can quit when I want, I just don’t want to.

I’ve recently begun receiving unsolicited magazines through the mail. They just start arriving on a regular basis as if I'm a subscriber although I'm not. From what I’ve seen in the movies, this is similar to when drug dealers hand out free samples.  It seems like a friendly gesture but their real intention is to get you hooked so you start thinking you can’t live without them.  Is this paragraph confusing?  Am I presently referring to magazines or drugs?  Exactly.

The next step is converting the addiction into cash flow.  I typically get a bill in the mail about six months after the magazine began arriving on a regular basis.  The bill usually contains some sort of friendly offer.  “We know you like this magazine and probably want to keep reading it.  That’s why we’re offering you this super-special, mega-discounted offer on a one-year subscription.”  I’ve been told this is what drug dealers refer to a as “friend price”.  They offer you a discount because you are a friend while making it clear they can’t continue to supply drugs (or magazines) free of charge because they do indeed have a business to run.

Magazines are starting to get me into trouble, just like drugs might if I did them.  I recently began receiving the men’s magazine Maxim and my wife wasn’t too thrilled.  I tried to point out that I was also receiving unsolicited copies of Golf magazine and probably just fit some sort of marketing profile, but that only made things worse.  (Thanks, Tiger.)

In all seriousness, I’ve enjoyed some of these magazines, but most have been dumped directly in the recycling bin.  It’s like the magazine publishers are saying, “Will you throw this away for us please?”  What a waste of paper and postage!  I’ve also never subscribed to one of these freebies.  This whole campaign doesn’t make the magazines look too good in my eyes but I don’t know how to get them to stop.