Amaze Every Customer Every Time

by Shep Hyken

  Step One: Eric immediately apologized for the customer’s problem.

  Step Two: He thanked the customer for calling. He asked if it would be all right if he, Eric, called the manufacturer directly, and then called the customer back with an update.

  Step Three: Before he hung up, he promised to find a way to fix the problem. Notice that Eric saved the customer the time and trouble of calling the manufacturer, waiting on hold, re-explaining his problem, and so on.

  Step Four: Eric then phoned back and explained that he had arranged for a free replacement can of paint from the manufacturer, and he apologized again for the problem. He suggested that the customer come by the store and pick up the paint. When the customer showed up, Eric met him personally, apologized once again for the problem, and made sure that the customer got the new can of paint, mixed to the proper color.

  That’s an absolutely perfect recovery. The Moment of Misery became a Moment of Magic. It stands out because that’s not what usually happens when a customer makes a complaint! How easy would it have been for Eric to say, “You’re going to need to call the manufacturer”? How easy would it have been for him to imply that the customer must have been applying the paint incorrectly? He didn’t do any of that—because Ace trains its people in the art of recovery!

  In an online review describing this event, the customer gave that Ace store four stars and wrote: “Sometimes, it isn’t what goes right that makes a rating, but how a business handles a situation when something goes wrong.”

  Whenever there is a problem or complaint, what customers really want is the problem fixed, with the right attitude and with a sense of urgency. Follow the four steps in this chapter and you will not only fix the problem but you will also restore their confidence.

  Remember: Service recovery is more than just fixing a problem. It’s also about the renewal of customer confidence!

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  A Moment of Misery is really an opportunity disguised as a complaint or problem.

  The basics of service recovery are to apologize, take action, make a promise to resolve the problem, and keep the promise.

  Customers want their problem fixed by someone with a good attitude and a sense of urgency.

  Service recovery is more than just fixing the problem. It’s also about renewing customer confidence.

  THE DRILL

  Think of a time that a customer complained to you about something and you were able to turn the complaint into a positive experience—one that renewed the customer’s confidence. How did you do that?

  MANAGE THE WAIT

  * * *

  Customers hate to wait. Their time is valuable, so manage the wait … and don’t be late.

  I HAVE A NEW DOCTOR, David Katzman, MD. I switched to Dr. Katzman about two or three years ago. I like going to him for two reasons. First, he is a great doctor. Second, he doesn’t make me wait.

  When was the last time you went to your doctor’s office and the doctor was on time?

  I don’t know about you, but for me, waiting around at the doctor’s office was a pretty typical occurrence until I switched over to Dr. Katzman. My former doctor was notoriously late. I once showed up for what I had been told was the first appointment of the day and discovered that three other patients also had the first appointment of the day!

  Sure, sometimes that kind of problem happens, but for me it was representative of that doctor’s level of respect for his patients’ time. We come in a few minutes early, and we wait around for a long time reading magazines. Finally, the receptionist calls our name, and we get excited. We think the doctor is finally going to see us. And what happens? They put us in a room and tell us the doctor will be with us “in a few minutes.” Now, I think of “a few” as between three and five. Somehow those “few minutes” turn into 10, 15, maybe even 20 minutes. We start wondering if anybody remembers putting us in the room at all.

  It’s unfortunate that some “service providers” make the mistake of over-promising and under-delivering in terms of customer wait times. That sends customers the wrong message, namely, “My time is more important than yours.” Customers hate that. What we ought to be doing is under-promising and over-delivering.

  For my part, I really, really hate to make clients wait. Whether they are waiting for a product, service, a return phone call, or anything else, it doesn’t matter. I know my clients don’t like to wait, but I also know that, as a practical matter, sometimes they just have to. So if I have to make them wait, I do my level best to manage the wait. I always try to under-promise and over-deliver when it comes to wait times. I tell customers how long it will be, which creates an expectation, and then I find ways to exceed that expectation. By the way—and this is very important—whenever you create the expectation, you have to do your best to make sure it is one that the customer agrees with and is happy with.

  The Disney people are experts at managing the wait. At most Disney theme parks, there are lines, and they are usually long. There is usually a Disney cast member (that’s what Disney call its employees) standing at the end of the line helping to direct the line traffic. When you ask the cast member how long the wait is, you get an estimate. When you finally do get to the front of the line, you usually notice that it wasn’t quite as long as you were told. If the cast member told you 15 minutes, it probably only took 10 or 12 minutes. You think, “Wow! These guys are good.” But, it’s not an accident or a one-time occurrence. Disney does it consistently, on purpose. They make an art of this concept!

  Ace is an expert at managing the wait too. If you bring in a screen door to Cherry Creek Ace Hardware in Denver, Colorado, and they take on the job of fixing it, they’ll usually give you an estimate of how long it will take. When the associate calls the customer sooner than expected, the store comes across as a hero, and so does the associate. You’ve been amazed! As one Cherry Creek customer posted in an online review, “I love a business that respects the value of my time, and that’s a big reason why this place is at the top of my list.”

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  Over-promising and under-delivering, in terms of wait times, gives the customer a reason to want to try the competition.

  If you have to make a customer wait, let the person know how long. Then don’t just meet the expectation, exceed it!

  If customers perceive that the wait is shorter than they expect, they will praise you—or criticize you for the opposite.

  THE DRILL

  Have you ever been able to exceed a customer’s expectations in terms of how long he or she had to wait for something? Was it an accident, or did you truly under-promise and over-deliver?

  How did the customer react?

  AVOID LOYALTY KILLERS

  * * *

  Be careful to avoid words and phrases that destroy your customers’ confidence and loyalty.

  SO FAR WE’VE FOCUSED our attention on “best practices”—strategies that you and your organization should make a point of doing. The guidance you will find in this chapter is how to avoid a few common “worst practices” that some people and companies do that destroy any semblance of a relationship they have with their customers.

  There are some Moments of Misery that are so common and create such automatic feelings of ill will with your customers that they automatically start thinking about wanting to do business somewhere else. These Moments of Misery are Loyalty Killers, and they are to be avoided at all costs.

  The three phrases examined below are the ones that customers flat-out hate hearing, and they’ll do just about anything to avoid hearing again, including never doing business with us again. So we definitely DO NOT want to say anything remotely resembling the three phrases I’m about to share! They are the customer service equivalent of plutonium: toxic, dangerous, and deadly. Keep a safe distance from them.

  A side note: One of the big reasons I began considering Ace Hardware as the central role model for this book was that I realized it had somehow “operationalized” a cult
ure that (at least in my experience) did not deliver any of these “Loyalty Killer” moments. That’s a sign of a powerful, positive, employee-centric, customer-centric culture.

  Loyalty Killer No. 1: “It’s not my department.” Customers absolutely loathe this one. Yes, it may not be your department—or your table at a restaurant, or your whatever else—but no, that does not mean you don’t have responsibility to take care of this customer. You may not be the one who comes up with the answer or resolves the problem, but you can help customers get closer to what they want. Instead of firing off this nuclear Loyalty Killer, you want to find out what the customer’s problem is. Once you do, offer to get back to him or her with an answer.

  Perhaps you do end up handing off the problem to someone else, but you still stay in the customer’s orbit until you are absolutely sure that he or she really is going to be taken care of. (See Tool #32: Be Accountable.)

  Loyalty Killer No. 2: “It’s against company policy.” Or, another way of saying it, “I’m not authorized to do that.” Great service lies in flexibility. This Loyalty Killer is the exact opposite of that value, and is a sign of a major cultural problem.

  The companies that provide the very best service tend to think in terms of the customer, not in terms of a rulebook. In Tool #13: Defend the Culture, I pointed out that there’s a big difference between an operations-centric culture and a customer-centric culture.

  In the first kind of culture, people don’t have the flexibility necessary to make intelligent judgment calls on behalf of the customer, even if they want to. In the second kind of culture, they do have that flexibility. The kind of culture where management doesn’t trust employees to make good decisions on their own isn’t customer-centric. In fact, that kind of organizational structure may punish people who try to create intelligent, flexible solutions that don’t happen to show up in the “policy manual.” The job description may say Customer Service, and there may be all kinds of service-oriented posters on the wall, but in reality, all the employee has to work with is the rulebook. That’s not enough.

  I think one reason a lot of companies have a problem with flexibility is that they don’t trust their employees, and vice versa. Guess what? If the internal culture is all about following rules, then the external customer experience is going to be all about following rules. Ouch! Some companies create rules. Others create guidelines. Guidelines provide for flexibility.

  Avoid using the language of “rules and regulations” in your interactions with the customer! Customers don’t want to hear about the rulebook. If you have to explain a decision to a customer, do it as a peer. Frame it in terms of the most helpful outcome, not in terms of what you are and aren’t allowed to do.

  Loyalty Killer No. 3: “You need to talk to (whomever). He/she is on vacation (or out for the day, or at a meeting, or whatever) and won’t be back until next week.” How do YOU feel when some service person says this to YOU? While the statement may be factually accurate, the customer still hates hearing it. Customers don’t care what your company’s work schedule is, and they don’t like “explanations” that leave them without the solution they seek.

  Whenever this kind of situation arises, take ownership of the situation. This may mean getting the message to the right person, and then getting back to the customer. Inform the customer about when he or she will get his or her answer. Again, if someone else is doing the follow-up, check in and make sure the customer really was taken care of. This may mean making an extra call or two, but so what? Those are precious touch points that let the customer know you care and are on the lookout for ways to help. Your attitude in responding to this situation will go a long way toward creating some goodwill in what could be a negative situation. Take that Moment of Misery and turn it into a Moment of Magic!

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  Telling a customer, “It’s not my department,” is a Loyalty Killer.

  You may not come up with the answer or resolve the problem, but you can help customers get closer to what they want.

  Telling a customer, “It’s against company policy,” is a Loyalty Killer.

  Great service lies in flexibility. Rules should be guidelines.

  The companies that provide the very best service tend to think in terms of the customer, not in terms of a rulebook.

  Some companies create rules. Others create guidelines. Guidelines provide for flexibility.

  Telling a customer, “You need to talk to (name) and (he/she) isn’t here, so try again later,” is a Loyalty Killer.

  Take ownership of getting a customer request to the right person. Follow up to make sure the customer was taken care of.

  THE DRILL

  Have you ever been on the receiving end of a “Loyalty Killer” phrase such as “That’s not my department” or “Sorry, it’s company policy”? If so, how did that make you feel? If not, how do you think you would have felt?

  SEIZE THE MOMENT!

  * * *

  Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to show how good you are.

  IN CHAPTER FIVE, “The Seven Amazement Principles,” I summarized Jan Carlzon’s definition of the Moment of Truth:

  Any time a customer comes into contact with any

  aspect of your business, however remote, they have

  an opportunity to form an impression.

  That Moment of Truth is virtually every part of the interaction an internal or external customer has with you, from the first moment you engage until the very end of the interaction. At any point along the way, you are creating one of the three Moments of Truth described in chapter five, a negative Moment of Misery, an average Moment of Mediocrity, or (you hope) a positive Moment of Magic. By now you realize that it is your job to seize every moment you have with a customer and turn it into a Moment of Magic. But how do you know you are doing it?

  Think about simple words customers would use to describe how we interacted with them when we deliver a Moment of Magic. Those words could be: courteous, kind, friendly, nice, neighborly, genuine, and of course, helpful. We can’t leave out amazing, either!

  These, and similar words, can describe a Moment of Magic. You must seize the moment and deliver on one or more of these descriptive words. For example, a customer in California posted this about the service he received at the Ace store in Palo Alto: “It’s the rare feeling of genuine friendliness that makes the place stand out.”

  Isn’t that a review we would all enjoy receiving? We should aspire to deliver a feeling of genuine friendliness.

  Seizing the moment means never allowing yourself to go on autopilot while you’re interacting with a customer. It means learning to ask yourself a critical “self-check” question about every single Moment of Truth that you share with a customer. It means that, at every stage of the interaction, you are fully present in the moment, and self-aware enough to evaluate that moment honestly. You do that by asking yourself this question: Is what I’m doing right now going to make this customer want to come back the next time he or she needs what we sell?

  The result of a team member who consistently seizes the moment is an exchange that the customer perceives as genuinely friendly, helpful, kind, neighborly, and any other words similar to the ones listed above. This seize the moment strategy, in fact, is one of the most important tools for operationalizing helpful in any organization. It takes practice, though, because for most of us it’s a lot easier than it probably ought to be to go on autopilot during an interaction with a customer.

  There should be a sign in the break room, a laminated card in the employees’ pocket, a plaque on the wall for all, including our customers, to see that reads:

  Is what I’m doing right now going to make

  this customer want to come back the next time?

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  What simple words, like “friendly” and “helpful,” would customers use to describe the interactions they have with you?

  In every interaction with the customer, be fu
lly present in the moment and self-aware enough to evaluate that moment honestly.

  Ask: Is what I’m doing right now going to make this customer want to come back the next time he or she needs what we sell?

  THE DRILL

  Think of a time when you delivered an above-average experience to a loyal customer. What, specifically, did you do that made that customer want to come back the next time he or she needed what you sell?

  3 “First Impressions Critical for Fueling Customer Loyalty,” Marketing Charts, April 16, 2012. www.marketingcharts.com/wp/direct/first-impressions-critical-for-fueling-customer-loyalty-21788/.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE COMPETITIVE EDGE

  * * *

  “If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

  —JEFF BEZOS, CEO OF AMAZON.COM

  IF YOU’VE ALREADY CREATED a customer-first culture within your organization, and if you have consistently executed on that culture, then you’re ready for the next step.

  The next step is simply this: delivering Moments of Magic that go beyond being above average. These moments are the kind that really stand out, the kind that make your customers say “Wow!” The next ten Amazement Tools (#s 39–48) show you how to deliver a customer experience so powerful that it builds intense loyalty, increases evangelism for your brand, and leaves the competition shaking its collective head.