Amaze Every Customer Every Time

by Shep Hyken

  Pretty impressive, right? You might think that that’s the end of a very nice customer service story. But there is more. Once the customer made it home and started painting, she realized that the project just wasn’t unfolding in the way that she and the Ace associate had envisioned it. There was something wrong with the color, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. She reached out to the Ace associate, who actually dropped by her home for a house call!

  By looking closely at the house’s color scheme, in person, the Ace associate was able to tweak the bathroom color selections until they really were perfect—and also send a favored customer an unforgettable message of customer service that truly went “above and beyond.” That’s Ace’s way of showing gratitude. By Amazing Customers Every Time!

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  Show your best customers how grateful you are for their continued business. Send a token of your gratitude.

  Follow up to deliver a superb “gratitude” experience that exceeds your customers’ (high) expectations!

  Sometimes showing gratitude is delivering the most amazing customer service experience ever!

  You don’t have to write a thank-you note to show gratitude. You can do it by providing an above and beyond customer experience.

  THE DRILL

  When have you showed a customer, through both words and actions, just how grateful you were for his or her business?

  Who was the customer?

  How did you show that gratitude?

  DON’T LEAVE LOYALTY TO CHANCE

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  De-commoditize your business so you can start winning and keeping customers!

  A RECENT POLL PUBLISHED in TIME magazine (November 12, 2012) was a real eye-opener. The poll, commissioned by Parature, a customer service software company, said that poor customer service costs US companies about $80 billion a year in lost sales, and that 60 percent of those unhappy customers end up going to a competitor.

  Now, there are two ways to respond to these numbers. One way is to say, “My goodness—we’d better not be among those companies that are hemorrhaging customers. We’d better make darned sure that our customers are so consistently amazed they don’t even think about defecting to the competition.”

  That is definitely a good response. There’s also a second good response we should consider making. It sounds like this: “My goodness—there’s $80-billion worth of unsatisfied customers out there. More than half of them are going to end up choosing someone new to work with. How do we make sure that we get our share of those customers?”

  The very best way to get your share of the (huge) portion of potential buyers out there who are willing to switch over to you is not to leave their service experience to chance. That means consciously delivering an above-average experience, from the customer’s point of view, every single time.

  It doesn’t matter whether you are a business-to-consumer or business-to-business type of company. You can do this. Depending on the type of business and industry you are in, the numbers may vary, but the concept is valid. The reality remains that many customers will spend more for a better experience. Delivering an amazing experience takes you out of the commodity-driven, price-sensitive corner of whatever industry you happen to be in. Don’t leave the customer experience to chance! Design an experience that the customers who have been alienated by your competition will appreciate, remember, and come back to experience again.

  Maybe you’re wondering: What does “not leaving the experience to chance” look like in action? Well, consider Ace, which steadfastly refuses to leave the customer experience to chance. That’s because they know, based on plenty of in-person customer feedback and plenty of surveys, exactly what situations are likely to frustrate a hardware store customer enough to consider giving up on the big-box competition and coming over to Ace. One of those situations is: Having one—just one!—project on your to-do list to take care of, and not getting the help you need to complete it so you can get back to other things you want or need to do.

  Because the people at Ace know that they have to deliver an experience that is the exact opposite of that frustration, the most successful stores consistently implement a very simple best practice. No matter what else happens during your visit, an Ace associate will notice you, interact with you, make sure you find what you’re looking for, and ask you how you’re planning to use it—the goal being that you get everything you need on your first visit so you don’t have to come back to the store.

  That’s a core best practice at Ace. You’ll find that Ace people have been trained to execute it in virtually every interaction with a customer! That might sound simple and intuitive, but it’s something that typically does not happen to you when you visit one of Ace’s competitors. This level of helpful is what separates Ace from its competition.

  Caley, an Ace customer in Colorado, described the motives behind this kind of high-value purchase experience as follows: “Usually, when I hit the hardware store, I am already frustrated from my project. It’s nice to have a store where they make it easy to get what you need, pleasantly, and get on your way.” That’s loyalty talking right there. That’s a customer experience that has not been left to chance!

  You want to deliver a de-commoditizing experience, the kind of experience that gets customers to switch, and be happy they did.

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  Poor customer service costs US companies about $80 billion a year in lost sales. (Parature study, 2012)

  60 percent of customers unhappy with a company’s customer service will end up switching to a competitor.

  Delivering an amazing experience takes you out of the commodity-driven, price-sensitive corner of your industry.

  Don’t leave the customer experience to chance. Be deliberate about the value you provide to customers.

  Know what frustrates customers enough to make them want to switch to a competitor. Then, deliver the opposite experience.

  THE DRILL

  Is your customer experience so much better than your competitors’ that your best customers are willing to pay a little more?

  If so, what exactly are you doing to make the price less relevant? If not, what can you do?

  DO WHAT IS NOT EXPECTED

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  Be on the lookout for opportunities to do what you know the competition would not do.

  EARLIER WE DEFINED AN AMAZING level of customer service as service that is consistently above average. I always emphasize to the clients I work with and the audiences I talk to that, in order to be amazing, you don’t have to deliver wow service every single time. You just have to be consistently above average.

  However …

  Truly great companies are still always on the lookout for opportunities to deliver that wow experience—by doing something they know the competition would not do. They don’t necessarily expect to deliver that level of service every time, but when they see the chance, they try to take advantage of it. That builds intense loyalty and enthusiastic evangelists for the brand. (See the epilogue: “Create a Demanding Customer.”)

  Jerry Campbell, manager of an Ace store in Dayton, Ohio, had a customer come in and ask for a particular type of shower head, one that had to be special ordered and mailed to her home. Curious, Campbell asked the customer why she didn’t want to just come by to pick the order up. As it turned out, she didn’t have a car, and her apartment was located a long way from the nearest bus stop. The cab ride to and from the Ace store was ten dollars each way, and that was a lot of money.

  “That’s no problem,” Jerry said. “When the order comes in, we’ll give you a call, and then I or one of the associates here can swing by your apartment after work and drop off the shower head.”

  The customer’s response was an enthusiastic, “Well, that would be awfully nice!”

  Wow! Would the competition do that? It’s doubtful. Jerry had spotted and acted on an opportunity to do something the customer did not expect.

  When the shower head
came in, Jerry called the customer, set up a time to come by, dropped off her order, and picked up the money. Here’s the point: This customer was amazed at the service she received. More than just a regular customer, she became an active evangelist for Ace, telling all of her neighbors about her experience, which turned into more business. And why did this happen? Because Jerry did something his competitors most likely would not do. By now you know—that’s how Ace competes. They know what others don’t and won’t do, and they take advantage of that knowledge. That’s how you stand out. That’s how you become amazing!

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  Delivering customer amazement doesn’t mean you have to deliver wow service every time. Just be consistently better than average.

  When you see the chance to do something the competition definitely would not do, consider taking advantage of it.

  Look for opportunities to create Moments of Magic that the customer does not expect.

  THE DRILL

  Have you ever taken advantage of an opportunity to surprise the customer with something that he or she didn’t expect? What was it?

  How did the customer react?

  DELIVER AMAZING FOLLOW-UP

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  Following up with the customer after the sale establishes confidence that can lead to loyalty.

  WHENEVER YOU CREATE a customer service experience that results in a decision to purchase your product or service, you automatically have a new opportunity for amazement. It’s what I call amazing follow-up, an after-experience that is a powerful tool to reinforce that the customer made the right choice to buy from you.

  For example, a friend of mine bought a new home, and several days after he moved in, he got a call from his real estate agent. The agent just wanted to make sure everything was going well and also wanted to find out whether there was anything my friend needed. (The call itself is positive follow-up No. 1!) During the call, the agent mentioned that he had a special gift for every family with small children who buys a home from him. The agency owns a bounce house, one of those huge blow-up houses that kids (and some parents) climb into and bounce around in. My friend’s ears perked up; his daughter had her eighth birthday coming up. As one of the real estate agent’s clients, my friend was free to use it for a day. (That gift is positive follow-up No. 2!)

  A follow-up like that becomes part of the experience days, weeks, or even months after the actual purchase. This positive follow-up reinforces the customer’s original decision to do business with you—and exceeds the customer’s expectations. That’s what makes it amazing!

  You can do this in any number of ways. It can be the follow-up phone call or a thank-you note. (See Tool #43: Show Your Gratitude.) Maybe you send a customer a special article on something related to the specific product or service that he or she just bought. Perhaps it’s an email with a link to a video that the manufacturer produced especially for new users.

  Some of the Ace stores are known for regularly executing this strategy as a way to create value and build an even stronger relationship with their customers. I’ve heard and read so many stories of personal follow-up after a decision to purchase from an Ace store that I couldn’t possibly have included them all in this book. I do want to draw special attention to one story, though. Stephen placed an order for an electric fence kit at AceHardware.com, which is Ace’s online shopping portal. After he bought his fence, he received not one, not two, but three separate calls from his local Ace store to confirm the order and confirm that it actually showed up when he needed it. Admittedly, this may seem extreme, but in this case it was totally appropriate. Not many online (or even brick-and-mortar) vendors offer that kind of amazing follow-up!

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  Unexpected follow-up after the sale is a great way to amaze your customer.

  Connect your follow-up contact with the original purchase to make it truly amazing.

  Following up with your customer reinforces that the customer made the right decision to do business with you.

  THE DRILL

  Think of a time you followed up with a customer after the sale. What did you do?

  How could you use this follow-up approach with other customers?

  STAY IN TOUCH

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  Promote yourself and your company by staying in touch on a consistent basis.

  IN THE LAST TOOL, we covered how to deliver amazing follow-up. This tool, however, describes a different type of follow-up in that it’s not specifically tied to a sale. It’s not a thank-you note or a follow-up phone call. It’s about staying in touch in between sales.

  This tool is about staying in touch with your customers by creating a series of regular touch points. These touch points should show that you are interested in maintaining and growing your professional relationship. Such consistent interactions with your customers create what marketing and advertising people call creating “top-of-mind awareness.”

  This simple idea probably has one of the highest returns on investment in terms of generating and sustaining engagement and loyalty, yet it only takes a little bit of effort and time. The key is to use this approach with your existing customers—the ones who already know and love you. Find a way to stay connected, even if they don’t do business with you very often.

  There are many ways to do this. You can send the customer a newsletter by mail or email, write a personalized note, or send something of personal interest, such as an article from a magazine that you know would interest certain customers.

  Perhaps the most powerful touch point of all is simply to call up to say hello every month or so and let the customer know you’ve been thinking of him or her. While this may technically be a sales call, the main point is to make it personal. You are checking in with your customers, finding out how they are doing, and then mentioning that there are some specials or new products they may be interested in knowing about. For example, about twice a year my wife receives a call from a salesperson at a store where she likes to shop. The sales rep knows what my wife likes and lets her know about the new clothes that are coming in that she might be interested in.

  I have a friend who is a car dealer who takes a more subtle approach. He sends a monthly email to his customers and friends that includes timely tips, such as a reminder to turn your clocks forward for daylight saving time, or to remember to check the batteries in your smoke detectors. Not once has he ever tried to sell a car in any of these emails. That’s important to notice! This may be one of the most powerful ways of utilizing this tool. While it seems like he isn’t promoting anything, he is actually promoting himself. His goal is simple: whenever you become interested in a car, he wants to be top of mind.

  At least once a month, I email a newsletter to my clients. This always includes an article I’ve written on customer service. I’ve never sent out the newsletter with blatant promotion or advertising. I make a point of building the newsletter around value-added content that my clients appreciate.

  Ace executes this touch point principle very well by sending out a monthly e-newsletter to customers who sign up on the AceHardware.com website or are members of the Ace Rewards program. The Ace Hardware e-newsletter is packed with great home improvement and maintenance advice, customized to the preferences of the subscriber. A lot of local stores create their own e-newsletters, targeted specifically to the local community. In addition to the typical maintenance, repair, and home improvement advice, local retailers send information about storms approaching their area and what to do to prepare. They can also alert customers when a bug, weed, or fungus hits the area.

  Gene Pedrotti of Pedrotti’s Ace Hardware in Benicia, California, is a master at keeping in touch with his customers. He sends them emails linking to how-to videos he posts on YouTube for his customers to view. Three years ago he had an opportunity to buy several hundred holiday wreaths at a very low price because they were overstocked at the warehouse. He sent them to his top 400 customers as a holiday gift. Every year Gene takes the tim
e to mail a personal, handwritten note to these same top customers. What a powerful way to stay in touch!

  Please don’t think this is just about the company. This is also an excellent personal strategy that, while promoting the company you work for, will also promote you as an individual and endears you to the customer. It’s a pattern of connections that delivers more than the customer expects. Keep it up, and your customers will start to consider you amazing!

  YOUR AMAZEMENT TOOLBOX

  Consistently staying in touch with customers creates what advertising and marketing people call “top-of-mind awareness.”

  Consider setting up a monthly e-newsletter that is focused on value for the customer versus blatant promotion.

  One of the most powerful touch points is to call customers just to let them know you are thinking of them.

  The most effective regular touch points are the ones that do not try to sell anything.

  THE DRILL

  Are there certain customers that you, or your company, stay in touch with on a regular basis? How do you go about doing it (phone calls, emails, newsletters, etc.)?

  GET PROACTIVE

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