I worked all day Tuesday then in afternoon I flew from Indianapolis to San Francisco, via Chicago. I was a typical trip. The first flight was full and delayed, leaving me for a bit to wonder if I'd make the connection. Made the connection fine and arrived in San Francisco on time. I got some work done on the plane, read some and it was pretty uneventful, except for the water.
I had my shoes off and had the whole row to myself, so I had materials spread out all over. Suddenly my foot felt damp. Then I noticed water dripping....
The person in row in front of me had placed a 1.5 liter bottle of water in the seat direct above my feet. The bottle apparently wasn't completely closed. I had wet socks, a wet pant leg and I poured water from one of my shoes.
I moved rows, dried off and enjoyed the rest of the flight.
The taxi ride from the airport was 13 minutes to downtown - normally it would be 20 plus. The speed gain wasn't because of a lack of traffic, it was because my driver was apparently preparing for a NASCAR audition.
All of this led up to arriving at the Hotel Rex. Nicole Jackson, the front desk host asked if she could help and I told her I was checking in. My name wasn't on the reservations list - until the following night, when all of the rest of the team I would be working with would be there.
Then she informed me she had no other rooms.
I was tired and suddenly homeless. Nicole quickly offered to find me another room, negotiate me a better rate, offer to store my bag full of workshop materials, and to top it off, when making the reservation, told the person on the other end of the phone that I was pleasant!
The five block walk to the other hotel went quickly - after all, I'm pleasant! :)
In the end, Nicole turned a potentially bad service moment into a gem by her quick action and by going above and beyond the call of duty.
If you are ever in San Francisco and looking for a unique hotel experience, please consider the Hotel Rex. And tell Nicole hello for me.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
It's Your Responsiblity Too
Imagine going into a Burger King at about 11:15 pm after a long shift at work. You are tired (and obviously hungry). When you walk in you see what appears to be the lone employee sitting behind the counter. After waiting to be greeted and standing at the counter for a minute, you make eye contact with the sitting employee and ask to place your order.
The employee (still sitting) says, "You'll have to wait ten minutes, I'm on break."
This happened to a friend of someone on my team.
The person, after asking again, not sure that the employee was serious, and receiving the same, "You'll have to wait ten minutes, I'm on break." decided to leave.
This is a true story told to me last week, and of course, is an awful example of Customer Service.
I don't share to complain about Burger King, but rather to ask myself, what would I have done about it? The two people I have talked to both said they would have called the 800 number and reported it. I'd like to think that I would, but up until now, I'm not sure I would have.
Why should we?
Because the owners and managers of this Burger King can't be there every hour the store is open. Without feedback on employee performance (or lack thereof) they can't improve it.
We can all shake our heads at service this bad, or we can give the feedback - not just in indignation for being wronged - but to improve the situation long term.
If we would all give feedback for service that is less than outstanding, we would begin to improve the service we all receive.
The only thing that we as Customers can do to improve service more is to make sure we provide feedback when we are delighted by the service, but that is a topic for another day.
The employee (still sitting) says, "You'll have to wait ten minutes, I'm on break."
This happened to a friend of someone on my team.
The person, after asking again, not sure that the employee was serious, and receiving the same, "You'll have to wait ten minutes, I'm on break." decided to leave.
This is a true story told to me last week, and of course, is an awful example of Customer Service.
I don't share to complain about Burger King, but rather to ask myself, what would I have done about it? The two people I have talked to both said they would have called the 800 number and reported it. I'd like to think that I would, but up until now, I'm not sure I would have.
Why should we?
Because the owners and managers of this Burger King can't be there every hour the store is open. Without feedback on employee performance (or lack thereof) they can't improve it.
We can all shake our heads at service this bad, or we can give the feedback - not just in indignation for being wronged - but to improve the situation long term.
If we would all give feedback for service that is less than outstanding, we would begin to improve the service we all receive.
The only thing that we as Customers can do to improve service more is to make sure we provide feedback when we are delighted by the service, but that is a topic for another day.
What are You Spreading?
Energy is contagious, and as you go to work today (or meet with Clients, or go to e meeting, or walk to the coffee pot) you will be spreading whatever it is that you are carrying.
There are two basic kinds of energy - positive and negative. If you are carrying positive energy with you you are spreading:
If you are carrying negative energy you are spreading:
So the logical question is what are you carrying?
As a leader... to your Customers... to your team... to those you are training?
If you aren't carrying what you want to spread, do an energy adjustment before you walk away from your computer.
Remember - you are contagious!
There are two basic kinds of energy - positive and negative. If you are carrying positive energy with you you are spreading:
Enthusiasm
Speed
Action
Success
If you are carrying negative energy you are spreading:
Stress
Fear
Fatigue
Failure
So the logical question is what are you carrying?
As a leader... to your Customers... to your team... to those you are training?
If you aren't carrying what you want to spread, do an energy adjustment before you walk away from your computer.
Remember - you are contagious!
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
Every Interaction Counts
When working with organizations on building a Customer Service culture, building awareness of the Customer's importance or helping with skill building, I often have people share a personal Customer Service horror story and a success story. This exercise leads to conversation about how it feels to be the Customer, what kinds of things matter,and helps everyone to see the power an individual interaction can have.
One of my debrief questions for this type of exercise is to ask how many people still do business with the company they had a horrorific experience with (few do). Alternately, I ask how many still do business with those who provided them with a WOW experience (most all do).
In recently reading How Full is Your Bucket a story was shared that validates emphatically this point of view.
The authors studied 4,583 call center representatives from a major telecommunications firm. They discoveredthree representatives who scared off every single Customer they spoke with in a given day - and those Customers did not return.
The book accurated summarizes that, "The company would have been better off paying those three represntatives to stay home."
The study also found 7 reps that retained and engaged every Customer they spoke with. Want to bet that those Customers were Customers for life?
This is the internal view of the Horror and Success stories... a view I thought was worth sharing.
One of my debrief questions for this type of exercise is to ask how many people still do business with the company they had a horrorific experience with (few do). Alternately, I ask how many still do business with those who provided them with a WOW experience (most all do).
In recently reading How Full is Your Bucket a story was shared that validates emphatically this point of view.
The authors studied 4,583 call center representatives from a major telecommunications firm. They discoveredthree representatives who scared off every single Customer they spoke with in a given day - and those Customers did not return.
The book accurated summarizes that, "The company would have been better off paying those three represntatives to stay home."
The study also found 7 reps that retained and engaged every Customer they spoke with. Want to bet that those Customers were Customers for life?
This is the internal view of the Horror and Success stories... a view I thought was worth sharing.
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