ABC's of Customer Recovery

We all make mistakes - including with Customers. We will upset them, overcharge them, mess up their service, or wrong them in some other way. Not because we want to or mean to, but because it happens.

One of the truths about exceptional Customer service is that the story isn't over when we make a mistake. The story doesn't have to end there. If we recover gracefully and successfully, we may have a more loyal Customer than we did before we made the mistake.

If you want some great suggestions on Customer Service Recovery, read this post on the The Business Management Blog Resource. It contains 26 suggestions - one for each letter of the alphabet to help you recover more successfully.

Thanks to Bud Bilanich for pointing me to this great post.

6 Ways to Create More Play at Work

Last year, on the 6th of May (the day after 5/5/05) I made a note to post something special on 6/6/06. And thanks to additional prompting from the fabulous Rosa Say, I'm sharing six ways to create more play at work.

When Rosa suggested that topic for today, I loved it. Specifically, Rosa challenges us to think of 6 ways to put more play in our lives. I've taken her good idea and extended it to work. Since we spend such a large percentage of our time doing it, we should be consciously looking for ways to make work more full of play too. It is a topic worth exploring and it is a topic I care about.

Here then are six ways to bring more playfulness into the workplace.

• Put a candy bowl on your desk.
• Place a toy on your desk, or put some toys in each of your meeting rooms.
• Put clay or playdough on the tables for the next training you attend (whether you are the trainer or not!)
• Laugh more often, and encourage laughter around you - remember that business is too important to take seriously.
• Make sure to do some of the things you are best at each day. (See this post for more thoughts on this idea.)
• Stage a monthly celebration - whether for birthdays, successes, or whatever - do something to celebrate regularly.

Some of these are easy and can be implemented by anyone, starting today. Others might take some influencing, and some while they can be introduced by anyone will need more support throughout the organization. Regardless, you can take action towards any of these today.

Take one of these ideas specifically, or do something else that you think of.

Use this day, whenever you read it, to remind to you put playfulness into your work.

Give Me the Choice

Any restaurant spends significant time creating a wide and varied menu, because they know their Customers want choices. They select a wide variety of beverages, perhaps even concocting their own new ones, again with the purpose of giving their Customers choices. They also train their wait staff to talk about the daily specials, make suggestions and in general to provide options.

The investment in inventory, menus, creativity and training required to do all of these things is sizeable.

And yet, far too often we as Customers don't have the choice on something that would cost them nothing.

The wait staff provides you great service and checks in on you several times during your meal. They even come by and begin clearing plates. . . . but they don't leave the bill.

If I have the bill and want to stay and visit, I have the choice. But if I am in a bit more of a hurry, I don't have that choice, until they bring me the bill or I flag them down.

I know, some people may not bring the bill because they don't want to rush people, but that can be alleviated with a quick comment. "Feel free to stay and visit as long as you'd like, I'll leave the bill for you and I'll take care of it whenever you are ready."

The same courtesy that is shown throughout the meal can be shown now, and I as the Customer can have the choice.

Perhaps no one else feels as I do about this, but I do know, that this is one of many things we can do to improve Customer Service without implementing a new program or spending a bunch of time or money.

This message is for more than those who own or manage restaurants.

Think about the choices you offer your Customer. Think about that throughout their experience from the very beginning all the way to the very end. As important as a first impression is, the final experience will be long remembered as well.

A Shuttle Ride and a Customer Service Lesson

I got on a rental car shuttle bus at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport on Wednesday evening, and noticed that the shuttle driver helped people load and stow their heavier bags onto the bus. At the time I thought that was pretty great, and realized tat I hadn't seen that very often lately on rental car shuttles. In the "old days," when each rental car company had their own buses, you would see that sometimes. But now, with buses taking everyone to the common rental car areas, it seems another loss of a Customer Service touch.

I didn't think much more about it until yesterday morning, when I rode the shuttle back to the terminal. There where three of us getting on the bus and the driver helped each of us. Great, I thought. Then we got to Terminal A and the driver, gets off, and sprints to the back door to help the first two passengers with their bags.

He sprinted. And as he walked back to the drivers seat, he made eye contact and smiled at me, making sure I was going to the correct terminal on the next stop.

He sprinted.

He smiled.

He gave great Customer Service.

The lessons?

• There are opportunities for great Customer Service everywhere.
• Customers will notice, even if what you are doing could, should, or used to be the standard.
• Little things make a difference.
• And it appears to me that someone leading the rental car shuttle bus drivers in Houston is doing a great job.

Experiencing Your Competence

I had a wonderful long lunch with the maestro of fun, Bernie DeKoven last Friday. I've been blessed to work (and play) with Bernie some over the past few months, and I'm especially lucky that his daughter, son-in-law and new grandchild live in Indianapolis. Hence, our long lunch.

During our fun and stimulating conversation we talked at length about people finding the true fun in their work, and at one point Bernie described it exceedingly well for me. He said, "People feel the fun when they are experiencing their competence."

Experiencing our competence.

You know what he's talking about - the times when you are really working well, the times when your ideas get legs in the meeting and everyone is onboard. The times when you are working on the parts of your work you know the best - and your excellence shows through with out any apparent effort.

I expect you'll hear and read more about this concept from both Bernie and I in the coming months.

But for now, I encourage you to think about the times in your work when you are deeply enjoying yourself. Think about when it happens, how it happens and what it feels like.

It is my guess that as you ponder this, you will begin to contemplate these times as times when you are experiencing your competence.

Take a Risk!

I got those words of advice - "Take a Risk!" when I took the protective cap off of a new solid anti-perspirant container on Monday. When I bought the product, I had no idea I was getting an informational product as well as a functional one.

Who knew? :)

The advice is short, but very relevant (even if not from the perspective hoped for by the makers of Degree.)

So for a couple of days I have been thinking about the value of this admonishment/advice, and here are some of my thoughts.

If you want to be more creative, you'll need to . . . take a risk. Ask a crazy question. Try an outrageous solution. Prototype with less testing. Something!

If you want to serve your Customers better (even WOW them), you'll need to . . . take a risk. Staying with the tried and true may not upset them, but it won't set them on fire for you and your products/services either.

If you want to be a better leader you'll need to . . . take a risk. Risk caring a bit more. Risk communicating a bit more. Risk sharing more of your vision. Risk being more personal. Risk being more supportive. Any of these things may feel risky, but if you want to improve, they are things you must do.

Taking risks is about way more then crazy stunts or massive gambles (as seen on the Degree website). It is about a mindset that says go for it. The saying goes that the best fruit is at the end of branch, but you have to risk to go get it.

The saying is right.

Take a risk.

You know the risk that is in your mind as you read this.

Take it.

Right now.

Enthusiasm - Catch It!

I often ask groups of people about enthusiasm - trainers, leaders, coaches, and those who interact with Customers. I ask them if they think enthusiasm is contagious. Their answer is always an emphatic and nearly unanimous (and often enthusiastic) "Yes!".

I agree with that answer.

And, apparently so does my friend Jim Brosseau, the Principal of Clarrus, an organization that helps software developers and the firms they work for be more successful.

In his latest email newsletter, The Compendium, he relates a story about meeting some people canvassing for their cause. After the story he writes,

"While I still don't buy in to the evangelistic single-approach-for-all, I gained an appreciation for how we can be carried forward with our enthusiasm, and that being careful in how we splash this energy on those around us can serve us well.

I carried this thought into the training session we had that week, and I'll be damned if it wasn't by far the most positive engagement I've had to date with that very large organization . . .

. . . one of the key drivers for the success was the enthusiasm for the topic that the group's planners carried into the session - they had poured the last couple years of their lives into tuning the topic, and it showed. Even though they were relatively low-key instructors, they clearly believed in their message, and knew its adoption would make a significant difference for the group.

Enthusiasm can indeed be infectious in a group setting, whether the team is pumped up for building a cool new product, or making the big sale, or kicking the competition's butt. A few people will get it started and the energy passes along to the others. Generally, once you get beyond a core group, enthusiasm can be difficult to sustain, and you will often need a conscious effort to prevent it from being diluted.

Enthusiasm is not something you can mandate into the group, it requires a common motivation and is something that is best seeded through action rather than words. When you’ve got it, do what you can to feed it, to keep it going. Channel it, never crush it - the output from an enthusiastic team can be absolutely phenomenal."

(You can read his full post here and while you are there - sign up to receive his Compendium email each week)

I could tell similar stories from training situations and in everyday life. Jim is exactly right.

Not everyone's enthusiasm will look the same. I'm not enthusiastic in the same ways as a cheerleader, and you certainly don't want don't emulate my style either. If you want to be enthusiastic, be yourself. Let your passion and interest show. Take action based on that passion and your enthusiasm will grow.

It is completely true that enthusiasm is contagious.

So is the opposite.

The question is... which are you spreading to your team, your Customers, and anyone you interact with?