Think About That: Customer Service

Customer service is single handedly the most important function of our organizations. How we serve our customers has a direct effect on their loyalty, willingness to pay, and lifetime value (LTV). Even more important than these traditional measures of customer performance is the feeling exceptional customer service creates within each person. Not only are customers happy with a seamless experience, it is rewarding and just feels great to deliver quality service.

When customer service goes wrong, brands can fall from Pantheonic status to mere ruins. This is especially true since the rise of the internet, smartphones, and social media. The best approach to avoid customer service catastrophe is to set a culture of service excellence. Consistently delivering the highest level of customer service allows organizations to weather customer service bumps, or even meltdowns, with relative ease.

Forbes ranked 300 companies with best customer service; and it’s interesting to note that, throughout the list, there is a diversity of company types/industries represented. If certain industries aren’t better/worse than others at delivering quality service, there must be some commonalities among these organizations which lead to the greatest customer experience and satisfaction.?

Here are three behaviors which organizations use to create a positive, customer-centric service culture. Not only do these actions build the brand’s image, but they also bolster the organization to withstand if and when things go awry.

?Acknowledge the Customer

Seems simple and is less common than one might expect. Showing that customers are valued, even by the smallest of gestures, goes a long way. Montage Hotels & Resorts achieves iconic status such that hip-hop stars Post Malone and 21 Savage write about their legendary stay at the, presumably, Beverly Hills, CA location.

While Montage, like other high-end hotel brands Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton, offers guests luxury accommodations and dining, the way in which Montage staff acknowledges each guest sets this brand apart. As guests walk the property of Montage’s original, landmark Laguna Beach, CA location, staff will pause what they are doing to step aside. They make way for the guests and acknowledge them with a warm greeting. There’s a casual formality to the way in which staff will use a salutation if they are aware of the guests’ last name and identity. The staff culture is one which demonstrates gratitude for the opportunity to create an amazing experience for guests and, in turn, guest feel welcome and at home.

This simple way of working creates strong brand loyalty which allows Montage to overcome customer service incidents. A notable, and widely publicized, encounter during the pandemic is viral social media fodder. This meltdown could have destroyed the brand. We can attribute the ability of Montage to overcome this issue not only by how they handled the incident but more by the way customers are acknowledged as a standard.

Right Person, Right Away

When a customer makes an inquiry or request, the faster they receive resolution, the better. This means that identifying, and routing to, the appropriate person to address the customer the first time is critical. The 苹果 store experience is a clear example of how customer flow is managed. When a customer walks into the store, they are immediately greeted and asked, “what brings you in today?” The greeter then routes the customer to the appropriate team member to address their needs. This type of customer management is seen in many other cases from car sales to investments. Automated phone systems continue to develop ways in which to more quickly address a customer’s inquiry. We’ll see more generative AI tools supporting customer resolution by providing solutions and, as needed, directing to the live person most qualified to address the customer’s needs.

Make it Easy

Solutions for our customers need to be simple and expedient. Returns, customer inquiries, credits – all matter to customers. When we make it easy, we allow our customers to move forward quickly. This alleviates stress caused when the customer has to work too hard to accomplish something. In certain situations, it also helps customer cash flow.

REI has an incredibly generous return policy. Most products purchased by an REI Member can be returned within one year. When returning an item, a customer is asked why they are returning it. Simple. Even with their lenient return policy, REI avoids having high return rates because staff is trained and effective in working with customers to help them purchase the right products in the first place.

Uber makes it easy to request ride cancellation fee refunds. With a few clicks, riders can contest a fee and immediately receive credit for the fee. The process is straight forward and creates time savings and financial value for customers.

In both the REI and Uber cases, these companies know that it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. The cost to service a customer in each case (cost of the goods returned or the cancellation fee credit plus employee time/wages) are factored into the cost of doing business and maintaining the customer base. A small spend in customer maintence goes a long way and positively impacts the bottom line.

There’s a reason why Forbes ranked The UPS Store #1 in customer services (and it’s not because the workers get pastries from Urth Caffe ). If we weave both customer service scripts/policies with a culture of care, we will consistently deliver exceptional experiences. The culture drives every employee to do the right thing. It goes beyond the policies and is the unspoken way of working at the highest level (when done right). This in turn generates happiness throughout the organization and with our customers. Everyone wins.

So, Think About That – What are we doing that’s getting in the way of delivering the highest customer service? Are there cultural forces helping/hindering our customer experience? In how many more pop songs can we be positively referenced?