Five Ideas for Game Changing Customer Service

Last year, we were traveling for my daughter’s swim meet. Just before our return trip, I asked my wife and daughter to use the restroom. It was going to be long drive and frankly, I was ready to get home with as few interruptions as possible

They responded, “we’ll wait for Waller.”

“Waller? What’s in Waller?” I asked.

Buc-ees is in Waller. It is a gas station and convenience store that has a created a cult following here in Texas. Buc-ees first became known for having the cleanest, most convenient and safe restrooms. My wife and my daughter know if they need to stop, Buc-ees is the place to do it.

Studies show quality restrooms are a big concern for more than a third of travelers.

Recently, Buc-ees has begun installing lights outside stall doors to indicate whether the stall is occupied or empty. This is a serious commitment to the customer.

Over the years, Buc-ees expanded their stores selling all forms of food, clothing and trinkets. I have seen Buc-ees t-shirts worn at church. I wish I was joking.

And Buc-ees products generate big revenue and big profits.

It all started because Buc-ees became known for clean restrooms.

As I was thinking about their brilliant sales tactic, I realized providing great restrooms is really great customer service. Buc-ees is serving by anticipating the needs of the customer on a long trip.

A company providing good customer is expected. Good customer service keeps customers.

Great customer service is about identity. Great customer service creates customers. Great customer service is a game changer.

After this experience, started thinking about great customer service. I am the Director of Employee Benefits for a national insurance brokerage. I started thinking about what we could do to have great customer service. And I created videos on five ideas I came up for great customer service. Here is my list:

1. Checklist Everything
2. Prepare Your Employees for the Tough Times
3. Teach Your Employees How to Communicate
4. Start with a Smile
5. Lose the Sales Quota

Checklist Everything

One of customer service’s best tools is the checklist.

Checklist any routine process and make customer service consistent regardless of the employee. The checklist is the difference between inconsistent and consistent.

Make sure everyone uses them especially your most experienced team members.

The experienced teammate often uses shortcuts in their daily routine.

You need to know those shortcuts. Encourage the teammate to share their shortcuts.

Only then you can either determine if the shortcut is good and should be implemented to other team members, or if the shortcut hurts quality, you can coach the experienced employee.

Regardless, checklists should be for everyone, the new employees and the experienced.

Prepare Your Employees for the Tough Times

Do you practice for when you get a difficult customer?

If you have customers, there will be tough moments.

To understand how your team will respond under fire, we need to recreate the tough conditions that our teams will inevitably face.

No doubt you’ve spent time discussing customer service challenges with your team. You’ve likely described what to do. You’ve given clear instructions.

However, the front lines, in front of an angry, disappointed client is very different than the controlled environment of the training room. Repeated practice could be the difference between calming a profitable client and watching them walk out the door forever.

Teach Your Employees How to Communicate

Those who are familiar with personality assessments such as Myers-Briggs, understand folks have a communication style.

For example, there are people who perceive the world through their “intuition” and are conceptual. Other people are “sensors” and only want the facts.

Further, there are some who trust their feelings; a phrase you may hear them say, “I trust my gut.” Other folks are not feelers are all and make decisions based on reason and logic.

Finally, there are people who are flexible, adaptable and open to change. They are comfortable letting a decision or project evolve on its own. Still others want projects to be planned and orderly.

We often communicate to others using our preferred communication style. We feed information in the way we prefer to receive it.

Unfortunately, if the recipient doesn’t share your same communication traits, your information goes unheard and unprocessed.

Imagine if your service department could recognize the communication traits of the customer. Teach your employees to communicate in the customers’ “language,” not in their own.

Start with a Smile

Smiles and a sense of humor will serve your team during the inevitable tough times of customer service.

Smiling employees tell customers that your team wants to help them. Customers feel invited to share and get help.

And don’t you want that? You can’t solve a problem you don’t know.

Smiling communicates something about your organization. Customers subconsciously feel that happy employees indicate a quality organization.

Smiling is an attitude. It is confidence. Smiling is assurance.

Practice smiling in your customer training and role-playing.

There is time to wipe the smile off our face especially when dealing with a customer’s bad experience. But even in those situations, I’ve found beginning and ending with a smile, has served me well more times than not.

If your customer service is over the phone, encourage your team to still smile. I am convinced smiles can be “heard” over the phone.

If you want great customer service that creates raving fans, maybe it starts with a smile.

Lose the Sales Quota

If you want great customer service, maybe it’s time to ditch the sales quota.

Sometimes, a struggling sales rep under the weight of quota oversells and creates unrealistic expectations.

Do you ever wonder why your clients feel like a number? Quotas fuel that perception.

Does it make more sense to measure sales people on things they control like appointment setting, developing contacts, and lead generation. Perhaps we can place the focus on footwork, not a sales quota.

About 15 years ago, I was meeting with a bank VP who said, “my job is to replace the bottom 10%.” He explained he wanted his branches bigger. He felt the branch managers were simply too complacent. He was trying them to motivate them to get more customers, accounts and loans or face extinction.

There were a few branch managers who succumbed to his pressure, and began making more risky deals. The inevitable happened and there was an increase in unqualified loans.

Some employees have built their “house” on sand, and some have built their “house” on rock. When folks are under extreme pressure like an artificial quota, some will do whatever it takes including writing bad deals.

If you want raving fans, be careful that your sales strategy isn’t sabotaging your service efforts.

This list is certainly not the only ideas for great customer service.

What are your ideas for great customer service? What are some examples of great customer service you’ve seen? I look forward to hearing back from you.