The Customer Service Revolution

Are you ready for the customer service revolution? Little by little, I am seeing signs of what I am calling a customer service revolution.  If you are not prepared, you are going to find it difficult to retain your current market share, let alone gaining any new clients.

I started my first blog based on examples of bad customer service because of my passion for providing exceptional experiences for customers. That was nearly 15 years ago and not much has changed in the overall level of customer service, it still is not very good. Especially after the horrible economic times, we faced from 2008 through 2014. It always strikes me odd that when a company starts to struggle the first thing they do is cut out things that make the overall customer experience better. Safety, training, appreciation events or any other type of team member or customer recognition. I could write a book just on the things companies get wrong when it comes to finding areas to try saving money when things get tight. But that is not what I want to discuss today. No, today I want to talk about the future.

Since the inception of social media, companies have been held to a level of accountability like no other time before. In the past, if you didn’t hear anything bad, then you felt like you were doing well. That was a big mistake! Studies have shown that when someone has a bad experience they are unlikely to say anything about it, they will just stop patronizing that company. But in today’s world of social media everyone is a customer experience expert, a food critic, or a focus group and will affect your future business. It doesn’t matter if you are a restaurant, a coffee house, a publisher or anyone who offers a product or service. You are susceptible to any customer’s comments on social media sites. The biggest difference between the inception of social media and now, is that people are now listening to those comments.

With sites such as Yelp and Google, you can find out about any restaurant or service long before you ever turn over a single dollar. With sites like glass door and others, your overall company culture is exposed whether you like it or not. And once more, with companies like Home Advisor, Expedia, and Amazon, they have turned many services into a commodity, the same as a straw you would use for a drink. No one puts much thought into buying a straw; I mean heck, a straw is a straw right? In the future, if you are not the cheapest price, the only thing that will set you apart in this connected world will be the customer experience. How much do people like doing business with you? Available to all, in one site, you can see reviews, prices, and other determinable information to help steer you in the right direction. Side note; I would warn most consumers not to trust everything you see since much of the information is based on how much each company is willing to spend, you could end up with what you thought was the right provider only to find out none of the information you obtained was accurate. You have to remember that the internet is based on the information people provide, and you need to question people’s motives. But all in all these sites are great tools for gaining information and hopefully getting a better buying experience.

Fueled by all this information at your fingertips, is why I feel we are on the precipice of a customer service revolution. In the future, you will have no choice but to provide exceptional customer service if you want to compete in a connected world. You will be required to not only understand all the things that go into exceptional customer service such as leadership, great work environment, and a service company that really cares about its team and customers but also know how to measure, manage and improve the customer experience.

I have attended many CX workshops over the past few years, and I will tell you the attendance is going up. I see companies I have never seen at a CX workshop, like pharmaceutical companies, and convenience stores. Again in the past, the idea was a convenience, you didn’t have to have great customer service, the only thing you needed was to be convenient. But now, with a convenience store on every corner, you need to be better than the others and provide a memorable customer interaction to stand out. In other words, to stand out in the future, you will need to be outstanding.

So how can you prepare for this revolution? I am glad you asked. You need to start with leadership. This is the most common thing I see missing whenever I do any consulting work. Without strong leadership, it is nearly impossible to create an exceptional customer experience for your customers. Leadership touches everything in your company. You need to be innovative, you need to have a harmonious work environment, you need to have solid business processes and procedures, and you must truly care about your team and your customers. All these are natural traits of a great leader. If you have to pick one thing to start with, make sure you have great leaders. The rest gets easier if you have the proper leadership in place.

With all this said I hope you are prepared for what is coming. You will need to be quick, innovative, in-tune with your customer’s wants and needs, and able to adapt to ever-changing situations and technologies. In the end, you will have to have all these things to be successful because let’s face it, if you are not willing to, your competition will be more than happy to oblige!

The 24 Hour Employee

It makes me cringe just typing the word employee since I don’t believe in that word. But I had to write this article based on something I heard at the Disney Customer Experience Summit. One thing they discussed was about treating your employees like 24-hour employees. I knew what they meant but had a problem with the terminology. So for the rest of this article, I will refer to this as the 24-hour team member!

I love this idea, and the term is what inspired this article. What is a 24-hour team member? Over the years I have always told my team that I am not only here to help you in your career but in life as well. I try to make sure that all my actions and training events are geared around not only making things better for the company but also good for the team and their happiness. The whole idea is that you don’t stop caring about a team member because they clocked out for the day. In order to provide exceptional customer service, you have to treat your team the way you want them to treat your customers. This includes caring about their health and happiness as well as their entire family unit.

I can hear managers from earlier generations gasping as I say these words. While I have always felt and managed this way, it is definitely not the norm. Although, as the times are changing, it is my opinion that it will be very difficult to be successful without this approach. We are on the precipice of a customer service revolution, and just being good will not be enough in the coming years to keep customers.

Over the years I have been told that “I am too close to my team” and that “in order for me to be successful, I have to stop caring about people, they are tools to get the job done.” While everyone’s opinion on the definition of success may be different, I consider myself extremely successful in my career, and I have done so all the while caring deeply about my team. If they hurt so do I, whether it is work-related or not. This type of caring cannot be faked, so don’t try. You must really care, and want the best for them and their family. Their success is your success; their failure is your failure.

Recently I had one of my managers come to me with a perfect example of this type of 24-hour caring. He brought to my attention that one of his team had an anxiety attack at home. This didn’t happen at work; it happened at the team member’s home. Yet he was close enough with his manager to let him know about the episode. The manager cared enough to bring it to my attention so that we can try and help this team member with some tools to help manage stress. The next step, of course, is to help coach the team member and continue to keep the lines of communication open so that the team member can feel comfortable talking with us about the stresses of the job and how he is handling them.

I also had another example of one of my managers who was talking with a supervisor. The supervisor was expressing their frustration with a particular team member because they continued not to follow certain policies outlined in the company. After the manager verified that the supervisor was clear about the expectations of the team member, she then told the supervisor that he would have to figure out what motivates that individual. I was so proud when I heard her explain to the supervisor a recent event with her dog to illustrate the point she was trying to make. She explained that she had her dog in obedience training, and one of the tools they taught was that you needed to understand what motivates the dog to perform. Some dogs react to praise, while others want love or maybe even a treat? She explained to the supervisor that he needed to understand what motivates that specific individual. Every person is different and so are their motivating factors. You need to spend more time listening and less time talking so you can understand this team member. Only then will you be able to get through to them what you need.

Above are two prize examples of managers thinking of their team members as 24-hour team members rather than a forty-hour-a-week-person who is there to perform a task. Only when you start to really care about your team and help them get what they want and need in life, are you ever going to achieve exceptional customer service. Because after all, that is what you are asking them to do for your clients.

Building The Next Generation Of Leaders

A few weeks back was a proud moment for me. I have always considered my number one job to be helping my team advance in the industry and realize the American Dream. When it happens it is the most rewarding part of my job, in fact, I would do it for free even without my current position.

Over the years I have helped countless people attain their licenses in our industry, move into management positions, or even start their own business. It is by far the most rewarding thing a person can do. I am very anxious to keep growing this business so I can continue to help others see their aspirations come to fruition.

This week I received word that one of my team will be moving into a management position for our Fire Alarm group here at M.C. Dean. I was so excited for him that I was telling a good friend of mine, we will call him Jerry for the purpose of this article, about the turn of events, and he surprised me with his response. Jerry said to me, “why would you put up a member of your team for a management position in another vertical of the company? All that time you spent training them, and now someone else will get the benefits. I would have kept him rather than let someone else reap the rewards of a great member of my team.”

I explained to Jerry that it isn’t about me or what I can get out of anything, it is about my team and helping them get to where they want to go on their career path. If I can do that, I am successful, if not I have failed. Jerry just stood there shaking his head and didn’t understand how I could think that way. I told Jerry, ok let’s think selfish for a moment. Let’s say I didn’t introduce my team member as a candidate for this opportunity and kept him for myself. I know that this particular individual wanted to be a manager, he had expressed this to me many times, and I also knew that he would be a good fit for the role. So if I didn’t have an opportunity within my division to offer him, what do you think would eventually happen? Yes, maybe he would wait around for a little while, but maybe he wouldn’t.  Then my competition would have the benefit of one of my shining stars rather than our company. Jerry said to me, “well that’s a chance I take every day!”

At this point, I was getting frustrated. I knew Jerry was a selfish person and cared more about himself than helping others, but I was hoping I could get through to him. So I tried explaining to him the joy I felt in helping others. Not because I would get anything out of it, but solely because they deserve the help. I explained to him that I have only received the success I have due to others helping me and giving back is just the right thing to do. But it is more than that!

Knowing that Jerry was a huge football fan, and I have a bad habit of putting everything into football terms (as many of you who have read my book already know), I said think back to when you coached your son's football team. Did you get paid for that? No! Did you work with the kids to teach them what you knew and to make them better football players? Yes! So how would you feel if one of those players you taught came from a low-income family and aspired to be a pro football player someday? Let’s go one more step, what if you were the one who inspired him to become a pro? And then, what if he made it into the pros, and was able to provide for his family and buy his parents a home? How would that make you feel? Jerry, smiled from ear to ear, “that would be awesome” he said! I smiled and said well that is how I feel now and that is what I get to do for a living. Sure maybe not on the same level as teaching professional football players, but I have the opportunity to help transform my team members lives. So it isn’t about what I can get out of it, it is about what can I do to help them.

In today’s world, I see too many people in need of help and so few willing to give back unless there is something in it for them. All too often you see people in the entertainment industry giving to charities, or helping the less fortunate only to get the photo opportunity and keep themselves relevant. If it were really charity, you wouldn’t need the cameras. But, with that said, looking for the silver lining, at least the cameras and the photo opps are bringing attention to the charity, so that is a good thing.

Now I am not saying that just because there are cameras, that means people are only doing charity work to be photographed. Many great entertainers use their status to effect real change and help the less fortunate, Fred Taylor is one that comes to mind, and to those special people, I give huge props.

There are many responsibilities when you are the one in charge, and it is easy to lose focus on what’s important. However, the most important thing should always be the health and happiness of your team. I wrote this article so that hopefully I can inspire others to give back, not for the publicity or for what they can get out of it, but for the act of kindness itself.  I can promise you that there is nothing better than helping others achieve their dreams and building the next generation of leaders, who will hopefully also pay it forward.