subject: The Art Of Extraordinary Customer Service [print this page] All successful companies have one common central focus-customers. They are totally obsessed with looking after them. They understand them and they consistently provide and often exceed their expectations.
It's a fact these days that goods aren't sold services and products are bought. Once we have a positive service experience with a given brand and only after we have consistently high levels of service we convert to loyal devotees or as Ken Blanchard, the leading management and leadership expert coined the phrase 'raving fans'. We begin to advocate those services and products to our families and friends and become champions and cheer leaders.
Unfortunately most of us have an alarming back catalogue of distressing stories of deeply unsatisfying and frustrating tales of poor service, general incompetence, rudeness and indifference.
I recently returned from New Zealand, the land of 'no worries'. I experienced for the first time the delights of travelling Air New Zealand and what a contrast to some other airlines. I can honestly say they totally exceeded my expectations on every level. Reliability and punctuality was perfect, the aircrafts were clean and well maintained, the food quality was high and varied and the passionate and individual service of the cabin crew was a real standout. Errors by our travel company on an internal flight out of Queenstown was taken care of in a breath with no drama and to our delight we ended up arriving direct to Auckland instead of our original schedule via Christchurch arriving exactly the time originally planned.
Now I compare and contrast this with a particularly unfortunate experience with Easy jet. There was nothing easy about it and whilst I had no expectation whatsoever of any thrills from a budget airline they failed on the most basic level, namely to accommodate me on a European flight that they had over-booked and refused me entry to the flight 20 minutes prior to the gate closing. The process of a follow up refund and claim for compensation was horrendous.
So two companies and two very different experiences. What do great customer service companies have in common then?
According to Rick Barrera, a service expert they focus on their strengths and on delivering exactly what they promise never less but often far more. They see their service or product through the eyes of the customer.
It's never about trying to be all things to all people because that won't create raving fans. In today's competitive environment we need to over promise and over deliver. We need to be clear on exactly what our USP's are and how this is a competitive advantage.
Barrera offers 5 tips to build extraordinary service:
1) Vision
Start by examining your vision for your company.
Why did you start it and what was missing that you wanted to fix in the market?
The essence of a brand can be easily identified from the business founder's original thoughts.
2) Attributes
Identify what your product or service's single most important attribute. What makes it unique and what one word do customers actually think about or feel when they hear your company's name?
3) Why
Ask your customers why they buy your products and then why they don't buy your competitors. It is this middle ground where your over-promise should be.
4) Competitors
Ask non customers why they don't buy your products or service. Then ask why they buy your competitors .This will point you to serious shortcomings in your offerings.
5) Emotions
Finally, figure out what emotions your customers feel when they use your products or services.
