Dennis Snow’s Service Excellence Blog

As more products and services become commoditized, one of the remaining ways to differentiate your organization from the competition is to focus on the overall customer experience. Your product offering might be excellent, but so is the product offering of your competitor down the street.

I encourage organizations to expand their idea of the product to include the entire customer experience. When you consider everything a customer goes through in order to purchase and use your product, it’s apparent that a lot of factors impact the experience - and that impact can be either positive or negative.

Consider the “product” of purchasing a meal at a fast food restaurant. Certainly the food itself has to be of high quality in order for the customer to ever want to return. But, let’s look at some of the other processes that surround the meal:

And this is just a partial list of the surrounding elements; the list could go on.

In the majority of cases, the physical product (the meal in this example) is of a quality that meets the customer’s expectation. And companies spend a lot of time, effort, and money to get the product right. It’s the surrounding elements, however, that often cause customer frustration. So, the meal may be great, but if the wait is long, the restrooms are dirty, and the condiment station isn’t stocked, the customer certainly won’t think of it as a great experience. He got the product he came for, but he didn’t get the experience that would generate loyalty.

I find this to be an enlightening activity to do with a workgroup. In the center of a flipchart page or white board, write down the end product or service you provide. Then ask the group to brainstorm all of the processes that surround the end product and write those in as participants call out their examples. Then make a big production of drawing a circle around the whole thing and make the point that “this is what the customer is really buying from us - it’s the entire experience.” You can now have a lively dialogue about how the organization is doing with all of the surrounding factors and what can be done to improve where improvement is needed.

This simple activity gets the team to move beyond defining the product too narrowly. It gets everyone thinking about the customer’s experience in dealing with the organization and how well designed and delivered that experience is.

Expand the product to include the entire experience.

Tags: Commentary, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
No Comments »

A few weeks ago I posted an article titled, “Never Let Backstage Come Onstage,” (which is actually the first chapter in my new book, Lessons From the Mouse). The backstage/onstage philosophy means that certain operational realities, those that a customer should never experience, must remain backstage. When they somehow creep onstage, the organization’s brand is compromised. Backstage coming onstage can be a physical issue, such as leaving a stockroom door open so customers have a clear view of the typical behind the scenes chaos. Backstage can also be “attitudinal,” such as two employees discussing the previous night’s keg party with earshot of customers.

The reason I’m reflecting on this earlier blog post is because a colleague recently sent me a YouTube clip I had not seen before. The video highlights a glaring example of backstage coming onstage in a very public way. The first minute of the video provides the setup, but watch what happens as the story plays out.

Click here to see the video - Anchor Versus Reporter

Never let backstage come onstage!

Tags: Commentary by Dennis Snow
2 Comments »

Recently I spoke at a conference of the Travel Industry Association. I arrived a couple of days into the meeting and noticed a buzz going around about something that happened earlier. I caught snippets of the situation, but got the full story after my speech.

During one of the meals on the first day of the conference, an attendee asked a server if he could have a Red Bull energy drink with his meal. It wasn’t a typical request, but the server said she would see what she could do. Sure enough, a few minutes later she came back with a covered platter, and with a flourish uncovered the can of Red Bull. Everyone at the table got a kick out of it and had a good chuckle.

Another person at the table joked, “What if he had asked for, oh let’s say, a monkey and monkey wrench?” Again, everyone laughed and promptly forgot about the comment. Before the meal ended, the server showed up at the table with a covered platter…you can guess what happened. With a flourish she uncovered a stuffed monkey along with a monkey wrench. The joke quickly spread and everyone was talking about the story - viral marketing at its best.

At the closing general session the association’s president thanked everyone involved in making the conference a success. He then reminded everyone of the monkey/monkey wrench story and everyone laughed, applauded and thought that was that. But the president announced the server was in the room and invited her onstage to receive a gift from the organizers for creating such a memorable moment. The crowd stood as one and gave that server a heartfelt standing ovation. The impact of the smile on her face will likely stay with everyone who was in that room.

Two key service principles were reinforced by this story. First, when we can create those wow moments by doing something totally unexpected, we should do it. The impact of the experience might just become legendary. We might not always have the time to do something like this server did, but sometimes we do have the time. At those moments the choice is ours on whether or not we’ll create that “magic moment.”

The second principle reinforced by this story is the importance of a sincere thank you. When we get great service, if someone truly does something extraordinary, creating an extraordinary thank you is a wonderful gesture. I can only imagine how quickly the news of that server’s actions and the resulting standing ovation spread throughout the hotel’s staff. Celebration of achievements creates a culture of achievement.

I hope the next time an extraordinary wow opportunity presents itself that you take a moment to figure out how you can make it happen. I also hope that the next time you are truly wowed by an employee you take a moment to think of how you can wow him or her with your thanks. Because of the story of this banquet server, I know I have a renewed energy to be on the lookout for both opportunities.

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis by Dennis Snow
No Comments »

With such news headlines as “Odds of Recession Seen Rising” (Wall Street Journal Online) and “Consumer Crunch: The Day the Spending Stopped” (U.S. News & World Report), it’s no wonder that so many executives are wearing long faces. Companies are filing for bankruptcy, or closing their doors completely, at an alarming rate. And many economists predict the trend will continue.

Yet despite the doom and gloom, some companies are weathering the storm very well. Indeed, some aren’t just surviving, they’re thriving. What are the thriving organizations doing that allow them to continue building business while others are scrambling to just stay in business? And what can be learned from them?

The big difference between those who are thriving and those who are barely surviving (or not) is that the thrivers relentlessly focus on what I like to call, “walk-through-fire” customer loyalty. Most of us have favorite stores or restaurants, and we’re willing to drive miles out of the way, passing competitor after competitor, just to do business with them. That’s walk-through-fire customer loyalty.

So, what can you do right now to generate that kind of loyalty for your own organization?

1. Do not scrimp on quality - As soon as your customers, even the most loyal of them, notice a drop in quality you’re starting a downward spiral that’s difficult to pull out from. When, for instance, customers noticed the quality of Starbucks coffee was diminishing due to over-brewing, many formerly loyal Starbucks customers switched to McDonalds which Consumer Reports ranked #1 in coffee taste. In July Starbucks announced the closing of six hundred stores.

Sure it’s important to watch costs. But the lesson here is to not cut those things that earned your customers’ loyalty in the first place.

2. Train, train, train - Now is the time to ensure your employees know exactly how to delight your customers. Customer service, while always important, is especially vital right now. Make sure every employee is able to demonstrate flawless product knowledge (or knows where to get product information instantly), knows to be supremely responsive, and demonstrates genuine care and empathy in every interaction. Leaders must clearly articulate the behaviors expected and hold employees accountable for delivering.

3. Stay in touch with your best (and most profitable) customers - Solidify relationships with those customers who have been loyal to you in the past. Information about loyal customers can come from your sophisticated CRM system, your Rolodex, or by simply asking your employees who the regulars are. Make personal contact with those customers, letting them know that they’re appreciated.

A company’s loyal customers get frustrated when they see all of the perks going to programs for attracting new customers. The long-term customer thinks, “Hey, what about me?” Make sure your loyal customers know just how much you value their loyalty.

4. Involve your employees - Who in your organization is better positioned to know customer likes and dislikes than your frontline employees? One of the best ways to light a “customer loyalty fire” is to hold employee meetings to discuss best practices for delighting customers. For example, a bank employee somewhere must’ve been the first one to suggest; “When a customer comes through the drive-through teller line with a dog in the car, we should put a dog biscuit in the container when we send it back out.” Dogs and dog owners have appreciated that simple idea ever since. Leverage the best ideas throughout the company.

5. Treat your employees well - Make sure your employees know how much you appreciate their loyalty. Now more than ever it’s important for leaders to recognize, reward, and simply offer sincere thanks to those employees who contribute to the organization’s success. You don’t want your superstar employees to even think about a move to the competition.

The economic downturn can be viewed as a curse or an opportunity. Looked at as an opportunity, smart leaders know that this is the time to distance themselves from the competition. This is the time to build walk-through-fire customer loyalty.

Tags: Commentary, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
2 Comments »

As a customer service speaker and author, I spend most of my time talking or writing about what organizations can do to be better service providers. In this post I thought I’d divert from my usual theme and spend a moment talking about a different, but certainly related subject. Being a better customer.

More times than I can count, I’ve stood in line at a coffee shop, fast food restaurant, or store observing an employee trying to take the order of a customer who is chatting on his or her cell phone. Everything gets slowed down as the customer tries to order and talk on the phone at the same time. The employee often doesn’t know if the customer is talking to him or to his phone companion. The employee gets frustrated; the other customers in line get frustrated. And the phone addict is oblivious to it all.

I can think of few customer behaviors ruder than disregarding everyone around in order to hold a cell phone conversation. What the offending customer is saying is, “I’m more important than the rest of you.” Most employees I’ve observed have handled the situation in a patient manner, but you know they’ve got to be silently shouting, “Get Off The Phone!” I know I am.

Another common breach of cell phone etiquette is the customer who boards a plane while talking on the phone. They juggle the phone and boarding pass while ignoring the gate agent. Most frustrating of all, the rest of the boarding passengers are delayed as the cell phone addict tries to put luggage in the overhead compartment with the phone tucked under the chin - and it never works. And other passengers and the crew are the ones who suffer as the perpetrator obliviously chats away.

I firmly believe in employees doing what it takes to provide great customer service. I make my living helping organizations and employees do just that. But I also believe that customers have a responsibility to be reasonable customers. There are plenty of other examples of rude, arrogant, or uncaring customers. And employees need to be able to graciously handle those situations (unless it crosses the line of being abusive). But the cell phone talker is a special case because his or her arrogance impacts everyone around them. I guess it can be called “exponential arrogance.”

Let’s be sure we are good customers by respecting those who are doing their best to serve us and by respecting our fellow customers.

Tags: Commentary by Dennis Snow
2 Comments »

Yesterday I received an email from an employee of one my clients. The email shares a story of a recent visit to Disney World, comparing the experience to other theme parks. I thought it was a good example of how people make the difference. I’ll share the actual email a bit further in this post, but I want to make a couple of comments first.

In the case of a theme park, certainly the rides and shows must be great. But that’s not enough. There are lots of places with great rides. But if you combine a quality product with great service delivery, you have something special.

As you read the story, think about your own organization. Think about ways that you can build meaningful relationships with customers. Think about the types of interactions that result in customer delight and how you can create standards that make customer delight “business as usual.”

 Last week, I was on vacation and decided to spend a few days in the Orlando area. I purchased 3-day passes from Disney for myself and three teenagers (ages 13, 14, and 15).  As usual, we had a great time visiting all the Disney theme parks.  We purchased the tickets with the “Hopper” option, so we spent our days running back and forth from one park to another.  This time around at the parks, I took a special interest in observing customer service.  As usual, it was very, very good…I really should probably write “excellent.”  I was amazed at how one cast-member managed to still smile when I asked him where the Toy Mania attraction was even though I was standing almost directly in front of it.  The whole magic really did shine through every minute I was there. It’s almost too difficult to explain what makes Disney’s so successful.  

While in the Orlando area, we had dinner one evening at NBA City in City Walk, adjacent to Universal Studios.  I can tell you that while making my way to City Walk, I noticed that what sets Disney apart from the competion is quite simple; their cast-members and customer support.  City Walk employees looked like maniacs scattered throughout while trying to keep the “cattle (us)”  in control.  A large crowd should not have been the issue; trust me, Disney seemed to have the same sized crowd.  I really looked at the faces of Universal Studios employees and I could swear they were just different.  No calmness there.  I appoached two employees, to be exact, and they appeared to be aloof and distracted….one was on their cell phone.. I had to wait about  30 seconds (believe it or not) for the person to answer my question.  I thought to myself, “does Univeresal focus on customer service, at all?”

After spending a few days in the Orlando area, I continued on to Tampa, where we visited Busch Gardens (yes, I was on theme park binge).  There too, I noticed how different customer service was from that at Disney.  I remember asking two employees walking by if they knew of any restaurants in the park which offered a salad bar.  You would have thought I was asking the most ridiculous question in the world.  One of them was twisting her hair with her fingers and looked like she just wanted to carry on her conversation with her friend.  She clearly thought I was interrupting her very important conversation.  I remember that as I approached them, they were discussing how one might be sent home and she was not going to stand for it. She was clearly not happy with her employer and others were probably hearing the same conversation I was.  

I wanted to share the above observations with you.  What is the secret to the Mouse’s success?  I don’t know.  Do you think it’s something in the water at Disney grounds?  Could be!  I couldn’t tell you and I’m sure you must have a much better idea than I do.  I do believe though that Disney has struck gold.  They have the same product as their competition (Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, etc) and they obviously know it.  However, they have found that differentiating factor and know how to keep it going strong.

When you look closely at the behaviors the writer describes from the Disney experience, nothing there is really extraordinary. Mostly it’s about paying attention, caring, and being empathetic to guests who are out of their comfort zones. The writer’s examples show how a focus on simple, customer-focused behaviors make all the difference.

In the next few days I’ll be announcing the release of my new book, Lessons From the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World’s Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. The book addresses how Disney instills that service attitude in its 55,000 cast members.

In the meantime, keep focusing on wowing your customers!

Tags: Commentary, Lessons From the Mouse, Service Analysis by Dennis Snow
No Comments »

Assisting an organization with a customer service initiative (or any other organizational development project) can be very rewarding; especially when the leadership team is truly committed to long-term success. When everyone is involved and engaged, amazing results can be achieved.

Getting everyone involved, however, can also cause mind-numbing frustration. Anyone who has ever participated on a project team or a steering committee knows that a beast is always there waiting to strike. The beast’s name is Project Creep. You know Project Creep has arrived when input from others regarding the initiative transforms into demands that must be a part of the outcome.

When Project Creep insidiously inserts itself into the mix, what started as a clear, straight-forward initiative becomes a runaway freight train. And the result is often a train wreck. The original purpose of the initiative disappears and the outcome is a bloated, meaningless mess.

The most common example of Project Creep is the development of a typical company’s mission statement. What should have been 2-3 inspirational sentences that provide clear direction end up being two pages of corporate-speak that mean nothing to anybody. Everyone ends up frustrated.

A spot-on video was posted on Alan Weiss’ blog, Contrarian Consulting. Showing this video should be required at the beginning of any new project and shown again at the first sign of Project Creep.

The original purpose of an initiative or project should be the lighthouse that guides the initiative or project safely into port. Yes, get input from as many sources as possible, but don’t let Project Creep take you off course.

Tags: Commentary by Dennis Snow
No Comments »

One of the blogs I regularly read is Customers Are Always, hosted by Maria Palmer. She just posted a great article, “Proactive Behavior: A Sign of Service Excellence,” which was written by a guest contributor.

I have experienced the situation the writer discusses (picking up the wrong bag at the airport), and certainly agree that the type of proactive behavior described results in walk-through-fire customer loyalty.

See what you think about the article - I’d love to hear your feedback. 

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis, When Great Service Happens To Good People by Dennis Snow
No Comments »

What a difference a caring employee makes. You can observe two employees doing the identical job, but one is creating great customer experiences while the other employee just goes through the motions.

A recent client arranged for a Town Car service to take me from the airport to the convention hotel and then back to the airport the next day. It was a fairly long ride, about two hours, but it was through beautiful countryside so I didn’t mind.

The driver who picked me up at the airport was wonderful. She had a chilled bottle of water waiting in the car along with a fresh copy of the local newspaper and the Wall Street Journal. She asked if I had been in that part of the country before (I had) and off we went. I appreciated her smooth and comfortable driving style with no fast accelerations or quick applications of the brakes. I felt safe.

She made the ride pleasant by sharing information about the areas we drove through, while always gauging my interest based on my responses and questions. Along the way I had to do a bit of computer work and she respected my need for quite during that time. The only time she interrupted was at the half-way point to ask if I needed a restroom break; which I did.

Dropping me off at the hotel, the driver was complimentary about their facilities and sincerely wished me luck on my presentation. It was a great customer service experience.

The return to the airport was another story. Same Town Car company; different driver; very different experience. The driver greeted me in a disinterested manner and put my bags in the car. He then proceeded to accelerate the car like Mario Andretti accelerating out of Indianapolis Speedway’s pit row, throwing me back in my seat. We were off on what proved to be a nerve-wracking ride to the airport with quick starts, stops, and lane changes. I certainly wasn’t going to get any work done on that ride.

To make things a bit more comfortable I tried to make some light conversation, but his manner clearly indicated there would be no chit chat. And there was no offer of a restroom break at the half-way point - I had to ask for one. We arrived at the airport, he put my bags on the curb, and drove off as I stood there wondering what had happened to make him so bitter.

I share this story because it demonstrates the behaviors that differentiate great service from poor service:

Accuracy - The first driver was a good driver and she immediately made me feel safe. The second driver was an erratic, aggressive driver, who made me wonder if I would make it safely to my destination. Being good at the job technically is a vital part of customer service.

Responsiveness - The first driver was talkative when it was appropriate, and was also quiet during the time I needed to do some work. She was responsive to the moment-by-moment needs of her customer. The second driver, on the other hand, was simply performing the task of getting his customer from Point A to Point B. Being genuinely responsive to the customer demonstrates a willingness to move beyond simply completing a transaction.

Care - The first driver is clearly a professional who cares about her customers. She made the trip interesting and wowed me with little details like the bottle of water, the fresh newspapers, and the offer of a restroom stop. The second driver only cared about finishing his shift and listening to the radio (his choice of station, not mine).

Accuracy, Responsiveness, and Care. Those three little words, when translated into action, make all the difference. One driver saw her role as an ambassador of the Town Car company and of her community, while the second driver saw his role as a driver.

Same job, but a completely different experience.

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
1 Comment »

I’m constantly amazed at the lengths to which some companies will go in order to alienate their customers. They may have clunky processes, poorly trained employees, or any of a multitude of customer-alienating practices.

But the one that really fries me most is when a company distrusts their customers. Sure, there are those customers who take advantage by doing such things as returning clothes after they’ve attended the prom, returning furniture after the party, etc. But those abusive customers are in the minority. Some companies, however, build rigid policies to protect themselves against the advantage-takers and end up alienating the majority of customers who would never dream of trying to rip off the company.

This all leads to a story a colleague shared regarding a damaged cake. When she contacted the company, it’s clear that the owner of the company didn’t trust the customer’s story, even though she offered to send a photo of the damaged cake. After reading her description of the event, click on the icon to see a photo of what she received (read the narrative first).

Today in the office a customer service nightmare unfolded. A bakery shipped a cake that arrived in such a mess the recipients couldn’t tell what it was. They called the company to kindly let them know; the owner was angry that she’d done so and denied there was even a problem even though the recipient offered to send a photo of what she’d been delivered. It was a strange kind of denial and she got very defensive. What is happening now though is that the photo is circulating and the story is getting around, which will obviously hurt business.

Click HERE to see the photo!

Imagine how different this customer would’ve felt if the owner had sincerely expressed her dismay at the condition of the cake, apologized profusely, and immediately sent a replacement - which the customer didn’t even ask for. My guess is that the next time this customer wanted to send a cake as a gift she would’ve immediately chosen this company because there would’ve been a high level of trust that things would turn out fine.

Instead, this customer is circulating the story, along with the photo and the company’s name, to everyone she knows. Remember, it costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it costs to keep a current one. I hope this cake company has a big advertising budget.

Do your company policies ever penalize and alienate your honest, loyal customers because of the actions of the small fraction of customers who try to take advantage?

Want to share your story? You can submit it here.

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis, When Bad Service Happens To Good People by Dennis Snow
No Comments »