Dennis Snow Blog

I’ve recently put together a white paper titled, “The Top Five Customer Service Mistakes Companies Make, and How Your Organization Can Avoid Them.” The mistakes addressed in the white paper come from working with and observing hundreds of organizations, large and small, and noting the issues that seem to come up again and again.

My purpose in writing the paper, however, was not to simply point out the mistakes. For each of the five issues addressed, I’ve offered approaches for avoiding the mistake or for making course corrections if things have gotten off track.

The five customers service mistakes addressed in the white paper are:

1. Not clearly defining what the customer experience is supposed to be.
2. Designing processes for the company’s convenience, not the customer’s.
3. Hiring the wrong people.
4. Not making customer service a significant part of new-hire orientation as well as ongoing training.
5. Tolerating poor service performance from employees at any level within the organization.

To download the white paper, simply click on this link – Top Five Customer Service Mistakes – fill in the requested information, and click the download button. Be sure and let me know if you have any problems with the download.

Please forward this post to anyone you feel might benefit from the information provided in the white paper. And I would welcome any feedback, pro or con, you might have based on what you read.

Most of all, I hope the information helps you and your organization in delivering the best possible customer service

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
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I hit the “Publish” button too soon on yesterday’s post, Toyota Recall – The Brand Challenge. Today’s news reports that Toyota executives admit they knew about the gas-pedal problem for over a year before taking action. In fact, evidence about unexpected acceleration has been mounting for six years. The firestorm has just begun.

Toyota completely blew Step 1 of how to handle company screw ups:

1.     Admit to the mistake quickly

2.     Accept responsibility

3.     Apologize

4.     Say what you’re going to do to fix the problem

5.     Explain what you’ll do so the problem doesn’t happen again

(For details of each step, link to Toyota Recall – The Brand Challenge)

While Steps 2-5 are in motion, it appears Toyota failed miserably at Step 1: admitting to the mistake quickly. So the perception will be that they took action only because they got caught. It would be one thing if the company didn’t know about the problem until the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notified them, and they immediately took action. But that’s not what happened. They knew.

Toyota’s credibility is now shot – certainly in the short-run and likely in the long-run. In fact, the company’s recall of 437,000 hybrids because of problematic brake systems, announced although the recalled cars “meet safety standards,” is being met with skepticism in light of the sticky gas-pedal debacle. Customers are wondering if the recall came quickly only because of increased scrutiny. What could’ve been a feather in Toyota’s cap for quickly admitting the problem is now another dagger in their reputation for quality. Projected hard costs to Toyota for the recall repairs is projected to be in the $billions. The cost to the brand is unknown, but will likely dwarf the cost of repairs.

I’ve said many times that a company’s brand is fragile, built over years and even decades. Trust is the foundation of successful brands. When trust is knowingly violated, the brand (so carefully built) is compromised. Winning back trust is a long, long road.

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis by Dennis Snow
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The Toyota recall has been dominating the business news lately. Every day it seems a new piece of information regarding the “sticky gas-pedal” issue comes out – some of it indicating that Toyota is handling the situation quickly and effectively, and other information indicating that Toyota has known about the problem for a long time and took action only after being forced to. I’m sure that new information will continue to come out, and it remains to be seen how all of this will affect Toyota’s reputation and future.

While no one knows at this point how the Toyota story will play out, I do know this: an organization’s brand is fragile. Brand is all about what customers think about a company and say about a company. For years customers have connected Toyota with quality, and that image brought them to the top of the automotive industry. Now customers are wondering if they’ve been wrong all along. Has it all been smoke and mirrors? I don’t think so, but a seed of doubt has certainly been planted. And if it turns out that Toyota knew about the problem and took no action until forced to, regaining trust will take years (if it can be regained at all).

Two years ago I posted an article, “What to do When Your Company Screws Up.” Based on what’s happening with Toyota, I think it’s worth running the article again, with a few minor tweaks. While you may not often run into the same challenge Toyota has – at least I hope not – every organization, department, and employee screws up at some point. How you handle the screw up will determine the level of trust you lose, retain, or gain. The article below highlights five steps for managing through potentially debilitating screw ups.

What to do When Your Company Screws Up

The public is never at a loss for examples of high-profile com pany screw ups. Some companies handle mistakes very well. The Tylenol tampering scare in the early 1980s was handled immediately by Johnson and Johnson and to this day the company is recognized for its excellent response. Others companies have created huge problems due to poor handling. Firestone Tires and Ford, for example, handled their defective tire situation by pointing fingers at each other and both companies got fried by the press.

So, what do you do when you make a big or even a small mistake? No matter the size of the problem, there are steps you can follow. The complexity of each step will depend on just how big the mistake it is; but the steps are the same.

1.     Admit to the mistake quickly – Trying to cover up a mistake will come back to bite you. Someone is going to find out and it’s best to assume they will find out sooner rather than later. When we come forward ourselves to admit a mistake, customers are more forgiving. It appears that Toyota may be particularly vulnerable on this point.

2.     Accept responsibility – In the case of the Firestone/Ford tire debacle, neither Firestone nor Ford accepted responsibility for the problem, and they paid a stiff price for it. Accepting responsibility may seem dangerous in the short run (lawsuits, etc.) but the organization comes out stronger because of the willingness to own up to the problem. In fact, costly lawsuits can be even more likely when the company takes a belligerent stance.

3.     Apologize – We all appreciate a sincere apology. Saying you’re sorry that the situation occurred can take the sting out the mistake. I think that Toyota has effectively apologized for the problem, although some disagree. The argument, however, that the company’s president, Akio Toyoda, didn’t bow low or long enough when apologizing is just looking for something to complain about in my opinion. But, some people do feel that way, and if some feel the apology is insincere it will affect their perception of the company.

4.     Say what you’re going to do to fix the problem – If the wrong meal was delivered, say how you’re going to make it up to the customer. If the phone bill is wrong, say how you’ll handle it. Clearly communicate that you are taking ownership of the issue. If the tires are defective, tell us how you’re going take care of the situation and don’t waste time pointing fingers. I think Toyota has clearly communicated what they are doing and how customers can go about getting the gas-pedal problem fixed.

5.     Explain what you’ll do so the problem doesn’t happen again – This step may not be necessary for some errors – you don’t really need to explain to the customer how you’ll make sure to deliver the right meal in the future. Bigger issues, like defective tires or sticky gas-pedals, seriously erode customer trust. In that case, customers want to know that you are putting in processes to ensure the situation doesn’t happen again.

If more companies and employees would follow these steps, customers and companies would be better off. Everyone screws up and most of us can accept that as long as the organization handles the screw up well. Most of us are willing to give a second chance; maybe even a third. But if the situation is handled poorly, it may be one strike and you’re out.

We’ll see what happens with Toyota. I’d love to hear what you think about how they’re handling the situation.

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis by Dennis Snow
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I recently had the opportunity to work with Family Video, the largest privately owned movie and game “rentailer” in the United States, and third largest overall, with 612 stores. In an industry struggling to deal with significant changes, such as new rental options offered by Netflix and Redbox, Family Video is the only DVD/game rental operation showing positive growth. Expanding continually, they again achieved record profits last year.

Why is Family Video doing so well as others in the industry struggle? First, they are constantly looking for ways to offer increased value to their customers. Free children’s movies and innovative new release promotions draw current and new customers to the store. I believe, however, their biggest advantage is the way they’ve crafted the customer experience. Each element of the experience has been studied and designed to maximize customer satisfaction.

One of my favorite examples is the Family Video policy to “diffuse first, educate second.” This means that whenever a customer problem occurs, such as a disputed late fee for a DVD, employees are expected to first make the customer happy (diffuse the situation), then explain the policy (educate).

For example, sometimes new members are confused about late fees for DVDs and games. If a customer complains, employees are empowered to waive the late fee, which they immediately let the customer know. After diffusing the situation, the employee then explains the policy. Now they have a happy customer who understands the policy. (Their computer system can indicate if someone abuses the system).

The approach may appear subtle, but it is profound. Think about it; usually when customers complain about a policy or perceived injustice from an organization, the first thing that happens is an employee explains the company policy. Internally the customer gets tense, builds their argument, and waits to present their case. When the employee then says something like, “I’ll do it for you this time,” the customer feels as though they’ve been chastised (like a child), and that they should be grateful to the company for agreeing to wave their policy. (Isn’t it amazing how many companies act as thought the customer should be grateful for the privilege of spending money with the company?)

The Family Video approach turns the situation around. The tension is immediately diffused because the employee first takes care of the problem. Now when the policy is explained, customers listen because they’re not crafting their argument. Again, subtle but profound.

The impressive thing about Family Video is that approaches like “diffuse first, educate second” are built into the organization’s culture (I’ve provide just one example). These touches are not just desired of employees, they’re expected. Therefore Family Video is relentless in training and reinforcing their special touches, and they’re fanatical about hiring employees who embrace such a customer-centric approach.

What’s the result of their efforts? As mentioned earlier – expansion as well as record profits in a “declining industry.” Not a bad return on their investment in the customer experience.

The lesson here for me is about bridging the gap between the science and the art of customer service. The science of customer service tells us that service recovery (in this example) is important for creating strong customer relationships. The art, however, digs deep into the how of what we do. The art asks, “how can we create the strongest emotional connection with what we do?” World-class service organizations don’t just teach the science of service, they help employees perfect the art of customer service.

Organization’s often make the mistake of looking for the holy grail customer service practice that will rocket them past competitors. It just doesn’t’ work that way. Great customer service isn’t the result of one big thing; it’s the result of many little things done extremely well.

Suggestion: Take a look at your organization’s approach to service recovery. See how you can apply “diffuse first, educate second” to your approach.

Suggestion: Look at one of your customer service practices and brainstorm the art that can take the science of the practice to a new level.

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
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Every morning, the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz reviews the list of clients who will be visiting the office that day, noting the industries the visiting clients are in. Then, instead of having generic magazines in the waiting room, they put out magazines that are of interest to members of those industries.

They have to stay on top of their client list so that they have appropriate magazines, but imagine how much better their approach is than the norm. Most waiting rooms have the standard, general-interest magazines that, more often than not, are months (or years) out of date.

I can imagine the Baker Donelson receptionist saying to a client from the construction industry, “Good morning, Mr. Peterson; Janice will be ready for you in a minute. I just put out the latest issue of Builder News for you to look at while you’re here.” I have to imagine that Mr. Peterson would be impressed by the personal touch offered by the firm. And a subtle message is also communicated – “Baker Donelson focuses on the latest trends in my industry, since they subscribe to my industry’s periodicals.”

What can you do to demonstrate personal interest in your customers?

Tags: Service Analysis, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
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My post about my recent experiences with Southwest Airlines, The Curse of Arrogance, seems to have struck a nerve with some folks, especially Southwest Airlines flight attendants. Another site picked up the thread and included several comments from flight attendants who placed the blame on obnoxious or abusive passengers. I agree; no employee of any organization should put up with abuse. But the situations I observed involved no abusive passengers. As I wrote in the original post, I’ve recently started to notice more and more Southwest flight attendants being standoffish, mechanical, and impatient. In other words, more like flight attendants on other airlines.

Keep in mind that I’m not talking about rampant poor service at Southwest – they’re still the best by far. There have simply been enough incidents of mediocre service that caused me to notice; that’s all. On another airline I wouldn’t have even thought twice about it since mediocre (or poor) service on other airlines has become the norm. But Southwest is special – and I hope they always will be. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that today’s Wall Street Journal shared Department of Transportation data that ranked Southwest highest in on-time arrivals and fewest customer complaints (An Airline Report Card).

But here is something that truly impressed me. I received a thoughtful comment from the Vice President of Inflight Services for Southwest (see the comment from Mike Hafner below). Just the fact that someone in that position, who I’m sure has plenty on his plate, is concerned enough to comment on one blog post, well that speaks volumes. He’s rightly supportive of his team, but also acknowledges that “there is not much room for having a bad day.” One of Walt Disney’s greatest concerns for the Disney corporation was that they would rest on their laurels. He said, “In this volatile business of ours, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels, even to pause in retrospect. Time and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our focus constantly on the future.” He always cautioned that no matter how strong our reputation is, “the show goes on tomorrow.” Mike, I appreciate you taking the time to write, and I also appreciate the pride you obviously have in your team.

Tags: Commentary, Leadership, Service Analysis by Dennis Snow
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Southwest Airlines has been my favorite airline for a long time – I’ve written about them often in this blog and talk about them often in my speeches. I’m a Southwest fan not only because of positive experiences, but also because their success and almost cult-like following has been a great case study as a speaker and consultant.

But I’ve noticed a disturbing trend over the last several flights I’ve had with them. It seems that more and more of their employees have adopted what I would call an “attitude of arrogance.” Since most interactions are with flight attendants, this trend has been most noticeable with them. Whereas in the past just about every flight attendant was personable, funny, and helpful, I’m seeing more flight attendants being standoffish, mechanical, and (even worse) impatient with passengers who might be struggling with overhead bag space or trying to find seats for the whole family.

On a Southwest flight last week, in fact, I watched a flight attendant work herself into a huff as a mom was making sure her children all had seats before she sat down. Yes, the mom was slowing down the boarding process, but the flight attendant should’ve helped out rather than embarrassing the mom in front of a planeload full of passengers. By helping, the flight attendant would’ve sped up the process and saved the mom’s dignity and peace of mind.

Southwest has never been a perfect airline; I’ve seen a few less-than-stellar Southwest employees before. But those instances were rare. But lately I’ve noticed “unSouthwest-like” behaviors becoming more common with more employees. I don’t know about you, but I feel let down when a trusted organization violates a trust that has been built up over many years. It almost feels like a close friend violating a trust. And once an organization begins to lose the trust of their loyal customers, lost loyalty isn’t far behind.

I’m hoping that Southwest Airlines hasn’t gotten too big for its britches. But the attitude of some of their employees is one of resting on their reputation. It’s as though they’re saying to passengers, “We’re doing you a favor by allowing you to fly an airline with a reputation as legendary as ours.” Well, they should study the fates of other once successful companies that started taking their success for granted such as General Motors, Circuit City, Woolworth’s, Eastern Airlines, Washington Mutual, Bennigan’s; and the list goes on.

The lesson here is that no matter how stellar your organization’s reputation is, that reputation is very fragile. Customers might be willing to forgive the occasional blip in service, but they won’t forgive arrogance. They have too many choices, and every one of your competitors would be giddy to get your customers’ business. Each of your employees must be hungry to build solid customer relationships, and the only way to do that is to treat customers with the care and respect that demonstrates that you value their business and are honored that customers have chosen to do business with you.

Do your customers feel you VALUE their business and that you are HONORED they’ve chosen to do business with you?

Is there even a hint of arrogance creeping into your performance?

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis by Dennis Snow
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The busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday, is now behind us. If you were one of the multitudes who braved the crowds, my sympathy is with you. My wife and I long ago decided that since shopping and crowds are two of our least favorite things in life, we would NEVER shop the day after Thanksgiving.

But, we will be doing some holiday shopping during the next couple of weeks. And we know that we’ll have to face the crowds. According to the National Retail Federation, November and December account for 25 to 40 percent of many retailers’ annual sales. So, like it or not, the crowds will be there.

On the bright side, holiday shopping provides a wonderful customer service laboratory. You get to see which companies perform well under pressure and which ones collapse in a showcase of unpreparedness. And our businesses can learn from both scenarios.

Recommendation

In your very next staff meeting (or via email if you don’t have a meeting scheduled soon), ask your team to be especially aware of their shopping experiences during the holidays. Even if they’re not shopping for holiday gifts, they’ll likely be doing some kind of shopping. Let them know that in a meeting immediately following the holiday season you’ll ask for a summary of their experiences, and what your organization can learn from those experiences. (Note: this is all strictly voluntary – not a work assignment. You don’t want to get into the “are you paying us for this?” quagmire).

During their shopping adventures, your team should observe:

• The quality of their interactions with employees – What are some examples of things employees did particularly well? What are examples of things employees did poorly? What could they tell about the quality of hiring, training, and accountability from the organizations they observed?

• The quality of the physical environment – What are some “good show” and “bad show” examples they observed while shopping? How effective were companies at keeping the facilities organized? If a company was good at it, what were they doing?

• The quality of company processes – What are some examples of processes your team members experienced that were designed more for the company’s convenience than the shopper’s? What are some examples of process that were impressive?

Keep in mind that the assignment doesn’t just apply to brick and mortar stores. Each of the above three points can apply to online and catalog shopping. For some of you, online examples may be the most applicable.

Ask your team to come to the post-holiday meeting prepared to share what they experienced (again, strictly voluntary). During the meeting, dig for learnings that come out of those experiences, good and bad, that you and your team can leverage in improving the experience YOUR customers have with the organization.

Because your team members lived through these situations themselves, their emotions will be engaged in the discussion, providing a foundation for frank discussion of what your organization can do to improve.

You’ll want to act quickly on getting this “assignment” out, since we’re right in the middle of the busy season. Don’t let it go by without learning from it!

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
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One of the best ways to distance your organization from the competition is to solve a problem that frustrates your industry’s customers. I just read an Orlando Sentinel article that provides a great example of this approach: Disney by Cell Phone.

The number one guest complaint at Walt Disney World is about long wait times for the rides. And over the years Disney World has implemented several tools to help minimize the problem. Tools include:

• Wait time signs
• Entertainment while waiting in line
• Making the line part of an attraction’s theme or “show”
• Tip boards around the park with posted wait times for popular attractions
• FastPass® (a mechanism for making a “reservation” for particular attractions)

Disney World (and Disneyland) has just introduced a new way to help reduce wait time frustrations for Disney guests – “Mobile Magic.” It’s a smartphone application that allows guests to get real time information about attraction wait times, character greetings, and other park events. The application allows guests to get the most out of their Disney visit by helping them make informed decisions about what to do next.

The full application of Mobile Magic is only available to Verizon subscribers right now, but a scaled down version is available to subscribers of other mobile services. My guess is that the full application will soon be available to anyone with a cell phone.

The reason I’m sharing this story isn’t to brag about Disney, it’s to point out an example of a relentless quest to solve an ongoing customer frustration. I can’t think of an industry that doesn’t have its inherent customer frustrations, and most companies just accept them as givens. But customers don’t accept them as givens; we see them as reasons to look for alternatives.

You don’t have to do an expensive survey to find out what frustrates your customers. My guess is that you know exactly what frustrates them. Those recurring complaints and those negative customer interactions that burn out your employees tell you what the problems are. What’s needed is action.

So, I challenge you to pick one customer frustration that you’ll commit to solving. Start small if necessary; but commit to one. Bring in some employees from your operation and go to work coming up with and implementing a solution. Or you can use this link to a Service Improvement Meeting agenda which guides you through a team meeting for identifying and developing solutions for customer frustrations. Once you’ve solved a problem, go on to another one.

Imagine if you just identify and solve one customer frustration per quarter. Four improvements a year is huge! It will put you in the “world-class” category, and customers will wonder, “Why can’t other organizations do it like they do?”

Tags: Commentary, Service Analysis, Tips for Better Customer Service by Dennis Snow
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Are your company’s processes designed for the convenience of the customer or for the convenience of the company? How would customers respond to that question?

Think about a process you can tweak (or overhaul) that will result in customers asking, “Why can’t other companies do it like yours?”

Tags: Commentary, Dennis on the Radio, Leadership, Recommended Resources, Service Analysis, Tips for Better Customer Service, Uncategorized, When Bad Service Happens To Good People by Dennis Snow
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