1.  An entertaining trainer
While instructional designers might take issue, this is unquestionably the most important element in a customer service training program.  A large part of customer service delivery is about attitude, passion and the ability to connect with people.  The trainer has to be able to display all that and then some.

2.  Content that targets non-negotiables
Before you begin your program, decide what behaviors are non-negotiable, and target them.  Don’t just throw spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks - pick 3-5 core things, and drive them home.

3.  Content that is not cutesy
Far too many customer service training programs are built around awkward acronyms.  Someone comes up with a word, like “Stellar Service”, then tries to turn ’stellar’ into a training program: (”S”ay hello; “T”ake your time; “E”voke a response; etc…).  This approach is absolutely unproductive.  Choose the content based on “2″ above.  Period.  If it coincidentally turns into an acronym, that’s fine - but don’t build your content around a random acronym.  This is too important to play games with.

4.  Content that includes service recovery skills
“Wow” customer service is often thought of as people going ‘above and beyond.’  Research tells us that this is not really the case.  Service that creates positive word of mouth is most often when a bad experience gets turned into a positive one.  That’s a critical set of skills that needs to be in every training program

5.  A format that is 85% interactive
Lecture is not an appropriate delivery mechanism for customer service training.  We are, after all, talking about interpersonal skills here.  Get interpersonal!

6.  Delivery that’s not cutesy
Too many trainers rely on games and ‘icebreakers’ that seem to come out of a 3rd grade classroom.  Exercises need to be plentiful - but enjoyable on an adult level.  The moment people feel an exercise is trite or simplistic, the whole program begins to lose credibility.

7.  Mechanisms to transfer skills into practice
Customer service skills, at their core, are often perceived as ‘common sense.’  Because of this, people often believe “I already do that,” and consequently don’t make the effort to change behaviors in the live environment.  Make sure your program has built-in mechanisms and metrics for measuring and promoting performance.  Rewards, consequences, etc.

8.  Participation by everyone
Customer service delivery has to be consistent throughout an organization.  If you really want to send the message that everyone is involved and buying in, everyone, from the CEO on down, has to be part of it.

Good luck!

Are you looking to enhance the internal or external customer service in your organization?  Belding Skills Training & Development has been a global leader in World-Class Customer Service Training for 20 years.  To find out more, contact us at info@beldingskills.com, or at (800) 576-6860.  To see what people have to say about our training, go to this link.

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I, for one, am always astounded at this.  When another person walks up to you, how is it not instinctual to, at minimum, say hello and smile?  It certainly is the way I was brought up. Do people really not understand how profoundly unsociable it is to not do this?

At first, I just thought I was just going to have to come to terms with the fact that not everyone was brought up with the same set of social values that I was.  But I’m not convinced that’s the case.  Watch these same ice men and women when a friend comes up to them.  All of a sudden the smile, warmth and eye-contact you thought they were incapable of come out in spades.  So what’s really going on?

The sad truth is that some people just aren’t wired for customer service.  They can be friendly with their friends, but are either too shy or really don’t care whether or not they make a connection with anyone else.  Sure, a manager can tell them to smile, but because their attitude isn’t matching their behavior, it will just come across as forced and insincere.

Occasionally, in our customer service training programs, we get challenged by participants who say things like, “sometimes I just don’t feel like smiling - and I’m not going to fake it.”  I agree.  Don’t fake it.  Quit your job instead.  If being friendly doesn’t come naturally to you, no-one is going to enjoy the interaction - you or the customer.

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Here is the experience my son and his girlfriend had this week in their St. Catharines location:

When they were seated in the restaurant, they asked the waiter if he could tell them what dishes might be gluten-free.  The waiter was not sure, but said he would check.  Moments later, he returned with the restaurant manager, who proceeded to personally take them around all of the buffet selections (Mandarin’s have a colossal selection) and pointed out the gluten-free dishes.  With two of the dishes, he was concerned that there was the possibility of gluten inadvertently being transferred by customers switching serving spoons.  Just to be on the safe side, he had a plate of each of those selections made special and delivered to their table - no extra charge.

I have only very rarely seen this type of true customer care and attention to detail in a restaurant - and certainly not in a buffet-style venue.  Just when I thought I knew what the gold standard should look like, Mandarin raises the bar yet again.

Seriously.  If you are a student of customer service, as I am, these restaurants are an absolute must-visit. 

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One, which I mentioned a few months back, has to do with who takes the res.  When you call one of their hotels directly, it is not uncommon to be directed to a central reservation number.  Big mistake.  Here’s the thing - when someone is a frequent guest to the same hotel, they eventually get to, at least peripherally, know the staff.  That’s a relationship opportunity that most companies would kill for.  For heavens sake, don’t outsource it to someone in a completely different city!

Here’s the other issue I just experienced in the Toronto Downtown Sheraton.  It’s 8pm and I’m driving to Toronto.  Using my handsfree phone, I call to make the reservation for that night.  Everything goes fine until I am told that they need my credit card number or they can’t complete the reservation.  This, apparently, is non-negotiable.  I now have two options.  One is to find a place to safely pull over on the highway, dig out my wallet and recite the number to them.  The other is to just hang up and call the Delta, an equally nice hotel, who I know will just take my reservation without the hassle.  This time I pulled over, but I probably won’t the next.

Here’s the deal.  I have stayed in this hotel perhaps a dozen nights over the last couple of years alone.  One would think that might be enough customer loyalty to have earned a “hey Mr. Belding - no problem.  We’ll see you when you get here.”  But it didn’t.  The message they send is that the Sheraton values my wallet more than they value me.  That’s not a good message to send.

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“THE ONLY reason we’re doing this is self-interest. There’s no question about it,” says Ted Tilden, describing why his car rental company welcomes - even invites - customer complaints.

Every car or truck rented from Tilden’s 350 offices across Canada has a card on the rear-view mirror that says, “If we give you anything less than perfect service, give us *#]*#]”

Underneath is a personal message from Ted Tilden, the 51-year-old president of the Canadian-owned company founded in 1925: “If we’ve goofed in any way, please tell us. I’ll look into it personally. Write your comments (good or bad) on the reverse side of this card and mail it to me.”

With 16,000 cars and trucks on the road all year round, Tilden’s head office in Montreal receives four to five complaints a day. During the peak summertime rental period, 10 disgruntled customers may write in each day.

Are these people unhappy? You’d better believe it. In an act of supreme courage, Mr. Tilden turned over to me his unedited complaint files for the months of August, September and October of 1981. Some of the comments are not polite.

“Rent a Wreck has better autos,” wrote a California businessman whose car, rented in Edmonton, was dirty and had “dangerously low” tire pressure. “We have had this happen to us several times and this is the last. Back to Hertz or the airport bus. We are disgusted at your firm’s lack of professionalism.”

A tourist from Florissant, Mo., reserved an air-conditioned car one month ahead of her trip to Montreal and did not get one. “You are lucky not to be sued for heat prostration,” she wrote, complaining about driving her 80-year-old mother around in the back seat of a Buick whose rear windows did not roll down.

“Tilden will never be contacted by me or mine again. ‘Stick the consumer’ seems to be your motto, and it made a believer of me.”

A businessman from Charlotte, N. C., rented a car in Montreal. The agent told him the airport counter opened at 6.30 a.m. It did not - and he missed his flight.

“Sir, I assure you that I take the ups and downs of travel in stride,” he wrote to Walter Tilden, Ted Tilden’s older brother and company chairman. “If I did not, I would have had a heart attack long ago or my blood pressure would have hit the top by now. But this particular incident set me off and demands your attention.”

A very embarrassed Walter Tilden replied: “Considering the inconvenience caused to you, I think you wrote a much nicer letter than I might have done under the circumstances.

“As you point out in your letter, if you didn’t take some of these ups and downs in your stride, you would have had a heart attack or high blood pressure long ago. I suspect I’ll get ulcers long before you do.”

Ted Tilden feels it’s good psychology to respond personally to complaints. “People think we’re a much bigger company than we are,” he told me. “They’re impressed when they get a letter from the president. They often say, ‘I didn’t know there was a Mr. Tilden.’ ”

Tilden Rent-A-Car bills itself as the largest car rental company in Canada. (Still privately owned, it does not release sales or profit figures.) Budget concedes Tilden has more locations, but contends it is the largest, based on revenue figures from the Ministry of Transport. Hertz is third; Avis, fourth.

Tilden has 74 airport locations, more than any of its competitors. Budget and Avis each have 50, Hertz has 30. And Tilden’s rates are very competitive. Suppose you were renting a medium-sized car at Toronto International Airport. Tilden’s rate is $35.95 a day with 200 free kilometres, 14 cents a kilometre after that. Budget charges $37.95 a day (same mileage allowance). Hertz charges $37.95 a day with 100 free kilometres, 19 cents a kilometre after, and Avis $38.95 a day, 100 free kilometres plus 18 cents a kilometre.

Budget and Hertz have also adopted mirror tags encouraging customer complaints, but letters are not routinely answered by the president. (Both companies referred my inquiries to head offices in the United States.) Avis has a customer service co-ordinator, Carole Charest in Montreal, who answers complaints.

“We just break our necks trying to answer the letters quickly,” says Walter Tilden, 53. He and his brother try to respond to complaints 24 to 48 hours after receiving them. “If it takes a couple of weeks, you’re the loser.”

After offering “a thousand apologies for service considered by you to be beneath our usual high standards,” Ted Tilden passes along the complaint file to the local manager, who writes another apology. “This forces our managers to know the degree to which they’re goofing up in a market,” he says.

If the problem is serious enough, the local managers offer a cash settlement or several days’ free rental as compensation. Their letters are often refreshingly candid.

“I have just completed a meeting with the staff members involved and it appears, I am afraid, we have screwed up on this one,” wrote John Knight, manager of the Sudbury office, to a customer whose rented truck broke down on the highway to Toronto.

Not only did the man have to spend the night in Orillia while the truck was being repaired, but he had to endure another breakdown the next day, 15 kilometres from the garage. After being told the truck wouldn’t be ready for a day or two, he rented one from Ryder, a competitor.

The man then asked the Subury office to pay for his hotel room in Orillia. The counter clerk flatly refused. Mr. Knight replied, “Although it is not our practice to refund for hotel rooms, in this case the complacent attititude of our employees justifies it.”

If a customer writes on a company letterhead, a third copy of his letter goes to the local Tilden salesman. He makes a sales call and asks if he can be of service. “By that time, the customer is usually eating out of his hand,” Ted Tilden says.

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The question now is whether or not they will be able to turn things around before it is too late.  On the surface, it looks like they are on the right track.  They have at least acknowledged that they have a problem.  Read between the lines, though, and the hope for any substantive improvement begins to dim.

The clue comes from a comment made by Steve Williams, Santander’s Director of Service Quality and Complaints.  He said, “Quality is very important for Santander…We are sincerely sorry for anyone who has experienced difficulties with us….” 

Now, if that had been all he had said, that would have been a good acknowledgement of the issue, and contrition for their performance.  Unfortunately, however, he also felt compelled to add three other parts in the middle of this statement that tell us 3 things:

1. They believe there is an excuse for their poor service (”..the process of integrating Alliance & Leicester and this period of growth has regrettably led to some customers not receiving the service we expect..”)

2.  They’ve convinced themselves they really aren’t that bad (”We know online access has been an issue for a few thousand customers recently, but equally we know about 525,000 log on every day without problems…”)

3.  They really don’t get what the problem is  (”Our staff in branches and our call centres are able to help anyone who has continuing difficulties…”)

Just in case there is anyone out there from Santander reading this, here are three things everyone really ought to know about customer service:

1.  Customers don’t want to hear your excuses.  They just want you to either get it right the first time, or fix it when it breaks

2.  When you are doing something badly, own it.  Customers appreciate people and organizations that have the courage to accept responsibility for things without feeling the need to ’spin’ it.  No-one is going to believe you will be able to fix your horrendous customer service if they think you’re in denial about how bad you really are.  Take a look at Maple Leaf Foods as an organization that understands how to confront its demons.

3.  Don’t set yourself up for more failure.  Do you really want to publicly claim that your “… staff in branches and our call centres are able to help anyone who has continuing difficulties”?  Really?  Here’s the quote from today’s Daily Mail:  “Readers say there are huge delays in getting new accounts set up…and staff in call centres and branches routinely giving the wrong information” Why would you intentionally direct people to the thing that appears to be your achilles heel?

Santander’s response, sadly, is a very strong indication that the people at the highest levels in the organization really don’t understand how bad Santander’s customer service really is, and how critical customer service is to its health and future. Oh, they likely understand that customers should be happy, but they are far too out of touch with them to understand the depth of commitment it takes to create that kind of connection.  I suspect, unfortunately, that this will turn into a classic case study of how not to rebound from customer service failures.

In the meantime, it’s a great saga to follow.  Here are some links if you’re interested:

Santander meltdown

Santander is ’Sorry’

Santander wake-up call

The pits for customer service

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They identified a number of key strategies to getting the TTC on the path to being a customer service focused culture, but nowhere do I see any reference to making dramatic changes in the way leadership leads and management manages.  This, above everything else, is the commmon denominator in every single world-class customer service culture.  You will never find a high-performing environment that isn’t a direct reflection of its leadership.

Here are the sorts of things I would have expected to see in the report, but didn’t:

1.  Ensure everyone at the executive level buys into customer service as a sustainable strategic direction.  All it will take is one single VP or director to think this is just a game for the whole thing to start unravelling.

2.  Train every single manager on how to coach, nurture, motivate and stimulate positive customer service performance.  Get rid of managers who are unable or unwilling to become enjoyable, positive ambassadors to creating great customer experiences.

3.  Recognize and celebrate positive performance and experiences.  Research around the world tells us that the single most common cause of employee dissatisfaction is lack of appreciation.  If we are going to ask TTC employees to step up their game, we better be prepared to acknowledge the effort.  This doesn’t have to be financial or tangible, but managers have to be willing to genuinely and sincerely thank their team members for a job well done.  This has to become cultural, and has to go up the entire TTC food chain.

4.  Give managers stronger situational leadership skills.  All managers are leaders by position.  The most effective managers are leaders by disposition.  The stronger and more positive a bond they are able to create with their employees, the easier it will become to lead the organization into a customer service culture.

The bottom line is that a culture shift - and that is what we are talking about here - comes from the leadership team - those who have the most control over an organization’s environment.  I only saw fairly vague references to this in the Advisory Panel’s report.  I am more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt based on the calibre of their contribution, but if they did miss it, it’s a biggie.

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The TTC had no choice but to take action, and they began by striking a Customer Service Advisory Panel chaired by Toronto hotelier Steve O’Brien. Most people, and most of the media were understandably cynical about the process. There was (and still is) widespread belief that the malaise is just too deep and too cultural. And most of us have witnessed far too many toothless committees come up with wonderful recommendations that go nowhere. The probability that anything might actually change? Not many people would be going to Vegas on those odds.

But…

This feels different. The panel has, in my estimation, done it right. They were consultative, thoughtful, deliberative and realistic in their approach. They did not get paralyzed by processes, and didn’t seem to lose sight of their mandate. Their report, along with the broad-reaching recommendations, is thorough and well thought out. Here are a few of what I believe to be the highlights:

1. Chief Customer Service Officer
I have long believed that large organizations need someone with executive level authority charged with customer service – just as there is someone charged with finance, information, operations, etc. To be effective, however, this person will have to have broad ranging authority to stick his/her nose into everyone’s business. Anything less will be a waste of time and money.

2. Creation of a Culture of Customer Service
This is more of a visioning recommendation, but will have value if (and only if) strategies are put in place to drive it.

3. Improved communications – platform screens, bus signs, website and twitter updates etc.
The better they communicate, the better they will be able to manage customer expectations.

4. Customer Service Training
No organization ever got worse because of too much customer service training… The service recovery training component is absolutely crucial.

5. Measurement – Mystery Shopper
This is ONLY a good idea if the mystery shopper program is directly tied with a fun, motivational positive incentive program. If it is even remotely perceived as a catch-people-doing-something-wrong initiative, it will swiftly and completely backfire. Our team at RetailTrack Mystery Shopping has seen this happen far too often.

6. Building a recognition culture
This will be one of the critical cornerstones. It doesn’t necessarily have to be financial recognition, but leaders need to show appreciation for a job well done.

They covered a lot of ground in the report, and I think the advisory panel should be applauded for their effort. There is only one area they seemed to have missed. It surprised me, because from our experience, it is almost always needs to be the primary area of focus. I will cover that off in the next blog entry. It is really the core of a sustainable customer service strategy.

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 My question is, how ‘costly’ will it really be?  Assuming that customer service is an important strategic focus of the TTC; that improved customer service will increase ridership, decrease time-consuming conflict resolution; and that it will create a more positive overall experience, can it really be called a ‘cost?’

I have yet to hear of any organizaton that embarked on an effective (note: effective) customer service campaign that came out of it worse off than they went into it.  Saying that an investment in customer service is ‘costly’ is akin to saying that an investment into an RRSP is ‘costly.’  Like all investments, there is return that is directly proportionate to the quality of the investment.

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1. Patience
You are dealing with people who are unlikely to have your knowledge or skill.  (If they did, they probably wouldn’t be calling).  Be very patient.  The moment you begin thinking that your customer is an idiot is the moment you should whack yourself upside the head with a hard object.

2.  Sending the message you are there for them
When someone calls and says they have a problem, don’t begin with “Can I have your account number please?”  The first words out of your mouth should be an expression of your desire to make their life a little better, eg: “Well, let’s figure out how to make things work” (then you can ask about their account number)

3.  Outstanding active listening skills
Most of us assume we have adequate listening skills.  And most of us do when it comes to everyday life.  In a telephone interaction, however, good isn’t good enough.  The only way you can prevent irritating your customer more than they already are is by having an absolutely perfect understanding of the issue, and the reason they are frustrated by it.

4.  Spectacular verbal communication skills
Most people take their communication skills for granted, and don’t realize how exceptional they have to be for this job.  Your choice of words, the way you organize your thoughts, the speed at which you speak, etc - all contribute to a successful interaction.

5.  Strong voice tone skills
The old saying ‘It’s not what you say, but how you say it’ is true.  You need to sound upbeat, interested, positive and confident at all times.  If the customer perceives you as being bored or disengaged, it is a recipe for disaster - no matter how well you resolve the issue.

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