Dovetail Software

The Four Season's Isadore Sharp and The Golden Rule of Customer Service

Dovetail Software — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:54:00 GMT

When Isadore "Issy" Sharp, the CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, set out nearly fifty years ago to create the world's best luxury hotel chain he asked himself, "How do you become the best? I figured it wouldn't mean through the architecture and décor, but through the quality of our service. I thought if we could make service so special and meet customer needs, that would differentiate us." He was running a motor lodge in Toronto back then, but now with over 80 hotels across the globe, he is sticking to his original commitment to customer service -- even if it hurts.

In a 2006 reflection upon his company and it's success, Mr. Sharp wrote,

"Even with the currents of change, throughout the history of our company, there has been a consistent thread—the commitment to service and to the employees who deliver the service product every day. [...] Those few moments of service delivery are a company’s make or break point, when reputation is either confirmed or denied. And the outcome in our industry normally depends on frontline employees: doormen, bellmen, waiters, maids—the lowest paid people, and often, in too many companies, the least motivated.

"The cornerstone of our corporate culture, to treat all others—customers, employees, partners, suppliers—as we ourselves would want to be treated, is the Golden Rule of Four Seasons, but also, the Golden Rule of life. [...] By nurturing the full potential of every willing worker from top to bottom, I believe that the hospitality industry can tap a unique source of leadership and success for the 21st century. And by committing to these simple principles of service and care for the employee, companies across the spectrum have the ability to become true success stories."

Back in 2006 the recession was barely a glint in the eye of Alan Greenspan, but Mr. Sharp sticks to his guns in good times and in bad. And despite a 25 percent drop off in business this year, he stubbornly maintains his high standards for customer service because after a half century in the hotel biz, his company knows a thing or two about surviving recessions. He refuses to cut staff. He won't budge on the number of flowers in the lobby. He won't even let his hotels resort to a lower thread count in the sheets.

But he doesn't own the hotels. The Four Seasons actually manages the hotels while real estate developers own the buildings and the land. And despite one lawsuit and the grumblings of these owners to the New York Times, Mr. Sharp will not compromise when it comes to customer service.

So by the time the global economy turns around, a few of the 80+ Four Season hotels and resorts may go away. But the customers never will.

Dovetail Links 2009-07-06

Dovetail Software — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:03:00 GMT

Adding a New Face to Customer Service

"Once companies begin to build some brand presence on online social networks, customers begin to interact with them. Some of the interactions focused on customer service and support issues. And when companies respond to the requests through the same channel, hence a new concept of customer service through social networking."

Set Your Sites Higher

"IT leaders at the cutting edge of e-commerce talk about the strategies and technologies they are using to beat the recession by forging stronger bonds with customers and opening up new business opportunities."

Use the 'Customer Loyalty Formula' to Keep Customers Coming Back

"According to a recent study, many big consumer brands are losing their loyal customers. It revealed that 52% of highly loyal consumers either reduced their loyalty or defected completely from the brands in the study. Further, only 4 out 10 brands in the study retained 50% or more of their highly loyal customers from year to year."

The Customer Rules, Again

"In addition to discounts, promotions and no-interest financing, there's something else some stores battling the recession have begun offering customers: a look in the eyes, a warm smile and a distinct lack of attitude. Customer service is making a comeback, which means consumers who have spent years being ignored by snobby sales staff or waiting in endless lineups are finally getting the respect they deserve – at least in some places."

Tough Times Call for Superior Customer Care

"Proper customer care is positioned to be a game-changer for wireless providers as it builds trust and drives satisfaction. Service providers are aware that maintaining a high quality of customer service is a key factor in customer retention, but reaching this metric is always a challenge. The inhibitors to superior customer care include weak communication between call centers and network operations and poor network intelligence. By being more proactive about identifying service issues, service providers can empower their customer care representatives with the tools to improve customer experience and help grow business."

Dovetail Links 2009-06-29

Dovetail Software — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:21:00 GMT

Contact Center Performance Thriving in the Recession

"Conventional thought would dictate that key performance metrics (KPI) measuring contact center performance would drop during the economic recession due to more stressed-out, grumpier individuals. According to a new study from CFI Group, the opposite rang true -- as it found the Contact Center Satisfaction Index (CCSI) climbed three percent to 74 (based on a 100-point scale)."

Usability: The Cornerstone of E-Commerce/CRM Convergence

"E-commerce is one bright spot in the current economy, and many companies are looking for ways to boost online sales as offline revenues languish. One trend that's gaining steam is the convergence of e-commerce and CRM applications to maximize upsell and e-marketing opportunities."

Employees: The Direct Route to Customers' Hearts

"Research involving more than 30,000 customer service employees conducted earlier this year by the Corporate Executive Board indicates that there is a close connection between employees' work experience and customer opinions. Departments where employees reported they had the authority to take actions to meet customer needs, make decisions on their own to improve quality, and respond to problems without waiting for approval had the highest levels of customer satisfaction."

Business Intelligence: Getting a Grip on Business Intelligence TCO

"The fear of hidden costs has made many companies reluctant to invest in business intelligence implementations. Companies that have successfully established systems for completing BI projects -- from start to finish, both on budget and within expected time frames -- usually place experience, ROI and automation at the top of their list of priorities."

Seven Tips for Phasing CRM Projects

"'Phase your CRM project’ is one of those frequently offered pieces of advice to would-be implementers of CRM technology, but what does this really mean in practice? So, seven quick tips for phasing CRM projects effectively..."

Dovetail Links 2009-06-23

Dovetail Software — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:41:00 GMT

Social Networking Boom Drives Call Center Evolution

"Evolution appears to have come to the contact center business, driven by the popularity of social networking sites which have been tapped by enterprises for various marketing purposes. As a result, many companies are now thinking of ways to connect their key customer service resource--the contact center--to social networks, according to online research firm Datamonitor."

Bad Economy Calls for Better Customer Service

"QCS is something that is really great or it doesn’t seem to exist at all. It is more than the greeter at the main entrance, or the halfhearted, 'Thank you for shopping at ...' QCS stands for Quality Customer Service. It is the one thing that has a good chance of pulling us out of our economic slump, recession or whatever the current buzz-phrase is."

Who Knew? Consumers Hate Offshore Call Centers

"The recession, it turns out, is good for customer service. Consumers believe that they are getting better service than they used to from customer-support centers. But it turns out that outsourced call centers may be costing companies more than they think, and the third annual study of customer satisfaction with contact centers reports that customers 'are nearly twice as likely to recommend the company to others if they think the contact center is in the U.S., while they are three times more likely to defect if they believe it is based offshore,' reports the Contact Center Satisfaction Index. (The index is created by CFI Group, which uses the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index.)"

Top 10 Call Centre Websites for 2009

"In our annual round-up of call centre websites we have scouted round to find the best websites to find help and advice to improve your contact centre."

Can You Hear Your Customers Now?

"'The ROI on Customer Feedback: Why it Pays to Listen to the Voice of the Customer,' categorized organizations based on their use of customer feedback in relation customer problem resolution, customer satisfaction, customer retention and customer advocacy. [...] Best-in-class companies, who are twice as likely as the other companies to have an established process to track customer feedback across all departments, were 18 times more likely to increase customer satisfaction and 44.5 times more likely to increase customer retention, according to a study of 150 companies by Empathica, a provider of customer experience management programs, and Aberdeen Group."

The Customer Satisfaction Survey Snag

"A survey conducted by a client of mine, a large phone company, revealed that 94% of customers were 'completely satisfied' with their experience. However, in a separate, concurrent survey conducted by the same company, 30% of customers claimed that given the option, they would switch to a new provider. The former survey indicated only 6% of their entire customer base is less than completely satisfied. Assuming those 6% were among those who would switch, at least 24% of their customers who claimed complete satisfaction felt no loyalty to the company."

Dovetail Links 2009-06-13

Dovetail Software — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:46:00 GMT

The Customer Service Hall of Shame

"How a company handles adversity can tell you a lot about its character. Does it stick to its guns, keeping the customer first? Or does it stick it to customers, raising prices and cutting service? The recent economic turmoil has given companies a chance to prove their mettle. But many, particularly in the hard-hit financial-services industry, have failed to do so."

10 Companies Americans Love to Hate

"Some 'winners' are making a third appearance in MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame. Here's the countdown to No. 1, based on the percentage of respondents who rated a company's customer service 'poor' in a recent MSN Money-Zogby poll."

Service and Support: Get the Fundamentals Right

"The surest way to disappoint a customer is by not delivering on what you promise. Support pros may not be able to fix each and every problem that comes along, but by remembering your customer service fundamentals, you can keep your clients from considering you negligent."

Contact Centers Can Optimize Opportunities Through Social Networking

"Independent market analysis firm, Datamonitor, has noted that companies of all sizes are engaging customers and prospects on social networking services. While much of this activity has been pure marketing, some leading edge companies have started to offer customer service and support through social networking sites."

Social Customer Service Remains "A Breed Apart"

"For the most part, very few companies are using formal contact center agents to handle customer service interactions via these emerging and new channels. Generally, they are social media specialist groups within companies. Some of them may have contact center experience or even physically sit in the same room with agents, but they are a breed apart." -- Ian Jacobs, Datamonitor

Is A Smile And A Greeting All That It Takes?

Dovetail Software — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:01:00 GMT

While some stores are cutting staff due to this ever-shrinking economy, there are others that seem to have the right idea to weather the recession. Rather than slamming the brakes, they are hitting the accelerator and making customer service a top priority. Although many stores may be cutting prices and offering incentives to get consumers in the stores, the one aspect that sets a store apart these days is how they treat their customers. How a customer is treated ranks high on the list of how they rate their experience and likelihood to repurchase at a retailer.

In a Forrester report entitled Customer Service and Loyalty: A Closer Look, Bruce Tempkin noted that

"'...meeting customer needs links the most with repurchasing and enjoyability links the most with the likelihood to recommend. It also turns out that industries have different loyalty profiles. For instance, retailers and health insurers can influence loyalty the most by meeting customer needs while banks and hotels can affect customer repurchase plans from all elements of customer experience. This conclusion was reached after examining the correlation across twelve industries between customer service and loyalty."

So, who is getting this message? It appears that retailers like Home Depot are heeding the call. Plagued by many years with complaints about customer service, the retailer appears to be making a commitment to get back to their original roots, which focused on customer service. Although they have made a move to cut overall employees by closing their non-core locations, such as Expo, they committed to the existing employees in their core locations and are encouraging them to bring back customer service in the hopes that they will bring back customers.

Walking into a Home Depot store, it is likely that you will now see a greeter at the entrance directing customers to the proper section of the store, based on what they are looking for. Associates, who for many years seemed to have disappeared, are now often located along the main aisles in order to make it easier for customers to seek them out when they require assistance. "We don't want customers walking around looking for us, we want to be walking around looking for them," said store manager Jeff Eder of the Home Depot in Stockton, CT in a FOX news story.

In a report noted on CNN Money, Home Depot's executive vice president of U.S. stores, Marvin Ellison admits that 2009 will still be a difficult year, but notes that, "Home Depot is focused on improving customer service, having appropriate inventory and improving store appearance during the downturn." Although halting spending and cutting back may seem to be the short-term reaction to dwindling sales, smart executives will keep the long term picture in mind and use this economic climate to re-prioritize and focus on what can make them successful – a happy customer.

Dovetail Links 2009-05-31

Dovetail Software — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:14:00 GMT

Strategies: Make Customer Retention Priority No. 1

"Whether you call it customer retention, account management, relationship management, or just staying in touch, developing a strategy so that you don't lose the customers or clients you have is vital to the success of any business — especially now."

The Data Quality Conundrum

"In a sign of just how messy and inaccurate the data floating throughout businesses really is, one out of four organizations isn't able to identify its best customers and best-selling products. The statistic, which comes from new research conducted on behalf of address-verification company Experian QAS, underscores a fundamental flaw: Many organizations still neglect to view caring for data as a mission-critical business process. The research also shows that 55 percent of organizations either said they didn't have a data strategy or weren't aware of one."

Americans Get Little Satisfaction From Customer Service

"Frustrated with automated voice systems that lead to lengthy hold periods, Americans use the time with a customer call center to make a meal, read a newspaper or go to the toilet, according to a new poll. In a survey of 1,000 consumers Jacada, an Atlanta-based company that proposes solutions to improve customer satisfaction, found that even as expectations for customer service rise during a down economy, companies fail to meet them."

Airline Customer Service Improves as Passenger Ranks Thin

"Fliers are grumbling less about the service they receive -- or fail to receive -- from airlines. That may have less to do with any initiatives on the companies' parts than with the simple fact that they have fewer flights, fewer passengers and less baggage to deal with, thanks to the recession. Even though fliers are a bit more forgiving, the airlines' overall customer service grade is still low."

A Declaration of Customer Independence

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all customers are born free, that they are endowed by the market with innate abilities to relate, to converse and and to transact — on their own terms, and in their own ways. When sellers have labored long and hard to restrict those freedoms, and to ignore and insult the capacities enjoyed naturally by customers — by speaking, for example, of 'capturing,' 'acquiring,' 'retaining,' 'locking in' and otherwise 'owning' customers as if they were slaves — and when sellers work to inconvenience customers to the exclusive benefit of sellers themselves, for example through 'loyalty programs' that require customers to carry around cards that thicken customers’ wallets without fatting them, it is the right of customers to obsolete the coercive systems to which both sellers and customers have become accustomed."

Mark Every Week On Your Calendar As Customer Service Week

Dovetail Software — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:28:00 GMT

Back in October, we posted an article called Every Week IS National Customer Service Week, in which we brainstormed five reasons to celebrate customer service in addition to the five reasons that the Customer Service Group already suggests for Customer Service Week.

Our five reasons included:

Those suggestions were in addition to the five suggestions by the CS Group:

Boost morale, motivation and teamwork.
Reward frontline reps for the important work they do all year long.
Raise company-wide awareness of the importance of customer service.
Thank other departments for their support.
Let customers know about your commitment to customer satisfaction.

Some great suggestions for sure, but why is it so important to keep them in mind all year long? Because customer service is so important to the bottom line that it shouldn’t just be celebrated for one week a year. If a company identified any strategy that was so critical to their success or survival, would it make sense to only promote that strategy once a year? Of course not!

In Big Reasons To Improve Your Customer Service In A Recession, Niccolina Soto explains the correlation between customer service and sustainable growth:

"Customer loyalty is a major contributor to sustainable profit growth. To achieve success, you must make superior service second nature of your organization. A seamless integration of all components in the service-profit chain – employee satisfaction, value creation, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profit and growth – links all the critical dynamics of top customer service."

Customer Service Week falls this year on October 5-9, 2009. If companies think they’re going to wait until then to promote some of these valuable suggestions, they may just find that they’re a bit too late to save the sinking ship. Now would be a great time to highlight customer service week on business calendars around the nation, and keep it there all year long!

Dovetail Links 2009-05-25

Dovetail Software — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:19:00 GMT

It's Not the Size of Your Customer Data, It's How You Use It

"Many businesses dutifully collect customer data, just as they've been told to do, but they fail to use that data properly. In this economy, no one can afford to suffer the consequences. Data must be managed properly in order to be put to good use."

Now, Customer Service Must be No. 1 Concern

"Customer service, or lack of it, plays a critical role in making or breaking a business, experts agree. Now, when businesses are struggling to keep their heads above water, the loss of even one customer hurts. If the reasons for losing a customer are systemic, then look out because more losses are likely."

American Customer Satisfaction Index Up

"The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) showed a second straight quarterly improvement. For the first quarter of 2009, the Index jumped 0.4 percent to 76 on ACSI’s 100-point scale, according to the report released Friday by the University of Michigan."

UK Customer Satisfaction Index Down

"The third annual Comparisat study reveals that we are not happy customers. 1500 people were asked what they thought of the customer service they experience from 36 top companies ranging from e-retailers, High Street retailers and supermarkets through to businesses, public sector and utility companies. And the answer was not a lot. For the second year running overall customer satisfaction is down. We are dissatisfied because our complaints are poorly handled and we don't think we're getting value for money."

Cutting Customer Service with Care

"I had hoped to avoid a rant about customer service. Companies are bleeding people, and while theoretically that shouldn’t make a big difference in service (fewer employees but also fewer customers, right?), deterioration is to be expected. Some companies are cutting staff faster than they’re losing customers. Others are simply cutting in the wrong places. Employees’ knees are knocking so hard they can’t hear the words, 'I need that by Thursday.'"

Customer Loyalty Programs: A Tool for Customer Retention

Dovetail Software — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:54:00 GMT

In these difficult times, a focus on customer loyalty is critical to survival. Retaining customers is a more cost efficient process than trying to gain new ones, and efforts to rethink methods to maintain customer loyalty are at the forefront of many companies, or at least should be. Customer loyalty programs are one method companies are utilizing to retain customers.

"According to Adam Sarner, a research analyst at Gartner Inc. as reported in Barney Beals’ Leveraging Customer Loyalty in a Down Economy, 'There’s an idea around what I call operational loyalty and long-term loyalty. They can work in a down environment and a growth environment. Operational loyalty offers a payoff -- buy nine, get the 10th free, for example. Long-term loyalty initiatives depend on building trust and affinity. You want to engage customers so when everyone’s ready to take advantage of an up market, they think of you.'"

Customer loyalty programs do not have to require a huge investment, but in order to successfully maintain loyalty in the long term, they should not only offer free products, but also be geared towards ease of use and offering customers something that is a real benefit to them. As Sarner explains,

"The more relevant you are to the customer, the more likely they will be loyal to you. There's no sense doing a loyalty program that benefits the business and doesn't benefit the customer at the same time."

Data collected by Aberdeen and reported in Retailers Strive to Develop Lifetime Customer Value (LCV) shows that “93 percent of retailers execute loyalty programs as a standard offering for their web, store or catalog channel customers. Such campaigns include but are not limited to point perks, rewards, frequent buyer offers or private label credit cards. But here's the rub: Of those that have programs, 74 percent report "partial to no tangible improvement" in their customer loyalty programs compared to their competitors.”

In order for a loyalty program to successfully improve customer retention, thought must be given to how programs will most benefit the customer in the long run. This should include personalized elements that focus on specific customer segments.

According to Aberdeen,

"With the increase in the pressure of LCV and the need to closely align loyalty elements with customer affinity, the single biggest common challenge facing all retailers today is the need to re-configure their organizational, strategic and tactical objectives around the integration of loyalty operations with customer retention, acquisition and reduced attrition goals."

Companies like eBay are jumping on the customer loyalty program bandwagon. As reported in eBay to Test eBay Bucks Shopping Rewards Program, "The arrival of eBay Bucks marks the company's latest customer-retention move -- something the company is focusing on as it works to improve its online marketplace, at a time when consumers have cut back on spending because of the dismal economy. Other efforts eBay has undertaken include distributing coupons to users and offering discounts."

This is just one example of a company that is focusing on what it thinks customers want in an effort to keep customers coming back for more.