Last Minute Lunch Order: A Customer Service Quiz

A department of roughly 50 people was going through week-long training, due to end on Friday. The training was being held in two sessions—morning and afternoon—so that only half the desks would be empty at any given time. The morning session ran from 7:30 to 11:30 and the afternoon from 12:30 to 4:30. On Thursday afternoon, the heads of the department decided to buy lunch for everyone on Friday. Their question to the administrative assistant was:
Can you—at 2 PM Thursday—find someone to provide lunch for 50, delivered at 11:30 AM Friday?

The AA started making calls to caterers the department had dealt with before. The first said, "No way." The second conversation went like this:
AA: You might not be able to do this.
Caterer: Try me.
AA: Can you get us lunch for 50, delivered tomorrow at 11:30?
Caterer: No problem! I can give you the same things you ordered last time. Would that be OK?

The AA also made quick arrangements with the facility to have a buffet table and a cart for beverages brought in, and someone to escort the caterer to the location.

Wow. Big points on the board. The caterer said "Try me," indicating a willingness to work with the customer. The caterer said, "No problem," indicating a can-do attitude. The caterer also said, "...the same thing you had last time," highlighting an existing relationship to the customer, and good records.

Flash forward to Friday at 11:30. The facilities people came in with the table and cart. No caterer, no lunch. 11:40. 11:45. The management says, "We'll wait another 10 minutes and then break and go ahead with the afternoon session." At 11:50, the caterer arrives with the food. But there seems to be a problem. There are no plates, no utensils, no napkins. The AA is off and running, and arrives a few minutes later, breathless, with the missing components. (Note: The caterer said "...the same thing you had last time," and last time included plates and utensils.)

1. What was the first link in the chain of events that could be changed to improve the outcome?
2. How did the caterer set the expectations of the customer?
3. What questions could the AA have asked that would have improved the outcome?

Leave a comment with your answers. I'd love to hear from you.

Give it some thought.

And Sometimes Ugly

Funny thing, Customer Service. We all need it from time to time. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. And, yes, sometimes it's ugly.


Last week, our home Internet connection simply disappeared. Our Internet Service Provider (ISP) had an outgoing message on their support number that announced a statewide outage of all DSL service. (To me, an IT guy, this screamed "single point of failure" which is never a good thing.) Luckily, my iPhone gets enough signal at our house to keep my email, news and Twitter going. About 2 days later, our service was announced "restored."


None of my connected devices were able to obtain a useful connection. No email in or out, no Web. I followed the directions they gave on their announcement, but to no avail. Nothing worked. I called support.


After being polite and confirming some information, they got me back online when connected directly to the DSL modem, but that was it. (I understand this entirely. Support has limits, and they were making theirs clear. They would have to pass me over to their "advanced support group" to get any help for my network setup. Let's just say that that side of the call quickly got to "I can't help you."


What the heck—I was due for a router upgrade anyway, so I bought one and ran the setup. I still cold not establish a connection to the Internet. Modem worked. Router worked. Configuration went correctly. No net. 


So, I called the router company's support. I got some of the best support ever. The agent walked through every setting on the modem, suggested what some causes of the issue might be, and worked through the entire setup with me until I was satisfied that everything was working correctly.


The ISP's support was OK. Limited, narrowly focused, and just OK. They threw in the towel as soon as their job was technically done. The router company provided me with all the information and help I needed to get to the desired end: Everything worked.


Often, companies are ready to pull the plug on support because they forget that the object of that support is to get the customer happy with whatever product they are using.


The object of business is not opposed to the object of Customer Service. They are the same: Create and keep Customers.


Give it some thought.

The Outcome Is Not Guaranteed

I have always thought of people as fundamentally optimistic. If someone tells us something, we usually believe it. When we buy something, we expect that it will work. We have a symptom, we see a doctor, we get a prescription, and we believe that we will get better.


I've also always thought that this is a naïve approach. Not everyone gets better. Things don't always work as advertised. And this is as true in computer support as it is in health care. No matter how we may wish to make everything perfect, fast, easy, and reliable, we can't always do so. Sometimes the outcome is a frustrated person on each end of the phone or help chat. The support person wants to make things work as the end-user expects; the end-user or expects that it's going to be fixed right now.


As hard as it is for many of us to absorb, not everyone gets well, or has their symptoms ameliorated. Some medical conditions fail to improve; likewise, some computer issues don't respond even after hours of work. There are so many variables in each case.


So, when you are faced with a computer issue and contact your support provider, bear in mind that the outcome may not be as you wish, but you can help minimize the chances that this will happen. The better communication you have with either your health care provider or your computer support person, the more likely you are to get your particular issue resolved.


Some helpful hints for getting the best results from computer support:

• Be honest - if you dropped the laptop, admit it. You'll save yourself and the support person lots of time.
• Be patient - lots of variables mean lots of questions and maybe some failed fixes.
• Be understanding - if you are trying to connect to your office from a hotel, be aware that the service desk at your company has no control over the hotel network, and may not be able to make things work for you
• Be compliant - if you're asked to restart, or unplug, or call the hotel front desk, please act in your own best interest.
• Be trusting - don't immediately call your "cousin Bob, who knows a lot about computers" after the support person tells you that you need to do x, y, or z. The support person may, in fact, not be as smart as "cousin Bob," but may have information that Bob does not have about the network, or model of computer, or the state of the Internet at that particular time.

One more request: If you do figure out what the problem was, or if the symptom stops happening, let the support folks know. Believe it or not, we worry about these things, and often spend our off-hours reading and researching the fixes for unresolved issues.

Now, reboot and don't forget to take your medicine.

Give it some thought.

Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent

The pointed firs stand in defiance of the weight of the snow here in Maine, just as they are designed, fundamentally, by nature to do. It's the beginning of 2010.


This year, I believe that economic conditions will make it imperative for businesses to pay even more attention to the fundamentals. Those fundamentals include quality of product, value, and quality of service. Customers will also be thinking in fundamentals such as price, quality, value, and the Customer Experience. I'd like to think that 2010 is the year that businesses really start to believe that retaining a Customer really is less expensive than winning a new one. (Some sources say it's 5x, some say 7x more expensive to gain than to retain.) The Reference for Business also says:

...a company that increases its number of new customers by 20 percent in a year but retains only 85 percent of its existing customers will have a net growth rate of only 5 percent (20 percent increase less 15 percent decrease). But the company could triple that rate by retaining 95 percent of its clients.

What's the most powerful way to retain customers? Say it with me: Good Customer Service! So, ask yourself why Customer Service is not at the very, very, very (very!) top of every business's list of way to increase revenues and hold costs in check. Customer Service needs to be taught, spoken about, featured, tweeted, IM'd, written, inculcated, and ingrained into every aspect of organizational culture.


Good Customer Service not only means treating your customers with all the respect due to your prime source of revenue, it also means designing every aspect of your business to make the customer experience better.

• Check to see if your Web site is designed for your Customers' benefit, or for yours. If it's the latter, change it, and change it now. Do not try to tell me (the Customer) what I want from you by planting a limited number of dropdowns or radio buttons. Give me the opportunity to express my concern, frustration, gratitude, rage, or interest. 
• Have a trained, professional Customer Service representative at the receiving end of every Customer Service transaction.*
• Treat every single Customer as if they are the most important person your business will ever encounter. (Know what? They are!)

Customer Service extends far beyond the sales counter, the Returns desk, the IT Service Desk, and your Web site. It's a way of life.

Do not let the weight of harsh economic realities snap the branches of your business: Learn how to build your business to adapt, like the pointed firs, to the Winter of Our Discontent.

Give it some thought.
* Considering outsourcing your Customer Service to the lowest-bidding call center? Would you do that to Investor Relations? 

Cheerleadership!

Guest post by Bren Boddy-Thomas
Bren is Helpdesk Manager at a Sonoma County's Exchange Bank and sits on the
HDI Member Advisory Board


Rah Rah Go Team! That’s cute on the football field, but look at it from a different perspective.

I’m not talking about someone who LEADS Cheers, but someone who CHEERS LEADERS!

When was the last time YOU cheered on a Leader? I don’t mean a manager. We all know someone who was thrust into the throngs of management. They’re the boss. They make decisions. They manage the team or department. But do they LEAD?
You can Google a million quotes and sayings about leaders. To be a true leader, someone others admire and want to follow, takes strength, competency and courage.


Traits of a Good Leader

• Honest - Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not inspire trust.
• Competent - Base your actions on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings. 
• Forward-looking - Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.
• Inspiring - Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.
• Intelligent - Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.
• Fair-minded - Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.
• Broad-minded - Seek out diversity.
• Courageous - Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.
• Straightforward - Use sound judgment to make good decisions at the right time.
• Imaginative - Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods. Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be innovative!

I’m sure all of us know someone who possesses these traits, someone who has taken the time to grow into a leadership role, someone we admire.

Whether you’re a subordinate and appreciate the work they do for you or on your behalf or you’re a superior – mentoring the individual and helping them reach their full potential. Take the time to thank them.  You’ll be glad you did.

GO LEADERS!!

Give it some thought.

Janus

This is the time of the year when we reflect on the past and look to the future, like the Roman god of beginnings and ends, Janus. We get together with friends new and old. We gather up the harvest of what we have done during the past year and make lists, plans, or resolutions of what we would like to accomplish for the next. For many of us, 2009 has been difficult. Personally and professionally, we've had to weather the storm of economic changes that have caused rapid and massive change in our businesses, careers, and networks. Jobs have been lost, teams changed, training discontinued, budgets cut. As I've written previously in this space, "Although the transitions will be challenging, there are opportunities here." I think it's worth examining a few of the opportunities for 2010 and perhaps some strategies to help us get there.

• Make a list of your accomplishments for 2009 - It's very easy to forget the positive things you and your team have managed to do under difficult circumstances
• Decide which of those accomplishments can be carried into 2010 - Not everything can be brought forward to the new year's "books," but there are some trends you can track and follow forward
• Find the pitfalls from the past year - Make note of the weak spots and areas where you can improve on wins and reverse downtrends. The chief pitfall is deciding ahead of time that your goals cannot be attained.
• Look for opportunities - Professional, personal, team, and individual opportunities exist. Find them and discover how to capitalize on them

Give it some thought.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject of growing into the new year. Please comment.

Keep the Bar High When Your Spirits Aren't

We all have times when we don't feel like we can maintain our positive outlook. An unexpected setback, an unkind remark, a missed opportunity, the loss of a friend—maybe all in the same morning—and your resolve to be positive goes right out the window. Sometimes a job demands that we do something really unpleasant, and it takes time to recover from the negative impact on us.

When this happens, it's easy to forget how important our own mental well-being is. We can't function up to our best potential, we can't deal with problems effectively, and we have trouble prioritizing work. Probably the best thing any of us can do when we experience this is to take a little time off. We need to step away from the day-to-day and regain our focus and the positive attitude that got us where we are.

Unfortunately, it's not always possible to step away from the work. Even when we're away from the workplace, we are connected through our smartphones or laptops, and it's easy to bring all the internal turmoil home.

When this happens, the most important thing is to remember that the quality of the work you and your team are doing should not suffer. That's why we have teams. Think back to a time when one of your team members suffered a setback. Didn't you step in and pick up some of the work, or make the appropriate adjustment so that they could recover and pick up the load again? Is there someone on your team you know you can depend on to do the same for you? The team should be strong enough to absorb at least some of the extra work.

In this excellent article on the importance focusing on our mental health, St. John Health System enumerates ways to overcome the loss of positive outlook. I suggest at least a quick look at some of the bullet points there. Add some of them to your personal arsenal of capabilities.

Give it some thought.