Brand Autopsy

An Arresting Act of Customer Service

The Austin Police Department arrested my attention last week.

While returning from a short jog at my gym, I noticed one police car parked sideways in the half-full lot. I also noticed two police officers looking at the front windshield of cars in the parking lot. Occasionally these officers would write something on a piece of paper and slide it under the windshield wiper of a car.

I thought to myself, "Hey, this can't be right. Getting a ticket for an expired registration sticker while parked at the gym isn't fair." A closer look revealed something else.

These cops were looking inside cars for easily seen valuables beckoning burglars to steal. So instead of writing tickets, these cops were placing friendly warning signs on cars letting people know their cars are potential targets for a burglar.

This was an act of great customer service because delivering customer service is about reacting to what a customer does, says, or doesn't do.

Picture a holiday shopper entering a store with their hands full of bags. Great customer service for an employee is to recognize the harried shopper and ask if they can put the shopper's bags behind the counter.

Great customer service also happens when an employee responds to a question someone asks about a product on twitter.

And, great customer service happens when a police officer takes the time to relay a friendly warning to a citizen who didn't hide their valuables in their car while parked at the gym.

(2) Espresso Shots of Business Wisdom

For this Espresso Shot of Business Wisdom, I'm sharing the best advice I've heard for delivering great customer service.

Click on the play button below to watch/listen. Enjoy.

RSS Readers ... click here to watch.

The Languages of Customer Service

Korean entrepreneurs in Los Angeles have long-since learned conversational English. Now they are also learning conversational Spanish as a way to deliver better customer service and to increase sales. From a Wall Street Journal article we learn…

“More than a courtesy, the language exchange is born out of economic necessity. Korean immigrants here often open liquor stores, garment factories and other small businesses that don't necessarily require English language skills to run them. Their employees, by and large, consist of another group of recent immigrants who don't speak English -- mostly Mexicans and Central Americans. The upshot: Many Korean business owners figure it's more urgent to learn Spanish than it is to master English.” [source]

This learning of different languages to improve customer service reminds me of a Starbucks company campfire story...

In the late 1990s, an enterprising Starbucks store manager noticed that more and more deaf customers were frequenting her store. At first, this store used paper notes and awkward hand motions to communicate with these customers. But the store manager wanted to make these deaf customers feel more welcomed in her store so she, and a handful of her staff, began learning sign language. By learning a different language to speak with these deaf customers, this Starbucks store became a hub for the local deaf community. Business increased, customer respect increased, and customer loyalty increased all thanks to learning a different language customers were speaking.

Eight Critical Customer Service Skills

Here I go again … sharing more worthwhile advice/opinion on the importance of employees in how a company delivers great customer experiences. This time I’m sharing the criteria Enterprise Rent-A-Car uses when deciding whom to hire.

For those unaware, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the largest rental car company in the United States. It’s a privately owned business which recorded $9.0 billion dollars in sales for 2006. They are renowned for delivering great customer experiences in the highly-commodified rental car business.

Part of the reason Enterprise is viewed as strong customer service-focused business is they hire well. According to the recently published book, EXCEEDING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS, when it comes to hiring employees, Enterprise “… doesn’t want people who merely seek to be behind the rental counter. It wants every candidate to aspire to greatness.”

For the most part, new hires at Enterprise are eager, career-driven college graduates who are given the opportunity to quickly advance through the organization based off of their ability to deliver great customer service. As a result of their desire to hire candidates that aspire to greatness, Enterprise is able to retain 70% of its full-time employee base every year and have a ready pipeline of qualified candidates to promote as the company grows.

To help identify high potential candidates, Enterprise uses an eight-point Critical Customer Service Skills checklist to determine which candidates are mostly likely to be Enterprise employee material. It’s a worthwhile list for any customer service-focused business to plug ‘n play into their hiring practices.

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ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR
Critical Customer Service Skills

1. A passion for taking care of customers.
2. A willingness to be flexible.
3. A work ethic based on dedication to the company and its mission.
4. An eagerness to learn a new business and work their way up.
5. Self-motivation and goal-orientation.
6. Persuasive sales skills.
7. Excellent communication skills.
8. Leadership ability.

Source | EXCEEDING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS (Kirk Kazanjian)

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7-Eleven on 7/11

A reminder how customer expectations change over time...

The convenience store that invented convenience stores, 7-Eleven got it's name because it was open during the unheard of hours of 7:00 am until 11:00 pm.

At that time that was remarkable. That was unheard of.

Here's a bit from the 7-Eleven site.

7-Eleven pioneered the convenience store concept way back in 1927 at the Southland Ice Company in Dallas, Texas. In addition to selling blocks of ice to refrigerate food, an enterprising ice dock employee began offering milk, bread and eggs on Sundays and evenings when grocery stores were closed. This new business idea produced satisfied customers and increased sales, and convenience retailing was born!

The company's first convenience outlets were known as Tote'm stores since customers "toted" away their purchases, and some even sported genuine Alaskan totem poles in front. In 1946, Tote'm became 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new, extended hours - 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days a week. The company's corporate name was changed from The Southland Corporation to 7-Eleven, Inc. in 1999.

Worthy Customer Service Reads

This evening (Thursday) I'm speaking about marketing and customer experience to an MBA class, at Pacific Lutheran University located south of Seattle.

I plan to share my experiences at Starbucks, ARAMARK and Disney... with particular emphasis on - customer focus, customer expectations, service strategy and closing service gaps. I'll let you know how it goes.

The professor, Merl Simpson, uses the textbook - "Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm" by Valarie Ziethaml & Mary Jo Bitner.

Most of the books I read are traditional bookstore business books... not college text. This book was a great read...

For the MBAs, I've put together a list of the service related books on my shelves that they may want to check out...

Here it is:

• All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World - Seth Godin
  
  
• BE OUR GUEST: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service - The Disney Institute
  
  
• Creating and Delivering Totally Awesome Customer Experiences - Gary W. Millet | Blaine W. Millet
  
  
• Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force - Jackie Huba | Ben McConnell
  
  
• Customer Experience Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Connecting with Your Customers - Bernd H. Schmitt | Bernd Schmitt
  
  
• Free Prize Inside!: The Next Big Marketing Idea - Seth Godin
  
  
• Improvise This! How to Think on Your Feet So You Don't Fall on Your Face - Mark Bergren | Molly Cox
  
  
• Managing the Customer Experience: Turning Customers into Advocates - Shaun Smith | Joe Wheeler
  
  
• Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers - Seth Godin
  
  
• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable - Seth Godin
  
  
• The Customer Revolution: How To Thrive When Customers Are In Control - Patricia Seybold | Ronni T. Marshak
  
  
• The Disney Way - Bill Capodaglia | Lynn Jackson
  
  
• Uncommon Practice: People Who Deliver A Great Brand Experience - Shaun Smith | Andy Milligan
  

Guaranteed Satisfaction (Old School)

Starbucks Coffee Company headquarters is located in a building in Seattle that, in 1912, was where Sears, Roebuck and Co. opened its first catalog distribution center outside Chicago.

There is a mural in the lobby illustrating - in Starbucks style - maps, images and icons celebrating the history of the building and the area. One of these illustrated elements is the "Sears Guarantee" circa 1914. It reads...

"We Guarantee.

That each and every article in this catalog is exactly as described and illustrated.

We guarantee that any article purchased from us will satisfy you perfectly - that it will give the service you have a right to expect - that it represents full value for the price you pay.

If for any reason whatever you are dissatisfied with any article purchased from us, we expect you to return it to us at our expense. We will then exchange it for exactly what you want, or will return your money, including any transportation charges you have paid.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. Chicago and Seattle, Wash"

Imagine the impact if some company... any company... had the fortitude to offer this level of customer service and satisfaction today?

"Mark This Ticket Resolved"

SHORT VERSION OF THIS POST (The Summary)

Movable Type provides kick-butt support for their products. Their Help Ticket system and user support team is fast, responsive, and thorough.

Their team member Kymberlie "saved the day" for me by helping me get my blog up and running. She "saved a customer" for Six Apart by being so swift and helpful.

If you are contemplating investing in Movable Type - do it.
If you are afraid you can't handle the technology - don't worry. You're in good hands with their on-line Knowledge Base and Help Ticket system.

LONG VERSION OF THIS POST (The Background)

I've made the leap (both financial and technical) to Movable Type (MT) software. MT is the user configurable, Grande version of TypePad.

The reasons for this purchase were that I wanted...
a) more control over the look of my Idea Sandbox blog, and
b) a URL linked to my domain name (idea-sandbox.com/blog vs. idea-sandbox.typepad.com)

I've monkeyed with the personal version of MT in the past and found its references to PERL, SQL and CSS just beyond my geek abilities.

However, I noticed a 30-day money back guarantee on the MT website and proceeded under an "if I can't figure it out, I'll get my money back" premise.

I paid. I downloaded the source files. I followed the thorough instructions letter-by-letter. (Fellas, these aren't like IKEA instructions that you can fake and be a hero. You've actually gotta read 'em... completely).

I learned about MySQL. I found the path to PERL. I changed file permissions. (755 is a key number). All seemed to be going well.

However, when it came time to run the test files - it crashed.

I tweaked the code.

It crashed again.

I saw that you could submit a help ticket to MT, but assumed, like most other form/e-mail based "help" systems, you'll be lucky to receive an auto-response let alone a note from a real person.

I created a help ticket and grabbed a quick dinner. To my surprise, I had a reply waiting in my inbox when I came back to my PowerBook.

It took me several tickets and lots of modification of .cgi and .cfg files...

I'm still tweaking the templates to get it to look exactly like I want... But, I'm 90% there...

Two neat stories, then I'm signing off...

A woman named Kymberlie helped me with my ticketS - and ended up sticking with me until I was up and running! You get an idea of how much help I needed... She cheerfully and accurately guided me through the set-up process step-by-step.

Last Tuesday Kymberlie responded to my help tickets at:

12:30 in the afternoon - TICKET 1. This was one of my first cries for help. She was there again at...

10:54 pm at night - TICKET 2, and still at...

11:25 pm - TICKET 3

The next morning she was back again helping me at...

8:36 am - TICKET 4

8:40 am - TICKET 5 (she asked me for some detailed ftp information to help me where I couldn't help myself)

At 8:56 am, I changed my files to what she suggested in the previous message and I was up and running!

I checked the box -> MARK THIS TICKET RESOLVED

Sarah helped me with some style sheet coding... Even though my questions were beyond the scope of the type of support MT provides... she was cool enough to suggest some coding AND gave me four different links to websites that would solve my problem.

You can't beat customer service like that!

Thank you to the MT Support Team!

Wine and Apples - not the perfect pairing

I've been an Apple Macintosh evangelist since 1991 and have been using Apple computers since 1985 (Apple IIc). Last August I purchased my latest machine - a PowerBook G4 with a 15" screen. What a beaut!

Last week, a half-of-glass of a nice chilled regional white wine was accidentally spilled onto the keyboard and into the machine. This caused my screen to flicker, the internal components to hiss and the laptop to shut down and stay down.