Employees First

01/14/2015

What is a customer service mindset?

(This article was originally served in November of 2013.  New links have since been added to revise and refresh your reader experience!   Enjoy!)

It drives me crazy when a front-line employee can solve a problem, but  can't.

They can because they see the problem, they see the cause, and directly observe the customer's frustration, as it happens.   They can't, because they're not given the authority to fix it, nor incented to step outside of their area responsibilities to take action.

Here's a recent example, to illustrate what I'm talking about:

I was at an airport seated at the departure gate of a flight to Orlando, FL.  The lighted sign above gate showed a different flight number, and a different city (Tampa).  It was still about 40 minutes before my scheduled departure, when passengers began boarding.  

Employee stuck in a boxBecause it was still relatively early, and because the monitor still showed "Tampa" with the other flight number, I assumed that it was not my flight that was boarding.  I was wrong, and so were several other passengers that were more focused on the sign at the gate, than the  PA announcements telling us that the sign was incorrect.

The gate agent told me that the sign was "stuck" on Tampa; that the sign had not changed over the past two days.  An easy solution, I thought, would have been for the gate agents to post hand-written signs with the correct information, next to or over the electronic sign.  For whatever reason (lack of authority, lack of will or desire, etc.), nothing was  done to address the root cause of the problem.

Instead, the problem persisted, because the gate agents didn't take the intiative to correct it.  The result was two days of frustration for the airlines' customers, and the airlines' employees - the gate agents.  

Here's the point:

Front-line employees ought to be given the and mindset to think and act outside their normal responsibilities to take action,  particualry when that action will prevent a negative customer experience, or, create a more positive one.

FedEx drop box frozenThere're some legendary examples of this in the business literature, like the FedEx driver in January in Minneapolis, on finding a FedEx drop box frozen shut, opted to back over the box to uproot it from the concrete so its contents would not be delivered late.  Uprooting a drop box was beyond the scope of his employment, but doing it enabled his employer to live up to its promise.

There's the story of the Zappo's CSR having a pizza delivered to a "customer" at a hotel.  Zappo's normally doesn't sell pizza, but this customer really wanted pizza, and the  CSR got creative to make it happen.

There's the Ritz Carlton story of the employee that built a ramp so a wheelchair-bound guest could go down to the beach during his stay.

Yes, these are extreme examples because the employees were all  trained to "do what it takes" to help the customer achieve the results they purchased.

Mindset action resultsThese legendary customer service examples occuured, because their organizations nurture a culture of "doing whatever it takes" to correct problems, and create improvements to make for a more positive customer experience.  And because the employees are encouraged, and given the latitude to take more drastic-than-normal steps to make it all happen.

Do your employees feel empowered to take steps outside their normal responsibilities, to deliver a better experience?

 

Posted at 10:27 AM in Customer Experience, Customer Service, Employees First | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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12/02/2014

5 Reasons why 2-Way Reviews improve the Service Ecosystem

As customers, we're used to being asked to rate the companies we buy from.

But now,  companies  are beginning to rate the customers they sell to.  Sure, lots of CRM-savvy companies have  rated customers for loyalty-tracking, but they kept that information to themselves. What's different now is that companies like Uber, , are rating customers, and sharing those ratings with other service providers.  And the service providers then use ratings to decide if they want to sell to those customers, or NOT.

Rude customersAccording to a December 1 article in the New York Times,  "The rating systems are allowing businesses to formalize a longstanding practice: focusing on their best customers.

"The worst customers “demand too much, complain too much and cost too much,” said Christopher Muller, professor of hospitality management at Boston University.

"Beyond that, he said, bad clients make employees unhappy. Companies, he said, do better by spending time on their best and most profitable patrons. “It sounds draconian, but not all customers are created equal,” he said."

In the past, if a restaurant received too many (legitimate) negative reviews about its menu, it would likely respond by to the menu to delight more customers.  Similarly, if a customer finds that he or she is being denied service, because they've been rude to other service providers, the customer is more likely clean up his act, and become a better customer.   The result of these 2-way reviews is a greater population of good customers.

Here's where this can be a good  thing for everyone:

  1. If bad customers cost a company too much, then fewer bad customers can mean lower costs.
  2. If bad clients make employees unhappy, then fewer bad clients mean happier employees.
  3. Happier employees tend to be more engaged at work and invest more discretionary effort into delivering a better customer experience.
  4. A better customer experience is always good for the customer, right?
  5. A better cusutomer experience means fewer unhappy customers.

So there we have it - while the 2-way review may seem unconventional, in the end it can create a virtuous cycle that improves the service environment for everyone!

What other  benefits do you see, from 2-way reviews?

  Happy service ecosystem

Posted at 10:53 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Employee Engagement, Employees First | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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11/10/2014

One reason why Employee Engagement may be so low...

The business benefits of high employee engagement are well documented:

When employees are more engaged, they invest more discretionary effort into their work.

When employees are more engaged, customers enjoy a better experience.

When employees are more engaged, customers become more loyal.

When employees are more engaged,revenues increase.

 When employees are more engaged, profits increase.

When employees are more engaged, earnings per share increase.

According to Gallup's recent study, world-wide, employee engagement levels are dismal.


Employee engagemnet 13%

With all those big-time benefits, why don't more companies take more effort to improve employee engagement?

Here's the kicker: You don't necessarily need a big budget to improve Employee Engagement. This recent article published by The Conference Board presents six of the many ways that a business can begin to improve employee engagement:

  1. Tap into the talents people want to use
  2. Demonstrate appreciation
  3. Ask for input
  4. Highlight successes
  5. Offer opportunities to learn and grow
  6. Provide honest, meaningful feedback

Most of those methods don't necessarily require funding; they're more about consciously doing more of the things that we ought to be doing in the first place - things like transparency, showing appreciation, and genuinely appealing to the human side of employees.

With documented benefits of employee engagement so high, and the costs of making it happen so low, we're talking about an ROI that's off the charts. Why don't more companies take these low-cost steps to driver greater employee engagement?

We're good at measuring the results of employee engagement, but we're not very good at measurring actual engagementt.  Companies have been measuring customer loyalty, revenue growth and profitability for a longtime.  And since they know how to measure it, they know how to manage it.But it's a lot harder to measure engagement. The AQPC annual census is representative of how engagement is measured, but it only happens once a year. And that may be part of the problem:  

We're living in an age of immediacy; the answer to any question is a Google-search away, so the idea of having to wait an entire year to know if  your employee engagement initiatives are paying off is counter-intuitive to  today's management mindset.

Instant answers in Google

If there's a method to measure employee engagement on a more regular basis - something that offers a more "instant gratification," I suspect we'll see more  engagement initiatives practiced with greater rigor and regularity, and world-wide employee engagement well-above today's 13% level.

Do you know of a immediate way to measure engagement?

Posted at 04:00 PM in Employee Engagement, Employees First | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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10/28/2014

3 Big Reasons Why CVS's decision to shut off Apple Pay Support is short-sighted.

Customers like it when it's easy to business with a company.  That's a core part of the customer experience.

And companies that are serious about delivering a great customer experience do things to make buying easier.   Amazon created one-click ordering to simplify the purchase experience. Apple and others have eliminated the entire process of waiting-in-line-to-pay by equipping sales people with the ability to take payments directly from customers on the sales floor.

In other words, companies intent on improving the customer experience are taking big, innovative steps forward to make it happen.

Apple pay 2Last week, CVS did just the opposite.  CVS  took  a step backward by shutting down the technology that allows customers to pay using their iPhone6 or Android phone.  The system was working just fine, but CVS took the option away from its customers.

This was a bad move, for 3 BIG REASONS:

First, it disrupts the customer experience.

Companies are supposed to move forward this stuff; giving customers options that will make the customers' lives better, and experiences easier.  CVS did the  opposite - they took it away.

Second, it disrupts employee experience.

CVS directed its employees to tell  any customer wanting to pay by phone, that they'd have to use another form of payment instead.  And to apologize to the customer.  Anytime a company puts an additional (negative) burden on its employees, it degrades the employee experience.  And the employee experience is inextricably linked to the customer experience.

Third, it hurts employee morale.

Delivering  bad news is never fun, nor does it lift the spirits of the messenger.  Being asked to deliver bad news to customers, and to apologize to the customer hurts the morale of employees.  And employees with lower  morale are less engaged and less productive.  

Forbes says CVS made the decision because it expects to have an alternative solution in place next year.   But why inconvenience your employees and  customers in the meantime?
 
The point is this:
Before putting any decision into action, ask yourself these three questions:
  1. How will it impact the customer experience? (If it lowers the customer experience, then it's probably a bad decision.)
  2. How will it impact the employee experience?  (This is important, because a negative employee experience can cause the employee to deliver a negative customer experience.)
  3. How will it impact employee morale?  Lower employee morale causes lower employee engagement.  And less-engaged employees put out less discretionary effort when engaging the customer.
  BE HONEST

Posted at 10:54 AM in Customer Experience, Employees First | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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04/12/2013

The Secret to Sustainable Business Growth

If you’re running a company, and frustrated with the effects of slow economic growth on your bottom line, which of the three initiatives would you select, to improve your situation?
  1. Work with legislators to create a more “business-friendly” environment.
  2. Implement more aggressive sales and marketing programs.
  3. Takes steps to improve employee engagement.
Let’s look at each one separately:
Improving business through legislation

FoundationWorking with legislators may appear to be the smart move, because it can remove barriers that make it difficult to grow a business.  But here’s the problem: an improved business climate doesn’t make your business inherently better; it only creates the illusion that you’re better. 
When the business climate improves, it makes things better for your competitors, too.  A rising tide lifts all boats, but when the tide  goes out again (as tides inevitably do!), you’ll feel the pain again.
Improving business through sales & marketing
Implementing more aggressive sales and marketing programs will likely bring in new customers and new revenue.  In fact, it may mean that you’re performing your competition,  which is an improvement over  option 1.  However, the increase in customer count, new orders and service requirements can strain other functional areas of the business, and drive new costs that can consume much of the new revenue.
Improving through Employee Engagement
Employee Engagement offers the unique advantage of getting greater contribution from all functional areas of the business: Marketing, sales, support, operations, finance & administration, and more.  In fact, a more engage sales  team will likely give you the same new sales generation that would otherwise require a hefty expense.
But here’s the real advantage of Employee Engagement:  You’re strengthening your foundation.  When all employees are more engaged in their work, you have alignment; the entire organization functions more efficiently, producing better results;your organization  becomes stronger.  When the economic tide goes out again, you’ll find your organization floating higher than your competitors, because you’ve made your organization stronger, from the inside out.
How engaged are employees throughout your organization?  Can it be improved?  What specific changes can be made to improve the level of engagement?
Engaged employees

Posted at 08:20 AM in Best Practices, Employees First | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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11/19/2012

Employee Engagement, Customer Loyalty and a Stronger Economy

Which of the three should receive a CEO's most immediate attention?

Employee Engagement. 

Why?

Because the surest way to build something strong and sustainable is to build it from the ground up.  The building is ultimately supported by the bricks within its structure.  Without properly laid bricks, the building will eventually require support from outside sources.  And that can be expensive.

A strong economy requires strong companies; companies that are growing and profitable, and therefore  able to hire more people to build (and design and market and support) more product to meet the demands of a growing customer base.

BricksIt's become common knowledge in business (though less commonly practiced) that the surest way to grow your customer base is by delivering an exceptional customer experience (product superiority coupled with ease, and enjoyment in doing business with the seller). 

When customers love your product, and they love the ease, convenience and pleasure of getting it from your company, they'll come back again and again.  And they'll further fuel your growth by influencing others to buy from you.  It's a wonderful dynamic, if you can get there.

But how?  That's where  the bricks come in.  

Everything that goes into what your customer gets out of your company - everything that impacts customer experience and customer loyalty - is produced by the people inside your company.  If you take away the processes, and take away products, what's left are the employees.  The employees ultimately drive the success of your processes, and the efficacy of your products.  And here's where Engagement matters.

A recent article in the  Harvard Business Review cited the value in maximizing employee engagement and commitment.  The Article presented "Five Ways to Retain Employees  Forever."  Those five include Responsibilty, Respect, Revenue Sharing, Reward and Relaxation Time. 

I'd add a sixth "R" to that list:  Relevance.

Every one of us has a deep need to feel relevant; we want to have true sense of purpose that's greater than the functions of the job that we're doing, a purpose to which our job is clearly linked.

It's the responsibility of the employer to (1) communicate the "greater cause" and (2) help each employee to understand the linkage between their job, and that cause.

My favorite example of this is a story of JFK's touring of the Houston Space Center back in the 60's:

JFK came across a custodian sweeping the floor in a hallway, and asked the man, "Tell me sir, what is it that you  do here?"

Without hesitation, the custodian answered, "Mr. President, I'm helping to put a man on the moon."

We all need a sense of purpose that's greater than ourselves.  If every employer can define that purpose, and help each employee to understand how their individual roles support that  purpose, perhaps more employees would be more committed, and everyone would benefit:  Customer, Company and Employee.

So if you're an employer that wants your company to beneft from a stronger economy, there are some things that you  can do to help  the cause.  And on of those is to improve the level of employee  engagement within your own company. 

How Relevent are your employees made to feel?  

What are some specifics that you can do to increase their sense of purpose, and hence the resulting loyalty from customers, and improvements in your growth and profits?

Got purpose

Posted at 09:07 AM in Customer Experience, Employees First | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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05/04/2012

When you show your employees you care for them, they'll return the favor to your customers.

I recently  gave a presentation to a group of Human Resource professionals at a financial services firm.  They're a large, well-known firm that's maintained a solid reputation over the years.   And like a lot of successful  firms, they attribute their success to their immediate customers - their employees.

Whenever I hear that claim, I look for concrete and tangible signs of how the firm treats its employees; not the once-a-year events like those company outings at the country club, but simple signs that are visible every day; signs that say we value you, we respect you, and we want to know that.

In some companies that I've been to, those signs might be perks like complimentary bottled water, complimentary afternoon snacks, comfortable lounge seating in community areas throughout the company's  facilities,  or some other simple, unexpected, remarkable-in-its-own-subtle-way sign that the company cares for its employees. 

90 minutes into the presentation, we took a break, and I headed out toward the lobby and into the rest room.  There, on the pristine counter, was a vase of fresh flowers.   That's right - fresh flowers in the men's room.

I found the sign.

What are the signs of caring at your company?

LFG Flowers in the Mens Room cropped

Posted at 09:00 AM in Employees First | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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