Customer Recovery Skills

On some occasion, no matter how hard you have tried, the situation with a customer has gone haywire and you must do some recovery. Below are some skills to help you:

1. Thank them. Customers can tell when you are faking it. Be sincere and thank them for taking the time to come to you with this. This a time when tone of voice and body language are all important. Use a tone and express feelings in the same manner as you would if you had been wronged.
2. Take responsibility for fixing the problem. Don't lay blame and don't make excuses, just solve the problem. Many customer-focused organisations have a policy that the associate first hearing of a problem owns it until it is resolved. That may mean getting others involved, doing some research, and then getting back to the customer with an answer.
3. Solve the problem quickly. Customers want a resolution to the problem, and they don't want to wait very long for an answer.
4. Involve the customer. Find out what is most useful to them, not what is easiest for you. Involving the customer is easy to do but is a skill often forgotten in service recovery.
5. Apologised at the end of the inconvenience, the disruption, or whatever the problem has caused. Then very importantly, do something EXTRA. Correcting the problem is not enough. Recognise the 'hassle factor' that your customer experienced. A complementary gift or discount are examples of little extra that don't cost much and make the difference in winning back a lost customer.
6. Follow up. Make sure the customer is satisfied. Follow-up telephone calls are particularly effective.

Dealing effectively with angry patrons is one of the most important challenges you face in retaining and expanding your customer base. 

This is why I have so much passion  for customer service, I love to deal with challenging patrons.  

Customer Righteouness

The customer always thinks he or she is right, and that is all that matters in the customer service business. If we want to keep customers coming back, we must treat that perception as reality.

Most customers are great. They are friendly, understanding and tolerant. They are also knowledgeable, demanding, conscious of the value of their time, and high expectations for quality of products and services. You as a service providers should never take them for granted. They are the ones who make your jobs rich, rewarding, and, hopefully, profitable. On the other hand, even when customers are wrong, you must respect their perception.

Why do customers get angry in the first place? Put yourself in their place. You are, after all, a customer too! What makes you angry or upset? Chances are the same things that press your hot button have the same effect on your customers.

Some reasons why customers get angry in the first place:

1. Customer did not get what was expected- it is just like when you expect a lot of actions scene in a movie but when you watch it, there was only a few. You will feel disappointed cause the movie did not match your expectations.
2. Someone was rude- nothing can make a customer angry more quickly than rudeness. Many times the customer is perceiving, not receiving, rude treatment. Again, it's perception.
3. Someone was indifferent- have you ever asked a question of a service provider and been greeted with, " I don't know, I just work here," or "That's our policy." Words, actions, and attitude of frontline service people frequently communicate a "can't do, can't help you" message to customers. The solution? Make sure your associates feel like a part of the team and give them the authority and support to make a difference with customers.
4. No one listened- when customers are giving feedbacks to your organization, read or listen carefully with empathy, then do something with the feedback.

Most of us are pretty good at dealing with customers when they are rational, reasonable, and logical because we can analyse situations, provide facts, and give information and technical answers.

The 10/5 Rule

One of the more powerful behaviors you can adapt is the 10/5 rule. It's something that has existed in the hospitality industry since the beginning of time, and yet it's surprising that it is not used more fully in all types of organizations.

Whenever you pass someone(employees or customers) within 10 feet of you, it is your responsibility to give this person eye contact and a smile. If you pass within 5 feet of someone, then you offer a personal greeting.

Is this a cultural behavior in your organization? So often I observe organizations with people passing one another, heads angled to the floor, or eyes on the phone, no eye contact or greetings. And yet, we then expect the frontline of the organization to go out and be our face to the customers. How unfair and unrealistic is that expectation? When one embraces an attitude of service, it's lived 360 degrees, and without boundaries as to whether it's internal or external.

Most of us have had the experience in a fine hotel or restaurant where these greetings are standard. Immediately you feel more welcomed, more invited, and more comfortable. When the greeting comes from a housekeeper in the hallway versus the front desk personnel, it's even more noticed because it is less expected. Can you see how this type of simple behavior would make a positive difference? If so- what can you do to begin to install it? The very first step is to lead by example.

Match the customer's speed and style

This strategy may appear unusual. It is extremely useful, however, in gaining rapport and building connection with the customer. If you are serving a customer who is speaking rapidly, when it is your turn to talk, adjust your rate of speech to more or less match his. The same applies if the customer is speaking at a moderate or even a slow pace. You probably will find that you are already doing this subconsciously. If a customer is using a very simple vocabulary, modify yours so he will be able to understand your message. If she is talking to you in academic language, haul out some fifty-cent words yourself. Obviously, you will never get as slow as certain customers or as fast as others, but try and make yourself speak more like them. Take care, however, not to mimic them, especially if you are talking with someone with a foreign accent.

Match your customer in intensity of concern and emotion. Don't get angry with them if they are shouting at you, but modulate your voice to reflect your customer's intensity level. For example, responding to a customer who is obviously upset and angry using a soft tone of voice will not be as effective a saying: " I understand you concern. If this had happened to me, I would be angry too. I am glad you let us know about this so we can fix it." By matching the customer's speed and style, particularly if he is angry, you can gradually bring him down in intensity by first bringing yours back. Try it. It works!

 

Choose your words carefully and avoid jargon

Even though words themselves represent only a small percentage of a message, poorly chosen words can kill communication. One of the biggest problems we observe in this regard is the use of jargon- words and phrases that you and your co-workers understand and use everyday that mean nothing to your customers. Professional people- doctors, attorneys, technical support people, engineers and accountants- are notorious for using jargon.

So avoid jargon and acronyms. I have great respect for people who can explain highly technical products and services such as computers, consumer electronics, advanced manufacturing systems, medicine and law in understanding terms. It's part of the personal touch that helps you build a partnership with your customers.

If you have to use jargon, make sure you define the word or phrase to your customer so that he or she can explain it to someone else later if need be. Here's a tip, regardless of your profession: When dealing with customers, particularly if explaining a policy or answering a question, pretend you are talking to yourself. Then talk to that customer as you would like to be spoken to. It's variation on the Golden Rule.

5 steps to become a better listener

Let's get down to some really basic customer skills- communication. When you think about it, exceptional customer care really means exceptional communication skills- effective listening and clearly articulating your message.

In customer care, the need for effective listening is even more important than  in many other lines of work. It is very difficult to provide assistance to customers until you know what they need or want. Below are the 5 steps:

1. Be ready to listen: requires total focus on the customer at hand, whether in person or on the phone. You need to block out both internal and external noise before starting. This may mean having the computer screen cleared of the last transaction and ready in front of you, or clearing your head and focusing on the person in front of you or on the other end of the phone line. The key is to focus.
2. Ask the right questions: Time is valuable, to both you and your customer. It is important that you do everything possible to ask the right questions and get information needed quickly and accurately. In general, there are 2 types of questions- open-ended and closed-ended. Open-ended questions are phrased in such a way to bring out free-flowing responses revealing wide range of information. They encourage the customer to explain, describe, explore or even elaborate. Closed-ended questions should be used to narrow the discussion and bring out specific, detailed information.
3. Take notes: Taking notes helps you to listen better because you are concentrating more. Listen for key words and phrases and jot them down. Customers tend to be more confident when you start to take notes, it shows them that you will take actin on that situation, moreover, it will also keep irate customers from repeating themselves over and over again.
4. Show you are listening: One of the quickest ways to kill a good conversation is for one of the speakers to lose interest. Eye contact is only one method of showing someone you are listening. It's part of what we call "attentive silence". Head nods, attentive body position, eye contact are all things you can do with face-to-face customers to show interest and encourage them to give you more information. Use attentive words while you are researching information for the customer. By doing this, you keep the customer from talking and bringing up unrelated issues, which may happen if he or she is uncomfortable with the silence. Sound personal and not programmed.  
5. Restate: In order to be an active listener you must be involved in the conversation and make sure you understand, or heard correctly, what the customer was saying. Restating or rephrasing what the customer say in your own words is a kind of human psychology. It will also help you avoid missing information that you may not have heard and allows you and the customer to at least agree on the facts of the situation.

Service is defined by customers

What do customers want in the way of service? It's important for you as a service provider to understand how customers define quality customer care, because it is against these criteria that perceptions are formed and judgements made. There are 6 dimensions to quality customer care:

1) Reliability: remember the 'grandmother rule', be consistent on your service.
2) Responsiveness: tune into your customers' needs and taking action to meet and even exceed those needs- being able to anticipate what a customer wants or needs before they ask.
3) Feeling valued: just as customers are looking for the best value for their money, they also want to feel they are valued by service providers.
4) Empathy: Of all the ingredients to exceptional customer care, empathy is perhaps the most important, yet it is the tool most lacking in the arsenal of service associates. Not only do customers want to feel important, they want to know that you are on their side, that you understand their point of view.
5) Competency: attending to the basics-Does your product or service meet my requirements?
6) Dealing with one person: Don't give them the run around- When customers call, they want to deal with one person. Fixing a situation may involve getting help from other departments, but the responsibility for follow-through and responding to the customer remains with the associate who first learn of the complaint.

It's all about customer experience

Consistently optimising each customer's experience with your organisation is  no small undertaking. There are several critical aspects of your organisation that impact the customer's experience. The customer experience cycle above provides an overview of what is involved.

Customer Understanding
The customer experience begins with the customer. Assessing the customer experience must begin with the understanding of unique customer groups and their related characteristics and behaviours. A customer's experience with you and their perceptions of your organisation, and your ability to implement CRM strategies, will vary depending on who those customers are. Therefore, ongoing data collection efforts should be pursued as a means of populating and maintaining key customer information. Needless to say, this initial customer understanding is the basis for evaluating the customer experience with your organisation.

Customer Purchase Cycle
Once unique customer segments are established and the profiles of each segment are understood, we then come to defining unique purchase cycle.

• The stages of purchase cycle: awareness, decision making, purchase, and consumption
• The length of each cycle: this may vary significantly by customer segment
• The related complexity of each stage: the time taken for decision making varies with the involvement of products
• The indicators of when a customer enters a stage: it's the combination of behaviours and questions asked
• The frequency at which a customer repeats the cycle: it depends on products and services
• The level of resources directed at each stage: the focus and direction of your organisation

Understanding on these purchase cycles is critical in defining and then acting on relevant experiences.

Customer Needs
Each customer has unique needs at each stage of purchase cycle. These needs may relate to information, convenience, efficiency, price, reputation, and many more other issues. It is critical to understand how these needs vary by customer segment, and how these needs change as a customer progresses through purchase cycle. Understanding both organisational and individual needs is critical to furthering a purchase process.

Customer Interaction Opportunities
Finally, all the above needs now is the wide range of customer interaction opportunities. These opportunities are:

• Tied to specific stages of the purchase cycle: your opportunity is to communicate product features and benefits to a customer, providing personalisation and customised service to your customer helps to improve relationship with your customer
• Inbound and outbound: Interactions includes; phone calls, emails, websites, roadshows and events
• Cross-channel and cross-media: Indirectly interactions through information serving environment
• Situation-driven or driven by deeper understanding of customer needs and behaviour: The types or ways customers want promotions to be send to them via.  

The sum total of these interactions- those supported as well as those not supported today- form the customer's experience with your organisation. You may find that this experience is very positive for some of your customer segments, but less positive for others. This could be based on their needs, behaviours, and preferences. Once you realise the extent to which you support and enhance a customer's experience, you can put a game plan in place to adjust your efforts accordingly. Customer satisfaction can foster loyalty; in turn a customer's loyalty forms the basis of a valuable relationship with your organisation.    

Why are complaints good for us?

When things go wrong, customers will complain. That can be good for you and constructive for your organisation. Customer complaints can:

• highlight areas where your systems require updating or improvement
• identify where your procedures are a pain in the neck and need to be revised
• reveal information that is lacking, erroneous or has simply gone out of date
• identify staff who need more training or closer supervision
• help monitor service levels and check consistency between shifts, departments and locations
• get important news straight to the boss's desk
• educate everyone about what customers experience, expect and insist upon receiving
• prevent complacency whether amongst veteran staff or throughout an entire successful organisation
• new problems keep humility high and teammates on their toes

On top of that, complaints also:

• help focus your attention, priorities and budget
• work as a trigger for taking new action, catalysing positive change
• help raise staff morale as changes and improvements are made throughout the organisation
• keep you in touch with emerging trends and changing customer expectations
• present new business opportunities for raising revenue, solving problems and increasing value t customers
• provide competitive intelligence, letting you know what others in your industry are doing that you are not
• indicate which customers are willing to speak up. These people can be invited to participate in customer focus groups, beta-tests and on-site visits
• give you case studies and needed content for your in-house training programs
• provide dynamic feedback for you to publish, with your replies and action steps, inside your company newsletters

Most of all, complaints give you an opportunity to reply, respond and win back customer loyalty. Most upset customers just walk away and complain about you to their friends and colleagues. The few who speak up are giving you another chance! Take it! Accept it! Drive on it! 

How fast is this line moving?

Everyone waits in line. Few people enjoy it. Making a line move quickly is one way to keep your customers happy. Making your line appear to move quickly also makes customers happy.

Managing appearances means managing your customers' perceptions. It takes imagination. And then it takes action.

Here are some proven ways to do it:

• Be sure to have a line, not a mob scene or a crowd. An orderly progression towards the service area gives customers- and service providers- a scene of calm.
• Keep the line narrow. Single file lines move more quickly than two or three abreast.
• Arrest the line so those waiting can see the person currently being served. Watching another customer being served makes your place in line appear closer. When the actual service is out of sight, around the corner or down the stairs, your turn can seem many miles away.
• After each customer is served, use a light, arrow or pleasant chime to announce to everyone 'Next!' This keeps the next person alert (saving time between customers) and gives everyone a regular assurance that the line really is moving.
• Put a time estimate on digital display. Let people know what to expect the minute they join the line.
• Provide information alongside the line to attract the attention of those who are waiting. Hang posters, provide brochures, put reading material where they can reach it. When customers become involved, time files faster.
• Play music in the waiting area. For a young crowd, choose upbeat and energetic tunes. For more mature audience, choose instrumental or classical compositions.
• Put a television or video-screen in clear view for those in line. Choose an appropriate channel for your customer base.
• Hang mirrors along the line if possible. Hanging mirrors allows people in line to eagerly check on their appearance. They get so involved, hey hardly notice the time taken.
• Engage the remaining senses. Play music, display freshly cut flowers, offer something to drink or a selection of sweets.
• When the wait is truly long, send your staff to 'comb the line', interacting with customers in advance. You can answer questions, provide information and thank them for their patience.

So many ways to manage perceptions, just while waiting in line. Any customer perception point can be effectively polished to a positive moment of truth. Pick one now that needs your attention and start trying it in your organisation.

Don't wait! Get started!    

Service Cycle

To build a reputation for UP Your Service!, you must go beyond the momentary one-shot deal. You must cultivate expertise in providing transaction satisfaction, creating reliable relationships and building powerful partnerships into the future. These styles of interaction are all circular in nature. They are characterised by completed service cycle. Each service cycle is a series of interconnected conversations: explore, agree, deliver and assure. not every service provider does a good job in all 4 areas. In fact, most are chronically weak in at least 1.

1. Explore: understand each other, speculate, discover, generate new possibilities and fresh ideas, build awareness and rapport
2. Agree: make clear promises, make beneficial promises and commitments, develop contingency plans, negotiate constructively and establish clear terms and conditions
3. Deliver: do what you promise, execution is the key, dedicate adequate resources, get the job done correctly the first time round and track your agreements
4. Assure: confirm satisfaction, confirm client and partner satisfaction level, find ways to improve for the next time, make sure all parties are fully satisfied with the results, if not explore what needs to be done.

You can depend on this cycle in all aspects in your life, like in a business, planning your wedding, buying of insurance, selling if insurance, buying a new phone or even upgrading of your old computer system.

UP Your Service! Standards

Basic is the bare minimum. Basic is so disappointing.
Expected is just the average. Expected is nothing special.
Desired is what people hope for. Desired is what customers prefer.
Surprising is leading the field! Surprising is something special.
Unbelievable is truly world class! Unbelievable is astonishingly great!

Unbelievable products and services:

• the product is extraordinary, producing results far beyond anything you have experienced in the past
• the product comes with an extra upgrade at no charge, plus a lifetime supply of parts, add-ons and other materials
• the price is an once-in-a-lifetime special

Unbelievable delivery systems

• the product arrives and automatically installs itself while simultaneously upgrading, maintaining and fine-tuning the environment around it
• the delivery team go all the way to produce an exceptional customer experience. They are entertaining and educational, leaving you in a fabulous mood to face the future

Unbelievable service mindsets

• staff regularly exceed all customer expectations. They constantly seek ways to surprise and delight you
• key staff members are dedicated to personally support and manage your relationship with the company. Overtime, they become your friends and confidants. They earn it.

Unbelievable relationships

• the company provides an ongoing value-added service to understand your changing needs and provide you with exceptionally well-suited products
• you are only charged for what produces practical and valuable results

With all the unbelievable actions above, there isn't any risk involve, while your complete is 100% guaranteed.

What it takes for an UP Your Service! Mindset

Below are 6 characteristics to illustrate the UP Your Service! Mindset.

1. Abundant generosity: Generous with your time, expertise, prices, products, mood and manners.

Quote: The more you give, the more you will receive. Life is a replenishing resource.

     2.  Genuine compassion: Whether face-to-face, telephone, or sending out a message, your genuine compassion touches others with care and kind attention.

Quote: Life is not a zero sum game. the kindness you show others is quickly multiplied. Meanness is divided.

     3.  The 'can-do' spirit: Do you approach difficulties with enthusiasm, challenges with interest and commitment?

Quote: CHALLENGE? I love a challenge. What would life be without a challenge?

     4.  Eagerness to learn and grow: DO you have an insatiable appetite to improve as a person, a colleague and UP Your Service! Provider?

Quote: Every waking moment is an opportunity to learn something new. Life offers an unlimited and ongoing education.

     5.  Take personal responsibility: personal responsibility doesn't mean always knowing the answers. Sometimes the responsible thing to do is admit you are in over your head.

Quote: If it's going to be, it's up to me.

     6.  See the world from your customer's point of view: It takes an effort to see the world from another person's point of view.

Quote: Each of us sees a different world. Imagine what variety exists through the eyes of those around you.

Ongoing monitoring of customer satisfaction

The ongoing monitoring of customer satisfaction is an important element in sustaining a service initiative. Action which can be taken includes:

• using CRM techniques to identify most profitable target customers
• using CRM techniques to tailor your offered services
• measuring customer satisfaction on a regular basis
• conducting an annual audit of customer satisfaction
• sending questionnaires to internal as well ass external customers
• undertaking telephone and internet surveys
• visiting customers on a regular basis
• providing a Freephone telephone line for customers to phone in with their comments
• doing the same for staff
• holding focus groups and user panels with customers
• conducting attitude surveys among staff
• improving the time it takes to conduct and feedback results of surveys
• telephoning competitors
• asking customers to identify those areas most in need of improvement and auctioning these improvements
• reviewing the effectiveness of measurement systems on an ongoing basis
• feeding back results to all employees
• conducting an internal audit on employee care
• publishing a league table of results of customer satisfaction surveys
• linking measurement to reward systems
• making awards for the most significant service improvement
• reviewing how results of customer surveys are presented
• taking action as a result of customer feedback
• involving employees in this action
• recognising successes 

Developing role of managers towards customer service

Line managers have an important role to play in coaching and developing their staff to deliver excellence service. This can be achieved by:

• sharing ideas and information with staff and colleagues
• including service criteria in the recruitment and selection processes
• involving customers in the selection of new recruits
• developing and reviewing department action plans
• linking customer satisfaction to performance reviews
• setting up and encouraging problem-solving teams
• sharing progress and ideas on service improvements with customers
• adopting a customer
• making time to be with staff
• measuring supplier performance
• undertaking 360 degrees appraisal
• publicly recognising the service excellence
• issuing questionnaires on the quality of the service the department or function provides
• encouraging visits to customers among staff
• becoming mystery shoppers
• attending external conferences on service quality
• providing feedback from customers to staff
• reporting regularly on departmental or team progress
• facilitating training sessions in customer service
• agreeing specific goals and performance standards with staff
• encouraging creativity and new ideas
• facilitating the setting and revision of standards
• ensuring regular contact between front-line and support staff
• recognising the cost of quality, conformance and non-conformance
• holding informal discussions with staff on the importance of service quality and welcoming and acting on their feedbacks
• setting up a management quality action team, with managers seconded on a rotational basis from all parts of the business
• having managers in the organisation's customer service and complaints department, rather than members of staff
• developing a customer service training package for line managers to use in coaching their staff

Motivation of employees affect customer service standards

In energising the team to deliver superior customer service, managers have a difficult but crucial role to play. They must be seen to be personally committed to customer service, to practise what they preach. They need to create an environment where processes are customer-driven and where standards are set to deliver a consistent level of service. They need to train and develop their staff and involve everyone in focusing on the customer. They must encourage excellence without peering over people's shoulders, build motivation and commitment, and measure, review and reward performance. Furthermore, they often have to manage performance in an environment where staff numbers may have been reduced and more is expected from those who remain.

We have probably all experienced service delivered rom poorly motivated staff. Signs of lack of motivation include apathy, indifference, lack of ownership of problems, poor performance and poor time keeping, uncooperative attitude and unwillingness to change.

Motivation is a complex area of human energy and behaviour. There are many theories of motivation, but the underlying themes seem to be:

• Motivation comes from within; it is drawn out of individuals not imposed on them
• Motivation is multi-dimensional and there is no single universal definition, true for all time and all people
• Somethings motivate and encourage extra effort; others only cause dissatisfaction by their absence
• Clear goals are in aid to motivation: they enable individuals to know what to aim for, and feedback gives an energising sense of progress

8 motivators/ desires

1. Activity- people want to be active and involved.
2. Ownership- owning things makes people feel better about themselves.
3. Power- people want to control their destiny, they don't want to feel powerless over external forces shaping their lives.
4. Affiliation- social support and helping relationships among the many benefits provided by work.
5. Competence- this is the core of self-esteem, people welcome opportunities to feel more competent.
6. Achievement- it is important for us to succeed at something, under the right conditions, employees will be willing ton work hard an overcome obstacles t achieve a goal.
7. Recognition- people want to feel appreciated by others and be positively recognised for their efforts, recognition is a powerful force which has the capabilities to unleash energy and motivation.
8. Meaning- people want a reason for doing something, they want reassurance that their efforts, however small, are making a difference.

  

How to have effective internal communication

Too little communication can lead to staff demotivation. Too many messages can lead to confusion. Below has 10 tips for effective internal communication:

1. Lead from the top
2. Conduct an audit - understand what the target market needs and thinks
3. Communication is 2 way - listening is harder than talking, proving you have listened is even harder
4. Don't get mesmerised by media- choice of communication channel should be determined by the message and the circumstances.
5. Face-to-face is best - employees usually want to hear the news from their own managers and supervisors.
6. Have something to say - top down should knows the direction given to each and everyone
7. Constantly measure how well the messages are being received, and how the process of communication is viewed by staff.
8. Honesty is the best policy.
9. External and internal messages should be coincide to have a competitive edge.
10. Communication is an integral part of the management process. It is not an afterthought.

Importance of training and development in customer service

Training and development is an essential cornerstone in promoting a customer service philosophy. Everyone throughout the organisation should be involve and include in training and development to enhance knowledge, skills and attitude towards customer service. There are different approaches to training and development that can be adopted, start with listening to customers.

Best practice organisations use the information which customers provide to draw up training an development objectives for their organisations and to ensure they keep a clear focus on the business. Customer service is all what the customer says it is. Only by asking customers their opinion can a business gain a true perspective on what matters to customers and how well it is performing, and thereby identify areas for improvement. This type of gap analysis will then identify areas where it could proactively improve its service and add value to the customer.

Customer focus groups and interviews are other methods that organisation use to get more 'subjective' feel for customer expectation. Quantitative surveys are also now common place in most organisations, sometimes backed up by mystery shoppers to check that service delivery is consistent.

Listening to customers, therefore, helps prioritise the areas most in need of development. Key success criteria can then be agreed.

In setting training and development objectives and deciding on the methods to be adopted, it must be remembered that training and development will be more accepted when trainee is motivated to learn and in addition, when management wants the learning to take place. Therefore, it is important to create the right environment for learning to take place- training should be enjoyable and not seen as a chore.

The objectives of the training and development must be clearly explained and agreed by both the trainer/manager and the trainee. A clear set of objectives will allow the training and development to be validated after it has taken place and performance to be reviewed systematically as part of an overall programme of customer satisfaction.

Customer care balance sheet

To gain a better understanding of the impact of complaints, a customer care balance sheet is useful tool. It tells the organisation how much business it is losing both from customers who do not complain and from customers who do complain and are not satisfied with the way their complaint is handled.

 

Different surveys can be used periodically to ask customers who have not complained and those who have, how satisfied they are with their experience, how many people have they will tell if they are not satisfied and whether they intend to use the services of the company again, as a result of their experience.

 

The answers from these surveys are then converted into annual lost sales revenues using the formula shown above.

 

The first element I sales lost from customers who experienced a problem and who did complain but were not entirely satisfied with the way their complaint or enquiry was handled; it also includes negative word of mouth and non repeating sales.

 

The second element is sales lost from customers who experienced a problem but did not complain. Again, the sale lost include sales lost from negative word of mouth and non repeating sales.

 

From the 2 elements sales which wold in fact have been lost anyway through attrition are detracted.

 

In the formulation, sales gained from positive word of mouth advertising are not taken into consideration because the formula deals with market damage rather than market opportunity.

 

To make the calculation accurate for each type of business, the formula is applied over reasonable period of loyalty of the customers. The final calculation then takes the total sales lost over this period of loyalty, divided by the period of loyalty to arrive at annual sales lost.

 

This type of customer care balance sheet can help win the financial support of senior management to develop a means of ongoing customer measurement which allows employees throughout the organisation to determine how well they are performing.



Monitoring of complaints and compliments

As on average, only a small percentage of organisation's customer base actually bothers to complain and fewer people take the trouble to compliment an organisation, the measurement of complaints and compliments is often misleading.

Furthermore, customers' perceptions of an organisation are often based on their dealings with front-liners. These people represent the organisation in the eyes of the customer, and any complaint that customers make are normally directed at this level. It takes a serious incident for the complaint to escalate beyond front-liners. Consequently, it is difficult for senior management to gain a true understanding of customers' concerns as they may have little direct contact. Complaints that organisations do receive are effectively the tip of the iceberg. For every bad experience of service, 1 customer will tend to spread to 10, but these figures are sure to explode with the advent of an increased use of the internet.

Nevertheless, organisations are due consideration to the minority of customers who do contact them directly by instigating an effective system for dealing with both compliments and complaints. Research shows that customers are more to complaint if they want continuing relationship with the service provider. Therefore, it is worth promoting a willingness to hear complaints.

A customer who complains is giving the organisation another opportunity to put things right, and will be fair if treated fairly. A customer who makes a compliment allows an organisation an opportunity to recognise the efforts of the service provider and publish the compliment as n example of good practice.

It is useful to analyse both complaints and compliments in terms of their source, type of complaint or compliment and the frequency with which they occur. It is also useful to track the time it takes to acknowledge a complaint - a speedy response or preferably a telephone call to acknowledge receipt of the complaint is important -  and the amount of time it takes to resolve the complaint.  

The service/ value chain

There is a saying: "If you look after your staff, they will look after your customers who will in turn look after your profits."

Business imperative and top team clarity
It is clear that unless there is business imperative for customer retention and top management is fully committed to customer care, there is little chance of success. Customer orientation needs to permeate the organisation's mission, vision, values and key objectives. It needs to be visible both in senior managers' words and deeds.

Listening posts
Organisations with the best practices actively measure both internal and external customer satisfaction. They use the data to make improvements and drive change.

Service strategy and goals
To be successful, service-orientated organisations need to have a clear strategy and a set of specific and measureable goals for service improvements.

Customer-driven processes
The way an organisation does business with its customer s should match the customer's needs, not it's own. Technology can help here as new customer channels such as internet and contact centres have brought about new ways of doing business with the customers.

People development
Everyone throughout an organisation can benefit from training and development to enhance their attitude towards the customer - their behaviour, knowledge an skills. The quality of leadership in an organisation is often an indicator of its customer orientation.

Empowerment
Giving people responsibility for decision affecting their work encourages a customer focus and ongoing improvement.

Communication
The lifeblood of an organisation, communication about customers, competitors and the best practice in customer service can help create an impetus for change.

Reward and recognition
Organisations with the best practices create a motivating climate for their employees by recognising and rewarding customer-orientated behaviour.

Sustaining a customer focus
World-class service organisation recognise the need to sustain a focus on the customer at all times.

Service quality initiatives should not be measured on a short term basis- changing the culture of an organisation is a long term process which needs to be approached on a continuous basis. Achieving improvements in service quality is a never ending journey.

How to create goodwill?

The relationship an organisation creates with its existing customers determines the 'goodwill' customers feel towards the company and hence the quality of its reputation.

Surveys shows that the human relations with customers are twice as important as operational factors. It also demonstrates that bad experiences can destroy goodwill more than positives add to it.

For example, in an airline industry, the main service arena which passengers experience is in flight, cabin crew, ground staff an others can also upset goodwill by unhelpful behaviour.
The main sources of gaining positive goodwill were:

• Making the best of the occasional and inevitable bad experience- eg: in line with delays, bad weather, running out of food, drinks or duty-free items, empathising with problems and turning them to advantage. The airline could generate more goodwill by dealing effectively with mishaps such as lost baggage, than it could if nothing had gone wrong in the first place.
• Showing and demonstrating concern for others-children, old people, the disabled and anxious. There is a vicarious satisfaction in seeing the quality of caring which is available even if not required personally. It is an unspoken reassurance to every passenger.
• Encouraging, reinforcing, wishing customers a 'good trip' or a 'good holiday'- even if it was recognised as 'automatic' like the American style 'Have a nice day'. There appears to be an almost magical value in a good wish quite out of proportion to its face value.
• Unsolicited 'giving' by the staff reinforces this further, through, for example, spontaneous talking, sitting next to a passenger and sharing conversation, unscheduled pilot comments, the appearance of the captain and visits to the flight deck.
• The closed confinement of the aircraft and the total lack of control of the passenger to affect what is happening plays heavily on major areas of human anxiety. This kind of atmosphere is a 'hot-bed' whereby small experiences, which in other contexts would be shrugged off, can blow up out of proportion.
• Problem-solving by he staff is important, particularly asking about the problem and showing empathy and understanding. 
• Giving factual information- actually offering solutions about connections, services, check-in queries, drinks available, seats, feeling unwell, etc, has a dual benefit. The rational content and the emotional message is that 'your problem counts'.  

The above demonstrated the way customers are handled by members of staff creates a lasting impression of the organisation. For airlines, therefore, personal service is a determining factor in creating goodwill among customers.

Reasons for developing long-term relationship with customers

On average it is estimated to cost 5 times as much to attract a new customer as it does to keep an old one. Long-term relationships with customers are therefore more profitable because:

• The cost of acquiring new customers can be high
• Loyal customer tend to spend more and cost less to serve
• Satisfied customers are likely to recommend your products and services
• Advocates of a company are or likely to pay premium price to  supplier they know and trust
• Retaining existing customers prevents competitors from gaining market share

Changing Customer Behaviour and Expectations

Today's consumers are increasingly sophisticated, educated, confident and informed. They have high expectations of service they want to receive. They want greater choice and will not be 'sold to' or manipulated.

Organisations are now moving from product focused to customer focused and now to customer centric.

Why to we say that? With the increase of technology, customers are now looking for value for time, their consumer rights and personalised service.

Customers are increasingly mobile and are looking for value for time. Therefore, home shopping service allows people to order goods over the internet; the web page displays each customer's most frequently purchased items at the beginning of the list to aid selection and order is relayed to a computerised trolley. This service increase efficiency in shopping as it is time consuming, rather than walking down isles looking for stuff, or even to every different shops to purchase what you need. After purchasing, a centralised collection point or home delivery service can come in place. This process has resulted in increased level of productivity and customer and employee satisfactions.

As consumers are now moving towards a more technology world, they become more empowered. Today's customers know their rights and are more likely to make their opinions known if they feel that these have been violated. This is due to the main factor: The internet. One of the greatest drivers of change is the range of possibilities opened up by the increased use of technology. From buying products to services online to using the internet to pay bills via a mobile phone, the use of technology can potentially revolutionise organisations' interface with customers.

With the increase in the use of technology, this has led to the rising of power of the customer in the fate of consumer brands. Today's web enabled consumers has access to instant price comparisons and sites where customers can express their views. The shift in power has led to a realisation from corporations that they cannot market and sell to the customer like they use to any more. Today the success of a brand is a co-creation between the consumer and the company. The customer now has a far stronger hand in the development and success of products and services.

In the long term trend, it would appear to be the growth in the need for organisations to listen to and involve their customers in the development and the promotion of their products and services.

Service in a competitive environment

We have become a service economy. Yet few organisations are truly delighting their customers. Over recent years, organisations have places increasing emphasis on customer service as a means of gaining competitive advantage.

Peter Drucker once say, "An organisation's ability to remain in business is a function of its competitiveness and its ability to win customers from the competition."

Customer is therefore the foundation of the business and keeps it in existence.

As competition has become more global and more intense, many organisations have realised that they cannot compete on price alone. It is in these marketplaces that many companies have developed a strategy of providing superior customer care to differentiate their products and services.

Benefits of a customer-centred organisation:

• differentiate itself from the competition
• improve its image in the eyes of the customer
• minimise price sensitivity
• improve profitability
• increase customer satisfaction and retention
• achieve a maximum number of advocates for the company
• enhance its reputation
• improve staff morale
• increase employee satisfaction and retention
• increase productivity
• reduce costs
• encourage employee participation
• create a reputation for being a caring, customer-oriented company
• foster internal customer/ supplier relationships
• bring about continuous improvements to the operation of the company 

Communicating as an Organisation

Communications skills for difficult situations can often become a hallmark of a great organisation, particularly in its most critical and public moments.

History is full of examples of corporations that issued short-sighted and self-serving statements that damaged their public reputations, often at the worst possible times. In contrast, good crisis communication has often been part of the signature moments of many companies.

At a deeper level, organisations also brand themselves in the ways that they communicate day in day out with their employees. Understanding how to use the language effectively can serve as an antidote to the bland, infuriating corporate twaddle that often announces changes ranging from new rules to layoffs. The same skills that create good customer service, when deployed across an entire organisation, can form the foundation for a workplace that is liked and trusted by every one.

So if you empathise, admit error, accept responsibility, say you're sorry, provide restitution, and promise not t do it again, you will find that customers will be incredibly forgiving and become stronger allies for your brand. It goes for the same to internal customers- your employees.

Employing back your ex staff does not mean you are employing a unfaithful employee. They come back for a reason, they still think that you are the best employer and they will definitely be more hardworking than your employees now.

Creating A Service Culture

Every workplace on the face of the earth will tell you that it should deliver good customer service.  With only 4 years of working experience in a customer service industry, I think that all employees (including management level) should know critical customer skills.

Many organisation mistakenly believe that good service is a matter of attitude. How are you suppose to change all your employees' attitude? It is impossible. Real change comes from creating a culture of continuous growth and learning. In other words, teaching people valuable life skills and making them part of something bigger than themselves.

People fundamentally do not like being told how to feel or how to behave. At the same time, most of us love learning new skills that improve our lives. So when you give every one the same kinds of skills that other crisis professionals use, you are actually giving them the gift of confidence and leadership. This will then in turn lead to better customer service.

How to acknowledge demanding customers?

Acknowledge does not mean agreeing to. Nor does it mean that you will give your customers whatever they want. It just means that you respect their viewpoints, even if you personally disagree with it.

Good acknowledgements are the easiest and most powerful way to defuse a situation while still respecting your own boundaries.

4 ways to make a powerful response:

1. Paraphrasing 

It is easy and powerful. You simply take whatever other people say, gift wrap it with your own words and hand it right back to them. When a customer gets upset with you, and you have no idea what to say in response, paraphrasing is a great place to start because the customer is handing your response to you.
Start with listening. Give customer the time and space to say whatever they feel they need to before you jump in with a response. The more you put a customer's statements into your words, the more you show how we you are listening.

      2.  Observation

Then now start to observe. See how the person is probably thinking or feeling. It is perfectly acceptable to your best judgment about what the other person is thinking or feeling. People will always appreciate your honest attempt to hear them out.

    3.  Validation

Letting customers know that their feelings are valid. The key is to invite a big crowd into your response with phrases like 'everyone', 'nobody', 'no one' or 'just about anyone'. Your goal here is to let upset customers know that they are far from alone, and that their reactions are totally understandable. You can also personalised your comparisons by adding your own expertise into the mix.

   4.  Identification

Sharing what you feel in common with the customer. As with other forms of acknowledgement, it does not mean that you agree with them or are giving in to them. It simply means that you can, by virtue of your common humanity, grasp how they might feel about a situation. In the process, you are creating a powerful bond with your customers. 

The goal with all of these techniques is to show difficult customers that you 'get ' them. The main reason people behave the way they do when they are upset is because they think it will force us to see their view of the world. when we show that we understand their view, there is often much to fight about. This is why good acknowledgement is the key to defusing situations and creating real dialogue.

 

How to lean into criticism?

This technique is deceptively simple. Leaning into someone else is saying, and embrace that person's criticism with gusto every time your customer speaks. In other words, when flames are coming at you, walk right into them and crank the heat u even higher. At this point, you will think I am crazy, like putting oil into a burning flame.

But think again: when someone is unhappy, especially if he or she is really unhappy, we tend to lean away from his or her complaints, emotionally and sometimes physically. We give bland acknowledgements, try to minimise the problem, and even make excuses. Or worse, we say nothing at all. Even our body language gives us away: We tend to back off, make less eye contact and close up our stance.

To me, I will throw myself into people's grievance. Be right there with every bit of anger and indignation he or she is feeling. More often than not, the tension drain away and you re suddenly in a rational conversation with that super unhappy person. That's because that person now realises that you "got" into the person, and all that negative energy has harmlessly vaporised.

Step 1: Hand their complaints back to them
This is the simples way because the customer just handed you the words. Put them in your own words, and hand them right back to them.
In any case, you take a moment to live where your customer lives instead of just jumping headfirst into your side of the story. By taking their words and handing right back to them, you are letting them know that you heard them, and you processes what they are saying and is safe to talk about it.

Step 2: Use "WOW" words
Handing back someone's complaint works even better when you use what psychologists call mirroring to reflect a customer's emotions. If your customer is agitated, respond vigorously If he or she is doing a slow burn, speak deliberately and with as much gravitas as you can muster. Be right there with your customer, use their words and thoughts, and match their feeling for feeling.
Your goal right here is to get that customer nodding his or her head up and down to whatever you say so you can calm him or her down and keep talking. "WOW" language is a pre-emptive strike that takes hearing and feeling his or her story completely off the table so you can both calm down and get to business.
Acknowledgement does not equals to agreeing. For now, your only main concern is to build connection, and the quickest and most powerful way to do that is o match the customer's emotions.

Step 3: Steal all their good lines
Most people who serve the public worry about reactions to what they do. Instead of worrying, predict how they might react and get there first. By doing this, you are trying to create a stunned silence. The result f being heard and anticipated is exactly the kind of outcome you want.

Step 4: Never defend yourself first
Here is why: The customer isn't listening to you when you start to defends yourself. Anything you say to defend yourself is going to pass through undigested at best, or enrage the customer at worst. In this moment, it is all about the customer. So your job here is to get him or her to listen to you first and lay out the facts later.
Defending yourself too soon is ineffective when you are right and outrageously offensive when you are wrong.
So what can you do? Hear them and learn from them. Then shift gears into problem solving, hopefully with someone who is now listening to you instead of screaming at you. That is really all there is to it. You follow exactly the same approach whether the customer is right or wrong , the consequences are large or small, or the problem is solvable or not.
 

Why Worst Case Scenerios are Important?

Worst case scenarios can be frightened and challenging at the same time. They happen pretty infrequently for most people, I would say no more than a fraction of a percent of your overall transactions. So why is it important to us when it is a minuet percentage? We can just suffer through or get the boss to settle it. Why bother to learn skills to solve these cases?

In my own opinion, I personally believe that learning how to handle your worst customer situations is the single most important skill you can learn in your career, and teaching your team these skills is the surest way to succeed as a leader.

Below are 3 reasons:

1. These are all teachable skills and most people do not know them until they are being taught. Once you have learned how to manage crisis and conflict, these skills stick with you for the rest of your life.
2. Learning to handle your worst situations is the key to deliver service excellence all the time. It is the secret weapon that not many talk about. It changes the way you deal with your customers.
3. When you feel supremely confident walking into customer situation, your view of your job and your life itself changes dramatically.

Never put on your defensive posture when you are negotiating with people.
 

Why I love the worst case scenarios?

This is because they hold the key to create truly incredible service. Think about it this way: there is a lot of bad service out there, and most of it happens because people who serve the public constantly fear the worst, and then react to everyone from a defensive posture.

Scratch he surface of the most disengaged people who serve the public, and more often than not only you will find fear lurking there. They feel alone and vulnerable on a very public stage, worrying about when the next customer will leave them twisting defencelessly in the wind.

When service providers don't bother to ask you what you want, it is often because they are afraid they won't be able to handle what you tell them. Then when they tell you "No" for an answer, they are hiding behind their policies because they have no idea how to negotiate with you. Although it is an "in" thing for service providers to wear tags like "May I assist you", they are praying very hard that you will just go away creating as little damage as possible. When you ask for the manager, they often pas you o to someone who is frightened and as clueless a they are.

How do you change this fear in you?
By learning skills that hostage negotiators, crisis counsellors, psychotherapists and police officers use in their worst situations. When  people learn these skills, everything changes. They become supremely confident in any situations. They can really engage customers because they know hey are able to lean back on these communications skills for anything someone might throw at them.

There is one more reason for learning how to handle your worst customer situations. these skills will affect the rest of your life in a big way. They will change the way you communicate with your supervisors, your co-workers, your children and your life partner. When you know how to make it safe to talk about anything, you get an added bonus of trust, intimacy and goodwill that fundamentally changes your relationship with others.

You just need to look t your worst case scenarios differently, with an open mind, and be willing to put these techniques to work. They take practices but in time to come, they will become part of you. You will slowly discover that your worst customers can become the best friends your service career ever had, like I always say that all my complaint customers ended up being my friends.
   

Highly recommending this book: the customer service survival kit by Richard S. Gallagher

In The Customer Service Survival Kit: What to Say to Defuse Even the Worst Customer Situations, which not only help you to turn around virtually any customer issue but also give you the nuanced kills to be able to communicate effectively with just anyone.

While communication as an art form may be lost, it has become more important than ever. Today's crowded business landscape is extremely competitive, and although it may be easier to superficially reach customers, they are bombarded with so much information that is difficult to break through the noise. In addition, it is easy for customers to affect your business with their opinions.

This book is not only well written, the communication lessons within can be apply to almost any personal or professional situation.

What is PASSION in service quality? Part 2

What is passion?

In general passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialised into action to put as much heart, mind, body and soul into something as is possible.

Finding passion for work is just like having passion for service. Doing a job and being passionate about the work that you do are two different things. Many people struggle to find passion for their jobs or their work and worry that they are not happy in their careers.

To me, I really have passion in service quality. PASSION can be broken down into smaller components as I wrote in Part 1.

Patient
It means to be able to remain calm and not become annoyed when waiting for a long time or when dealing with problems or difficult people.

In the service industry, patient is all it takes to help understand the fundamental of the scenario or situation. Patient to listen to your guests or customers. Listening helps to understand and meet demands of the guest. Patient also help you to be calm and react to the situations wiser. Being calm, you will tend to know how to use different words or rather correct words to reply your guests or customers. Or even ask.

Ask
Asking means to say or write something to someone as a way of gaining information or to request an answer to a question.

In this business world, asking questions is very common but asking the relevant questions at the relevant time is very crucial, especially in the service industry. So before you ask, you got to listen and observe. Asking questions also need a lot of skills, when in conversation with your guests or customers, the sincerity, smile and body language says it all.

Sincerity
Being sincere means having or showing true feelings that are expressed in an honest way.

Sincerity can be seen in many different forms, the way you speak, your body gestures, your tune of voice, your actions and your commitment in your promises. In a conversation, all of these can be felt by the guests or customers you are conveying with. They can feel the level of sincerity you posses when conveying with them. Short conversations can reflect a lot on you as an employee and your company's reputation as well.

Smile
A smile is an expression that shows happiness, amusement, pleasure, affection, etc.

In the service line, a smile is not just a simple one, a smile needs to show sincerity in it. Nowadays, guests o customers are more demanding on quality service, they can tell the difference if your smile is sincere or fake. So always smile with sincerity. A smile can be just a simple gesture that everyone can do it, even a small little kid. The difference is the way you smile. A simple smile to your guest or customer can initiate a conversation, which means a smile can break the ice between 2 strangers just from that instance of a smile.

Initiative
Initiative is the power or opportunity to do something before others do; the energy and desire that is needed to do something; a plan or program that is intended to solve a problem.

You need to posses a lot of initiative in this competitive working world. When you initiate, you are already a step ahead. You are creating a conversation and a good impression with your guests or customers. Positive initiative shows that you care and that you are sincere to assist.

Observant
It is about paying good attention by watching, listening and noticing the surrounding you are in.

Previously, I was talking about being observant when having conversations with your guests or customers. Good observant skills can be trained but sincerity comes from within. When you are very observant to your surroundings, you will know when to initiate your assistances, as well as, when to ask relevant questions at the correct time. Observant skill is very important skill to have in a service industry. It sometimes save your ass before you know it, especially before problems starts to surface out.

Nationality
It is a national status; the fact or status of being a member or citizen of a particular nation.

Especially in the service industry, you have to treat everyone the same. No one in your dictionary of guests or customers should be classified by their nationality. Respecting every individual is the core moral value here. Never base their spending power on their nationality, you may be surprised, therefore, your level of service cannot be base on your guest's or customer's nationality, not even by their dressing, or worst, their behaviour.

Above is my version of PASSION in service industry. I believe that the service quality level will not go any worst if you remember the word PASSION.

Try using PASSION in your everyday work life, especially in the service line, give me comments if they are useful to you. I accept both good and bad ones!

What is PASSION in service quality? Part 1

What is service quality?

Service quality is  comparison of expectations with performance. A business with high service quality will meet customer needs whilst remaining economically competitive. Improved service quality my increase economic competitiveness.

Delivering quality service requires understanding the needs of customers, listening to feedback and dedication to continuous improvement. Key to this is cultivating a motivated workforce to continuously drive service excellence within the organisation.

Therefore, to promote service excellence in a business, it all runs down to soft skills of your employees. Soft skills can be taught but hard to cultivate.

Humans are still humans, they all have different personalities and altitudes.  Employees are not robots, they can't be identical when serving guests. So all employees have to remember is the word PASSION when you are serving a guest or rather any guest.

What is PASSION?

It breaks down to different useful words for everyday usage in a service industry.

Patient
Ask
Sincerity
Smile
Initiative
Observant
Nationality

to be continued........................

Good hospitality experience at Vistana,Penang

Last weekend, my family and I travelled to Penang for a short trip cum my good friend's wedding dinner. We booked a family suite there which has 2 bedrooms, a dinning area, a study room and 2 bathrooms.

We like the rooms there and the people there. All of them are very friendly, includes the employees there.

My encounter: The moment I step into the hotel, I feel homely, the doorman gave a very warm welcome and the bellboy came forward to help unload our baggage without any hesitation. The first impression of the hotel was good, no is excellent.

At the check in counter, you can see that there are 4 counters and all 4 of the counters staff are all very busy, either answering calls or assisting other guest checking in. Although they are all very busy, they maintain the smile, the welcoming warm smile at all times. They also acknowledge my presences at the counter with good eye contact. They impress me with their professionalism.

After checking in, there was a butler assign to my room. He looks cheerful and warm. He makes us feel like home coming. He patiently explain on the secured door for all suite rooms, the F&B outlets available, the facilities and the good food nearby.

Conclusion: Guest pay to stay in a hotel, which includes service. This hotel really showed me the service quality they have and is impressive. All employees there are really friendly and patient. They even maintain their smiles throughout my stay there. Sad to say that this kind of good service quality is lagging in Singapore.
  

Good experience at Thai Express at Vivo Branch

Today is a Public Holiday in Singapore, every where s sure to be busy and crowded with people, especially in F&B.

I had my early dinner in Thai Express at Vivo Branch. Although the restaurant wasn't really pack with people will still it looks busy.

Thai Express don't serve free flow of plain water now, this is to increase sales in their in house drinks. As usual,  I placed order for my family and I. My aunt wanted to have  a glass of warm water and the rest of us did order from the menu.

One of the server said we got to purchase a bottle of mineral water but from the bottle of water, he will pour out a glass and warm it up. I was fine with it cause he did keep up the standard of no free water.

We ask for another empty glass to pure the rest of the water from the bottle to drink. My mum didn't know that the glass was dirty and pure the rest of the mineral water into it. After realising it, we ask for the manager. He listen attentively on what the situation was and decided on how to solve the scenario straight away. He first apologised then he suggested that he will change a brand new bottle of mineral water and a clean glass.

He sounded very sincere with his apologises and the solution. I was impressed because I didn't speak very politely myself.

After our meal, we ask for the bill, the manager also waived off the service charge and apologised once again.

Overall, I think the service standard at that branch passed with flying colours, hope they will keep it up and I hope to see these standard of service at every branch.

Keep up the goo work.

Encounter bad customer service at Shinkei Japanese restaurant at Toa Payoh Outlet

Pre entering into the restaurant was welcoming with smiles on the waitress. After sitting down, a waiter came to us and ask if  this is our first time here. I told him "yes". He then explained to me on the quantity on eat dish served and it's portion.

The feeling at the beginning is satisfying but not awesome.

After ordering, food was served accordingly. But the way the waiters and waitress clear the empty dishes aren't pleasant. The standard of clearing was also not standardised.

Main situation: The menus, recommendation standees and credit card standee dropped onto the ground as they lost balance holding the menus upright. The supervisor came over and said a sentence:" The menus are to heavy for the standees to support!"
We just kept quiet. She then went to the ground and start picking up the standees and menus. Her face was total black and pissed off and started to place the standees back into place but with anger.

The above situation shows a lot through her body language and facial expression.

How it could be done better:
Welcoming- Warm smiles and welcoming gestures are very important, not only shown by the one bring customers to their sits but all the server. Even if you have a super bad day, when you are on the ground, you are expected to smile . That's the basic requirement in a customer service industry.

First server who introduce the menu- He already know that this is our first time here, he should come back to us an follow up if we are ok.

Clearing of dishes- Servers should all ask if they could clear the dishes before taking. They should not cross me at my front and clear the dishes for the person next to me, when they could walk to the other side of the table.

Main situation- The supervisor should ask if we are ok after it happened, should show some concern for your customers first. After picking up, should not comment on the wrong doing or even anything on the situation. When placing the standees back, should have done it gently and not show any unpleasant facial expression.

Overall, bad servers, bad attitude, bad experience for me and is in a Japanese Restaurant.
Probably, standees have been always dropping onto the ground when customers cannot find a place to put the menus when they are enjoying their food. If you already know about it, think of remedies and not vent anger whenever this happens.

Retain Loyal Customers

TO GET LOYAL CUSTOMERS, THINK LIKE THEM

In an organisation, whether big or small, we tend to spend so much time thinking like sales and marketing experts, we sometimes tend to forget to think like our customers.  We must not and never forget our customers.  We must periodically remind ourselves of how they think and what they value, so we can best tailor our deliveries to their needs and desires.

Standing from your customers point of view

One of the best ways to know how your customers think, is to be one of them. So as a customer of your organisation, ask yourself some questions like: How would you like to be served?  How would you want your end product to be?  Where can I get all the relevant information I need? If it is tough for you to get all h above answer, then it will definitely be tougher for your customers.  This is where you should improve on.

Do not reject feedbacks

Customers feedbacks are the most valuable report cards.  These feedbacks not only feed our organisation with valuable post-sale experience, they also feed us with things our organisation should improve on. For example, our products, our information accuracy, our service and our pricing.

Whether using surveys, questionnaires or phone calls to follow up, we have to make sure that these customers are favoured for their time and effort to respond.

Good feedback = Work motivation

Negative feedback = Room for improvement

Focus group

One of the best ways to think like a buyer yourself, is by forming a focus group of your key customers. Knowing your key customers type is also important. What you really need in this group of key customers, is their willingness to offer feedback on the variety of aspects of your sales in your organisation. Whether this group is virtual or not, it does not matter. Their input from this focus group will help your organisation save thousands of dollars or more.

Statistic company can also play a part in this focus group result. Statistical analysis can give your organisation the insight into shopping and  buying patterns of your targeted customers.

By knowing the patterns of sales, cycles of repeated products and progression of sales, you are able to understand the trend and relate to your own industry.  With all these information, you are able to promote the right products at the right time, especially during "down time".

Communications

Communication with your customers is a vital tool to compete with your competitors. Nowadays, more and more organisations are relying on emails, website, newsletters and mailers to communicate with their customers.  Other organisations try to train their customers to revisit their website for their latest products and information.  Just like airline companies, which offer special internet rates. Therefore, face-to-face communication is always the best way to keep loyal customers, as they will feel more appreciated.

Your organisation now not only competes with other businesses, also with virtual business. With such tough competition, your organisation need to match a certain level of service in order to compete or be competitive.

By thinking like your customers, you will be one step ahead of the competition as you vie to satisfy their needs.  Don't think like your competitors, think like your customers.

Customer Service

In such a tight a challenging economy, customer service is often the differentiator.  Why do I say so?  There will always be competitors with lower price.  Yet you become unbeatable when you earn the trust, loyalty and the devotion of the customers, clients and constituents.  All these can be done through delivering great service.

An organisation does not need million of dollars for marketing budget or even a large number of staff to deliver great customer service. Whether the organisation consists of 1,000 employees or just one, we just need one who can deliver the kind of knock-your-socks-off service, which will boost customer loyalty and grow your business.

Below are some ways to deliver great customer service- base on my working experience.

1.      LEARN AND USE THE NAMES OF YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH A CHEERFUL SMILE

 It is a universal sign of friendliness and transmits your desire to being a brand new relationship that can last a life time - first step to an ice breaking scenario. Taking pride in knowing or acknowledging every individual customers and pronouncing it properly is what it takes. This not only shows respect, it also shows how much you value them as your customer individually.

Example: “Good Luck, Mr Ng.” This makes the day right for your guest, especially when guest approaches counter after purchasing levy.

 

2.      USE MAGICAL WORDS AND PHRASES, LIKE SAYING “THANK YOU”

In addition to hearing the names, customers love to hear words and phrases like: "We are sorry", "We will take it into consideration", “Let us fix it for you", "It's my pleasure to serve you" and "We are glad to serve you". The next most important phrase after "We are sorry".  Always thank the customer for their patronage and referrals, and for taking time out and courage to feedback on our service.  Take this as a favour and compliment- now you know why customers leave your organisation and how to solve this problem right and then.

Example: “Thank you Mr Ng for your feedback. We will take it into consideration.” This sentence is useful especially when guest complaints.

 

3.      LISTEN AND READ ACTIVELY

Listen actively includes listening with your ears, eyes, mind and heart.  Use body language to convey comprehension, agreement or consternation.  Give eye contact and avoid distractions, and let your customers know they are being heard by simple body language gestures. 

Example: A nod of your head to show acknowledgement for your understanding to guest’s queries and feedbacks.

 

4.      REPLACING NEGATIVE LANGUAGE WITH POSITIVE ONES

Keep employees focus on the positive attitude in resolving customers' problems.  Emphasise on what you can do instead of telling customers what you are unable to do, or what is unavailable.  When this positive message is brought across to customers, they will be less agitated.

Example: When guest ask questions that you do not know, never say “I don’t know” for an answer. Use other alternative way such as “Let me get more detail on your query.”

 

5.      ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS WHAT ELSE AND WHAT MORE CAN YOU DO FOR THEM

As simple as asking customers how you can serve them better.  Many times your customers will offer insights into what you can improve, expand and grow with them.  But the most important is to listen and act upon this information.

 

6.      HONOUR THE DIVERSITY OF OUR CUSTOMERS

Learn about their culture, religion and values. Show them you respect and appreciate their needs, preferences and desires.  Don't assume that "1 concept fits all" because there is a vast difference between nationality, religion and even generations. Assumption kills at times.

 

7.      GIVE CUSTOMERS LAGNIAPPE

Give customers a little extra.  Give customers more than what they are expected...a treat, bonus or unexpected surprise. Better still, a 'WOW' experience.

Having to know and understand the concepts above takes less than an hour, but having to practise it takes a long time.  But again, with such concept in place, you will have loyal customers for a lifetime.

Example: When guest ask for a direction, offer to walk them to their destination with sincerity.

With such mathematical calculation, having to learn and practise the above ways is worth the try.