Customer Service at its Best and Worst

Have you ever had an extremely positive customer service experience? How about a totally terrible one?   I’ve had one of each lately and the contrast actually proved to be a good case study in leadership.   Both experiences were a result of a situation gone bad, but the way in which the bad situations were handled was completely different.

The positive experience came from the Apple Store in purchasing a new laptop and transitioning my files from my old PC laptop to the new MacBook Air.   I left both laptops to transition the files, but when I picked it up and they began to walk me through checking to make sure everything was there, it was obvious several things were wrong.  Here are the things they did that demonstrated positive customer service:

1.     Stephen introduced himself from the get-go (before we even know something was wrong) and asked me my name (he remembered it too).

2.     They have a process to check to make sure everything is there.  They don’t want to send a customer home only to find out they need to bring their computers back because something is not right.

3.     When I began to freak out that none of my emails transferred over, he reassured me it could be fixed.

4.     He stayed after the closing of the store to try to get all the files transferred.  When it was obvious that it was going to take a while, he checked my computer in said he could have it ready before Noon the next day.

5.     He called at 10:00 am the next morning and said the transfer was successful and I could come pick it up (2 hours before he guaranteed it).

6.     He recognized me when I walked in the door and even though he wasn’t assigned to cover data transfers that day, he got my computer and checked to make everything was how I needed it.

7.     He couldn’t transfer any financial data in my Quickbooks (which is understandable) but he walked me through how to do it step-by-step.

And now the bad experience.  It came from an appliance store.  My husband and I bought new kitchen appliances because our oven died.  We paid for the new set on March 5^th.   It’s mid-May and we still don’t have all our appliances.   We are obviously beyond upset about this, but here are some things they did to illustrate poor customer service.

1.     We were told our appliances would be in in a week when we ordered them.   Here were are 2 months later…

2.     They told us they would call when the appliances were in to schedule a delivery time.   Two weeks after we paid for it, we had not heard from them.  So we had to call them.    This was the first of about ten calls to check on our appliances when they told us they would call us every time.    They have not called us once to update us on the status of the purchase.

3.     We have been lied to at least five times about when our appliances will be in and/or when something that is in will be delivered

4.     We talk to different people each time and get a different story each time.

 The Leadership Lesson

So what is the leadership lesson in all of this?  I think there are several.   I actually learned a few from Stephen’s (at the Apple Store) manager, Mark, when I sought him out to brag on Stephen.

1.     Under promise and over deliver.  Don’t tell someone you can have something done by a certain date or time when you are unsure if you can.  People want you to be honest with them and they don’t want to hear excuses when you aren’t.

2.     Train people on customer service and put processes in place that help front-line staff deliver positive experiences to customers instead of prohibit them.   For example, Apple allows their front-line sales and service people to make most decisions on their own when it comes to meeting customer needs and they are trained on how to best make those decisions.

3.     Consistency in customer service is important.   This could mean assigning particular customers to particular employees to follow the case from beginning to end, or it could mean having a thorough process in place to record and communicate customer cases to all staff members that may deal with a particular customer.

4.     Selection processes should check for behavioral based customer service orientation.   They don’t put the techies with no people skills up front to help customers at the Apple Store, they are in the back fixing computers and transferring data.

5.     That said, those that are customer service oriented do still have to know the product and know it well.   Stephen was a techie, he could answer any computer question I had, but he was also customer service oriented.

All in all customer service is a people thing, but is also a process thing.   You have to have the tools in place to support positive customer service and you have to hire and support people who value positive customer service.

What examples of positive or negative customer service do you have and what leadership lesson(s) do you see in those examples? 

Cranking the Tractor

While doing some research recently on career development for youth, I came across an interesting study.  I’ve always asserted that many people choose their career path for the wrong reasons, one of those being the desire to pursue a career that pays the “most” without giving much thought to whether or not he or she would actually like what pays the “most”. 

The study by Srully Blotnick*  followed 1500 people from the perspective of their career choices and financial success.   Basically, he sought to see what happened when people “went for the money.”

Group A contained 83% of the sample population; the people in this group chose a career path because they believed they could earn a lot of money doing it.  Group B, containing 17% of the population chose a career because of their passion for the work. 

Twenty years later, 101 of the 1500 hundred were millionaires.  One hundred were from group B and one was from group A.

The study illustrates the simple thought that many in career coaching and development see.  You are 100 times more likely to be financially successful if you do work you enjoy and have a passion for doing.  So what cranks your tractor?  What do you have a passion for doing?

The Leadership Lesson in Tractor Cranking

For future leaders, I think the can be translated into a lesson.  Choose a career path based on what interests you or cranks your tractor.   You are more likely to emerge as a true leader in an industry or occupation in which you enjoy.

For current leaders, I think this study demonstrates the fact that getting people on the right seat on the bus is important component to motivation and success for individuals and organizations.   Taking the time to discover what cranks the tractor of those you lead and giving them assignments that cater to their talents and passions, leads to a more successful individual, which leads to stronger company results.  

Be aware though, most managers and leaders do not have this discussion with those they lead.   I think there are many reasons why, but the main reason being, the thought of, “well what do I do with them if they isn’t anything within the organization in which they have a passion for doing and even if there is, there aren’t any openings or they don’t have the skills to do the job(s) in which they do have a passion for pursuing?”

Being prepared to help a person transition into another position, which may take additional training and time, or even transition them out of your organization is difficult.   Most people will not promote the idea of showing people the door, especially if they are competent at their job, but I think a true leader demonstrates their ability to support others, even if it means helping them find their place somewhere else.  This gives you the opportunity to pursue filing the position, whether internally or externally, with someone that does have a passion and a talent for the work you need done.   This, of course, leads to better business results, which you are responsible for delivering.

*In researching the author of this study before making this post, I found that his research methods and practices have been questioned.   As a reader of this blog, I urge you to conduct your own due-diligence to decide whether or not to take his writings and research at full value.

Are you a firefighter? Part 2

Last week, I wrote about leaders firefighting by taking out their fire hose and spraying everyone when a disciplinary message needs to be delivered.  This week, I want to discuss the other type of firefighting, where leaders run from one problem to the next and think they are the only ones who can solve the problems. 

I love the quote in the AIDT manual about this, “The illusion of control depends on the leader acting as the ‘sole problem solver’.  This role implies that the leader is the only one wise or capable enough to make decisions…. In this mode, the leader is strictly a fire fighter running from one problem to the next. You don’t have time to lead because you’re running from fire to fire- sometimes the same one, over and over, in the same day.”

We all want to be in control, but effective leaders don’t run around day after day fighting fires because they have given responsibility, authority, and autonomy to their subordinates.  They empower instead of micro-manage.

So to become an empowering leader, let me pass along some of the suggestions the AIDT Leadership class offers: 

1.       Give employees specific areas where they have final authority to make decisions and solve problems.  If employees come to you with every decision, something is wrong. 

2.       Allow employees to make mistakes.   See mistakes as learning opportunities.

3.       Encourage employees to share ideas.   The best way to do this is to listen to ideas and use them.

4.       Give employees the opportunity to learn and grow.  Cross training is a great way to do this.   Don’t always assign a task to the “expert” in that area.  Give someone who is “green” in the area the opportunity learn a new skill and build confidence in performing that skill. 

The question you should ask yourself everyday as a leader is, "Am I making more leaders?".   Empowering others is the first step in answering "yes" to this question.   

How do you empower others?

Are you a firefighter? Part 1

I’m getting ready to facilitate another round of AIDT Leadership I Classes.  In doing this, I want to focus for the next couple of weeks on a principle that stands out to class participants and takes on two meanings- playing the role of firefighter.

Last fall, I discussed the 80/20 Rule  and how it affects workplace performance.  Basically, the 80/20 rule postulates that most leaders spend 80% of their time dealing with 20% of their people and these 20% are the poor performers.  In turn, this de-motivates the 80% of your good or great performers.   One way that I’ve found that people try to fight dealing with the 20% is by taking out their fire hose and “spraying” everyone. 

The Classic Firefighting Example

Let me give you an example that I use in class.  I have a friend who leads a team of about eight people.  She was having a problem with one person coming in late to work fairly regularly. This person would stroll in about 8:10-8:15 a.m. three or four days a week when she was supposed to be there at 8:00 a.m.  My friend was complaining about this person being late and told me that she had finally put her foot down to stop it. 

I asked her, “Well what did you do?” 

She said proudly, “I sent an email out to the entire staff to remind them of what our office hours are and that everyone should be in the office and ready to work at 8:00 a.m.” 

“Interesting.” I said, biting my tongue so I wouldn’t ask more questions or say anything about her approach.

A week later, my friend called to complain again about her token late girl.  “This is the third time since I sent the email out last week that she has been late, is she just stupid?” 

I couldn’t refrain from putting my two-cents in anymore, so I said, “Well is anyone else at your office ever late?”

“No!” she said, “They are always here on time, most of them are early. I don’t see why she didn’t get the point that I was directing the email at her!”

“Well why did you send the email to everyone?” I asked.   

After a little bit of silence, she said, “We’ll I thought it would just be easier.  It was quicker to send an email.” 

This is a classic example of taking out your fire hose and giving everyone a good spray to try to correct issues that are coming from a small minority of your workforce.  My friend didn’t put out the "fire" and she probably made those that are consistently on time or early a little perturbed by her email. 

How to put away your fire hose

So after I share this example with the class, I ask, “What would have been a better way for my friend to approach this situation?” 

Take the responses that I usually get as a way to avoid bringing out the ole hose: 

·         Confront the chronically late person (or any person with a performance issue) one-on-one.  Explain to them why being late is unacceptable* and ask if there are issues that are keeping them from reporting to work on time.  If there are, work through these issues with the person. 

·         Be on time yourself! Set the performance example by demonstrating the behaviors you want members of your team to exhibit.

·         Lead consistently.  This means that if your best performer comes in late or has a performance issue come up on the job, you can’t overlook it.   

·         Reward those that are on time (or exhibit any star performance behavior) day in a day out.

Do you have a classic firefighting example like this one to share? 

Stay tuned next week as I discuss the other type of firefighter – the one that thinks everything is a fire and that they are the only one that can put it out.

*As a side note, this may make you stop and take pause as a leader as to whether or not an issue of being late (or any other work policy violation) is really unacceptable behavior.  It may not be, and if this is the case, don’t follow a rule just because it a rule, take strides to change the policy to reflect what is and isn’t business necessity.  You do this, not because you want to avoid having the your late again conversation but because you want to do what’s best for business and your people and this is what leaders do.

In the case of work hours, it may be a hard and fast rule that everyone starts at 8:00 because a shift changes or customer necessity.  It may be a case of where a flex-time policy may be a better fit for your environment and the shift to more flexible hours may be a motivator for your staff.

Money Ball, 'It's a metaphor....'

I'm not a movie watcher, my husband is.  He asked me last weekend if I would watch Money Ball with him. So of course, I asked him what it was about. He said baseball.  As soon I was about to say "No thanks," he said, "Brad Pitt is in it,"  (he knows me all too well) so I obliged and watched it with him.

What he said was a movie about baseball struck me more as movie about motivation and leadership.  I won't ruin the story line for you if you haven't watched it, but here are some of the ideas I took away from the movie, besides the image of Brad Pitt.  Maybe you can pick up on where I'm coming from if you have watched it or plan to.

1. Get the right people on the bus and in the right seats on the bus, as Jim Collins says in his book Good to Great.   Maybe a worn out catcher does need to be tried at first base. You need him on your team because he gets the results you need on offense, find the solution for him that also fits your defensive needs.   Also, realize that your bus may not be the same as the New York Yankees' ride and that's okay.

2. Tell people their role.  David Justice needed to be told his role was to step and be a leader.

3.  The people who don't get the  mission of what you are trying to accomplish need to go.  Case in point, the player that was dancing on the table in the locker room after a loss had to be traded.

4. Take a risk on the nerdy guy with a new idea or way of doing things. It may win you 20 games straight.

5. Some people just have no idea how good they are.  A constant focus on their shortcomings by themselves and others leads them to miss when they have knocked it out of the park.  Tell people when they have hit a home run, or even a single or double.  They are more likely to hit them more often when you do.

6. It isn't all about the money.  Sometimes it is about your little girl singing.

What have you learned about leadership and motivations from Money Ball or any of your other favorite movies?