Breaking the Rules!!!!

There is an outstanding interview question that I use every time I have to interview a candidate for a customer service position, and that it is used by many executives in several successful companies.

"Tell ma about a time in a past job that you broke the rules for a customer?"

If you ask it of an applicant, they are really going to have to work through a bit a paradox to be able to respond effectively. By conservative interview standards, they might be tempted to say they "never broken the rules". Certainly many traditional candidates might think, " Who wants to hire someone who's going to tell you up front that they don't follow your company's rules?" They'd be wrong, many top executives in succesful companies will hire them, so will I. So in fact, if an applicant were to tell me that he/she never broke the rules for a customer I probably would not hire him/her. Because I think that every business would want their staff to break the rules regularly in order to get better service to their customers.

When you handle this sort of rule breaking well, it allows you to avoid that horrific service scenario that we've all had to suffer through somewhere as customers. The one where your customer want something that's really fairly simple but which, unfortunately, doesn't fit the "proper procedure". So the employee on the other of the line or behind the counter or taking an order by a table, start reciting the rules and telling you that there's nothing he can do. Raises my blood pressure just thinking about it.

It is important to let you know up front this concept of breaking the rules is not an easy one to get across to new staff members. Well, I take that back. It's easy to get the concept across. What's hard is to get the people to really do it. because no matter how much each of us want to break rules now and again, we also have years of socialization and training in our families, our schools and our previous job that have told us that you don't just do that sort of thing. And as a result, even in business where this has been part of the culture, it's quite common to hear new, well meaning staff member slip and start reading a customer the company's policy rather than thinking things through and coming to a creative way to get the customer what he or she wants.

Giving Great Service One customer at the Time

I honestly appreciate the importance of effectively quantifying customer service measurements, but I am very adamant lately to emphasize the other end of the service spectrum: at the end of the day, service success is attained one customer at the time. The simplicity of the statement makes it easy to overlook its importance.
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con referencia a: Giving Great Service One customer at the Time « George's Blog (ver en Google Sidewiki)

Giving Great Service One Customer at the Time

I honestly appreciate the importance of effectively quantifying customer service measurements, but I am very adamant lately to emphasize the other end of the service spectrum: at the end of the day, service success is attained one customer at the time. The simplicity of the statement makes it easy to overlook its importance.

con referencia a: Service Excellence: Giving Great Service One Customer at The Time (ver en Google Sidewiki)

Giving Great Service One Customer at The Time

I honestly appreciate the importance of effectively quantifying customer service measurements, but I am very adamant lately to emphasize the other end of the service spectrum: at the end of the day, service success is attained one customer at the time. The simplicity of the stetament makes it easy to overlook its importance.

When a business gets bigger than ten or twelve employees, it can be easy to start thinking about customers as statical segments, or to see them as merely one more contribution to "average sales".

I honestly believe that businesses that loose sight of the reality that service is still given one customer at the time pretty soon start losing customers. At first they lose them one at the time. But before long the losses start expending geometrically as words spreads in the community. And pretty soon, ther're out of business.

So, please let me state the obvious. No matter what sort of organization you're in -big or small, shaky or successful, start up or established institution - great service is ultimately given by each of us one customer at the time. Which means, quite simply, that the seemingly small things like going the extra mile, or remembering customers' names or noticing a nice order and saying thanks, or taking time to show a new customer around your place of business...those simple, individual acts are exactly what make great service happens. and those acts of great service happen because your the staff members make individual decisions to do things for the customers that solidify bonds that last a lifetime.

How To Deal With A Difficult Customer

Dealing with difficult customers is a fact of restaurant life. These "negative" customers can lead to employee burnout, low staff morale, or be responsible for someone leaving the industry entirely. We've all heard that one disgruntled customer can lead to the loss of at least six others by word of mouth alone.

The good news is that this seemingly "lose-lose" situation can be turned around. If it's handled correctly, difficult customers can be turned into some the most loyal, long term customers you'll ever see. Here's seven basic steps that will help you turn these "service disconnects" into opportunities.

Step One: Assume the customer is telling the truth.
If you train your employees to always assume the customer is truthful, you have just taken away a major source of stress related to service careers. The employee is not having a confrontation, nor are they conducting an interrogation; They are not looking for the negative, but listening to what is being told to them without having to be a judge that must rule in favor of the company because of a misplaced loyalty.

Step Two: Let the customer talk.
Let them air out the whole situation. This accomplishes two things. It allows the customer to tell their story with all the details and emotion that they feel is necessary. This step is vital to let the customer drain some of their emotion and anger. Don't say anything, except to give body language that you are listening intently.

A good idea BEFORE you start the listening / information-gathering step is to delegate all interruptions to someone else so that your entire attention is devoted to the customer. You want an automatic jump in the level of anger and frustration for the customer? Then interrupt their story with "Excuse me", "Just a minute", or "What were you saying?" Always listen without interruption or comments. Also remember that listening is the beginning of the information gathering process for yourself, which is vital not only to rectifying the customer's problem, but to avoiding it in the future.

Step Three: Be empathetic.
This is the step to (finally) begin communicating. Express understanding with how they feel or were treated. You're not admitting guilt. You don't even have to agree with them.

You do have to communicate understanding. Your tone of voice and body language both go a long way to reinforce what you are say. (There's nothing worse then a manager coming over to a table with their hands on their hips, challenging, " Is there a problem here?") In fact, without the proper tone or body language, your words will sound hollow.

Step Four: Understanding.
This is the main step in reaching the customer; this is where you ask any questions that you need to have the complete picture of the negative experience. Ask relevant questions to clarify your understanding of the facts. Resist jumping to conclusions until you are satisfied that you understand the entire situation.

Step Five: Solution.
Solve the problem. Come to closure that you both feel good about. Remember the customer was telling you the truth. Tell the customer what you will do to rectify the situation. Make the customer feel good about the solution. Do not sound angry yourself or make the customer feel guilty.

A good guideline is to deliver more than you promised. For example, if you said you would refund the customer, add a gift certificate for another meal. That not only solves the original problem, it brings them back again.

Step Six: Follow-up.
If there is any way to follow-up with the customer after the fact, you need to do it. Whether by e-mail, letter or phone, this step is very impressive.

Step Seven: Take steps to fix the problem(s) that caused the problem in the first place.
A good idea to keep a log or journal of customer complaints to enable you to see any trends. Remember that the best managers prevent problems rather than just fix them.

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Keeping Yourself Motivated

As a manager you have to be motivated yourself in order to motivated others.
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con referencia a:

"As a manager you have to be motivated yourself in order to motivated others."
- Keeping Yourself Motivated « George's Blog (ver en Google Sidewiki)

Keeping Yourself Motivated

As a manager you have to be motivated yourself in order to motivated others.

1. Regularly review what you have achieved each day, month and year; set SMART goals for yourself.

(S pecific, M easurable, A greed, R ealistic, T ime specific)

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con referencia a:

"As a manager you have to be motivated yourself in order to motivated others. 1. Regularly review what you have achieved each day, month and year; set SMART goals for yourself. (S pecific, M easurable, A greed, R ealistic, T ime specific)"
- Service Excellence: Keeping Yourself Motivated (ver en Google Sidewiki)