Empower Employees for Better Customer Service
May 2004
I love efficiency. Absolutely, positively love it. When I go to a business, I appreciate swift, efficient service more than almost anything. I will cheerfully pay a little more for it. Nothing makes me cranky faster than running around in circles. How many places have you been where it took a manager, seemingly, to do anything? Drives me nuts. I’ve been watching this trend for a while, and it seems as though we are regressing. More and more establishments have more and more restrictions on what line employees can do.
Last week, I was trying to return something. Just a simple return, nothing fancy. I wasn’t even exchanging anything. Had my receipts, same credit card as purchased with. I knew the drill, I was ready. But no. My clerk had to call a manager, apologize to me while we waited for one to get there (since managers have become necessary for everything except breathing, they are scarce and always running), only so this exalted being could perform the return, a transaction that up until the previous week, my own clerk had been performing regularly, without problem. Which leaves me, as the customer, thinking, “This is insane. I think I will go somewhere else next time.”
One of the things I’m noticing is that, as companies get larger and larger, their desire for consistency across the organization leads them to confuse it with ‘a pile of orders from headquarters telling everyone how to do every single thing.’ They may think this guarantees consistency, but what it really guarantees is employees who devote more time and energy than you would believe possible griping about and/or figuring ways around the rules. Not to mention customers who are in line and impatient, wondering why things are taking so long. Remember that customers you lose are frequently silent; they don’t make a fuss, they just don’t come back.
Customer satisfaction is almost always measurably higher at establishments where employees have the authority to make basic transactions and resolve problems. I’m not suggesting that all employees have a stack of cash to hand out to cranky customers or their own best friends acting as if, but when they can resolve 75-90 percent of typical situations without bringing in a manager, customers are going to leave much happier.
My husband and I were shopping for dining room furniture a couple of years ago. Our quest involved looking at what seemed to be every dining chair between Seattle and Vancouver, inclusive. We ended up at a store that had two branches. Through a variety of understandable yet frustrating errors on the part of the employees in some distant factory and locally, we ended up driving back and forth across a large city twice. At each step, walking away became harder, because we had more and more time invested in this, and we had finally found the One True Chair.
During the endless time spent at and around the counter, I became unduly fascinated (I said it was a long time!) by some magic chair leg pads that protect floors. They sure looked nifty, and were not expensive items, but neither of us felt inclined at this point to spend more money at this establishment. Everyone kept apologizing, profusely and sincerely, and then sending us on another wild goose chase. Then we’d be back, and I was staring at the display again.
Afterwards, those little pads really stuck in my craw. If the employee had been ‘empowered’ by her boss, she could have just given us a set as a measure of apology. That could have turned the whole thing around for under 20 or 30 bucks (which would probably have cost them ten). I should mention that it was very clear from the tenor of her calls – some of which were to that very boss – that not only was this not the case, he also never suggested doing anything tangible to turn the situation around. You know what they say – one satisfied customer tells one or two people; one unsatisfied one tells twenty.
Organizations are a lot like this. Everyone is trying to do their job, and hopefully, trying to do their job in an efficient manner. However, what’s efficient for Joe in accounting may increase Mary Ann’s workload in manufacturing tremendously. It is necessary to look at how work is being done, how information is being handled, and while you are doing that, be sure to look at the whole picture. Bring in representatives from each step of the current process, as well as any that may have been missed. Or, go and interview them for their input. Typically when I help organizations do this, we find things that are being done simply because they always have been, with no other reason at all. Not to mention all of the things that can be done early to smooth the process, or take another step out later.
Any way you look at it, it’s annoying from the customer’s point of view. In a smaller climate such as we have locally, this is an area in which you, the smaller business, can compete. You may not be able to always beat the price of a box store, or its equivalent in what you do, but I’ll bet you can beat them in individualized service, streamlined help, and minimizing endless forms.
It’s easy to see inefficiency in others; harder our own. Take a look around you for something you suspect could be done better. If you can’t find anything, ask your staff, or a trusted customer. I’ve yet to find an office where the people who worked there couldn’t engineer a better form. Yes, they may need to be reminded of needs outside of their own, but that’s where your oversight and guidance comes in. Or representatives from other stakeholders, to use another overused term.
Having a competent, knowledgeable staff that is well-trained, and able to speak for you in a myriad of daily affairs, particularly when it is not of life-or-death consequence, will satisfy both your employees and your customers much more. And anything that builds loyalty in both those groups is good business.
Ramona Abbott helps businesses maximize their efficiency, effectiveness and group dynamics. She utilizes proven techniques that are fun and affordable to help you improve your workplace in a variety of ways. She welcomes inquiries at 360-398-2606 or ramona@EssentiallyProfessional.com
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