May 25, 2011

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions.

What's Inside this issue of The Total View:

1. Why Do Businesses Lie About Customer Service?

2. Workforce Trends

3. Applicant Processing

4. What Motivates Employees

5. Annual Performance Reviews Simplified!

6. Improving Customer Service Skills

7. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

Why Do Businesses Lie About Customer Service?

Business owners and executives continue to extol the virtues of customer service.  But when it comes to commitment, they are full of hot air.

You don't have to go far or listen hard to hear stories of bad customer service. Everyone you speak to seems to have a customer service story that is worse than yours.   Just this past weekend, I again was jinxed by a rash of bad customer service experiences.

First I stopped by a pharmacy (a national chain) to pick up two simple items. I looked around for the friendly face of an employee but there were none to be found. To be specific, I'm not talking about a friendly face... I'm talking about any face at all!

After wandering up and down the aisles, I finally found two travel tubes of toothpaste. I then headed for the checkout line - which was empty. Most notably there was an absence of any cashiers.  I waited for a few minutes only to notice two employees standing outside - smoking.  I waved to them through the large windows.... but was ignored.  I then went outside and asked, "is there anyone who can check me out?"  To which they responded, "we'll be there in a minute.  We have to hang this sign." Why it took two people to tape one sign to a window, I don't know. But this obviously took precedence over my need to pay. Without even the slightest hesitation, I reached out, handed them the toothpaste, and drove away.  A few other customers remained inside, wandering around the store.  Hopefully they were honest souls because no one was watching the store - or for that matter working in it. Management at least at this company store seems to have cut back on human resources and service a bit too deep. From the lack of traffic, other customers must agree.

Later in the day we went to dinner with friends.  We had a large group so we requested separate checks.  The waitress said, "no problem" and took our orders. But apparently it was a problem for her since not one of the six couples received a check with the correct orders on it.  One of our friends motioned to her and told her the checks were wrong. To this she replied, "I'm really sorry."  And then proceeded to ask us to "figure it out ourselves because [I'm] not really good with math."  We did figure the checks out and decided next time we'd dine elsewhere.

While neither of these incidents was horrific, the outcomes were the same - dissatisfied customers who at the very least will do business elsewhere next time.

Michael LeBoeuf in his book How To Win Customers and Keep Them for Life cites a survey designed to discover why customers quit doing business with a company. The survey revealed that 68% quit because of an attitude of indifference toward the customer by the owner, manager or some employee. In both of the experiences I just shared, indifference was crystal clear.  When considering the life time value of a customer, studies indicate it costs roughly 300 to 700 times an hourly worker's rate. That's a lot of money that few businesses can afford to absorb but management seems complacent enough to keep paying.

The real crime is that these bad customer service experiences can be prevented if employers would take a few steps to hire employees with a positive customer service attitude and good skills. But employers continue to seek candidates who have good customer service skills and then hire any warm body who accepts the job.  When you consider the high cost of a bad hire, the ROI associated with improving employee screening and interviewing is significant. By combining a good behavioral interview with pre-employment testing, business owners can hire better, reduce turnover, improve customer retention, and save thousands of dollars.

So what will it take for companies to recruit and hire employees who have a positive customer service attitude and commitment?

Read More...

Five Lessons Learned from Bad Customer Service

Excellent Customer Service: Get the Spirit 

Workforce Trends

Just 14 percent believe their leaders are extremely effective at meeting profitability targets, 17 percent say the same holds true for delivering service and 7 percent believe their leaders are extremely effective at retaining talent.

For more  workforce and hiring trends, visit Perfect Labor Storm website and Perfect Labor Storm blog.

Applicant Processing Made Easy

Wouldn't it be nice if selecting the right candidate was this easy?

What Motivates Employees

Business values and motivators determine the "why" of human behavior.  
 

For managers, Business Values and Motivators answers the nagging question - How can I motivate my employees?  
 

For employees and individuals looking to re-energize their careers, the Business Values and Motivators report helps them understand what they value most.  As people, we tend to value certain viewpoints positively and judge others negatively.   How we value or judge determines our motivations and provide us with our sources of energy or conflicts and stress in our personal and professional lives.
 

What are Business Motivators? Read more.

Annual Performance Reviews Simplified!

Save time, increase productivity, and eliminate hassles when administering employee performance reviews with SimpleEvals.

Ask any manager what he or she hates most about the job and you'll often hear "performance reviews."   That's why we've created SimpleEvals.

We recognized a huge gap in the performance evaluation market between paper forms and online performance management. 

SimpleEvals is a user-friendly, centralized online solution to streamline and improve the annual, semi-annual or periodic review for small to medium sized organizations. It's convenient and very affordable too.  Our goal was simple: to help take the hassle out of getting managers to complete performance appraisal forms and giving employees more frequent feedback. 

The system comes with a library of competencies, an easy to use form creator, at-a-glance dashboards and reports, and a built-in reminder system to help HR track down managers when reviews are due....or past due!

More about SimpleEvals or Email us to schedule a FREE demo. 

Improving Customer Service Skills

Customer service excellence starts with a focus on people. Differentiate yourself from the competition. Don't just give lip service to customer excellence. Do something about it with Success Performance Solutions customer service assessments and training aids. Set the bar high for customer service employees; hire and train candidates who fit the culture and don't make excuses for delivering anything less than exceptional customer service. 
 
"Don't ever doubt in the customer service business the importance of people and their attitudes."
(Former Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher)

Read more about Good Customer Service Skills.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

We've all heard the excuses:

"My computer is down."

"We're short-handed"

"I'm all by myself."

"The salesperson didn't give me the right information"

"I've been off work. Please bear with me."

"I'm just filling in."

Customers are tired of the excuses employees give instead of delivering excellent customer service. "Excuses, Excuses, Excuses....For Not Delivering Excellent Customer Service - and What Should Happen!" is an excellent pocket guide for every employee. This book highlights 117 excruciatingly-painful-but-all-too-common Customer Service Excuses followed by common sense recommendations and insights to delivering exceptional customer service.

This book is for any company, business, or organization that deals with customers and has a passionate desire to survive. We've all been customers ourselves, and we're tired-tired of inadequate service, a lack of concern, and a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. We're tired of being told everything under the sun except that which we long to hear, "How may I help you?" followed by the appropriate action. This book is about excuses we both hear and use for not giving excellent customer service and how to shoot those excuses down.

Order your copy of Excuses, Excuses, Excuses today.