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One of the questions I get a lot is “Step, how do I improve my Customer Satisfaction? I want to, but it just doesn’t seem to get any better.”
Customer satisfaction is not a one-person job. I have seen where companies make a job called “customer satisfaction representative” or “customer service person,” or whatever, and they handle customer complaints, or they write letters to people to ask them to believe that they are interested in customer service.
I got a letter this week from someone that I bought something from, and the letter said we know your experience may not have been the best, but we are trying to fix it. You may receive a survey from the manufacturer of this product and we would hope you could say that your experience was great.
What do you think? I do not make this up. A friend of mine went to the same store a week earlier and said he got the same letter.
Instead of sending a letter, why not fix the problem? Why not come up with a plan that everyone buys into?
I am fine with things if they are not right, like with remodeling when there is construction dust. I am OK if the computers go down and someone tells me what is going on and how they are going to fix it.
What I am not OK with is the people that don’t seem to care. They walk around like they just have to get to Friday, so they can have the “strong-end” off.
We have our offices in a tall office building in Beverly Hills, so there are many businesses in the building with us. One of these businesses must be the worst place to work in the world.
We run into these people in the elevator, in the parking garage, in places for lunch, and they are always talking about how they are going to get through the afternoon, or that it is “hump day.”
I know the top people in the business and they are interested in customer satisfaction, but how can they possibly achieve customer satisfaction when nobody wants to work there? They keep wondering why people don’t rate them higher. They have all of the technology, and beautiful office space for their customers. Everyone is spit and polish, tie and shirt, black shoes, and so forth. Very, very professional. Why is their customer satisfaction low?
You know that people to people is the heart of customer satisfaction. You may need other things, but if people feel that people care, then it is about that simple.
Not that there are not other things that need to be done for customer satisfaction, but if your people are good that is a great start.
Don’t know how to make your people better? Try letting them run your business. They are now anyway, and that ability to be able to make decisions will make the people feel and be important.
Another question I get is, “Well if I let people run my business won’t they make mistakes?” Yes, but according to a recent survey you are going to make mistakes 70% of the time when you make a decision. And if you coach people after they make a mistake, they won’t do it again. They will understand the business better and will be better in the future, and feel like a stakeholder in the company.
Isn’t that what you want: better people, better ideas?
- The customer is Not always right
- You have to have happy employees
- Do you have the right tools?
- Do you have the authority?
- Have you decided your service level?
- Procedures and the Customer Satisfaction Index
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