by Jan Dwyer Bang on July 16, 2010
I love this term! I first heard this term from Sally Zeiger Hanson, former Executive Director with the Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce. Though I am relatively a new comer with the chamber, I have been impressed with the way the chamber members have been supportive and encouraging to one another – with a real focus on helping other chapter members grow their business. I believe that this “culture of contribution” permeated from the leadership to the members.
What can happen when you can instill a “culture of contribution” in your organization? I contend that people will experience a positive energy and enthusiasm that can translate to customers. I believe this kind of culture inspires people to want to do their best and motivates others to get involved. And customers can recognize this kind of positive enthusiasm and want to get involved.
How can you create a culture of contribution in your association, team, organization, or board? Here are some ways:
- Hire the right people
- Engage your staff and your customers
- Enthusiastically promote others
- Offer benefits to be involved
- Recognize good work
- Reward contribution
- Create and manage expectations
In my next 9 BLOG entries, I will flesh out every one of these elements.
by Jan Dwyer Bang on June 18, 2010
Like many of you, I travel a lot for my business and every year strive to earn “gold” status in my airlines frequent flier program. And like many of you, I see the benefits of being a “preferred traveler” diminishing. Yes, we are seeing cut backs in every industry, and the airline industry is no different. And yet, what value is it for customers to engage in frequent flier programs, invest tens of thousands of dollars to a preferred airline, and be treated no different from any other customer?
Here are a few real-life scenarios of recent experiences I had as a “gold” customer on my preferred airline of travel:
- Needing to introduce myself as a “gold” frequent flyer customer even though the airline gold program assured me that flight attendants would know my status
- Little to no difference in wait times as some airports
- Very surly attitudes on the part of attendants whenI asked them for the “benefits” that I supposedly should be receiving anyway
- Standing in MVP gold lines and not being helped or acknowledged
- Flights not having first class upgrades available
- A dedicated phone number for “gold” members but representatives who are not knowledgeable in what services should be offered
But this BLOG is more than my venting about my experiences. I write this to help you think about how you are treating your major donors and customers. What ways are you telling them “thank you” for doing business with us? What special perks are you providing to assure them that their status is worth it? What are you doing to make sure you are constantly creating innovative ways to provide benefits? (In this economy – companies need to get creative to offer benefits). What are meaningful methods to remind your major customers that you appreciate their investment in your company?
by Jan Dwyer Bang on June 4, 2010
How large is your Sales force?
I am a sales person for the Hewlet-Packard Company. No, I am not a part of their sales force but I could be – I “sell” HP when I rave about their products and service! Here’s a rave – just the other day, my copy/printer/scanner machine had a paper jam. Immediately, I received a pop-up window on my computer that said, “Paper Jam Error” – with the statement- “Solutions are available” with a number of possible solutions listed, along with a phone number to technical service to contact if none of those worked. (One of them worked for me). There was also some verbiage that said “If this event happens again, please check one of the following statements:
-Notify me again
-Do not notify me again
-Notify me again only if a new solution is available
I love the products that I buy from HP – high quality, long-lasting, and well-made. But I also love the service that invariably goes along with their products. Even when I don’t speak to a “live” service representative, the service is efficient, helpful, and effective. And that’s what I want as a customer!
So – here’s some questions- how big is your sales force? And is your sales team growing with satisfied customers?
by Jan Dwyer Bang on June 2, 2010
Yes, we can give outstanding service on the phone. We can quickly respond to customers, demonstrate friendliness and follow up – but if we don’t ultimately fix the problem – we are ultimately failing in our service! I know of a national bank that focused on creating a positive and friendly service environment – I felt so good walking into the branch and getting helped by any one of the bank tellers. But guess what – many times I walked out with my question or problem not being resolved! Or I would be directed to call a 1-800 customer service number.
As you train your staff, don’t forget about making sure they know the technical aspects of their job! Customers are looking for courtesy and competence!
by Jan Dwyer Bang on May 31, 2010
In my long message to Garold, a sales representative with Accuride, I mentioned that perhaps he would like to speak to my husband who was actually the one who was having trouble with a drawer guide for our bureau. To our surprise, John did receive a phone call from Garold and he was able to explain to my husband how to connect the part – to which he did with ease and simplicity!
What are you doing to follow up with your customer? Are you calling when you said you would? Do you refer to something that the customer said on the last call? For example, if your customer mentions something memorable to you – do you remember to ask about it when you do speak to the him or her? Many sales professionals take notes of customer phone calls so they can easily refer to pertinent information during their sales calls. Do you initiate the call, as opposed to saying “Please call back,” like my bank did!
Following up is essential to making a favorable impression on your customers! It says “I remembered – I care – and I am trustworthy.”
by Jan Dwyer Bang on May 28, 2010
Now that I newly have a last name “Bang,” – I can relate to those of you who have memorable, even humorous names. I would encourage you to use your name to create a funny one-liner so that customers will remember you. 
I remember when I talked with Garold, a sales representative with Accuride, he said “My name is Garold – sounds like Harold but with a G” – which was an easy way to remember his name. He shared this with some humor and a lot of friendliness that made me feel like I was talking with an old friend. Here are a few pointers about creating a memorable name for our customers:
- Make sure you laugh with the customer. Even if you have told this particular one-liner countless times, for the customer – this is the first time. Enjoy the moment with your customer.
- Avoid inappropriate humor. Make sure your humor is “family friendly.”
- Don’t make fun of your customer’s name. You may think it is funny, but he or she may not.
- Anticipate the questions. Garold may have heard many times in his life, “Are you saying Harold” – and he successfully anticipated this question by coming up with a way for customers to both hear, and remember his name.
by Jan Dwyer Bang on May 26, 2010
In the days of texting, instant messaging, and tweeting, customers are getting more and more demanding about how long they will wait – on the phone – getting an answer back – or a product they ordered. Couple this trend with the fact that many businesses are operating with less than full workforce – we have a major customer service challenge!
We’ve been talking about Garold’s service to me when I called to ask about a part for a drawer. This is great service – I received a call from Garold within hours from when I contacted him!
Perhaps one inexpensive way you can honor your customers is to create a culture where both external and internal customers will get a call back from a customer request within 24 hours. Sound impossible? Over 15 years ago, this was the philosophy that Federal Express taught every employee and their business results showed. What can you do in your business to equip your “customers” with what they need to be able to respond quickly? Here are some ideas:
- Providing customer service reps with an easy reference tool to answer the most frequently asked questions
- Training new employees on the value of responsiveness in their service to internal and external customers
- Establishing easy performance measures for such things as how long a phone rings before someone answers, how long a customer needs to wait before an acknowledgement, how long a customer waits for a response
by Jan Dwyer Bang on May 21, 2010
A few months ago, my husband and I had a wonderful experience of service. I had purchased a bedroom set back in 2006 and unfortunately, one of the drawers in my dresser broke. We went back to the store where I had originally bought the furniture, were told to order a new drawer glide, and ordered it from a hardware store, (who had ordered it from a local manufacturer, Accuride). However, upon receiving the part, my husband couldn’t figure out how to attach the glide to the drawer. I called Accuride and left a message with one of their representatives, Garold Harford.
What Garold did in just a few simple actions helped transform an ordinary service transaction into a memorable service experience. In the next four excerpts we’ll be dissecting all the small behaviors that Garold did for us and I bet you can apply these actions into your own business.
The question for you to ponder for today is this – how can you transform ordinary service encounters into true service experiences?
by Jan Dwyer Bang on April 2, 2010
The other day I went to my favorite Safeway and bought some carrots. A few hours later, upon opening the package, I discovered that they were soggy, squishy, and unappealing! I went back to Safeway. And yet again, I experienced a successful service interaction!
- The customer service representative apologized. I was heard and felt appreciated as a customer.
- She also offered to go with me to the produce department and personally let the produce person know about the bad carrots
- She gave me a choice – getting a replacement or money back
- The produce department representative asked me “how else may I help you?” with other items on my list
- I was helped by several people in the store – as they personally walked with me to find the items I was looking for. Indeed, one sales man came up to me while I was checking out and asked if I found the item I asked him about – and he apologized when he had said the wrong aisle number!
This experience gave me “food” for thought – what are our “bad carrots” opportunities? What are our opportunities? When a customer comes to us with a problem –how do we react? Here are additional questions we can ask ourselves:
- How can we do just a little bit more than is expected to ensure the customer is satisfied?
- How can we make sure to train our staff to continually communicate to the right people when problems occur?
- How can we create an environment where every person is communicating the same message – a message that says “we care about our customers?”
- How can we turn “bad carrots” into delicious and memorable morsels of customer service?!
by Jan Dwyer Bang on March 20, 2010
What are some practical ways you can obtain service feedback from your customers? Here are some ideas:
- Incorporate service evaluation questions to your company’s performance evaluation system to ensure both staff and leaders are being measured on how service-oriented they behave
- Conduct an internal organization survey that allows your staff to give you feedback on how they feel working at your company. An important part of “your internal customer base” is your staff members.
- Suggest that all departments create their own internal feedback surveys for their external and internal customers
What are other ways you can get feedback from your customers?
