“I Drink a Lot of It”
“Get to Know Your Customer.” It’s such an easy thing to say, but not so easy to do. How does one get to know the customer, especially when working with a lot of customers? Customer surveys may be one way, but it is always a bonus when you can actually say you “know” a specific customer’s likes and dislikes.
My husband and I like to eat out. In fact, we do so whenever we find some extra money in the bank. I particularly like to eat breakfast, which I can do at anytime of the day. So it was that not too long ago we ended up at IHOP. We go there regularly, but not so frequently that we are well known.
Before we begin this tale, there is one thing you need to know about my husband. He drinks a lot of fluid. Whether it is iced tea or a diet Pepsi, he consumes large quantities of it. So when a server asks him what he wants to drink, he will give his preference and then warn them, “and I drink a lot of it.”
Most of the time they nod their heads, say they will watch to see he has enough to drink, and off they go. If he is lucky, they will re-appear several times to replenish his glass. I think most people don’t believe him, or have their own idea of what constitutes “a lot.” He has been known to down two pitchers of tea, while I am still nursing the same glass that I started out with (yes, I know, I need to drink more fluids too).
Occasionally, a server will actually notice that he is draining his glass quite often, and will bring him a pitcher. This is always greatly appreciated. There have been times the server has said, “I’d bring you a pitcher but we aren’t allowed to leave it on the table.” One has to wonder what kind of customer service expert made up that rule?
So it was that we encountered Toni, our IHOP waitress. She came up to our table, and much to our pleasant surprise, greeted my husband and asked, “Are you the one who likes to have a pitcher of tea?” After determining that she had remembered him correctly, she produced the desired pitcher. It was a simple thing, but stood out in my memory. She proactively attempted to meet a specific request of her customer, with the result that we may increase our visits to that restaurant to support my passion for breakfast.
On IHOP’s Official Website, they have this mission statement. “IHOP’s Vision is to become number one in family dining…….We are always focused on satisfying the needs of our customers and guests.”
I certainly commend IHOP for not being one of the establishments with the “no pitcher” rule (which makes sense seeing as they provide a carafe of coffee.) I also wish to thank Toni for taking the extra step to ensure her customer was satisfied with the service he received.
Jack Mitchell talks about this concept in his book, Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results.
“Through the relationships you develop, you must listen to your customers on an individual basis so that you know her or him, and give them additional services that are important to them.” (Jack Mitchell)
Oh, I almost forgot, the steak omelet at IHOP was excellent too!
E-Mail as a Customer Service Tool
I wonder who first decided that it was women who should change their names when they got married. Probably eons ago, since in the past women were considered the property of men. Today, more and more women are keeping their maiden names when they get married. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.
I’ve been married twice, once in the 1970’s and one in 2006. After the first one, I remember having to change my name in a few places, like Social Security and my Driver’s License. But now that I am in my 50’s, I have my name out there everywhere. And for each account, I have to get my name updated to the new name, which can be time consuming and frustrating.
I’ve been doing it a little at a time over the past two years, whenever the need arises. Recently I updated my PayPal account and my Walmart card. I had two very different experiences while performing the same task.
While logged into my PayPal account, I clicked on the button to update my address and phone number. But I couldn’t change my name. The directions told me to mail in a copy of my driver’s license with my new name, and copy of my marriage license. So, one day when I was out and about, I made the requested copies, and mailed them in. In about a week, I got an e-mail from PayPal stating, “We have reviewed the information you provided regarding the name change request. The name change you requested is complete and has been updated on your PayPal account.”
On the other hand, while signed into my Walmart account, I found a little button to send an e-mail question to the Customer Service Dept. So I gave them my old name, and my married name, and asked what would be the best way for me to accomplish this name change. I expected to get back the same instructions as I had for PayPal.
Instead I got back an e-mail message telling me to check my messages in my account. When I signed in, I found this.
“We have received your request to change your name on your account. We want to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your marriage and extend our best wishes for the future.
Please be advised that your name has been updated and a new card has been mailed to you. You may expect to receive the new card within the next 7-10 business days.
We appreciate you as a valued Wal-Mart® customer and hope you will continue to shop with us.”
In his book Superior Customer Service: How to Keep Customers Racing Back to Your Business–Time Tested Examples from Leading Companies, Dan W. Blacharski gives some tips for sending e-mails to a customer. He recommends the following:
1. Remember you are interacting with a customer, not a friend.
2. Avoid abbreviations and emoticons.
3. Be sure to proofread before sending.
4. Always address the customer by name.
5. Respond in a timely manner.
I would say both of the companies mentioned above followed these practices, but Walmart took it up a step. Not only did they make it easy and convenient for me to accomplish my goal, they also including a friendly, personalized congratulations on my marriage. Not a big deal, but it is those extra touches that customers remember for a long time.
Walmart has always had a very strong customer service ethic from their founder, Sam Walton. I hope to continue this tradition because I am going to start to work at the local store very soon.
As a postscript to the issue about my getting my medication refilled, as mentioned in the previous post, I want to assure everyone that I finally got it refilled, after my third request.
We let folks know we’re interested in them and that they’re vital to us, cause they are.
Sam Walton
“You Have the Power,” I said
I could see disbelief in the eyes of my class. Most of them felt that they were at the bottom of the totem pole. They were the least educated, the most underpaid, and, they thought, the least valued staff in the company. I am talking about certified nurse’s aides or CNAs.
One of my job duties as a nursing home Social Service Director was to provide on-going in-service education to the line staff. My required topics included “Resident Rights”, “Theft and Loss of Resident Property”, and “How to Communicate with the Elderly.”
On this date my topic was “Customer Service Skills.” Why had I chosen that? My intention was to help them become aware that their perceptions about themselves were not true. Rather than being the least valued staff, they were, in fact, the most important.
I had no authority to increase their wages or improve their work conditions. The life of a nursing home CNA is very demanding, physically and emotionally. But I hoped to get across to them that what they did every single day, the type of interactions they had with both the resident and their families, mattered a great deal to the success of the company.
“You have the Power”, I kept repeating. “Customer satisfaction is important. You play a key role in customer satisfaction! You have the power to satisfy our customers: patients and families.”
A nursing home is in the business of providing care to people who can no longer care for themselves in their homes. Just like other businesses, the nursing home owners want to make money. The staff, who usually go into a helping profession because they care about people, often do not realize that they, too, have a vested interest in helping the company make money. They like to be paid, and if the home is to remain open, it must be profitable.
Every day, nursing home staff have to deal with resident complaints. These can range from complaints that the food is cold, medication wasn’t given on time, or call-lights weren’t answered promptly. How these complaints are handled is crucial to improving customer satisfaction.
And like other businesses, much of a nursing home’s business comes from word of mouth. If you know Grandma received great care at XYZ home, you will tell your friends, who will remember when Uncle Joe needs a nursing home. On the other hand, if you had a bad experience with the care at Tip-Top Nursing Home, you will also be sure to tell everyone. And when they, or a loved one, needs some extra care, they will think, “Oh don’t send me to Tip-Top. I’ve heard that you receive very poor care there.” And that begins a ripple effect that is very difficult to get turned around.
The first person a nursing home resident usually sees when they get admitted, besides someone from the admissions office, is a CNA. They are the people assigned to get the person’s vitals, inventory their belongings, and get them settled in. This first impression can make a world of difference in the resident’s perception of their experience, especially if they are only there for short-term therapy following surgery. It is the CNA who will bring them their food, take them to the bathroom, give them a bath, and usually answer their call light.
So I would tell the CNAs, “You have the power to ensure that this experience is a positive one, or a negative one. If you answer a call light and snarl, “What do you want, you are always on the call light?” then the image is going to be negative. It doesn’t matter if the person really does put on the call light every 5 minutes. It is more important that they feel as though their needs are being addressed. The powerful response would be “How can I help you?” and then do whatever is needed to provide that service.
We had one CNA, let’s call her Angela, who totally understood the concept. She received corporate awards for her customer service skills. Angela was promoted to the a unique role we had created, a CNA “Concierge,” would have first contact with the resident upon admission. She did not know the meaning of the words, “It’s not my patient.” If Angela saw a call light, she would answer it and help out. She knew the names of all the residents in the building, not just those on her section. She would go to the laundry to find lost clothing, go to the beauty shop to make an appointment, help family members pack when it was time to go home, and was there when someone needed a shoulder to cry on. She never raised her voice or showed anger towards a resident or family member, although Angela could get as frustrated as the rest of us.
And the funny thing is that, when I looked around the room at the staff that had gathered for the in-service, Angela was always sitting in the first row, ready to learn more. On the other hand, CNAs that had demonstrated a need to improve their customer skills were notably absent. They did not get, or did not care, that they “Had the Power” to positively impact the lives of the residents in their care.
”As far as customers are concerned you are the company. This is not a burden, but the core of your job. You hold in your hands the power to keep customers coming back – perhaps even to make or break the company.”
- Unknown
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