What You Should Know About Customer Service

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(Ed. note: Roughly every month or so, I host a lunch-and-learn about various topics surrounding social media for our team here at Signature Worldwide. Today, I walked a group of eight willing volunteers through the blog writing process. Collectively, this is what we created. I would like to thank our committee for being brave enough to write this together, and look forward to what more they come up with for the Training That Sticks blog.)

How many times a day do you experience good customer service? Subsequently, how many times a day do you experience bad customer service? And which do you remember more?

At Signature Worldwide, we experience both on a daily basis. But that’s where our similarities change. We remember both – whereas customers mostly remember the bad. Think about it: do you remember the last time you had a legendary experience with a customer service agent? We’ll bet you remember the bad.

For over 25 years, Signature Worldwide has lead the industry in customer service trainings that stick with our customers. The results of our inspiring and fun trainings are new skills that don't go away when things get tough. Rather, the teams we train remain results driven - and we're proud to help them stay that way.

These are some of the best tips that we've learned and developed throughout the years. If nothing else, these are the things you should know when engaged in a situation – and how to consistently give good customer service experiences:

• Make sure you are listening to the customer. Understanding their needs is critical to delivering a good customer experience. And especially make sure you ask the right questions. Customers don’t always know what they need – and by asking the right questions, you can help them get to that point faster and easier. 
• Know your company: what you offer, why you do it, and how you can make their experience better. Its not about upselling – but creating an customer experience that delights. 
• SMILE! It makes you more approachable, your tone is better, and you don’t mumble. And its contagious: who doesn’t like walking into a room of smiling people? 
• Create value for the customer. Your customer can spend their money anywhere. If you don’t create an experience, next time they will spend their money on something else.
• Verify with the customer that you’ve met their needs. This way, you know that you’ve done a right thing – and you are able to fix any problems they may have before they leave.

Remember: even though we always strive for legendary, stuff happens (if you know what I mean). But, by taking ownership and control of the situation and applying these tips above, you will be able to consistently deliver to the end customer every time.

How do we make those legendary interactions more memorable? How do we make our good customer service habits and actions outweigh any bad that your customer may have? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below – we would love to hear them.

Building a Customer Experience in Facebook

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Don't get me wrong: I have a special love for the social network (or social media in general.) Mostly because I work in it every day. But, like you, I also get irritated by Facebook at times as well. Especially with the rise of the millions of games popping up daily in my timeline. Not only do I have to wade through duck-faces, bad memes, and social causes I've never heard of...but I also can't go through one day without someone inviting me to visit their virtual who-knows-what. If I'm that interested in seeing you, I'll get in my car (pending the speed sensor doesn't go out again) and visit you - instead of visiting your virtual farm, house, or Tron-esque battle arena.

But one game I did start playing (yes, at the nudge of one of my Facebook friends) is Caesars Casino.* While it is a simple social virtual casino game for play money, what struck me was the way it created a customer experience through the course of gameplay. Not only does it offer a virtual peek at the Caesars experience (which Signature Worldwide did have a hand in reinforcing, as we provide casino training), but it also reinforces their loyalty program. As a consumer and potential fan of their brand already, this allows me an avenue to not only develop more interest in playing and spending money on their virtual application, but also translating that into real rewards at their properties.

Now, I'm not advocating that you go out and spend money on creating a virtual application for your hotel, dealership, city, or sales department. But what this gives us is a practical example of creating a customer experience in a non-traditional venue. Because of the branding and tie-in to the loyalty program, I now have a positive first impression of their brand that introduces me to their gaming experience. And I have a new incentive to come visit them at one of their many properties. This simple customer experience can help create a life-long fan of your brand - and with little effort from your team!

So what can you do to create a non-traditional customer experience in the social sphere? Here are some ideas to get you started: 

• Don't just sell me on why I should stay at your hotel. Instead, highlight what's going on around your hotel. What's near you? What can I do if I visit your hotel? Show me what my customer experience will be - and I will very likely end up being your customer.
• Do you have a loyalty program? Is there a way I can earn bonus points towards staying with you before I stay with you? Educate me on the different ways I can make points work for me, and I'll earn them so I can visit you. Everyone loves the idea of getting a special deal or winning something.
• What fun things are going on at your hotel? Are there any special events or promotions that you can educate me about? What about events in your city that make me want to visit? The customer experience is not just about your hotel - its about everything around it as well. Show me an experience that sticks with me, and I might come visit. 

There are plenty of ways to make your property an experience over the internet, whether it's a blog, Facebook page, game, etc. It's not so much about the application or tool (such as the Caesar's Casino game,) but what you are accomplishing with it.  What do you do to give customers a taste of the in-person customer experience online? Let me know in a comment below - and I'll follow you on Facebook to see your customer experience come to life online!

*Disclaimer: No incentive or compensation was given by any party to mention this product or service in this blog.

Free E-book Voice of the Customer: Find Out Why Customers Love You

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Customers are familiar with surveys that assess how likely they are to recommend a business, but what are companies doing with this information? Signature Worldwide has worked to institute a process for our own company to listen to customers and distill the feedback into actionable information. Now, we are releasing a free e-book outlining what we've learned to help other organizations also learn the benefits of finding out why customers love them and what creates an excellent customer experience.

Companies love to guess why their customers love or hate them, but in the business world, guessing comes at a price.  When companies take the time to listen to their customers and establish a continuous feedback or voice of the customer process, they are able to take action based on quantitative results and qualitative analysis.  We hope our free e-book Voice of the Customer: Find Out Why Customers Love You will help companies, based on our own experience with establishing a VOC initiative.

In the e-book, you will find great insights for your business, such as:

• Why does it matter if customers love my company?

• How can survey information be made actionable?

• What seven key things did Signature Worldwide learn from their customers?

• What kind of implications can the voice of the customer process have on my business?

• Why is this relevant to me right now?

Listening to a customer tell their story about their individual customer journey is both fascinating and inspiring. We have learned so much since launching our voice of the customer initiative and want to help our customers and other businesses learn the value of getting the right insight at the right time, as well as identifying their company evangelists.

Perhaps you've noticed that customer experience is important to us: this was one of the reasons we recently launched a new website to answer the question of "How can we show a prospective customer exactly what they will experience when they do business with us?"

In addition to presenting  a clear value proposition, we knew that we needed to create a two-way communication process that provided continuous feedback throughout the year. A key part of this process involves identifying your promoters, passives, and detractors through the Net Promoter Score (NPS) question, or the Ultimate Question, created by Fred Reichheld to assess how likely a customer is to recommend you to a friend or colleague.  In addition to this, there are other questions and methods that can be used to obtain both quantitative and qualitative feedback from customers about their feelings, experiences, suggestions, and overall customer journey.

Former Forrester Research analyst Andrew McInnes has written about voice of the customer, net promoter score, and customer experience and makes an important point: statistically valid data is important to make decisions, but we can't overlook the comments and stories shared throughout the process.  At the end of the day, the goal isn't so much about the actual score, but about improving the customer experience and creating happier, more loyal customers.

Signature Worldwide is committed to listening to our customers and improving our processes so that we can in turn improve customer service and sales skills for companies around the world. If we can raise our customers' awareness about the importance for them to listen to their own customers along the way, that is ideal and helps us all achieve our end goal of creating excellent customer experiences. What do you do to get feedback to your customers? Let us know in the comments...and let us know what you think of the e-book!

Capturing the Legendary Makeover Hotel Training Result

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Go Mississippi: The Top Is YOUR Goal!

Yes, I’ve done plenty of writing about Biloxi – and I’ve edited plenty of blogs about Biloxi. That’s because (as you may have heard) our Legendary Hotel Makeover winner resides there. But this time, after six months of living vicariously through our most excellent training team, it was my turn to get called up to play in the south. Why would they send the AV Team? Because now, it was time for celebration, as the team at the Four Points by Sheraton Biloxi had completed their hotel training. 

Since starting at Signature Worldwide, I’ve heard a lot about how transformative our trainings were. Now, it was my turn to witness it first hand – and capture on video their change from drab to fab!

And from my arrival to the hotel, from the moment that I was dragged out by the boss (kicking and screaming the entire way), the Four Points by Sheraton Biloxi team really lived up to the meaning of “legendary.” From the first moment we checked in, to dinner at GT’s (their on-site restaurant), to the rest, and then the coffee the next morning, everything about our stay – and the team’s service – was legendary.

Everyone was friendly. Everyone made eye contact. Our server at dinner taught me how to eat a crayfish. And everyone was more than willing to ask how we were enjoying our stay, recommend things to do in the area, and point out the highlights of this fun little Gulf town. Based on their customer service alone and my experience with them, I look forward to my next visit to Biloxi.

But with as much fun as I had, this trip was for business (however pleasurable that may be). So, after one turnaround trip, 6 hours of video to go through, 10 interviews, two games of “Life-Size Frogger,” and $100 later (don’t ask), I think we (my Director of Marketing & Communications, Cara Posey and I) have really captured the hotel trainings of the legendary makeover which transformed the Four Points by Sheraton Biloxi, and are now reaping the benefits of. They truly have become a model for what our full suite of trainings do for a hotel, and I look forward to following their success in the future.

Subsequently, my congratulations and awe go out to our entire team that trained the Four Points by Sheraton Biloxi throughout the process: Dave Hamilton, Kristy Westfall Moyer, Rita DiPalo, Amanda Herder, René Lewis, and Holly Zoba. (I apologize to those whom I may have missed - as you all truly worked hard on making this a reality.)  You all really created delight, and provided Training That Sticks for this team. Well done, team. 

Click here to check out my video about the Legendary Hotel Makeover process. And don't forget to read our press release by clicking here. Seeing what we've done for the Four Points by Sheraton Biloxi, and proving our mettle in this training: what can we do to help grow your business today?

Bad Customer Service Begs Customers to Complain About You Everywhere

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We spend a lot of time talking about customer service and customer experience. But nothing impacts a customer's experience more, gets a customer seething, or causes them to share their negative stories more than really bad customer service.

Given that I work for a company that trains others on customer service, it's fair to say I'm pretty atuned to how I'm treated. Surprisingly, though, I'm very forgiving of average or less than average service. If staff members look like they care and are trying, I usually give them a pass or assume they are having a bad day.  Even the best company with a customer-centric culture can have an off moment.

But today, I had the kind of bad customer experience that gets your blood boiling to the point that you can't wait to tell everyone you know about how bad the customer service really is at a local company.  I tend to eat lunch at my desk while I work, so I ran out to a local eating establishment to grab a quick bite to go in order to hurry back to my office. I did not want to chat or be social, I just wanted food...and I decided to go somewhere different than my normal spots for a change.

While not naming the restaurant, it's one where there are stations and multiple people have to help you along the way to complete your order. I encountered five staff members that impacted my customer experience...names have been changed.

1. Tim greeted me with a blank stare. I told him what I wanted and he left it uncompleted on the counter and moved on to people behind me to get them started.
2. Sonia moved slowly and did not listen to the customers. People in front of me were getting agitated that she was adding the wrong things to their order or forgetting part of their meal.
3. Kristen was busy completing an order that had been called in ahead of time, so she ran inbetween the staff members on the line to grab what she needed and did not make eye contact with any customers.
4. Josh, who was obviously the senior member of the team, was scowling from the kitchen where he made passive aggressive comments to his team members about their lack of attention and chopped meat like a wild man.
5. Finally, I met Amy who smiled at me and asked me if there was anything else she could do for me. I looked at her in a daze.

I told Amy, as she quickly cashed me out, that she could help the rest of her team get it together.  I was so perplexed by their attitudes and their general disregard for their customers.  When you encounter one person at a company the provides less than stellar service, it is easy to blame the person and forgive the organization.  But when four out of five employees exhibit horrible customer service, you have a major problem with your customer experience. 

Think about the potential impact this team could have on this brand...hundreds of people coming in and out for lunch at just this one local branch who will blame the brand, tell their friends about their bad experience, or simply not come back.  How long do you think it will be before I give this restaurant another chance? Probably months. And not because I hold a grudge, but just because I will remember this bad experience and think of other options.

If you are a manager, consider how the teams you put in place truly serve as the face of your company to your customers. How do you ensure that your teams create good customer experiences, even when you are not there to keep an eye on them?

Social Media: Create More Value for Customers than Conversation

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Every time I go somewhere now, like the grocery store, I like to play a game. I call it the “Join the Conversation” game. Here’s how you play: look for everywhere that has a social media call to action that includes the phrase “join the conversation.” Assign points for creativity, and compare to how many brands you actually found. Then declare “hotbox!” and divide by nine.

Actually, you can ignore that last part. But that constant confusion about what brand is where and what they want you to do? That’s how it feels sometimes when you’re being innundated by brands inviting you to “join the conversation.” Everything from diapers to cat food are now inviting me to “join the conversation” about their products or services.

That’s the funny thing, though. I don’t want to “join the conversation” about my favorite credit card, airline, brand of toilet tissue, or snack food. And I doubt that my cats want to “join the conversation” about their favorite food either. That just wouldn’t end well.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t participate in social media circles. We all agree that it’s vital to being a player in the online marketplace these days. But before you invite people to “join the conversation,” have you ever wondered why you’re doing it? Are you asking people to “join the conversation” because an agency or “social media guru” told you to do so? Or are you really interested in what people have to say about you, and how you can better serve them?

Here are three creative ideas for brands to create value for customers that do not involve the words “join the conversation”:

• Invite cat owners to post silly videos of their cats to your Facebook page and offer a year’s worth of cat food to the winner, chosen by Facebook fans. See the Wheat Thins campaign where they delivered palettes of Wheat Thins to random fans.
• Make it known that you will be randomly thanking fans. Post YouTube videos thanking random promoters who tweet about your product or service and share the video with them and the world. (Preferably thanks will come from a celebrity or attractive model like the Old Spice Man, but this last part is not a “must have.”)
• Have your fans enter their workplace to win a rock concert and accompany the campaign with Facebook ads to find new followers. Set up a stage in their parking lot and have Bruce Springsteen surprise the office with a rocking concert. Your video crew and the local media are present, of course.

Ok, these three ideas may cost some money, but they are so much more creative and much more likely to get your customers talking about you and sharing your contest or information than asking them to "join the conversation."  When you move beyond the idea of promotion and actually into using social media for ongoing dialogue, customer service is key to making these channels work.  As I’ve discussed in Training Magazine and on the Training that Sticks blog, the same precepts of customer service that we teach in our classes can just as easily be transferred to the online space. Praise can be shared faster, and problems can be resolved with the same speed as if your customer was in front of you. In fact, many custmers prefer to deal with problems over social media than in person! Just ask @comcastcares.

So why are companies asking people to “join the conversation?” Do you want rabid cat fans to identify themselves and then make connections with other cat fans so they can share cat stories all day that have no relation to your product? Or, do you want to steer the conversation, and be the center of the party? I’d suggest the latter of those two options – be creative, be proactive, provide legendary customer service, and tell people why they should do business with you and why they should care about what you have to say online. Don’t tell people to “join the conversation” – rather, offer them something of value, whether that’s coupons, contests, funny stories, relevant information, or tips they can use today (even if it’s how to brush their cat’s teeth...now that's something I could use.)

What creative ways have you found to get your audience to follow you and stay engaged with you online? Let me know in the comments below!

Photo courtesy of Cara Posey and her bag of Purina Cat Chow

4 Reasons the Best Mystery Shopping Helps Training Stick

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Managers often wonder if they invest in customer service and sales training, whether they will see any difference once these valuable staff development dollars are gone. The truth is, many training courses are an event people attend, where they listen to a lecture, and the course material is promptly tossed out as the participant leaves the room. Or, the person comes back to the office with the best of intentions, but the training materials end up in a pile on their desk...never to be seen again.

At Signature Worldwide, we learned a long time ago that training without reinforcement does not work.  That's why we implemented mystery shopping to confirm that staff members are using the skills they developed during training.  We employ many different mystery shoppers as part of our regular staff.  In addition to the mystery shopping, we also have a separate group of scorers on staff to ensure that calls are verified by an independent source.  Once the calls are shopped and scored, they are available for the company and the staff member to listen to and learn from, and the scoring information is available through our web-based reporting system.

This process may sound different than what you'd normally expect from a mystery shopping experience, but our goal is not a "gotcha" moment. Our goal is to make sure that your employees maintain and utilize their customer service and sales skills to improve your customer's experience and boost your revenue. Sounds good, right?

Here's four reasons why the best mystery shopping helps training stick:

1. Mystery shopping provides you with a benchmark before training begins and shows you the immediate improvement post-training. You are able to tell right away if the employees are utilizing their new sales skills or customer service skills. Are they upselling like a champ? Did they provide an excellent customer experience? Now you have something to measure against and reward them based on their performance.
2. Employees are their own worst critics. If they can hear how they interacted with a customer, they will often be the first one to identify the things they did wrong.  The ability to learn from their own mistakes is powerful and helps them think through every interaction they have with a customer.
3. Managers get to see and hear the results. Not only can you see how your employee scored, but you can listen to their tone, their pace, and the way they generally interacted with the customer. This is very helpful in your day to day coaching and gives you a reference point for providing feedback.
4. Mystery shopping helps identify when employees hit a plateau.  You may see scores climb for several months and then level off.  The web-based reporting is a great way to identify when employees hit a roadblock.  Often, this is a great time to do a reinforcement training session to refresh your staff and renew their commitment.

We don't just want to train your staff, we want to make sure they use their skills and improve your company.  Providing an excellent customer experience is vital to the health of your bottom line.  Mystery shopping is an important component for us, but so is the Training that Sticks blog.  We post here every week to provide tips and information to help reinforce training and keep you up to date on new developments at Signature Worldwide.  As you may have noticed, we just relaunched the Training that Sticks blog in a new format to better engage with our readers, customers, prospective customers, and professional contacts.

If you are new to Signature Worldwide and are interested in what mystery shopping can do for you, contact us today for three free mystery shopping calls.  If you are a current client, let us know how mystery shopping has enhanced your staff development and made training stick for your company.

Customer Service Skills Improve with Better Customer Service Training

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Creating an excellent customer service experience starts with providing better customer service training.  Customer service skills are about more than good manners!  In fact, it takes daily education and reinforcement of good customer service skills to improve and then create lasting changes in behavior.

Take a look at my article in this month's Training Magazine on "Educating a Better Customer Service Representative" for five great tips on how to improve your customer service representatives' skills in order to create the customer experience you've always dreamed of for your company.

Tips focus on topics such as:

• Meetings: when to have them and what to share
• Culture: why it is important that your representatives fit with your customer-centric culture
• Real-time: how to teach in the moment and make a lasting impact

In addition, feel free to download our recent guide that provides six tips to improve customer service today. If you have questions about how to educate your staff or how to improve your service, I'd love to hear them. Post your comments and questions below!

Customer Value Perception, Value Creation & Creating Customer Delight

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I feel like we know each other pretty well here on the Training that Sticks blog. So I’m going to have a rare moment of honesty with you about something that sometimes bugs me. I have a hard time explaining to people what I do professionally! No, not just because what I do looks like something from “The Big Bang Theory,” but because people don’t necessarily understand the value of my work because they can’t always see it or touch it.

When asked, I tell people that I work for a training company. Immediately, their thoughts go to boring videos made in 1982 with characters that are dealing with dated problems. They don’t immediately understand the value of what I do or the value of my company; and how what I do affects them in their everyday lives.

 Remember the old BASF commercials from the 90’s? (If you didn’t, don’t feel bad…my boss Cara Posey didn’t know what I was talking about either!)  But the message from the BASF commercials is kind of how I feel about what we do here: we make a lot of the experiences that you have every day better.  And I think for a lot of people, that concept is hard to fathom. We don’t provide a physical product. You can’t touch, smell, or tinker with our trainings. So how do you see their value?

The things we do, actions we take, and programs and products we deliver hold value to the every day consumer. You may just not know it yet. What we do empowers people from all walks of life to be better at what they do. Anyone can do the bare minimum to get by at their job. But what our trainings provide is a highly interactive and energizing experience that inspires people to become better at what they do. And when they become better, everyone wins.

Let’s dig a little deeper for a moment. We do a lot of work in the hospitality industry that you know us for, right? So let’s explore that avenue: if a front desk staff is disengaged and disinterested in your needs as a customer – your needs will not be attended to. If your needs aren’t attended to, and you hate the place you’re staying at, then what’s the first thing you’re going to say when people ask you about your vacation? “We had a great time because…” or “The place we stayed at was horrible!” And, whether your stay was good or bad, your review might end up on a site like TripAdvisor and will influence your friends and other customers through the powers of Google, Facebook, and other social media.

Now let’s take that same scenario, with a legendary team. And by legendary, I mean an engaged, excited staff that calls you when you get to your room to make sure you have what you need, makes eye contact when they see you and greets you right away, and delivers on your needs every time you ask and even when you don’t ask. Now how are you going to tell vacation stories? “We had a great time because…” or “The place we stayed at was awesome!” Furthermore, if or when you go back to this destination, where are you going to stay?

Just because I can’t hand you a box full of something, doesn’t mean it lacks value. What we do every day creates value. It creates delight for everyone – from the person behind the desk to you, the recipient of that great service. So next time you go to one of the hotels our team has trained, or rent equipment from one of the companies we’ve trained to help make your experience better: you can remember the idea of this invisible value. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t call or write and thank me. But it would be nice to get a hat tip, so maybe a tweet or a Facebook post?

All joking aside, I know I’m not the only one who feels this way about the work they do. Tell me: what is something you do for the sake of creating delight that no one notices. Leave me a comment about it – and I’ll give you credit for it!

Customer Centered Culture: Customer Service Starts with You

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Customer service plays a critical role in creating an excellent customer experience. As a company that believes strongly in the power of good customer service, and trains other companies on how to improve their customer service skill sets, we know there is a strong correlation between a company's culture and the quality of service they provide.

I spent part of my Friday afternoon last week talking with Forrester Research Analyst Paul Hagen about building a customer-centric culture.  While you might think that our conversation revolved around what we are doing externally, we spent the majority of our time talking about what we do with our own staff here at Signature Worldwide to create a culture where the customer comes first.

Paul was interested in how we infuse our culture throughout the company. We discussed how we know that people are a good company fit, how we socialize our values throughout the company, and how we reward the people who exemplify the culture we have worked so hard to create.  I explained that everything stems from our core values, our purpose, and our brand promise.

At Signature Worldwide, our core values are:

• do the right thing
• take pride in what you do
• make it fun
• pass your knowledge on
• be legendary!

Our purpose is to make a difference by improving customer service around the world. And Signature Worldwide's brand promise is to be inspiring and fun, results-driven, and to provide our customers training that sticks.  As a company, we explain who we are to our prospective employees up front. We encourage and reward living our values on a daily basis.  And everyone takes personal responsibility to bring our brand promise to life for our customers.

At Signature Worldwide, we truly believe that having a culture centered around our customers enables us to better meet customer needs.  We've helped other companies make this shift, too, through providing great customer service tips and customer-focused training programs.

What ways have you worked with your company to create a customer-centric culture? Do you have unique hiring practices, onboarding and training, rituals and routines, or reward programs (informal and formal)? We'd love to hear about them in the comments below.