Finally out of frustration he, lets call him Geoff, came to me and said he was sick of waiting as he had not had any positive feedback from his friend on when he might finish. I agreed to take on the project and got to work straight away. Although I had another important project underway I finished Geoff’s job in about ten days.

After I had finished the job I coincidentally I met the other supplier for the job at a social event and on discussing building websites in general (a common interest) he mentioned Geoff and said “I have had a job sitting around for a year perhaps you should take it as I and my website techie guy are a bit busy”. He went on and said with a smirk ‘I’m sure if you do it within a year Geoff will be happy. I found this attitude appalling and I know the supplier had actually had plenty of time to get the job done much earlier.

I had also used the other supplier for some creative work and printing some time in the past. My treatment was the same; he promised a lot and delivered very little. In the process he managed to insult me by telling me my existing printed material that his designs would be replacing was rubbish. Unbeknown to him I had designed the existing material myself. Now rubbish or not I still felt insulted.

So if we are looking t advance our career or just work effectively what are the lessons.

1. If you agree to take on a task get on with it with some sense of urgency.
2. “Bullshit may baffle brains” as the old saying goes however not for long.
3. Respect your customer’s let them know where you up to during a job’s progress.
4. Don’t take on work you can’t handle, as your inability to perform will destroy your credibility.
5. The cheapest quote is not always the best quote.
6. Your reputation is important and your slowness to act will always be publicized to others and can destroy your market and your brand, particularly your personal brand
7. Never scoff at the current work or product of your customer because you never know the history of how it got to be what it was or how attached they are to what they have.

Whether you are an employee or an independent contractor the old rule still stands, if you want to be seen as effective “say what you will do ad do it and say what you won’t do and don’t do it.

I am sure there are other lessons that can be drawn from this situation and hopefully you can add a comment to express your similar experiences and the lessons that those experiences teach.

So if you are unavailable for any reason what is the best “can’t come to the phone” explanation (excuse) that can be given. I suppose a simple “he’s out of the office” is OK however there is something I believe is better. “He/she is attending to another customer” for my money is the only phrase that will let me hang up without being annoyed at my inability to reach the parson I wanted to contact.

While I’m at it forget the “who’s calling please” it makes the caller feel as if your deciding if they are important enough to be put through. A better question is “may I tell him/her who’s calling”.

One last thing… never tell a customer, as someone did to me today, “he’s at lunch can you call back in an hour“, that’s terrible. Telephone diplomacy can win or lose you and your company great amounts of business!

Something so basic you would wonder why it needs a mention. Know your product so you are the expert, know your company so you are an expert and know your customers real buying motives so you are the expert. So what is a real buying motive… hmmm it’s a Mercedes Benz and your customer says he wants it because its “safe”… rubbish he wants the prestige, go along with the safety game however sell the prestige. If you want to serve your customer well you must also know who to refer your customer to or who to go to yourself within your organization to answer all customer queries. Have you ever been told “oh you’ll have to see spare parts about the extra” whatever you wanted or… “accounting’s around the corner for that information”… don’t do that, if you are handling a customer you contact spares or sort out the accounting inquiry on behalf of your customer.

Handling Difficult Customers. The first and often forgotten rule is that complaining customers are referring to their disappointment with your company, product or service, so don’t take the complaint personally. It is easy to become defensive about your company however this natural tendency needs to be resisted. The thing you need to remember is it is always better to separate the person from the problem. So you’re not dealing with a difficult customer your dealing with a customer with a difficulty. At all costs stay calm believe you are good at your job and act professionally and dispassionately even if the customer doesn’t. Oh yes always take notes and ensure some learning occurs.

The Art of Selling All the Time. Often companies need to send out notices for issues such as say, changes in legislation, changes is service standards, product recalls, temporary closure of outlets, renovations, or changes in terms and conditions. All contacts with the customer need to be sales oriented and offer a positive for the customer. So the old “Please be advised due to blah blah blah and we apologize for any inconvenience caused” letter just won’t cut it. If you have some negative news at least add an offsetting positive to the communication. Example you have a hotel and your XYZ restaurant is being closed for renovation, don’t ‘please be advised’… instead, its ‘great news ABC restaurant is now offering an extended menu with a special guest chef’ then you add at the bottom, ‘during this wonderful promotion we will be renovating XYZ’.

Working as a Team. For a truly customer oriented organization to be in operation the entire company needs to believe they are… and act as if they are… “one team”, all focused on adding value for their customers and yes that means that sales and service are the responsibility of accounting, production, financial control and even the human resource department. Huh you say… are you crazy… nope all decisions need to undergo the “value add” to the customer versus, the “energy suckers” on the company test. This is often not easy to achieve as inter department culture wars are common in and a crippling reality in many companies.

EXCELLENT SERVICE NEEDS A TOTAL COMPANY COMMITMENT

A strong customer focus at all organization levels is basic to success in providing excellent customer service. Customer focus by all employees versus, the all to common, ‘IT’S THE SALES DEPARTMENTS RESPONSIBILITY’ is essential to prevent ‘cock-ups’ at the external customer service level. We all need to realize that there are three types of customers for most of us to service… ‘internal’, ‘ultimate’ and ‘external’…

We all know our internal customers (don’t we)… these are any individuals that receive our work output. In most organizations we also have ultimate customers… these are guys/ladies at the sales/buyer interface… and of course we are all here to serve the external customers or those (if we are smart) we refer to as ‘king’!

So who are our customers then? Anyone for whom we do anything is our customer, whether it is directly from one hand to the next, or indirectly through others in the service chain. Therefore if we need a strong customer focus by our non-sales staff they will have to buy into the proposition that they need to work to serve the ultimate customer and their priority must be to do their job in such a way that it makes the job of the next person in line as easy as possible.

In your company… HOW DO THE STAFF IN PURCHASING, FINANCE, ACCOUNTING, HR AND ADMINISTRATION SEE THEIR ROLES?

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Staff must be trained and tested to ensure they can effectively communicate both orally and in writing. If you can’t invest in hiring or training great communicators at least design a broad range of idiot proof form letters that cover common situations and have a senior manager vet them before they are sent out.

Ensuring that proper telephone techniques are understood and practiced is another essential and one that in my experience is often overlooked. Even major international banks are known at times to hide behind their automated systems. How many times have you been lost in the call transfer process or been sent through three or four idiots before you got to the service section you needed.

Problem solving must be ingrained in all staff as a primary responsibility. I recently spoke to a HR department in a major hotel regarding an issue and was told “that’s not my job and you’ll have to speak to Mr so and so”. This person had no positive customer service attitude and was not at all interested in the impression her bad and disinterested behaviour left on the customer. In contrast I once watched a busy chief executive personally handle a basic question from a customer and after referring them on to the correct department followed up both the service staff and the customer with a call to ensure the query had been handled to the customer’s satisfaction.

Ensuring staff give “compelling customer greetings” is a key to being perceived as an organization that offers great customer service. There are many techniques for ensuring staff know who their customers are by name. With computerised tracking systems it is easy to build a data base of your customer association with your organization. Which do you like? “Hello sir how may I assist you?” (to a repeat customer) or “hello mister Jones nice to see you back how is your xyz widget performing” or “hello Mr Smith, wow you were only here in June you must enjoy our hotel we are really pleased you have come to stay with us again”.

EXCELLENT SERVICE IS A PHILOSOPHY, NOT A TECHNIQUE!

Questions to ask yourself:

Does our company/department/staff take customer requirements very seriously? If we are to be truly customer focused… no one is just doing a job, we are all satisfying customers. How long has it been since we have executed (metaphorically speaking) anyone for saying “its not my job”. Is our organization free of demarcation disputes? Do we have a total quality attitude to our work or is everybody working to rule.

Do we look at what we do from the customer’s point of view? How long has it been since we surveyed our customers; got feedback on how we are doing. (“Face-to-face” is best.) How much effort is really taken to make our customers feel important and respected? Try this… put a dollar coin in a jar every time you hear a phone sound for more than three rings and if the jar is too heavy to lift at the end of two months invest in some attitudinal changes in the corporate culture.

The latest wisdom suggests that partnering is the way to the future… do we show concern for our customer’s business requirements, communicate effectively our needs and demonstrate an understanding for theirs. Is there a follow-up system in place or do we just wait for complaints. When we get complaints do we conduct a ‘witch hunt’ or do we re-educate the staff to do it better next time.

DOES OUR ORGANIZATION PROFIT (LEARN) FROM OUR MISTAKES OR DO THEY JUST COST US CUSTOMERS?

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