A few days ago, I was bestowed with a charming and old-fashioned gesture: A wish to “Have a Wonderful Weekend.” The problem is, the gesture was plastic. Literally. It was stamped on a bag of band-aids and toothpaste I’d purchased in a local pharmacy. Perhaps I am a cold-hearted SOB, but I don’t get the warm and fuzzies when a bag whispers sweet nothings in my ears. In fact I wanted to, and ultimately did, tell the pharmacy they would be advised to replace the weekend “love note” with one that reads: Whatever You Need, Whenever You Need It. Just call us at xxx or visit us at pleasingyoumakesushappy.com.
Why wasn’t this done at the outset? Why won’t they do it ever? Because what used to be one-on-one customer service that came from a culture that truly respected and appreciated customers as the soul and the lifeblood of a business has been reduced to a series of monotonous and superficial scripts that come from nowhere near the heart:
Have a nice day.
Please hold, we’ll be right with you.
If you would like to talk to a live person, press the pound key.
Well actually, I would prefer to talk to a dead person-or even a plastic bag- than push ten more buttons until I find someone totally annoyed that they have to DEAL with a customer. What’s really happening is that businesses are so focused on consummating transactions that they spend no time building enduring relationships. Plastic bags can’t do it. A “Thank You For Your Patronage ” note stamped on an invoice can’t do it. The only way it can be done is if Management develops a culture that truly embraces customers.
The classic customer service survey asks people:
1. Do you like our products/services?
2. Would you buy them again?
3. Would you recommend them to a friend?
What they don’t ask goes to the core of great business, of extraordinary companies:
Do you have faith in our company? Do you think we are committed to you?
They don’t go beneath the surface, the superficial, the scripts because they don’t want to know the answers. They don’t care. The DNA of true customer service, of businesses built on relationships as opposed to transactions, has virtually disappeared. Sadly, today’s managers think it’s all in the plastic bags.
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Hey, that was a pretty good one. Perhaps you should go over to that pharmacy and suggest it. I was thinking where all these lines originated from. Are they really just lines to be stamped on plastic bags or did they originate from something much more customer-oriented back in the day? Just a curious thought.
The problem we have today is that those silly platitudes have become the “Theology of Customer Serice” I’ve heard our people tout that we do more to help customers than anybody else and then turn right around and shriek and complain when somebody takes them to task for not actually being of service.
More often than not, if somebody has to go beyond the platitude the grumbling starts. I’d love to find a way to show our people this in the mirro without starting a brawl – or maybe I shouldn’t avoid the brawl.
This was a good post, since at a philosophical level, customer service is DNA, a combination of better judgment and human dynamics mixed in.
In my experience a lot of companies have their printed-on-paper leadership/customer service training guides and the truth is, those can’t teach human dynamics, passion, or the feeling of success when resolving one’s concerns. It has to come within. It has to be in that person’s passion to help people.
I’ve found the best types of customer service management are the ones who live, eat and breath customer-centric culture. It’s either you have it, or you don’t these days with a very wide margin in between.
You have a pretty interesting blog. I’ll keep it on my radar.
~Joe