Service that Anticipates Customersâ Needs
Picture this situation: A hotelâs maintenance engineer perches on a ladder in the lobby, changing a lightbulb. He notices a guest coming in from the adjacent pool area. She is wet, wrapped in towels and carrying numerous beach bags. With her hands full, she has trouble opening the door to the lobby. When he sees her âfumblingâ with the latch, he climbs down from the ladder to help her. âWelcome back to the hotel, maâam,â he says. âLet me help you with your bags. How was the pool?â He then carries her bags to the elevator and punches the button to her floor. Admirable service? Yes, but what if the engineer had climbed down to assist the guest immediately, when he first saw her coming and realized her plight? Then, instead of providing âreactive service,â which involves spotting a negative customer experience and fixing it, he would have provided âanticipatory service,â which prevents the negative experience from happening in the first place. You want your employees to anticipate what your customers need.
âThe single best thing you can do for your business is to build true customer loyalty, one customer at a time.â
Providing this level of âcustomer satisfactionâ has four pivotal aspects:
- âPerfect productâ â Unless your product or service is as flawless as possible, customers will always feel the need to keep seeking an alternative.
- âCaring deliveryâ â If your employees donât interact with your customers in a caring manner, their bad attitudes will color your clientsâ feelings about your products or services, no matter how ideal they may be.
- âTimelinessâ â If you donât deliver on time, youâre already in the wrong.
- âEffective problem resolutionâ â Problems sometimes occur in even the most polished organization. How your company handles them makes all the difference.
âLoyalty makes customers less price sensitive, more willing to spend money with you, more willing to take a chance on extensions to your product line...and much more immune to competitive entreaties.â
To build loyalty among your customers, deliver top quality service all the time to cultivate truly devoted clients who stop looking for alternatives to your firm. Even though customer loyalty is that pivotal, many managers donât know how to foster dedicated followers. To begin, learn what makes your customers tick, and use that knowledge to build sustaining relationships. Without that connection, clients may view your goods or services as easily replaceable commodities.
âLanguage Engineeringâ
To engender customer loyalty, teach your employees what type of terminology to use. The kind or language they employ is far more important than the words in your marketing materials â and think how carefully your promotional professionals select those terms. Your employeesâ conversations with clients have tremendous power to make your customersâ experiences rewarding, reinforcing and positive.
âHumans appear to be wired to respond appreciatively to anticipatory service.â
The right words can make service breakdowns bearable, just as the wrong words can quickly dismay even the most satisfied customers. Establish a preferred speech style within your firm. Train employees to use the right words at the right time, a practice that works well for Ritz-Carlton. To illustrate, consider these examples: Telling a customer âyou owe...â is bad usage, but saying âOur records show a balance of...â is better. Saying âyou need toâ is abrupt; to be more courteous, say instead: âWe find it usually works best when...â Saying, âplease holdâ is curt, but saying, âMay I briefly place you on hold?â is gracious. Of course, words will only take you so far. Your actions must be equally solicitous.
âThe primary threat to a business today is the perception by customers that all you offer is a replaceable, interchangeable commodity.â
Follow these easy rules:
- Donât screen calls â This practice alienates current and potential customers.
- Answer the phone quickly â Unanswered rings create anxiety, then anger.
- Make sure customers can reach you easily â Putting âplease do not reply to this messageâ at the bottom of a mass email is not the way to win friends.
- Back up your website with personable people â Having your telephone staffer initiate a call by saying, âHi! This is Jane at Company Xâ is impersonal. Personalize your interactions with clients by using full names. âHi, this is Jane Chang-Katzenberg.â
- Include salutations in all emails â You would not send out a standard letter without a âDearâ or a âHi.â Be as polite in your emails as you would be in a letter.
âService Recoveriesâ
Ensure that everyone in your firm is dedicated to resolving problems or complaints.
âPricing is a major issue because pricing, like service, is one of the elements of value...Pricing must be presented appropriately, with sensitive language, without surprises, in a way that engenders trust.â
Follow these four steps to get things back in shape for your customers:
- âApologize and ask for forgivenessâ â Make your regret personal, believable and sincere. Acknowledge the customerâs grievance. Be careful with your phrasing. For example, the client will hear âIf what you say is correct, I certainly apologize,â as âYouâre lying.â Donât rush your apology. Stretch it out so it registers with the customer.
- âReview the complaint with your customerâ â To find out exactly what happened, you will need to ask some pertinent, basic questions, along the lines of âDid you plug it in?â Thatâs called a âDYPIIâ question, and it will help you discover if the client took the necessary, first steps to make a product function. Before asking DYPII queries, be sure people have already accepted your apology. Otherwise, asking will just irritate them.
- âFix the problem and then follow upâ â Use this opportunity to establish a tighter bond by offering the client something additional, for example, a free upgrade. This will restore a feeling of justice to the customer, who currently feels wronged. Once you have resolved the problem, follow up to show your concern.
- âDocument the problemâ â This is the way to learn from any mistakes and to track the causes of a problem.
âNever attack employees for the problems that your continuous improvement system reveals. You need employees...who are open about revealing defects.â
To keep on top of the details about your customers, develop a tracking system listing their main preferences and traits. Update it after each interaction.
Here are some ânoting and sharingâ principles:
- âKeep your systems simpleâ â Donât track everything. Focus on major attributes.
- âIf itâs important to your customer, it belongs in your systemâ â Record âservice preferencesâ and personal data. Include pertinent information on any previous missteps on your companyâs part concerning this customer.
- âThe information you gather needs to be available in real timeâ â Make sure all front-line employees have immediate access to the tracking system.
- âPreferences change; assumptions are trickyâ â Just because a customer once ordered tea before dinner does not mean that he or she will always want tea before dinner.
- âMoods changeâ â So, âtrack them.â Servers at The Inn at Little Washington score the mood of their customers before they eat, using a one-to-ten scale. The Innâs goal is to elevate the âmood of customers to at least nineâ before they leave the restaurant.
- âDonât blow it with a wooden deliveryâ â Use the personâs name on a liberal basis, always with a sincere, engaged manner.
- âUsing technology to ask for information? Itâs a fine line between clever and creepyâ â Employ your database information discreetly. Donât sound like Big Brother. You donât want customers to think you spy on them.
âA Ritz-style vocabulary now pervades the hospitality industry.â
To provide exceptional service, employees must âthink likeâ your buyers. Have your staffers shop at your store or eat in your restaurant. Heed their feedback on what it is like to be your customer. Typical feedback, say, for a restaurant, might include observing that patrons who eat alone like to have something to read, so you might provide magazines for solitary diners. This is a perfect example of the kind of anticipatory service that turns ordinary customers into loyal fans.
The Ritz-Carltonâs âMr. BIVâ
Mr. BIV, the name a group of Ritz-Carlton employees gave to their quality-control program, stands for: âbreakdowns, inefficiencies [and] variation in work processesâ â recurring problems, like unattended repairs, that you want to avoid. Employees who find a Mr. BIV issue immediately inform the person who can solve it. To learn why missteps happen, keep asking âwhyâ until you find the core problem. Then solve that issue. For example, when a customer complains that room service was late, ask the waiter why. His waiterâs elevator was delayed. Why? Housekeeping held it while seeking more linens. Why? The hotel doesnât have enough linens. Solution? Buy more linens. Mr. BIV wants to know why all the time; it's the pivotal question in your drive for continuous improvement. To gather more customer input use occasional âin-depth surveysâ and more frequent âin-house âquizzesââ or mini, three-to-seven-question surveys. Secret shoppers also can give valuable information. However, the best way to ensure quality service is to hire the right people.
âWell-trained, well-equipped and well-treated personnel have longer company tenures, lower accident rates and fewer behavior problems.
Look for these traits:
- âGenuine personal warmthâ â Everyone wants to deal with welcoming, kind people.
- âEmpathetic skillâ â Employees who can relate to people will deliver better service.
- âAn optimistic, upbeat attitudeâ â No one wants to be around a pessimist.
- âA team orientationâ â People should have a positive impact on their work groups.
- âConscientiousnessâ â Seek employees who are proud of their work, strive to do it well and follow through on all tasks. Staffers who are not conscientious will cause trouble.
âNever ever say, âAnd the purpose of this call is?â âWho are you?â âWill she know what youâre calling about?â or other insulting questions...Instead, say, âYou bet â may I get your name so I can pass it on to him?ââ
Exceptional service also demands capable leadership. Seek top executives who have:
- âVisionâ â âGreat service leadersâ ponder what the future should hold for their firms.
- âAlignmentâ â These leaders get their workforce to understand and support their vision.
- âStandard settingâ â Good bosses set high standards and hold employees to them.
- âSupportâ â Thoughtful leadership includes making sure people have the resources they need to reach their organizational goals.
- âMotivation, recognition and rewardâ â To spur performance, make it worthwhile; offer incentives and recognize your team's hard work.
âWe arenât just selling a product. We are paying attention to our clients.â
Even some managers who support high-quality service still object to its cost. This is shortsighted. Building in exceptional service may increase your operational expenses, but you canât put a price tag on the value of superbly satisfied customers who speak glowingly about your firm. Additionally, the best staffers prefer to work for companies with positive consumer relationships based on quality products and exceptional service. Companies with elevated âloyalty-building standardsâ have lower turnover of both employees and customers. They may qualify for better insurance rates and can worry less about negligence lawsuits than other firms.
Online Considerations
The internet is a magical medium. However, its great power and amazing capabilities can push you toward behavior that is antithetical to consumers. Do not fall prey to the webâs âdark side.â The web may sway you to commoditize your online customers. For example, providing answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) on your website is fine, but donât assume that listing the replies to a series of stock questions completes your online customer service. Some visitors to your website may not find the answers they need in your FAQs, so post additional information in two formats: short â for customers with brief attention spans â and long â for people who want all the details. Let your consumers choose what type of data they want. Always treat your customers â including online clients â as individuals, not as commodities.
Hello and Goodbye
How you greet your customers and send them off is extremely important. A nice hello automatically puts someone in a good mood. A fond farewell makes people think positively about their experience with you. And since hellos and goodbyes initiate and end interactions, they are highly memorable. Consider assigning your most outgoing, cheery, friendly employee to be your firmâs receptionist; the person in this job is your âfirst and last impression creator.â Be just as solicitous on the phone as in the reception area. Take the time to communicate warm hellos and caring goodbyes on the telephone.
âGo the extra mile, for free and with a smile.â
Be extra considerate toward people with any form of physical challenge. For example, people who have difficulty seeing and who want to use your website may not be able to decipher the distorted code words some sites use to ward off hackers. Be customer-friendly in all you do.