Personal Service. The Mom and Pop Shop lives on… Enchante, Austin TX
I have taken up the revered mens pastime of shaving with a “real” razor over the past few months. The Double Edge, or DE razor has been around for a loooong time, and gives me a better shave – closer, less razor burn, and more fun than what I’ve been doing for the last twenty or so years – using a Gillette Sensor in the shower.
As with any hobby or niche, you find that the internet is a vast wealth of information on about everything. I quickly realized this with traditional wet shaving, and with a process called “Method Shaving.” Method Shaving is basically a pattern of shaving that is supported by a series of unique products that, bottom line, will give you the closest, most comfortable shave of your life. Seriously. I won’t get more in to it here, but will give you this link if you want to learn more: Clickety.
Charles Roberts, the man who created the Method Shaving system (or the RMWS, Robert’s Method of Wet Shaving) and the Hydrolast products is passionate about his craft and his business. Charles is a paramount example of how true passion about one’s work contributes exponentially to exceptional service. He and his wife Jean own Enchante, a store devoted to Mens wet shaving, Womens fine fragrances, candles, and other related items.
My experience with Charles starts with my wonderful wife and kids wanting to get me a new badger hair shaving brush for Christmas. This was an incredibly thoughtful gift, and quality badger brushes are not cheap, and are also somewhat difficult to find. They searched high and low – really low, in some cases, as often, men’s wet shaving supplies are in Pipe, Smoke and Cigar shops… places we do not usually support or visit. They were unsuccessful in their quest for a fine badger brush, until my eldest son came to the realization that Charles Roberts’ shop, Enchante, was actually here in Austin where we live. They decided to take me down there – a sort of pilgrimage to meet the man behind the Method…
My wife called the store one Saturday to see if it was open, as Weekend hours were off-and-on. There was no answer. She was going to try again, when a few minutes after her initial call, the phone rang. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was Charles calling back to let her know they were open, and there. How’s that for personal service?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Charles Roberts, customer service, Enchante, RMWS, Wet Shaving
Sales as a service… buying a car
I haven’t bought a car for a decade. For me, my experience with the process of car buying has been akin to a bad root canal given to you by some shady character in a back alley. I detest the whole “let me waste your time and play little emotional sales games with you and go check with my sales manager who’s watching you from the other side of that mirrored glass on that” game. I just don’t enjoy it, but the time had come for us to either keep feeding a ten year old SUV’s aches and pains or get a new vehicle. Through the whole process, I’ve been taking a few notes… of course.
The bottom line, is that sales is a service. A good sales person makes the sale an enjoyable experience for the buyer. Support after the initial sale, however, is what truly makes or breaks a deal.
The internet has changed car buying, at least the initial part. We did most of our looking online. Reading countless safety reviews and weeding choices out based on their number of safety stars. That eliminated a LOT of cars, surprisingly. From there, I filled out the online forms – often it seems, auto dealers will not give you a price, even a sticker price online without you providing contact information. For me, that is a disservice – if you want me to save your salespeople the time, give me a price online.
I settled in with three distinctly different sales people on three different dealer sites… and things got interesting.
Act One: The dance…
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: poor service, sales, San Marcos Honda
Berry Cool Yogurt, Cedar Park TX
Service – I’ve often thought that it doesn’t matter what the business is, every business is capable of bettering their relationship with their customers. What matters is just that – the relationship. An honest, caring relationship with your customers is an absolute key to success.
My wife and I have a long term relationship with froyo – frozen yogurt. More than twenty years ago, we used to go to Country Culture yogurt in San Luis Obispo in college – that store is still there, a testament to good business… but that’s not what this is about – We live 2500 miles away now, but our love for good frozen yogurt is still there. The trend these days is the self serve, pay by weight frozen yogurt “bar.” There are a number of them in the local area. We had been frequenting one of the more popular ones in a trendy multi-use apartment/restaurant/retail space for a while when our daughter found a new one opening up in Cedar Park TX, just a few miles away via the blessing and curse that is our local toll road. We figured it would be a fun little family dessert to go try… The rest is funny family history, as we have never been back to the other one… Berry Cool is where we get our yogurt. Our daughter had found a gem.
Berry Cool Frozen Yogurt is a franchise – well, sort of. There are two stores (there is another one in California.) Aside from that, the store is what I would call “All Jay.” Jay is the owner/proprietor of Berry Cool. He has a great story about being an unfulfilled corporate attorney looking for meaning in life… and finding it as the owner of a frozen yogurt shop. I firmly believe that is part of the key here – he loves doing what he’s doing. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Berry Cool, Caring, Frozen Yogurt, Great Service, personal
A paramount example of Customer Service complicated by Corporate Policy…
Photo from the Austin American Statesman photo blog.
Strip away process and policies that do not allow your employees to serve customers… I say it all of the time. There are also times when you need to make exceptions to policies that are meant to protect both customers and employees. This is one such example. See the link below.
Tags: Policy, poor customer service, Randall's, Safeway
Treat me like a valued customer and I’ll stick around…
Customer loyalty is really important in today’s world. There have been numerous studies done on the cost to source new customers versus the cost to keep the ones you have, and the results are ALWAYS that keeping customers is easier and more profitable. That makes sense, so why is it so difficult to do?
There is a reason I (and thus my family) have been a member customer of AAA for over eighteen years. Way back when, we were brought to the company by a family friend who was an agent in Porterville California. Duane was a guy we went to Church with, that my wife knew since birth, and he took care of us as family. It’s easy, or easier, when you are a friend or family member, but we left California shortly after that and have lived in four or five places since. Oddly enough, every interaction except one over eighteen years has been a good one. The one that wasn’t was more about a phone agent who didn’t know the rules in the state we were in, as she was in another one. The service after we got that runaround was timely, well mannered and accurate, as expected.
Whenever I call, I am thanked for my years of being a customer. I think that’s cool, and more so because, well, I write things like this about serving customers, and IT MATTERS to me as a customer. I like that they recognize I’ve stuck with them. Hopefully my rates reflect that, too. I’ve never checked… hmmmm.
A few weeks ago, my eldest child was involved in a mutual backing parking lot kiss. He was, a bit freaked out, as every driver in their first (however minor) fender bender is. He called and was doing everything he should have, and to make matters worse, the other driver just left, not wanting to exchange the pertinent information (which, by the way, is technically hit-and-run in Texas… but that’s another story.)
His little endeavor has exposed me to another insurance company – I won’t mention any names, but there’s this little green gecko that is on TV… Well, that company’s adjustor and agent have been flat out rude, in writing and in person. Amazingly so. Suffice it to say I will never entertain their services if I ever am in the market for insurance. Ever. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: AAA, Auto Club, customer service, service, Service Experiences
This makes sense…
I found this on the NPR website after reading a little about this book elsewhere. Looks like a must-read.
You can listen to the NPR article there – Head over to NPR and listen!
——————————————–
Facts And Tips from ‘Your Call Is (Not That) Important To Us’
by Emily Yellin
10 Unexpected Facts About Customer Service
1. Americans make an estimated 43 billion calls to customer service per year. That’s an average of 143 calls per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States. That means every second of every day, 1,363 Americans are making a call to customer service.
2. Mark Twain wrote one of the first letters complaining about customer service in 1890. He called his local telephone service “the very worst on the face of the whole earth.”
3. The Customer Rage Study found that about 70 percent of customers feel rage toward companies about service problems. And they react in one or more of these ways: 57 percent never do business with the company again; 28 percent yell or raise their voice at a company employee; eight percent curse, eight percent threaten legal action. Fifteen percent say they want revenge on the company, but only one percent report getting it.
4. In 1882, a Cincinnati man’s phone privileges were revoked for shouting “damn your telephone” when an operator connected him to the wrong number. He sued and lost. Swearing at telephone operators became illegal in many places in the U.S. And in 1902, a doctor in St. Louis was arrested, put on trial and found guilty of using abusive language toward an operator. He was fined $5. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s just words…
If you take this place and feed the words in to a word cloud generator, this is what you get…
Make your own word clouds at www.wordle.net
Social media and customer service…
I just had a tweet hit my phone. Okay, I have lots of them hit it… but this one was different. It wasn’t Darth Vader trash talking the Rebels, or McCain commenting on the latest meeting he’s in. It wasn’t the usual prose from a fly fishing writer buddy pondering the meaning of life on a small stream somewhere in the world… or even my daughter’s facebook status update that she posts via twitter.
The tweet I am referring to came from Dan Haseltine (scribblepotamus), who’s job is to sing for Jars of Clay. He has a modest following on the social phenomenon that is twitter of just under 2,700 followers.
The message was simple, and to the point – a factor of the 140 character limit imposed by twitter:
scribblepotamus “Is confident that the airline industry is the least customer friendly and they don’t care… More to come”
So there his subscribers were, hanging on the “more to come…” Sympathetically pondering something we all likely have experienced in one way or another. Six minutes later, more did come:
scribblepotamus “AA wouldn’t give a flight credit to our crew member who had to change a flight cuz his wife went into labor. Hmmm… Not helpful at all”
That simple message hit roughly 2,700 people within seconds of the event that inspired it. One random act of poor service, and WHAM! We now have a situation, and a company, and the seed has been planted.
This chain of events got me thinking. What is the real implication of the new Social Media and customer service? Can it be measured? Even more importantly, for a truly exceptional service company or provider, can it be LEVERAGED? I recently asked a good friend in the business of studying leadership and the continuum of human behavior about how his company is using Web2.0 media. Then this happens with twitter. I’m not sure where my mind is going, but feel free to join me.
This also jogged my memory – I have my own AA story that I may share someday that would begin with “There’s really no good place to sleep in the airport in New Delhi…”
Social Media and Customer Service. I’ll get back to you on this one. In the mean time, feel free to post or email your thoughts.
Dan, I’m really sorry about the lack of service your crew member received, but really appreciate the tweet. I hope Dad, Mom and baby are well.
Tags: American Airlines, Jars of Clay, poor customer service
7 Ways Leadership Training Helps to Recession-Proof Your Company
This article is relevant… and posted here with permission from my friends at the Center for Leadership Studies (www.situational.com - the single most influential management and leadership training program I have come across in the seventeen years I’ve been doing this…)
In a recession, many leaders tend to freeze up, leaning toward indecisiveness even when bold action is required. As a consequence, they not only deal with the downturn poorly but also are not prepared to take advantage of the inevitable upswing in demand that occurs when the economy recovers. If leadership falls down, companies fall behind. Here are seven ways leadership training helps to recession-proof your organization:
1. Adapt to the “New Normal” — Eventually all great strategy translates into work – take action before analysis paralysis sets in. Don’t let a short-term trend or a sudden disconnect derail your strategic thinking. Innovative companies do not abandon promising strategies; they adjust to the times. Adaptation to the “new normal” is an essential leadership skill.
2. Leadership Wins – The number one reason people stay motivated through tough times is the same as the number one reason why people abandon hope – the leader. People are tuned into their boss, not the organization.
3. Identify Customer Pain – If there is a “new normal” your leadership must recognize that pain shifts or new types of pain may arise in your customer base. From the board of directors to the delivery dock, your people must be sensitive to these changes. Your leadership must have the skills to absorb input and take proactive measures to address the changes in customer pain.
4. Stick to Your Values – Do the right thing – short cuts and compromises may be tempting but don’t abandon the values, the quality gains, the core processes that built your business. Play your best strengths better and honor your history.
5. Believe in Your Leadership – Remember that effective leadership training generally focuses on your most talented and valued employees in high-impact roles. These are the key people to lead you out of a recession and the people at the helm during prosperous cycles, but if people don’t believe in your leaders they won’t follow. You need to believe in them first and show others that you do by investing in them.
6. Believe in Your People – Maintain and support the right staff with the right attitude. If layoffs need to occur, don’t go purely by seniority – now is the time to get rid of the saboteurs and the dementors. Will your people break in the face of adversity…or will they break records?
7. Take Advantage of Opportunities – A downturn in the economy means that many doors are slammed shut. However recessions bring a wealth of opportunities as markets shift. Well trained leaders are able to see the larger picture and drive innovation.
Catch the Next Wave:
Situational Leadership® Online – Targeted Leadership Training
The Situational Leadership® model and CLS (Center for Leadership Studies) were founded by Dr. Paul Hersey. Now the most prominent Leadership Training in the world, Situational Leadership is going to a new level.
or more information call:
1 800 330-2840 (USA)
760 741-6595 (International)
My wife is a bad customer. An REI associate told her so.
As Saturday was Mother’s Day-eve, so to speak, we took Lovely Bride out to breakfast at Panera Bread. She’d been wanting to try it, and the soufflés were good. We had committed most of our day to serving at a low income apartment complex we spend lots of time at – doing Mobile Mother’s Day and helping the kids there create gifts for their Moms. We had a little time after breakfast, and decided to go check out the REI we’ve spend a fair amount of time and money at nearby.
Saturday was a busy day at the Gateway REI in Austin. I’m a co-op member at REI, and have been a customer for decades – Growing up close to Yosemite and spending my childhood in the Sierras and then spending more than a decade in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, it has always been a familiar and fun place to visit and shop.
As we strolled through the store, I noticed it was busy, and had thought it was a good sign in this economy, especially in a store that is not known for good deals but is known for good quality outdoor gear. Usually the store associates are knowledgeable and friendly, and the service is good if not notable… As a matter of fact, service and integrity are spouted regularly in their docs:
• ”We serve others with expertise and enthusiasm. At REI, our work environment encourages service to our customers and co-workers. Working at REI is about helping each customer get the most out of his or her outdoor adventure.”
• ”Doing the right thing is a way of life here.”
As we were wandering the store, we came upon the bicycles, and my five year old daughter – the timid one, grasped a handle grip, and tentatively stepped her foot on to a pedal – not in a way to get on the bicycle, but in more of a “feel out the height” way.
As my wife was moving her along (we were on our way out,) an REI Associate standing across the aisle literally yelled at them – “NO! GET HER OFF!”
I was stunned. My wife, well, she is the Mother Bear, and told the associate she wasn’t on the bike, and there was no reason to snap… “GET HER OFF” was the reply, which she had already done. So, the Mrs then proceeds to tell the associate that that’s “really not good salesperson behavior” – to which the person with the name badge that accurately and ironically read “NO MERCY MARY” replied:
“YOU’RE NOT A GOOD CUSTOMER!!”
I was done with this company at that moment, but I had to get her name and see her name badge. I had to tell this service crippled individual that this was not acceptable. I did, and then we left. When we got outside, two different families apologized to us… “That was totally unacceptable, are you ok?…” “I’ve never seen anyone act like that to a customer…” We shrugged it off as I feverishly took notes for this post…
I have taught Customer Service and personal leadership in fortune 100 Companies for twenty years, and this one takes the cake. “Not a good customer?” I’m going to use this story for YEARS. As service practitioners, we must return to the basics. We must stress polite interactions at all costs with customers. We can even look around in our stores and service centers and ask “why?” more often. Why would I want an associate who proudly displays their “No Mercy” nametag while interacting with customers? What does that imply?
I paid this company to be a member of their store for meager and selective discounts thus, in effect, I paid for this sales associate to berate my family. For years, I have intentionally gone in to REI to purchase things I knew I could get for less money elsewhere. I was loyal because I was a “Member.” Member, no more. This one goes down as the single most flagrant and ridiculous case of poor customer service in history for me, and is beyond unacceptable. In my opinion, and yes, based on this single encounter, REI has lost their service edge and my business. I can find equivalent gear in various other places that actually want my money and are gracious to my family.
My membership card has subsequently become a victim of what I am calling MY SERVICE EDGE.
Goodbye, REI. Please cancel my membership. I won’t be needing it any longer.
Tags: REI, REI Membership, REI poor customer service
WORLDsourcing?
An interesting article shared with me by a friend – who, by his own admission, does NOT like globalization, but has homes here in the US and in his native country of India…
“We have entered … an era where the most successful companies will look for ideas and innovation anywhere to meet customer needs everywhere.”
Beyond Outsourcing, to Worldsourcing
Tags: customer needs, outsourcing
More reason to differentiate yourself with your service…
A friend sent this article to me yesterday. Some interesting and ominous tones here. The thing that really struck me was in the responses… The impact of an article like this on the Companies mentioned and their employees could be devastating.
So why post it here? Because service differentiation is a core factor in surviving this recession, in my opinion. Culturing a passion and contagious attitude of serving customers is a behaviour, not a cost. Make a plan. Infect key people at all levels, and empower them to infect others with the Service Virus.
Here is the article: 15 Companies that might not survive 2009.
Tags: Recession, Viral Customer Service
Some thoughts in an image…
I created this a few years ago, thinking about the service one receives from contact centers all over the world. To me, the fundamentals of Service in contact centers are pretty simple, and common sense. I tried to summarize those in this image. Thought I would share this with you…
Training Predictions ‘09
Being in the field of learning and development is a tough gig in economic times like these. Companies sometimes fall in to the trap of cutting the very function that can and does give many surviving Companies the competitive edge. Here are some predictions for 2009 from TrainingIndusty.com.
What does “World Class” mean?
Well, not much, apparently. I agree, by the way.
A little levity for the day, from this World Class blog… 
Cheesecake Factory at the Austin Arboretum – the Alex and Amy show!
It seems I have quite a few restaurant postings here. No, we don’t eat out that often, but service interactions are at the forefront of most restaurant interactions, so they strike me often as topics.
Last night was “Date Night.” A couple days ago, the family had a discussion about “comfort food.” My bride brought up the Cheesecake Factory “Chicken and Biscuits” entree… mmmmm… that one is a Date Night favorite for us. The portions are huge, so we usually split one and then get a dessert. The service in our local Cheesecake Factory is most often cordial and effective, but rarely outstanding. That changed last night.
When we were seated, our server Alex came and gave us the standard scripted spiel. He had another server with him, and we asked if it was a training day. It was, and Amy was his trainee. it was her first night on the floor after a week of classroom training. As one who has had a career in Learning & Development, I was impressed to learn that Cheesecake Factory had a week of classroom training, and a 300 question knowledge assessment… but some things, I’ve learned, are not trainable, they just “are.”
Amy served us for the most part, with Alex hanging out observing. She did a great job. My water glass was never empty, which for me is a measure of server attentiveness. At one point we were joking with the two of them, and said that “Alex and Amy” sounded like stage names, or a TV show… My wife jokingly asked when they were going to break in to song, and we bantered through the meal about when the show would begin. Our “sharing plates” were delivered in advance and not in hindsight (which is unusual for us) and every interaction with either or both of them was pleasant. The service was impeccable. Much better than our last date night the week prior at Chez Zee in Austin that had mediocre service at best (which, by the way, was par for that whole meal.)
The food was great, as usual and as expected. The service is what really set this meal apart.
Near the end of the meal, my wife asked about “the song” and Alex told her – “we don’t have a song, but we DID write you a poem!” He then proceeded to read a nifty little poem about teaching Amy, having fun and serving us. It totally capped the meal and service experience, and it did SO many other things. I wish I could get it and post it here. Alex, if you ever read this and still have it…
Alex showed Amy that having fun with customers is ok, even acceptable. I’ve trained trainers for years and would hire him to train in one of my own organizations. He led by example, and also gently allowed Amy to do her job, albeit still only her first day in the “real” world. Amy shined as well, being very honest and personable, chatting with us about whatever we asked openly and candidly. They got the order right, gave us suggestions, and didn’t make any strange judgments about us sharing – not always the case, by the way. Of course, I have no idea how a single human could eat that much food… but that is another posting.
The lesson here? Personality. Friendliness. Open honesty. We knew there was training going on, but the personalities and genuine caring shown us as the customers could have made up for a thousand errors (of which there were none.) You can’t train people how to be friendly or nice. You can hire to it or performance manage it when it slides, but if you start with an Amy being trained by an Alex, we all win.
Thanks Alex and Amy. You made our evening with your service.
Tags: cheesecake factory, Service Experiences, table service, training
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Austin TX
Eat there.
Our server last night was incredible. I wish I remembered his name (kicks self.) He is actually the reason I juiced this site – I wanted to send kudos to Chang’s. Awesome food, atmosphere and SERVICE!
If you’re in or around Austin, it’s a worthy place to satisfy your Asian food cravings (plus, the “shot glass desserts” are brilliant…)
So, to the young man who helped the couple that ordered dumplings, Moo Goo Gai Pan, and Honey Shrimp… and two of the dessert shots, thanks so much! From the guy who put away too many glasses of the iced tea…
I wish I remembered your name! I’ll ask the wife…
Edit! The Mrs. of course remembered our server’s name. Big kudos to our man JOSH!!!
Tags: p.f. changs, restaurant, service
Remedy Roofing, Houston, Dallas and Austin TX
Sometimes, service is not about the product, or even the before and during the sale or service. Every once in a while, a good product and sale can go wrong from a service perspective in the follow-up stages. This is one of those times.
The same hail storm that ripped up my car did a number on my roof.
I waited a couple months for the rush to recede and collected the multitudes of pamphlets that arrived on my doorstep, seemingly an endless supply of targeted marketing. I watched as houses up and down the street received new roofs, and decided to go with Remedy Roofing, a Texas outfit.
They came and did an estimate quickly, and I was impressed. The job went well also. Good follow up and a quality job – my roof appears to be well done, and my gutters are as well.
Then things went a bit south. My insurance company splits the payments, and I had given Remedy two thirds of the bill as soon as the work was done, and then requested the remainder from my insurance. Oddly, when I asked them to fax a bill to my insurance Company, the salesman asked me – “What’s the biggest number on your adjustor estimate?” – I didn’t quite understand, and asked what he meant… “I need to know the total – the biggest number on your estimate from your insurance Company.” I gave him the numbers and total – not thinking twice…
My insurance company recieved an invoice that day, for the EXACT amount of the full adjustor estimate…
A week later I had a check to mail to the roofing company. My insurance company has been stellar through this and my car repairs. Of course, within that week, I was called twice by the roofing salesman, telling me his boss was breathing down his neck (after a week? what type of cash cycle model are they using?) and to “Just write a postdated check and stick it under your doormat.”
I wrote the check and called them, requesting an itemized receipt and any additrional paperwork I might need for the roofing warranty. He said he’d get it, and that the estimate/contract would suffice as warranty. I wondered… what if the estimate didn’t take something in to account? I was confused. Still am…
Nothing came.
I called again, two weeks later, again requesting an itemized receipt and the paperwork. The sales guy blamed the office staff and told me he would get them to send it…
That was a month ago, and I still have nothing.
So today I decided to call the office… interestingly enough, you can’t get through to the office. You can only leave a voice mail. I used the email contact form… but I don’t have much faith that anything will come of it.
Lesson for today? Service does not end after the sale. It merely begins another dance between company and customer… Honesty is always the key, and follow-up is as important to the customer as presale service. I will not recommend this company to anyone in the neighborhood, not because they didn’t do a good job with my presale experience or on my home, but because they didn’t do a good job after the sale…
Tags: follow-up, remedy roofing, service
Time to get back to writing…
I’ve been away for a while. Time to get back to posting… lots to say. Thanks for your patience!
Wal-Mart, winning me back, one associate at a time.
I was digging through a dresser junk drawer that has followed me around for years the other day when I ran across some old pins – Wal-Mart Distribution Center pins that I used to wear on my badge fifteen plus years ago. My “Trainer” pin was there. That particular pin marked the beginning of this career in Learning and Development. “Back in the day” when I started with Wal-Mart, the service culture permeated the entire organization. Sam had just passed, and the reverence for his way of doing things was still fresh, almost to a fault. I believe I have mentioned it here, but the very first time that the Wal-Mart Board of Directors met in a Distribution Center was in the facility I was based in, and I got to coordinate the meeting. The exposure to people like Rob Walton, David Glass and especially Don Soderquist really left an impact on me.
I’ve never forgotten sitting on the tarmac with Lee Scott in Porterville after the Board Meeting waiting for “the jet” and him saying, “If you ever need anything, give me a call.” Of course, he wasn’t the CEO then. I still have yet to call for that chit… I wonder if it has expired. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: customer service, Wal-Mart