{"id":105,"date":"2011-06-03T01:12:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-03T05:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=105"},"modified":"2011-06-05T22:14:41","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T02:14:41","slug":"bad-customer-service-in-seven-lessons-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=105","title":{"rendered":"Bad Customer Service in Seven Lessons: Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past Friday\u00a0I shared with you Part I of the customer service meltdown\u00a0Bottle\u00a0Washer and I witnessed\u00a0at a mountain lodge.\u00a0\u00a0Experiencing\u00a0these customer service infractions\u00a0as\u00a0patrons\u00a0made us squirm like night crawlers on a hook, as we recognized some of\u00a0the same mistakes at our own Small Business.\u00a0\u00a0Last week I recounted three mishandled opportunities and the corresponding lessons you can\u00a0apply to your Small Business.\u00a0\u00a0Read on to see how our weekend continued to be a page-turning primer on how not<\/em> to treat your customer, and the (not so surprising) surprise we discovered at the end.<\/p>\n

Customer Service Opportunity\u00a0#4:<\/strong>\u00a0 The next morning as we headed out to go canoeing we noticed that the maid closet in the\u00a0hallway\u00a0was wide open.\u00a0 Hanging in a neat row were the passkeys for each\u00a0room – \u00a0labeled with room numbers.\u00a0 There was no maid in sight.<\/strong>\u00a0 I immediately went back to my room and got my wallet and cash.\u00a0 Bottle Washer, always trusting, took his chances and left his in his room.<\/p>\n

Misadventure Lesson #4:\u00a0 Lack of security makes your customers feel insecure.<\/strong>\u00a0 In the course of doing business, you are likely\u00a0responsible for items of value belonging to your patrons, for example\u00a0credit card numbers, objects which you are servicing or repairing,\u00a0or personal information such as health records.\u00a0 Give your patrons reason to be confident that you are a trustworthy steward.\u00a0\u00a0Develop and implement security protocols to protect objects or information\u00a0which your customers have entrusted to you.\u00a0 Failing to do so makes you look\u00a0sloppy and amateur at best and at worst puts you at risk for liability in case of theft or other loss.\u00a0 <\/strong>(I actually could empathize with the lodge owners.\u00a0 This is an issue that Bottle Washer and I deal with daily in our Small Business.\u00a0 For some reason our employees have a difficult time taking security seriously.\u00a0 Do you have problems with this?\u00a0 How do you handle it?)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Customer Service Opportunity #5:<\/strong>\u00a0 The next morning we went to the front desk to get directions to a Rodeo we were attending that evening.\u00a0 Yee Haw!\u00a0 I was really looking forward to it.\u00a0 While we were waiting, several random employees came in and out of the front desk area.\u00a0 They were engaged in an on-going conversation, probably a continuing conservation they had had for the past several months, or even years.\u00a0\u00a0 Although typical of what you might talk about with a group of friends, the topics were personal in nature, and well, let’s just say provided a little more information than Bottle Washer and I really needed to know.\u00a0 Occasionally, one of the employees would address us directly to complain about some aspect of the lodge or their employment.\u00a0<\/strong>This left us in the awkward position of either agreeing with them or defending an establishment that was, quite frankly, a mess.\u00a0 The front desk clerk was completely frazzled and told us in detail how she didn’t have any idea what she was doing.\u00a0 We left the front desk\u00a0with our directions but also exhausted and with\u00a0a deflated sense of excitement for our day.\u00a0 (But the rodeo was awesome!)<\/p>\n

Misadventure Lesson #5:\u00a0 Your patrons are paying you to take care of them.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0That bears repeating: your patrons are paying you to take care of them.\u00a0 <\/strong>Whether they are asking your help to pick out a great CD or getting a massage, they want to be treated professionally and courteously.\u00a0 They want to feel <\/em>taken care of.\u00a0 And they want it to be about them.\u00a0 Even if in your Small Business\u00a0the relationship feels more casual, trust me, your patrons do not want to know\u00a0about your employees’ problems, that your rent increased, that the cashier can’t work the new point of sale computer, or how your child got busted for chewing gum in the lunchroom. \u00a0Train your staff – relentlessly – to focus on the customer.<\/strong>\u00a0 Put the serving<\/em> back into customer service.<\/p>\n

Customer Service Opportunity #6:<\/strong>\u00a0 Later in the day No Service Sue was back on desk duty.\u00a0 You may remember No Service from Part I of this post.\u00a0 This particular afternoon\u00a0a hapless guest had locked her keys in her car.\u00a0 She was explaining the situation to Sue, who was looking at the guest as if she had no idea <\/em>why this person was taking up her time.\u00a0 Since cell phones didn’t work in that remote area, and there were no phones in the rooms, the guest hinted that\u00a0it would be nice if No Service Sue –\u00a0the desk clerk –\u00a0called AAA or a local garage on the guest’s behalf.\u00a0 No Service caught the gist of the guest’s prompt immediately, and then loudly and dismissively proclaimed,\u00a0 “Well, some people might do that, but that’s just not me<\/em>.”\u00a0 The guest was flabbergasted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Misadventure Lesson #6:\u00a0<\/strong>I’ve got news for No Service Sue: It’s not about you, it’s all about your customers.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Surprise them by going above and beyond the expected on their behalf.<\/strong>\u00a0 Seriously, how long would it have taken No Service Sue to call AAA – about five minutes?\u00a0 That five minutes would have translated into hours of appreciation from the unfortunate woman.\u00a0\u00a0(In case you haven’t guessed, Bottle Washer stepped in and rescued the keys with the mad coat-hanger skills he learned during his gas station attendant days.)<\/p>\n

Customer Service Opportunity #7:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The first two mornings we awoke to a choice of a generous self-service breakfast spread (laid out on the buffet that held the empty water cooler and no-ice ice machine)\u00a0or a sit-down breakfast with waitress service.\u00a0On our\u00a0last morning Bottle Washer had looked forward to\u00a0sneaking in one last kayak expedition\u00a0before we headed home.\u00a0 But, when he arrived downstairs there was no breakfast buffet.\u00a0 The staff\u00a0had decided not to bother with it that day and to require all guests to eat a sit-down breakfast in the dining room.\u00a0 Bottle Washer had to ditch his kayak plans in order to allow time for a made-to-order breakfast.\u00a0<\/strong> He was ticked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Misadventure Lesson #7:\u00a0\u00a0If you set a pattern of expectation in your patrons, be consistent in upholding that pattern.\u00a0 Otherwise you risk disappointing them.<\/strong>\u00a0 Last Friday I wrote that every time you make contact with a customer, or potential customer, you are creating an opportunity to communicate something about your business.\u00a0 Think\u00a0what was communicated in the above examples, and how likely the various guests involved would want to return.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Thanks to the indiscretions of several employees, as well as a framed newspaper article proudly tacked to the wall, we gleaned some intel about\u00a0the relatively new owners of this historic lodge.\u00a0 A married couple, they had\u00a0moved to the remote locale with the intention of applying their Big Business experience to overhaul an aging small enterprise and “to lead a\u00a0more authentic life with their children.”\u00a0 (I have idea what that last part means.\u00a0)\u00a0 The couple was now in the midst of a grievous\u00a0divorce.\u00a0 Both owners had moved back to The City – separately – and were\u00a0attempting to run the lodge via long-distance.\u00a0 That explained a lot.\u00a0 No one was minding the store.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That brings up perhaps the most important point about your Small Business: no one cares about<\/em> your business or will care for<\/em> your business like you do, so mind your own business.\u00a0 <\/strong>What customer service flaws have you noticed in your own business or other’s, and what did you learn from them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Friday\u00a0I shared with you Part I of the customer service meltdown\u00a0Bottle\u00a0Washer and I witnessed\u00a0at a mountain lodge.\u00a0\u00a0Experiencing\u00a0these customer service infractions\u00a0as\u00a0patrons\u00a0made us squirm like night crawlers on a hook, as we recognized some of\u00a0the same mistakes at our own … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14,15,8,17],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-customer-service","tag-customer-service-2","tag-security-protocols","tag-small-business","tag-staff-training"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}