A Little Help Please!

It is amazing that in a time when many companies are on the brink of bankruptcy and almost everyone has to work harder to close business, some organizations are unwilling to lift a finger to earn your dollars.

This past week I was in New York City with my wife. This was our first pleasure trip to the city and we had a fantastic experience. Prior to flying to NYC, some good friends gave us the name of a transportation company that was an alternative to the taxi cab. We called ahead and made our reservation for a driver to meet us at the airport upon our arrival.

The car was clean, comfortable, and on time. The driver was very nice and took us to our hotel on Times Square. After spending the weekend seeing the sights and shows, we reluctantly made the call on Sunday afternoon to the same car company to arrange for our pickup later that evening. We would be spending the final night at a hotel a few miles from LaGuardia Airport.

When I called the reservation number for the NYC company, they asked for the address of our hotel. (It was a Fairfield by Marriott – three miles from the airport.) At the time, I was walking down Broadway heading to lunch and did not have the address with me. I told them the name of the hotel.

They responded that they would need to have the street address to make the reservation. I was surprised that a transportation company would not have a list readily available of airport hotels. I asked if they could look up the address, and they responded that they could not. I asked to speak to the manager and got the same response.

If I was running this business and trying to generate revenue in a down economy, I would have found a way to find the address. I can’t believe that I was the first person to make such a request. This company should create a quick reference document for their reservation agents to quickly find the address for the main hotels that surround their two main airports.

I don’t know if these employees were lazy or just lacked common sense, but if they want to stay in business, they should realize that customer expectations are increasing and they need to do what it takes to respond to the customer needs.

Customer Service is like a Roller Coaster!

The relationship between a company and its customers is not all that different than the relationship between a husband and wife. Every couple knows that there are great times and times that you may not be seeing eye-to-eye. There are also times when you are moving from one state to another, also called “making up.”

I want to share an experience from this past month that illustrates the up and down nature of customer relationships. Several weeks ago, I received an unsolicited call from a representative of Verizon. He was the sales person from whom I had purchased my air-card almost 18 months earlier. He worked at one of the Verizon locations inside a Circuit City store. He said that they were replacing some of the older equipment that had experienced problems. The sales person assured me that there would be no additional cost and it would not extend my contract.

I replied: “Sure. Go ahead and send it to me.”

The card arrived later that week. I waited a few days and then connected it to my laptop to see how it would work. I noticed that it connected with a new phone number. Apparently, this sales person lacked integrity and was simply attempting to gain the commission from a new device and phone number. (NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE – The Roller Coaster headed down the slope.)

Suspecting that this would result in a separate bill, I picked up the phone and called Verizon and explained the situation. The Verizon call center agent was very pleasant and said she would take care of the situation by closing this number and moving the new device to my original account. (POSITIVE EXPERIENCE – The Coaster was heading back up.)

The next weekend I was on a trip. As we usually do, my wife drove and I sat in the passenger seat with my laptop catching up on some work. I connected my new air-card, only to have it fail while making a connection. (NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE – Heading back down.)

I called the technical support center for Verizon and explained the situation. The previous call center worker had made a mistake with the cards and had turned the new card off instead of transferring it to my old number. (NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE – Heading into the tunnel!)

The initial call center support person was very understanding and did everything within her level of skill to resolve the problem. After 30 minutes, she asked if she could put me on hold and get a senior technical support person on the phone. She stayed on the phone, explained the situation and completed a proper handoff. (POSITIVE EXPERIENCE – Coming out of the tunnel!)

The technical resource tried several possible solutions without success. I explained how important it was for me to have access as I had several urgent emails to send. He kept thinking and eventually was able to re-activate my original card and account. I was back up and running! (POSITIVE EXPERIENCE – The coaster was heading up another hill.)

Two weeks later, I received a “Welcome Packet” from Verizon thanking me for opening a new account and letting me know my new expiration date would be two years in the future. (Heading back down!)

I called again and talked to a nice team member who assured me that this was not the case and the account had been closed. (Taking a turn back up.)

Two weeks later, I received my “new” Verizon bill that indicated I was being charged over $200 for an “early termination” fee. (Sinking to an all time low! The coaster had jumped the track!)

I picked up the phone again and after waiting a couple of minutes, a very polite Verizon employee answered the phone. I explained the situation and within two minutes, she had issued the credit and apologized for the entire situation. (Moving back up the final hill.)

Within five minutes I received an email from the Verizon system confirming the credit and showing the correct outstanding balance for my original air-card. (Back to good standing.)

I tell you this story not to pick on Verizon, but to illustrate what is common in almost every company. Great customer service requires every team member to do their part.

Employees in any organization will fall into one of four categories:

They understand the importance of providing great customer service and also possess the skills and support to do so.
They understand the importance, but lack the training, systems, processes or skills to provide great customer service.
They don’t believe that customer service is important, and therefore don’t stand a chance at delivering excellent service.
They lack the personal integrity to consistently do the right thing, resulting in disappointed customers.


There were seven points of contact with a Verizon employee during this air-card saga. One lacked integrity, two or three had great intentions but lacked the skill or support system, and three delivered great service.

Verizon has one of the better reputations for customer service from among the cell phone providers. I am sure they have a good training program and expect only the best out of their employees, yet less than half of them were able to meet my expectations. Remember, if you are one of those employees who have a passion for delivering service and possess the skill needed to do so, you will have to make up for less than stellar performances by some of your co-workers. Consider it your job to get the roller coaster back on the track and heading back up the hill. Every organization’s goal should be to have more positive experiences than negative, but even service recovery situations can earn big points in the constant up and down relationship between a company and its customers.

Keep Those Customers!

Picture a large wooden bucket with a hose adding water at the top with a constant flow. The water runs continuously, but the bucket is never quite full. Unfortunately there is a big hole in the bottom of the bucket.

That is how most companies operate. They spend a lot of money on marketing initiatives trying to increase their market share in their particular industry. Meanwhile, long term customers are leaving and taking their business to a competitor.

Many sales incentives and programs are established to draw in new customers with little regard for an existing one. For example, the cell phone industry runs all kinds of promotions to attract new customers. I was a customer of a particular provider for several years. My average monthly phone bill was around $200. My contract had long expired and I was in need of a new phone. I was told there was no way to take advantage of some of the offers available to new customers.

Let’s think about that situation.
- I was a proven customer with a high monthly bill who paid the full amount each month prior to the due date.
- I knew how to use all the features of the phone and did not require any assistance from the customer service center.
- I had been pleased with the phone and service and had been a loyal customer for three years.
- I frequently referred friends and family to this provider.

Most organizations would consider me an ideal customer, yet this phone company did not appear at all interested in keeping my account.

For the reasons listed above, an existing customer is almost always worth more than a new customer. I have heard it said that it takes six times more resources to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.

Some companies have started to understand that if they spend a portion of the money previously spent marketing to new customers on keeping current customer satisfied, they will benefit financially.

So why do customers leave? Take a look at the following list and the percentage of people who left for each reason.

3% move away
6% develop other friendships
9% for competitive reasons
14% are dissatisfied with the product or service
68% because of an attitude of indifference by the owner, manager, or some employee

Over two thirds take their business to your competition due to reasons other than the product or price. Customers are fickle! Unless they have no alternative, a customer will leave if they are offended or if their needs are not being met by a member of your team. Your company may indeed have the best product or service, but if not delivered by attentive staff and leadership, a customer is likely to buy from someone who treats them with respect.

It is critical that you have accountability processes in place. The way a customer is treated plays such an important role in retaining them, so it is critical that every employee on your team be trained to deliver world class service. You can’t be with every customer at all times, so you must ensure that your staff is delivering the quality of service you would expect if you were personally handling the interaction.

There will be times when a customer decides to leave. On those occasions, it is important to talk to them and identify the core issue that resulted in their decision to take their business elsewhere. It is important that the person soliciting this feedback be objective and not defensive or argumentative. At this point, the most important thing is to learn from this former customer to avoid repeating the same mistakes with current customers.

On rare occasions, you may be able to win the customer back simply by talking with them and resolving their immediate issue. You have a much better chance of retaining your customers if you are able to gather feedback and act on it before the customer decides to go to a competitor.

Remember, in most instances, your current customer is your best customer!