Destination Success: Real customer service essential to success

I was in the produce section of my local supermarket when an employee, asked, "Did you find everything you needed?"

"No," I replied. "There are about six items that I normally buy that I can't find in this store."

Her response was rapid. She asked if I had spoken to anyone about the situation. When I said I had just told a checker, she said, "Let me call the manager." I wrote all six down along with my name and phone number. "We'll do what we can to stock them for you," the manager said.

I felt great. Finally, someone had actually listened to me! So many times, questions are asked of customers but the answers are lost.

"Customer service is much more than communication. It is problem solving. You can communicate, you can really listen, but if you haven't solved their problem or given them a resource to solve it, you really haven't performed customer service." This is the observation of Marlene Chism, president of ICARE Consulting, a company that helps organizations solve their communications problems.

"How are you folks doing tonight?"

"Let me know if you need anything."

"Do you have any questions?"

Are the questions you ask your customers rote, or are they real?

In order to provide great customer service and repeat business, employees need to understand the concept of listening, feedback and follow-through.

Listening

Proactive listening involves more than just nodding one's head. It takes a degree of concentration. It means that as one listens, one processes.

Sharon Sipple is the owner of the Sipple Insurance Connection, an independent insurance agency. In her business, Sharon has trained agents. She advises them to pay attention to listening. "One of the issues in dealing with clients is really listening and not just waiting for them to quit talking. Instead of planning our answer while they are talking, we need to digest what they have said."

Feedback

Without feedback, there is no communication. In business, feedback clarifies and fills in the gaps,

Feedback is key in any kind of business. Kathy Iman, owner of KJI Enterprises in Nixa, provides medical bill and elder care consulting.

"A lot of times, these people don't have anyone else to talk to. They may have no families or visitors. They may tell their stories over and over," Inman said.

All customers have stories and we need to listen to them. As Iman says, "I want to make sure that they understand that the service I am providing them is not just a job. A service that I may provide may be minute to me, but it can be major to them."

Follow-through

Last fall, my dad and I went to Kansas City for a Toastmasters contest I was in and stayed in a hotel. If it could go wrong there, it did. We got terrible rooms. My dad's room was dirty. I didn't get a wake-up call. The eggs at breakfast were tasteless. It went on and on.

We both wrote letters. We were heard. Not only did we get letters of apology, we both received personal calls from the regional manager. We also received free nights in one of the sister hotels. This time, I took my mother to Kansas City.

When we arrived, there was a bucket with chilled wine and all sorts of goodies. The bad experience is now dimmed in light of a very positive one. That hotel chain listened, they asked for more feedback and most importantly, they provided follow-through.

Marlene Chism gives another spin to the customer always being right. "All too often, when we hear a customer's complaint, we are more concerned with who is right and who is wrong. But, being right is to the left of being excellent."

At a drugstore recently, I was standing in line waiting for a checker who was chomping gum. The phone rang and she took a whispered personal phone call. She hung up and smiled at me. "I can't wait to get out of here," she confided.

As Kathy Iman says: "We have gotten into too much of the rote routine of hustling people through like cattle. They don't see you as a person. They see you as just one more hamburger going out the door."

In my case, one more toothbrush.

It is as though some people don't get the connection between the customer and their paycheck. You really cannot have one without the other.

(Sinara Stull O'Donnell is a writer and professional speaker in the career arena through her company Sinara Speaks.)