What Most Frontline Employees Overlook-Even The Pros

Guest Post By Scott Ginsberg

1. Make the mundane memorable. Nobody notices normal, nobody buys boring and nobody pays for average. And that doesn’t just go for your products and services – that goes for the environment in which they are delivered. And, just for your reference: Your environment is anywhere customers experience your value – in person or online. And if your customers have no memory of your boring office, vanilla waiting room or mundane meeting room – you haven’t done your job in providing approachable, unforgettable service. Is your company’s service environment forgettable?

2. Master the thank you. I’m not talking about one of those impersonal mass emails, obligatory holiday cards or overused robotic messages that tell customers that their call is very important to you. If you want to extend gratitude – provide visual evidence of widespread customer impact. Send your customers a picture of your son who can now go to college because of their business. Write a blog post highlighting what a joy it was to work with a particular customer, then post the link on his Facebook page. That’s a real thank-you. When you speak straight to the heart of the human experiences. How are you creatively telling your customers that you’re grateful for their business?

3. Learn where you suck. A complaint is a gift. It enables you to deliver better, faster and smarter service. And while I’m not suggesting you screw up intentionally; the key is to install a system to document, evaluate and leverage customer complaints. In fact, you could offer twenty dollars to every employee who created three workable solutions for every complaint that came in. Then you could post them on the wall as a reminder of what not to do from that point on. How do you make it easy for customers to complain?

4. Own the small. It’s so easy to make customers happy. And like epoxy glue, all you need is a consistent flow of smalls drop to secure their loyalty to your organization. Here’s my suggestion for your next staff meeting: Require each employee to make a list of the five small touches they do better than anybody. Then, use that list as an accountability measure to make sure your frontline staff are executing their expertise – even in those minor moments. It’s not only fun – but it also empowers each employee to exert their distinctiveness in the service process. What small touches are you an expert at?

5. Terminate the average. There’s nothing wrong with firing customers. Happens all the time. The tricky part is saying no to the wrong people who will gladly give you money when your company really needs it. The secret is: Saying no to the good makes room to say yes to the best. Otherwise you’ll never know. You’ll never meet that perfect customer who would go to the ends of the Earth for you, because you were too busy focusing on the people who don’t matter. That’s the power of a positive no. What standards do you maintain for rejecting customers?

6. Mindset rules the day. Every customer touchpoint either adds to – or subtracts from – the overall brand of the organization. And your attitude affects how people experience you, and how people experience themselves in relation to you. Remember: The only thing customers can form an impression about is how interacting with you makes them feel. Having a bad day? Customers don’t care. Didn’t get your Starbucks Double Whipped Mochachino before work? Customers don’t care. It’s not about what you think – it’s what they remember. How many customers have you lost because of your attitude?

7. Stop superimposing customer needs. Is it important to the customer, or does it just make you feel better? That’s a hard pill to swallow. But it’s easy to project onto a customer what you think they ought to want. The problem is, that’s not always what they need. And too many customer service professionals are taking pride in things that don’t actually matter. The key is to remember: You are not your customer. Consider your current service offerings. See how many useless processes and action items things you could delete and then replace them with direct feedback you solicit from your customers. Are you really providing service, or just servicing yourself?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Is your service worth spreading?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

For the list called, “8 Ways to Out Question the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

Scott Ginsberg is the World Record Holder of Wearing Nametags. He’s the author of twelve books, an award-winning blogger, professional speaker and creator of NametagTV.com. He specializes in approachability, identity and execution, and for more info about books, speaking engagements, customized online training programs or to rent Scott’s brain for a one-on-one session, email scott@hellomynameisscott.com.

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