What Can We Learn?
The principles that L.L. Bean practiced when he founded this company are still alive today. Subsequent leaders of the company have carried them forward. During my quest to find the top service providers, I found a lot of companies with values in place today that are a continuation of the value system of the founders of the company. And I found there is a top-down commitment in the companies that provide value-based service.
As I was writing this chapter, I was interviewed to be a speaker at an international convention on customer service later in the year. I found myself in a philosophical discussion about customer service with the program director of the convention. She asked whether I would be comfortable discussing my theory that values come from the core with an audience of several hundred CEOs of major businesses. I suggested to her that I would not be uncomfortable, but that some of them might.
Look around at the companies that don’t get it, and you’ll probably find the feeling that it must be “someone else’s fault” other than that of the person or persons at the top. I sense this discomfort often as I am asked to speak to companies about providing exceptional customer service. I detect that what management wants to hear is less about how its values affect the company and more about the “step-by-step” process that employees can take to provide that service. Managers want action for their staff, not challenges for them. This leads to a lot of surprise when it is found that service has to start at the top. It cannot start in the middle.
I recently had a conversation with Kathy Lewis, who is the CEO of Capstone Mortgage Institute in Atlanta. In addition to being a dynamic business leader, Kathy operates her business based on a clear core of values that she would be pleased to discuss with you at any time. When asked how she treats customers who have completed her training course and are unhappy, she simply said, “We’ll retrain them until they are happy or give them their money back.” This commitment is very straightforward and simple.
But unlike other business leaders who are afraid that they’re going to “get screwed” (their words) if they make satisfaction guarantees, Kathy operates on the premise that if you give, you get! If you give guarantees to your customers, you get trust and loyalty in return.
In his book Customers for Life (Pocket Books: New York, 1991), author Carl Sewell advises readers to borrow ideas on customer service but to make sure that you pick from the best. This is what I did as I gathered great examples of customer service at its finest. Each of the companies that I chronicle offers the rest of us a challenge that we can choose to accept in our companies.
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The L.L.Bean Standard: The standard that L.L.Bean sets is to offer an unconditional guarantee on its work. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied, return the product. Period. Let’s take a closer look at what this means for a company. Unconditional means just that ... no conditions. If, for any reason, you’re not happy, you don’t pay. If you don’t like the product, bring it back. If you’re not happy with the meal, it’s on us. Most companies are afraid of this because they think their customers will take advantage of them, and that they’ll lose money. The L.L.Bean Challenge: If you believe in your product and service, the answer is easy. Promise your customers that they’ll be happy with what you provide or that they’ll get their money back. Of course, you are going to have some unscrupulous individuals or companies who will abuse the policy. L.L.Bean does. Build them into your costs. There is a story about a certain celebrity who gets her clothes from one of the finest stores around, a store that has a liberal return policy for its customers. The standing joke is that this starlet can be seen on TV Saturday night wearing a dress that she bought on Thursday and that she will return on Monday. Unfortunately, there are some who will abuse any guarantee that is offered. But you’ll find that standing behind your service is going to make a statement about your firm. You believe in what you do and are willing to do more than to say to your customers, “You’ll be pleased.” You’ll tell customers that their satisfaction is 100 percent guaranteed. |