14 The Customer Service Plan

Customer service is not a department, it’s an attitude. It has to be a part of marketing, because these employees must know all about the products and services, the advertising, public relations, and sales promotion. That is the only way they can give intelligent answers to questions by customers. They should also be aware of the company’s vision, which should translate into a Disneyland mode of operation for customer service, whose reps are referred to as “my Disney team” and whose employees all tout Disneyland as the place “where dreams come true.” Hard to imagine a more positive attitude than that.

Customer service can be a profit point as well, because research has indicated that keeping a customer only costs one-fifth as much as acquiring a new one. For example, a clerk at Nordstrom’s gave a refund to a customer for returning a tire, even though Nordstrom’s doesn’t sell tires, and an employee at Midwest Express lent one of his business suits to a passenger who had lost his luggage. Do you think these two customers will keep coming back?

One of the most important things you can do is review all your customer service policies. Most likely they are written for the benefit of the company. That’s all wrong. They should be written for the benefit of the customer. What do you think when an employee says to you, “Sorry, but that is our policy”? Do you plan on going back to that store or business? Now, what if the employee said, “Sorry, that is our normal policy, but let’s see if there is a way to solve your need”? All the difference in the world. Therefore, you have to talk to management about changing company policies or at least give customer service some freedom in their interpretation—all in the service of better branding and marketing.

It’s also important to make it easy for the customer to complain or obtain information. How do you feel when you dial a business and you sit on the phone while the company’s computer goes through about twenty extension possibilities that don’t interest you? Why don’t you hire a person to answer the phone on the first ring and say as the local plumber does, “How can I make your day”?

If your company discourages returns, you may be losing sales—and perhaps even customers. That’s because when customers know they can return anything they buy, no questions asked, they are likely to buy more than shoppers who are afraid they may get stuck with the merchandise. According to J. Andrew Petersen and V. Kumar, there is an optimum rate of return. Higher returns, up to a point, have been shown to result in higher future sales. But if the rate of returns is too high, the cost to the company increases. You should analyze the cost of returns to your company and the effect of the returns on sales to determine what rate of return gives you the highest profit. These authors go on to suggest ways a company might discourage returns if the rate is too high.¹

You also want to monitor service internally to be sure that employees treat each other like customers. If an employee is in a bad mood when a customer approaches, that mood will probably be perceived by the customer. Listen to everyone in the distribution chain as well. The more you know about what everyone is thinking, the more efficient customer service becomes.

Stay in touch after the sale, but not by sending out a questionnaire for the buyer to fill out. Who has the time? And besides, these satisfaction surveys are relatively meaningless, because customers don’t necessarily tell the truth—I don’t, do you?—and the surveys themselves are structured in a way guaranteed to avoid meaningful information: “on a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with. . .” Besides, this strategy just benefits the company. Instead, call up your customers and ask them how you can serve them better. I know a CEO that does this and usually she has to repeat herself several times because the listener doesn’t think she means it. She keeps repeating herself and often the listener finally says, “Nobody has ever asked me that before.” She has an outstanding repeat business.

Companies are adding “services” to their manufacturing lines. Many keep their service offerings separate from the rest of the operation, in order to ensure a sharp focus on the new and innovative service packages being sold. Truck manufacturers, for example, now may offer driver training options, or logistics management services, or even “greener trucking” programs. The more successful firms offer a generic service package, instead of the more usual “parts replacement and servicing.” For instance, one truck manufacturer offers a maintenance and repair package with standardized prices for spare parts and scheduling for service (no surprises there)—but if a customer wants to use another company’s replacement part, the company customizes the plan by dropping the replacement-parts feature.² That truck manufacturer is clearly looking out for its customers’ interests—and you can bet that client is there for the long haul.

Objectives and Strategies

The worksheet below offers you the opportunity to develop your objective and strategies relating to customer service. You can photocopy this, or print out a copy from the Worksheets folder you downloaded to your computer. I’ve made suggestions as to the kinds of things you may want to address as objectives, but you should modify this worksheet to meet the needs of your company, product, or service.

Worksheet 14–1 Customer service plan: Objectives and strategies

Notes

1. J. Andrew Petersen and V. Kumar, “Get smart about product returns,” Wall Street Journal, November 30, 2009; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203585004574392464143500106.html.

2. Stephen W. Brown, Anders Gustafsson, and Lars Witell, “Beyond products,” Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2009; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204830304574131273123644620.html.