Improve Your Customer Service through Story Sharing

Have you had a good — or bad — customer service experience lately? Why not use the example as an employee training tool?
April 29, 2008

by Doug Fleener

I recently returned from a week-long business trip. During that time, I presented at two different conferences in Southern California, worked with three different clients and stopped in Illinois on the way home to surprise my mother for her 75th birthday.
 
I stayed in four hotels, rented two cars, flew two airlines and ate in countless restaurants. And never before had I experienced such a wide divide between good experiences and poor ones. Let me share with you what some people did well and what others didn't do so well. I know that you can apply these experiences to your own store.
 
Example No. 1
I rented a full-size car at Enterprise for $35 a day. When we walked out to the lot, there wasn't a full-size car in sight.
 
What happened: The Enterprise employee said, "Looks like it could be a long wait. I can give you that Cadillac for $60 a day."
 
The problem: The employee tried to move me into a product at almost double the price by painting a bleak picture of my wait time. I felt as if he was pressuring me to take the more expensive car so he could get back inside to other customers.
 
The right way: He should have immediately apologized for not having my car ready when we walked out onto the lot. He then could have told me that he would immediately try to find out what the exact wait time for my car would be and offered me an upgrade at a favorable rate.
 
The lesson: When addressing customer challenges or problems, offer the customer some options as well as focusing on their satisfaction. As you've heard me say many times, "You can save a sale but lose a customer."
 
Example No. 2
After landing at the airport on my way to surprise Mom, I got a surprise of my own when I discovered that one of my bags hadn't arrived with me.
 
What happened: When I went to the United Airlines counter to report my missing bag, the employee looked it up in her computer and then said matter-of-factly, "Your bag is still in Chicago. Fill out this paperwork."
 
The problem: This is an easy one. The employee was apathetic and offered no apology. I wasn't too upset about the bag not showing up. These things happen. It was the employee's lack of interest or concern that really ticked me off.
 
The right way: "I'm sorry. It appears that your bag is still in Chicago. I know this is an inconvenience, and we'll do everything we can to get your luggage to you as soon as possible.
 
The lesson: Every employee should know that, whenever we fall short of a customer's expectation, we need to show we care about resolving the situation in a way that will satisfy both parties. The two words "I'm sorry" have the power to turn an unhappy customer into a raving fan. Another lesson is to make sure you review the importance of those two words on a very regular basis with your team.
 
Example No. 3
After checking into a Four Star hotel I discovered that I could hear way too much of the loud-voiced woman next door through the connecting door.
 
What happened: I went back down to the front desk to see if I could change rooms. When I walked up, the front desk the clerk asked, "Did you come back down so I can make you even happier?"
 
What worked: The clerk knew that if a person returns to the front desk only a few minutes after checking in, something needs to be resolved. Being friendly and proactive in communicating that my satisfaction was important to her completely changed my own approach.
 
The lesson: When employees see a customer with a problem as an opportunity instead of a problem, they've got a much better chance to both make the customer happy and the situation easier for themselves.
 
The biggest lesson of each of these experiences is that we can teach and improve our team through stories. Something happens every day that we can share with our staff to highlight the way we want a customer to be treated or not treated. Over the past seven days, I bet I have collected 20 stories that I could tell about great and poor service.
 
Sharing stories is important to being a productive leader. So let me ask, "Are you sharing enough of your stories with your team?"

Doug Fleener is president and managing partner of Dynamic Experiences Group, a Lexington, Mass., retail consulting firm dedicated to helping retailers boost their sales and profits. A veteran retailer with more than 25 years of hands-on retail experience with world-class retailers including Bose Corp. and The Sharper Image, he also has owned and operated his own specialty stores. Fleener is the author of the book "The Profitable Retailer: 56 Surprisingly Simple and Effective Lessons to Boost Your Sales and Profits." Contact him at (781) 861-7803 or visit dynamicexperiencesgroup.com.

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