|
The DiJulius Group’s Purpose is – To Change the world by creating a Customer service revolution. We are so proud of the fact that hundreds of organizations all over the world have adopted this as their vision of how they want to build their business and distance themselves from the competition. However, for it to be truly successful, for it not to be just another mantra, annual theme, platitude, or flavor of the month, it is critical you understand what creating a Customer service revolution really means.
Customer Service Revolution
Let’s break that definition down to its core:
A radical overthrow of conventional business mentality - This is an approach or mindset to business unlike what anyone has ever thought about previously. It’s radical and unconventional. This unique concept consumes them, energizes them, and ultimately inspires them to create breakthrough companies, products and services.
designed to transform what Customers experience - Revolutionary companies created “experience epiphanies” that filled a gap Customers didn’t know they had. We are at our best when creating enduring relationships and personal connections. When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our Customers, even if it is just for a few moments. It is about the human connection.
and employees’ experience. - Experience it forward. What employees experience, Customers will. The best marketing is happy, engaged employees. Your Customers will never be any happier than your employees.
This shift produces a culture that permeates into people’s personal lives, at home and in the community - Genuine hospitality is not something you do, it is something that is in you. It is something in all areas of your life — to your Customers, employees, family, and neighbors. Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.
which in turns provides the business with higher sales, morale, and brand loyalty - The only businesses surviving with long-term sustainability are the ones fanatical about differentiating themselves through the Customer experience they deliver.
thus making price irrelevant - Based on the experience your Customers consistently receive, they have no idea what your competition charges. Think about the companies that literally revolutionized their industries: Southwest Airlines, Zappos, Amazon, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, and Apple. Each line of that quote applies to their radical approach to trashing the traditional experience model and re-writing history. I invite you to join the revolution, this November!
Must do exercise - Every employee should read the definition to the Customer service revolution; however, before they do, ask them to explain what they think each line means to them. Defining Customer Service Revolution
|
John R. DiJulius III best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference.
Filed under: Arnie Malham, cj Advertising, Customer Service, Employee Engagement, INC. Magazine, Secret Service Summit
|
#1- Arnie Malham, President of cj Advertising, spoke at last year’s Secret Service Summit, and was the highest rated
Total Transparency – One of the best takeaways from hearing Arnie speak (and consulting with his company) is how he allows all his employees and Customers to publically post their satisfaction scores and share feedback. All his employees can see what their co-workers are posting and how the company is doing with regard to overall satisfaction. He does the exact same thing for his clients. Each quarter they are asked to fill out a survey stating their level of satisfaction (1-5) and share any and all comments they have. All of his Customers can see this. They can see what his other Customers are saying, and how cj Advertising is being rated. I have never heard of such transparency! I asked Arnie about this and he said, “Most people say I need to have my head examined for doing this. However, we like the pressure of knowing that if we don’t take care of our Customers, or don’t react when something goes wrong, it will be made public.” I have seen and read the comments and have interviewed several of cj’s clients, and they say this is one of the reasons why they love to do business with cj Advertising. CJ is a forward moving, robust company largely as a result of Arnie’s appetite for critical feedback. While most companies adopt the “head in the sand” approach with regard to criticism, Arnie actually goes looking for it. By asking his clients what theycan do better, he puts CJ in a better position to actually get better!
If you were not there and did not see Arnie or any of the other presenters at this year’s Summit, you can hear and share their message with your entire organization: 2012 Secret Service Summit Audio Series.
I saw a stat in an article in INC. Magazine over the weekend that I thought was interesting: Quantity vs. Quality - INC. Magazine had an excellent article on hiring good employees that had surprising data. Even in this digital age of job boards and on-line applications, referrals continue to make up the smallest, but highest- quality new employees. While only 7% of applicants come from referrals, they account for 40% of hires.
Employee Network – Hires referred by employees are more likely to stick around. Employee retention rates after three years are 47% for referrals and 14% for job board applicants. This particular article recommends paying cash bonuses to employees as an incentive for them to tap their social media networks for candidates.
Consider the Source - If a friend of one of your marginal employees wants a job, think again. “A” players typically hang out with other highly motivated, hard working people. On the flip side, “C” players hang around other “C” players.
|
John R. DiJulius III best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference.
|
Restaurants banning cell phones – A popular debate among restaurateurs is the practice of banning cell phone usage. Proponents of this practice argue that cell phone conversations are distracting and annoying to the nearby Customers, and these establishments say they want to stop people from being connected from one another and bring back the good old days where family and friends actually looked at each other and had real face-to-face conversations. I want to know your opinion on this topic, good or bad idea? Leave me a comment.
TDG Harlem Shake – We are not all business! Check out this hilarious 30-second video of The DiJulius Group’s Harlem Shake dance. See if you can spot the one character that is in the second half of the video that is not in the first half. Leave me a comment if you think you know who it is!
The most selfless acts are the most rewarding |
John R. DiJulius III best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference.
Filed under: Above & Beyond, Client Services, Customer Service, Customer Service Training, Patient Experience, Secret Service Certification, World-Class
|
Walking the Talk – This past March (2013) The DiJulius Group held a Secret Service Certification class, where we had over 30 attendees for this two-day advance Customer service Train the Trainer. During the class, unknown to nearly everyone, including myself, one of the attendees, a sweet woman from Connecticut, stepped out of the room because she wasn’t feeling well. Next thing we hear is that she has been admitted in the Cleveland Clinic Hospital, where she apparently had a minor stroke. She spent four days in the hospital. Thankfully today she is doing incredibly well and on the road to a full recovery; however, I want to share a letter she sent to me about two weeks after she got back to Connecticut. I feel so proud of the amazing team we have here at The DiJulius Group. It is one thing to talk about it; it is another thing to live it.
John,
I am sending this email to let you know how much I appreciate what David and Nicole did for me while
 I was in Cleveland. As you know, my visit there turned into a hospital stay.
I was at the second day of the certification class and started to feel very strange. I did not know what was happening, but I knew I needed to get to the hospital. I left the classroom and went out into the lobby and asked David to take me. He never asked any questions as to why, he just jumped into action. From that point on, he took such good care of me, and I am not someone that he knew outside of the business.
Once I realized that it was very serious and that I would be staying in the hospital, I let him know and from the time that I went up to my room, he almost never left my side. He knew that I was all-alone in Cleveland, and he knew that I was very scared. He even made sure that he kept in contact with my sister in Connecticut, giving her the status of my care. At one point in my stay, I had to have an incision in my scalp due to a cyst that had developed. He immediately rushed to my side and
 held my hand. Nicole was also there for me. She came to visit and sit with me, brought me some fabulous hair products, got me earrings so I could feel like a human being and went to pick up my prescriptions, not once but twice, so I would not be without the medication I needed. I was scheduled to be discharged on Friday and fly home. My flight was cancelled so she quickly found a hotel for me and took me and made sure I was settled in my room. David and Nicole are still checking up on me today.
I now know that God puts people in your path for a reason, and that David and Nicole are my guardian angels and lifelong friends. Even if I don’t come back for the rest of my class, I will be back to see all of you.
Thank you so much for everything.
Sandra
Congratulations - David and Nicole, you exemplify world-class personally and professionally!
|
John R. DiJulius III best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference.
Filed under: Customer Experience, Customer Service, Customer Service Training, Employee Engagement, Secret Service Summit, Zappos
|
Measuring the wrong metrics can damage your Customer’s experience - The two most popular performance metrics call centers and Customer service reps are tracked by are average call time and time-to-resolution. These are dinosaur drivers that management needs to move away from. They are not service friendly. They make your reps solely “task focused” and dehumanize their roles, which dramatically reduces their work satisfaction and increases turnover.
Rewarding the right behavior produces the right results – Customer Service reps are not machines, they are people who enjoy building relationships. Also noted in this article is how CSRs at Zappos are expected to spend at least 80 percent of their time in Customer-facing interactions. It doesn’t matter if that’s one call, or 100. Reps who achieve this target get to spin “the wheel of happiness” to win gift cards and other rewards. Those who fall below the 80 percent line receive coaching.
World-Class Customer service organizations advertise the least - Zappos uses little advertising or traditional marketing. Their marketing is word of mouth and Customer loyalty. They do this by measuring four factors on a 100-point scale called the “Happiness Experience Form.”
On-going coaching for poorer performances – A rep who averages less than 50 points per month on the Happiness Experience Form will receive extra training, while top performers are rewarded with paid hours off and other incentives. This article has many more golden nuggets. Check it out: “A Zappos lesson in Customer Service Metrics.”
Customer Service Crisis…
Too Fat To Tan - After a woman purchased a tanning package, she was told she was too fat to tan at a tanning salon, and the salon would not give her a refund. The employee said, “Sorry, but I’m not going to let you tan today because we’ve just implemented a new policy where anyone over 230 pounds can’t go in one of our beds.” When the Customer asked for a refund, she was told we don’t give refunds. When the local news got involved, they called the tanning salon manager, Gus, and asked him if he would refund the Customer’s tanning package. Gus suggested that the Customer contact her credit card company and try to cancel the transaction. Watch the news report, Too Fat to tan.
How it should have been handled - It won’t shock you that the Better Business Bureau gives this tanning salon an ‘F’ rating. I totally understand safety first, as well as company restrictions for maintaining their equipment. It is not the policy that was wrong, but how they handled the situation. They have a standup bed that was not working that day, so this Customer’s only option was the laydown bed. All they had to do was apologize for the inconvenience that the salon caused because their standup bed wasn’t working, and add a complimentary tanning session to her package for the inconvenience of not being able to tan that day. And more importantly, educate the Customers about any restrictions before they purchase a package. The 2013 Secret Service Summit - This Friday is the last day for the early bird special pricing for tickets to the 2013 Secret Service Summit. Only once a year we bring you the best speakers and authors in Customer service and motivation. This year’s Summit is in Cleveland Ohio on November 4&5. For up to the minute details and promos like our Facebook page at Facebook.com/secretservicesummit
|
John R. DiJulius III best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference.
Filed under: ACSI, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Employee Engagement, John Robert's Spa, Service Aptitude
|
Blame it on the youth- Due to the fact that technology has dramatically reduced face-to-face interaction, the younger
Big Anomaly – This has been perplexing me for years, and it is the one thing about Customer service that I just can’t figure out. It goes against all conventional logic. I have found, in my own two companies (The DiJulius Group & John Robert’s Spa = 150 team members) as well as in all the world-class Customer service companies I have worked with and studied, that of their front-line employees, a large percentage of them fall into the 20-30-age range. They deliver outstanding Customer service! In many cases the younger generation is better at hospitality than the previous one who was forced to have more human interaction.
How can it be – If the younger generation grows up with less face-to-face interaction and as a result has weaker people skills entering the workforce in their early twenties, then how is it possible that certain ones become world-class in Customer service? Is it because there has been such innate interactive deficiency that once they get it, they are like a man in a desert finally getting water to quench his thirst? It is happening all over the place? Zappos.com, Chick-fil-A, John Robert’s Spa, Nordstrom, The Ritz-Carlton, and the Disney’s of the world have young, fully engaged team members.
The younger generation is hungry for hospitality – Hiring is a big part of it; however, just as important is their service aptitude training. Think about this: If today’s younger generation lacks the skills gained from human interactions, who is responsible for improving their people skills and increasing their service aptitude? The businesses that hire them! We can’t skip this generation and hope the next will be any better at people skills. We need to have better training programs, not just training on product knowledge and the technical side of the job, but also training on the soft skills. The companies that deliver world-class Customer service are the companies that understand this fact and provide training in Customer service skills.
Nine worst Customer service retailers – The good news is, Customer satisfaction with retailers is at an all-time high. The bad news is, some well-known brands are not pleasing their Customers. Check out who the nine retailers with the worst Customer service were. Are you surprised by who is on the list?
Ecommerce tops brick & mortar – The trend continues: online retailers consistently out-perform brick and mortar businesses in Customer satisfaction. Retailers wonder and complain about why Customers are “showrooming” (shopping at stores and then making the purchase online) and defecting to the Internet for their purchases. Now they know why. Some retailers have even taken drastic measures to deter Customers from showrooming and have started to penalize them by charging a “just looking fee”. In fact, of the nine retail companies with the worst American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores, only one was an online retailer, Netflix.
From first to worst – The surprising thing is, Netflix outperformed the average Internet retailer in Customer satisfaction for four years, and in 2009 was #1 retailer. But in 2011 and 2012, the video streaming company has been the lowest-rated internet retailer.
|
John R. DiJulius III best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference.
Filed under: Customer Experience, Customer Service, Service Aptitude, Social Media
Sheer Madness – Lululemon, an athletic apparel retail store, is currently the punch line of many jokes as a result of extremely poor judgment in how they recently handled the recall of yoga pants. Social media has sent it viral. You see, when women came back to the store to return the too-sheer yoga pants (see-through), the Customers were asked to try on the pants and bend over in front of sales associates, who would assess them before a return was permitted. Check out this hilarious story.
Hallmark testing for high service aptitude – Amy Mendenhall, Customer Experience Manager at Hallmark Cards Inc., recently shared with me (see below a sample question and the results of how people answered) how she tests the service aptitude on a weekly basis of their store managers by sending out polling questions. Click here to see the entire Service Aptitude Poll, which is an excellent tool. 
Fast Food = Eat it Fast – McDonald’s, the fast-food giant, whose restaurant sales in the U.S. have been on adownward slope, is pushing franchisees to improve staffing and service amid mounting complaints about rude employees. McDonald’s executives recently shared that 1 in 5 Customer complaints are related to friendliness issues, “and it’s increasing.” The top complaint is “rude or unprofessional employees.”
No Industry Immunity- Companies like Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Pret A Manger have changed the landscape and expectations by proving Customers can experience world-class hospitality at a quick service restaurant, which is forcing companies like McDonald’s to reinvent themselves. It appears senior leadership has decided to focus on Customer satisfaction as a real driver to rebuild the brand and build sales. I have consulted with McDonald’s Australia and have been extremely impressed at their aggressive approach to building a superior Customer service brand in their markets.
The best way to retain clients is to not lose them in the first place. |
John R. DiJulius III best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference.
