This is the first in a series of columns by prominent thought leaders. We begin with our own Ken Bernhardt, Regents Professor and Taylor E. Little, Jr. Professor of Marketing, who comments on customer service.
When I discuss with executives issues related to customer service and service quality, I ask them to name companies that have truly outstanding customer service. Their response is usually silence at first followed by a few executives mentioning just a small number of companies. These companies typically include some of the following: American Express, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Ritz-Carlton, Fidelity, Lexus, UPS, FedEx, Lands' End, L.L. Bean, Dell, Singapore Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
What is it that companies like those named above do that sets them apart from their competitors? First, they understand their customer and that customer's expectations. How? They make sure that executives spend time interacting with customers; conduct regular marketing research and pay attention to the results; identify what customers' experiences have been and what the satisfiers and dissatifiers are; ensure that customer contact personnel have access to upward communications - they often know what should be done to improve customers' experience with an organization.
Second, these companies are truly committed to improving
their customer service, service quality and customer satisfaction - and set goals related to each of these. They measure their progress against these goals and recognize and reward those who achieve and exceed them. They invest in technology to support these goals. Interestingly, these companies are rarely satisfied with their performance and are always seeking to improve on these measures. I once heard Horst Schultze, the CEO of Ritz-Carlton asked to rate its service quality on a 1 to 10 scale. His response: "about a 4; we need to be much better."
Third, they choose their employees (or "team members") carefully and treat them well. As Bill Marriott has said, "Tell me how a company treats its employees and I will tell you how the employees treat customers." These companies ensure that their employees are empowered to do what they know needs to be done. Some time ago I had the opportunity to hear Stanley Marcus (founder of Neiman Marcus) speak. He was asked
what training the company did to produce such a high level of customer service at the point of purchase. He said, "You donŐt train people, you train seals and bears. If you tried to train people in all that they would need to know, the training manuals would fill a whole shelf and no one would pay attention. So what we do is educate our people in our values, and then they will always do the right thing." Ritz-Carlton's "we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen" philosophy is similar.
Finally, when these companies do make a mistake (which is inevitable, at least occasionally), they engage in extraordinary service recovery activity. For example, Lexus early on had a product recall. They called owners and asked when it would be convenient to pick up the car, and when they returned it, the gas tank was full and it had been washed. Doing it right the first time, combined with terrific service recovery, is a powerful competitive advantage.
Ken Bernhardt has published 10 books and monographs and numerous articles on marketing and consumer behavior. He writes a bi-monthly column on marketing issues for the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
