Category Archives: Customer Service

Bad Customer Service

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Will Lukang, CLDC, CSM, PMP

We always have fond memories of my sister-in-law’s annual Easter visit.   It is that time of year in which we invite a couple of our friends with little ones to participate in Easter egg hunt.   A tradition that we look forward to, because it gives us the opportunity to connect and catch up.

Every year, my girls are excited because some of their female cousins will come for a visit and spend time with them.    It is their bonding time.  This year the big thing for them was manicure and pedicure.  As soon as they arrived, they texted me to see if they could have manicures and pedicures, in this case we obliged and let them enjoy the weekend.

On April 7th we were deciding which place to have our dinner and my nephew reminded us that a new restaurant named Aoyama just opened on Thursday that week.    There is something about supporting your local business and I’m passionate about it, therefore it was not hard to make such a decision.

So, Aoyama it was.  We went at 6:30 PM to try to beat the mad dinner rush.  We arrived, and with minimal waiting, we were seated, in spite of having a party of eight.   The restaurant has a great ambience and the first impression was great.   They took our drink orders then later our meal orders were taken by 6:45 PM.

By the time we realized it, it was 7:30 PM and none of our food had been brought out.    Meanwhile, we saw some of the people around us, who came in later than us, being served.   We asked the waitress and she indicated that she would check and it was coming out.

Around 7:45 pm, four dishes came out, but the noodle soups for my girls were still not ready.  Also, two other sushi dishes were not served.    At that time, I asked the waitress for a word with the manager.  The manager did not approach our table until 8:30, at which point we had waited almost two-hours.   He explained that they were really busy and he was very sorry.  When I explained that we had waited almost two hours, he declared that there were two other groups that had the same issues.  I was shocked by his response. What was the benefit of telling me that we were not alone and I was in the same boat as two other groups?    That’s not the way to do customer service.  I mean, highlighting your deficiency will not make your customer happy.   I was only asking for an explanation why orders were served to people around us, but he had no answers other than “I’m very sorry.”

By 8:45, one of the noodle soups came out.  At that time, my 6-year-old said, if we ate at the other Japanese restaurant we would be long done.    I was expecting the other noodle dishes to come out soon.  But I found out they had not been prepared it at all.   We can cook the same noodle soup at home in 30 minutes. Why did we wait over two hours for their noodle soup?  I gave them too much credit to do the right thing and they messed up the chance to have a good customer experience.

One other sushi dish came out and the other was forgotten.    Once they found out they forgot to fill the other, the sushi chef did not do anything.   Overall, we all rated Aoyama in Wyckoff a 0 star.  They don’t deserve to have any star because they don’t know how to treat their customers.

I learned the following about how not to treat your customer;

1)      Sorry is not an answer/solution for all mistakes; actions need to be taken.

2)      Telling your customer that we are having the same problem with other customers does not make your customer feel good.

3)      Paying customers deserve your attention.

4)      When you failed to fill an order, make up for it by delivering the dish.  Not doing anything is the worst thing you can do.  Because it is tantamount to ignoring your customer.

5)      An unsatisfied customer will tell 10 more people, while a satisfied customer might tell one or two of their friends their experience.

6)      If you’re in the restaurant business, starving your customer is not a good thing, especially if they’re children.

7)      If you want repeat customers, you need to provide a good user experience

8)      Lastly, treat your customer the way you want to be treated.

In spite of this experience, we continue to support local businesses, because it is important to help them sustain their business.    My hope is that the managers of Aoyama have learned their lessons and rectified their issues, because we hope to one day give them a chance again in the future, as everyone deserve a second chance.

Customer Service – Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

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Will Lukang, MBA, PMP, MASCL, CSM

In this economic situation companies have a tendency to focus on cutting back and reducing expenses to make their business profitable.   But there is a saying “penny wise, pound foolish”.  While it looks like you’re making progress by seeing incremental expense reduction, you could be missing the big picture, which is what your company’s value proposition is – what  your company is all about.

 

This week I witnessed this first hand while a friend of mine dropped off his car for service.  The customer representative at the counter for loaner cars asked him which insurance company he has.  Upon hearing the name of the insurance company, the customer representative says, “I’m afraid that I cannot provide you with our loaner car, but we can provide you a Budget rental car and you have to pay for the insurance.” I was surprised by what just transpired because the purpose of the loaner car is to let your customer experience driving the newer cars, thereby eliciting interest to possibly make a future purchase.   The representative explained that they had an issue with the insurance company that led to their decision. The insurance is $36 per day.  From my perspective, for such an amount, they decided to sacrifice the client experience and took away the opportunity for the client to drive one of their vehicles.

 

As I returned to work, I pondered on what just transpired that led to that outcome. My friend was not happy with what happened; he felt that loaner service is one of the conveniences that people expect.   For $36, how many customers had a bad customer experience?  Once a customer has a bad experience, there is chance that they will not make any future purchases.    Therefore, is the $36 cost worth losing your customer?   In my opinion the company was being penny wise but pound foolish.   In fact, they’re missing the big picture as to why they are in business. They describe themselves as a luxury line of product, but they don’t provide the level of service commensurate to the image they’re presenting.

 

From a customer-service standpoint, it is important that we make the most of every opportunity we have when dealing with our customers.  We need to ensure that the customer comes away feeling good about how they are treated.   If they are treated well, it increases the chance of repeat business.  

 

That experience taught me one thing.   We need to deliver what we promised.  Each touch-point with our customer is an opportunity to impress upon them that we are here for them.   It is essential to do our best to make sure their needs are addressed and they come away satisfied.  


 

 

Sharing the stage with others (Are you ready?)

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Will Lukang, MBA, PMP, MASCL, CSM

A year and half ago, I venture into the world of blogging hoping to wet my toes and see what it is like to share my knowledge and experience.     It took me over six months to muster the courage to jump into blogging.    I blog because I want to share what I know with others, hoping that if there is only one person out there that can benefit from my knowledge and experience, I will have accomplished my goal.

 

Each post provided me a sense of satisfaction that someone out there will read and learn from it and avoid learning things the hard way.   I enjoyed the comments posted and e-mails thanking me and suggesting possible future post topics.

 

Sometimes I have my ducks in a row and I know what to write for the month, but there are times I experience writers’ block and am unable to generate a post for weeks.    It frustrates me that I’m unable to connect with people who read my post.     I have the idea, but I was not able to put things together.  Other times I’m just too busy at work that left me little time to invest in writing my post.

 

One day I was on a conference call with my fellow leadership coach and we were talking about sharing our knowledge and expertise. During that discussion I had a eureka moment that I can offer a guest blogger who can blog on topics that I’m not familiar with. This way I can expand the material on site.  My first guest blogger will feature another leadership coach.  I’ll run his blog at the end of the month.

 

My hope is that, by adding guest bloggers to my blog, I can offer a better experience to the people who read my blog and provide them with an opportunity to learn new things.    For those who reach out to me or post comments, thank you for connecting with me.  I really appreciate it.   Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.  I welcome the interaction and look forward to hearing from you.

Customer Service – Make a positive impression

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Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

About a week ago, I post a message on one of the appliance merchant’s site to inquire about their program.  The next day I receive a response asking me some questions in order to address my needs.

The next day, I received a response regarding my inquiry and he also mention that I should reach out to the person at the branch to further my request.   I replied to his message and thanked him for his time, but at the same time I mentioned that he could have taken it to the next level by contacting the branch and clarifying the matter on behalf of the customer.    It was a perfect opportunity for him to make a great impression on the customer.

 

My perspective is that every touch point with our customer is an opportunity to make an impression.   When we make a good impression, the customer remembers that experience and it could provide a compelling reason to do business or continue to do business with us.    Therefore, we need to take advantage of each of the opportunities, akin to playing baseball (three tries before you lose your turn) that you want to do your best in each of your at bats.

Every company has to be known for something, some for best quality, best in innovation, best in price, or any other for that matter.   For example, your firm is second best in the quality category, but you have topnotch customer service.  In the end, you might be able slowly increase your market share because of your ability to serve your customer.   Let me reiterate that by no means do I promote that bad quality and excellent service will get you anywhere.    It is important that you have a good service or product in order for you to talk about customer service, because customer service alone is not going to get the job done.

Going back to my point on my e-mail exchange with the customer service person at this appliance merchant, he replied and explained to me why he did not reach out to the branch on my behalf.  According to him, he was avoiding confusion, as it already happened a couple times with them in the past.  Then he said the situation does put everyone in a tough situation.   Nonetheless I was impressed that he took the time to explain to me the situation rather than ignoring my response altogether.   He also apologized and explained that he wanted to avoid the message coming across as being rude.  As a customer, I was glad that he explained himself.  Because of the email exchange and my interaction with their branch folks, I’m leaning toward doing business with them

Happy Customers and Angry Customers

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Will Lukang, PMP, CSM, MBA, MASCL

Few weeks ago, my wife and I were discussing her experience with her Coach pocket book that she bought few months back.  The thread on the shoulder strap started to come off and she was deciding to send it back for repair.    My initial thought was this would be amazing if they would bother addressing a single incident.

A few weeks later, they sent my wife a letter indicating they could not fix the strap and so they were giving her a store credit because they were sorry that it did not meet their quality standards.  My wife was surprised that Coach had very good customer service.   As a happy customer, I use Social Media to let others know our customer experience.  Here is what I tweeted on May29th. “Love @Coach! My wife had a problem with her pocket book strap & since they can’t fix it, they gave my wife a store credit. Amazing customer service!”

Every time an employee of a company makes a contact with their customers, they need to make sure that it is a pleasant experience.   The touch point could provide the firm a lasting experience with the customers.  Happy customers have a tendency to go back and do business with your company.

On the flip side, angry customers are also an excellent source of customer feedback.   The company can take advantage of the opportunity to understand the situation and take care of the issue at hand.    There is a saying that negative news travels much faster than good news.  An angry customer is most likely to tell 10 of their friends than when they experience good news.    Therefore, the company has a golden opportunity to change an unhappy customer to a happy customer.

My point for this blog is that, when we interface with our customers, we always have an opportunity to impress our customer by showing them that we value their business.  To that end, we will do whatever is necessary to address their issue.  We will take ownership of the issue and see to it that it is addressed in a timely manner.

So, the next time you’re at the receiving end of a customer inquiry or complaint, imagine yourself being in the shoes of your customer.    Try to understand their concern and work with your team to address their issues and concerns.  Remember that a good customer always comes back and does more business with your company.  Who knows, as a side benefit, they could provide you with an excellent feedback that can help you advance your career.