DOCTOR SERVICE

FEELINGS: QUALITY SERVICE...FIRST TIME, EVERY TIME (1 DAY) AT BUKIT KIARA RESORT - 21 JULY 2009

2009-07-13T18:32:00.005+08:00

Don't miss this 1 Day customer service training - FEELINGS: Quality Service...First Time, Every Time....RM250 / person...now everyone has no excuse not to attend! Owners and Managers, you come too with your frontline staff. Just spend 1 day with me...

SO MUCH $$$$$$ LOST DUE TO UNTRAINED STAFF

2009-07-13T18:13:00.003+08:00

If you were to pass by Bandar Menjalara, you come across a D'Fortune Western Cuisine Restaurant and if it is on a weekend, it will be pretty packed. Good business eh and I bet the boss is also pretty happy with the $$$$$$$$$. Sad to say, if he is making RM1 million, he could be making RM2 million with better service.

However, I still feel sad for him because he is losing business everyday and I think he doesn't even know that or how much business he has lost every month. But let's do some counting for him, shall we.

My family and I went last night for dinner, sat down and we were given menus. We saw many people waiting for their orders to arrive, and that gave us the impression that we will have to wait very long. We asked the waitress (possibly Myanmar, Cambodian, Indonesia...can't really tell) how long it will take and whether we will have to wait very long. She just looked around, gave us a puzzled look and just stood there...smiling....smiling ...smiling..(what's she smiling about when we are still uncertain whether to eat there or not). She could have spotted our uncertainty and assure us...but she did not. So.....we left and ate next door...Teochew Fishball noodles....and they have fantastic curry laksa....no need to wait and better service.

Back to this Western Restaurant, our bill that night could have been let's say RM40. If there were 10 cases like mine in 1 day X 30 days, that will a lost revenue of 40 x 10 x 30 = RM12,000...that amount could have been used to pay for their rental. Sigh!!!!!! Not mentioning the fact that we went and tell many friends and contacts about this sour experience, and they in turn tell their friends.....the damage will be more than RM12,000.

DIAGNOSIS

The blame goes back to the owner. Lack of training for staff. Employing staff who can't communicate and possibly illegal foreign workers.

PRECRIPTION

Ensure all staff are properly selected and trained well in serving customers. Money and time spent to hire the right people and train them is never a cost but an investment. If they spent RM12,000 on this staff development, they will be able to reap back the benefits in 1 month, due to customer retention and +ve word-of-mouth advertising.

MCDONALD'S:

2009-07-13T17:30:00.007+08:00

Lately, McDonald's has this fantastic "stimulus package" and some sets were priced at RM5.95..not too bad and quite a good deal, I should say. So far so good....

Knowing that, I took my family to Sri Damansara McDonald's last Sunday for lunch. We ordered 2 sets and 2 burgers. I had a feeling that the total sum was more than I thought and tried to check the receipt (attached) and I just couldn't make sense of the figures. Reason is that the way the figures are stated in the receipt make it so difficult to check to see if you have been over and under-charged. Why can't the receipt be more straight forward, stating how sets x 5.95 and so on so that customers can check easily. In fact, with this current receipt, no customers will ever know if they have over-charged. So BETTER CHECK next time you are in McDonald's.

DIAGNOSIS

McDonald's has lost focus on the customer, and has failed to ensure that their receipts are user-friendly and easily understood by customers. This is another example of lack of customer-focus. Just wonder if they have a proper system in place to channel all customer feedback for further improvement. I complained to one crew member on the floor (with tie) but I am not sure if he sees this as a potential problem and convey this issue to higher authorities.

PRESCRIPTION

Reprogramme the receipts that is understandable by customers
Ensure that crew member who receive comments/complaints quickly channel the issues to authority and make sure they let the customer know that they will do so...this will surely impress customers and will get alot of free word-of-mouth publicity.

SERVICE RECOVERY: THE ART OF BOUNCING BACK AND HIGHER

2008-03-24T00:56:00.001+08:00

The acid test of service quality is how you solve customers’ problems

In a perfect world of perfect products and performances, service recovery would be a nonsensical idea. But ours is not a perfect world, as we very well know. And whether you are serving customers face to face, over the phone, or via the Internet, these customers expect - and demand - redress when things go wrong. To the customer, the true test of an organization's commitment to service quality is not the stylishness of the pledges in its marketing literature nor the SMILEY badge that is worn on the uniform, but it is the way the organization responds when things go wrong.

Service recovery is a focused effort by a service provider to return aggrieved customers to a state of satisfaction with the institution after a service or product breakdown. Note carefully the phrase "to a state of satisfaction with the institution." Any customer contact person worth his or her salt can mollify an annoyed customer and calm a screaming, ranting, and raving one in short order. You have no doubt heard some version of this refrain from a self-preservation savvy service representative, "Oh, I know, it's just terrible. If it was up to me, I'd give you your money back right now, but they've got this policy and if I break it, well-you know!" That gets the service rep off the hook with the customer but does little to endear or retain the customer for the organization.

Service recovery is about keeping customers coming back after disaster strikes or even if just something annoying happens. In simple terms, recovery is the special effort customers expect you to put forward when things have gone a little-or a lot-wrong for them.

Effective service recovery that saves at-risk customers for the organization and becomes a competitive distinguisher is not an accident or a random act of will. It is, rather, a planned, systematic process. An effective service recovery system is more than an elaborate apology and monetary make-good effort designed to mollify upset customers, curry their favor, and, if necessary, buy back their business. The core attributes of an effective service recovery system are a clear problem-resolution process, a complaint and problem capture and analysis subsystem, and a way of feeding information on systematic problems back into the system to help reduce their occurrence. At the same time, effective recovery is a set of skillful, real-time actions taken by carefully selected individuals who are trained in the tact and diplomacy necessary to successfully manage an upset, disappointed or frightened customer. Successful recovery is the perfect blend of carefully thought-out processes and procedures and skillful, often spontaneous, actions. When done well, it can help right even the most grievous wrongs and save customers who already are the one step out the door towards your competitors.
Someone did say this: “

GREAT SERVICE RECOVERY LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE MAGIC…MEMORABLE AND WOW!”

By: Dr Allen Teh

Ritz-Carlton’s Team, Kuala Lumpur (HIRE THE BEST AND RETAIN ONLY THE BEST!)

2008-03-24T00:53:00.002+08:00

The Centre for Customer Care (CCC) Malaysia, being the champion for service excellence in Malaysia and Asia, has been randomly visiting service/hospitality outlets for the last 3 years and our objective was to spot employees delivering excellent service to their customers. As a recognition for their excellent service rendered, CCC will accord them the Service Hero of the month award. This month’s award goes to the Ritz-Carlton’s Team, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I conducted a Training programme on Multicultural Management for a client recently at Ritz-Carlton and I remembered asking my client why she chose Ritz-Carlton. My client replied: “It’s their service that brings us back everytime!. We may pay a bit more compared to other hotels but we have no problem with that.” I told my client that I have done much research on Ritz-Carlton for my Best-Practice benchmarking project in Pricewaterhouse Malaysia and Ritz-Carlton is definitely renowned as a service leader in the hotel industry. However, being a “doubting Thomas” as usual, I said I need to checkout their service in Kuala Lumpur before I can agree with her. To me, hotels within the same chain may have differing levels of service.

Well, I did my 1 Day workshop at Ritz-Carlton and all I can say is: “ I WAS CONVERTED”. The Ritz-Carlton team really lived up to their international fame for service excellence. There is something special about Ritz-Carlton. The building is magnificent, the interiors are sumptuous and classy, and there are plenty of Ritz-Carlton employees to help you. What stands out is that the employees are also so well-trained and friendly. There are a few things which I found Ritz-Carlton KL doing differently compared to other hotels. They changed their selection of sweets for participants at every breaktime, even an extra chocolate bar for the 3pm teabreak. The lady Captain Istiqlawaty even remembered the kind of tea I liked – peppermint tea – and brought me a cup when I was too busy to make one for myself. What was their secret? Was I just being lucky that day?

When I got back to my office, I retrieved my research folders on Ritz-Carlton and got my answers there. Nothing in Ritz-Carlton happens as an accident or chance. The Ritz-Carlton is designed to provide personalised services to their guests and they focus intensely on the interactions between their employees and guests. The culture, training and quality processes all contribute to the atmosphere – but it all starts with SELECTION. The Ritz-Carlton has experimented with a number of different ways to select employees. They found that, using the “eleven talents” method, they consistently employ staff who have the necessary attitudes and approaches that underpin the delivery of good service and good teamwork. There are two groups of “talents; one for employees within the hotel and the other for people in leadership positions.

To ensure that Ritz-Carlton hires the most qualified and suitable employees, they adopt a very structured approach. There are five questions for each talent area and there is a tightly defined response for each of those questions. An applicant needs to exactly match that response to be able to score points. These points are allocated for each question, and in this way the total point score can be developed. A Talent Intensity Index, a chart showing the scores for each talent, is then created for the applicant and the scores achieved are benchmarked with the top performer in Ritz-Carlton and a Contrast Group. Shortlisted candidates then goes for a second interview with the manager who will then ask 22 specific questions which follow up the information which has been gathered using the talent model. These 22 questions will further probe some of the key areas that will underpin successful delivery of service customers. If the candidate performs well on these further 22 questions, then they are hired. Ritz-Carlton does pay serious attention to the selection and recruitment.

What am I getting at here? What can we learn from Ritz-Carlton? One of the most important Key Success Factor, if not the most important, to becoming a High Performance Service Organisation is SELECTION! Hire Right and Hire the BEST! No amount of training and no culture can overcome the characteristics that people bring with them. Selection is critically important but remarkably complicated – it is one of the most complex tasks an organisation needs to perform and that is the very reason why so many organisations fail in service delivery. The People Factor has not been addressed. Sad to say, many organisations still do not realise their error and continue to hire “any warm bodies with hands and legs”. Where do you stand?

MCDONALD'S KLIA TEAM (GIVING CUSTOMERS A “MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE”)

2008-03-24T00:46:00.003+08:00

The Centre for Customer Care (CCC) Malaysia, being the champion for service excellence in Malaysia and Asia, has been randomly visiting service/hospitality outlets for the last 2 years and our objective was to spot employees delivering excellent service to their customers. As a recognition for their excellent service rendered, CCC will accord them the Service Hero of the month award. This month’s award goes to the McDonald’s Team at KL International Airport Malaysia.

I went to McDonald’s KLIA for my breakfast on the morning of 18th Jan 2006. I was greeted by Shantini with a very welcoming smile. Upon reaching the counter, I was greeted again by the Floor Manager Hisham and Hisham was not behind the counter but on the floor. I noticed the Restaurant Manager Syed Ismail was also on the floor, helping to clear tables That to me was another plus point, because the managers were leading the team and acting as a good role model. This is a simple illustration of “leadership by example”. Sometimes we wonder why our people are not serving customers as enthusiastically as they should. More often than not, the answer is “LEADERSHIP”.

Fatimah served me from behind the counter and again she had a wonderful smile. The thing that really shocked me and surprised me into convulsion was when Fatimah offered to send the food to my table as she noticed that I was holding a piece of luggage. WOW! But….the KLIA Team did not stop there. Hisham sent the food to my table and then offered to take chilli and tomato sauce for me. DOUBLE WOW!

Of course the décor at McDonald’s was very nice and the ambience was conducive. But….I will definitely return to McDonald’s KLIA because of the “magical” experience that I had encountered and will definitely tell all my friends about this experience. Giving customers a wonderful and memorable experience is definitely the answer to our quest for customer loyalty. What more, since my web-blog and newsletter goes out to thousands of members, McDonald’s do not have to pay a cent for this FREE ADVERTISEMENT but the benefits will come. Say “thank you” McDonald’s.

As usual, after much observation, I introduced myself to Syed Ismail and I do have to say that he was pretty nervous and I suspected that he thinks he is in for a severe lashing by another unhappy customer. To his surprise, I did the opposite and you can practically see Syed smile from ear to ear. He told me that he has never been complimented by customers before and that really made his day. I believe that with this morning encouragement and compliment for their service, the KLIA team will most definitely serve their customers even better and feel much better about themselves. What a booster for self-image and positive attitude. That my dear friends is the KEY that we have always been looking for – INTERNAL MOTIVATION does wonders to a person and his performance.

Here are some tips to ensure that McDonald’s Malaysia evolve into a SERVICE LEADER in Malaysia:-

Maintain service consistency throughout all outlets and not just a few like KLIA.
The crew clearing tables and mopping floors need also to be courteous and friendly to all customers and not just busy doing their jobs and leaving “service” to those at the frontline.

A service culture must permeate the entire outlet and all crew members regardless of their function or position must deliver the same level of excellent service, and love that at the same time.

Employees need to be recognised and rewarded for their performance and their service orientation. Mystery shopping programmes conducted always lack that element and instead, uses a punitive approach based on fear to get their staff to perform and even to “smile”. Instead, Mystery Shopping programmes, like CUSTOMEREYES, must utilise the motivation approach and the message that goes out to all staff “Get Caught Giving WOW! Service” and once they are “caught”, then recognise and reward them with much celebration.

It is not really the product or price, but the customer experience that will bring them back every time!

AIR ASIA MOTTO: LOWER FARE LOWER SERVICE???????

2006-09-25T16:16:00.000+08:00

To The Star Editor:
Name of writer: Sam Loh
Email: samloh@brandtinternational.com
Tel: +628121066289 or +6012 2861289
Address: 7 Jalan Muda Musa, Kampung Bahru, 50300 KL

Air Asia Service Sucks :

What is the point of cheap ticket when your service level sucks. If you add up all the nonsense and bad encounters that we have to go through with Air Asia, Air Asia is not cheap after all. Does anyone care to add up what it cost you in terms of the following:
a) Frequent flight delays;
b) food crumps on the plane’s seats and floor;
c) stinky and dirty toilet;
d) basin with dirty clogged water/sputum;
e) inconsistent boarding and checking instructions
f) wild rush by passengers before boarding
g) unreliable bus service/logistics to KLIA Main terminal
h) Air Asia is always proud to announce it earlier than scheduled arrival time – yes it did
arrive 25 minutes ahead of schedule but the luggage took another 35 minutes to arrive.
i) Because it took Air Asia 35 minutes extra to deliver the luggage to you and/or due to long
waiting time/ inconsistent bus service to KLIA Main terminal, you ended missing your
connecting flight;
j) If you think coughing up another RM18.20 by taking the taxi will speed you to KLIA
terminal, wait till you experience the long journey that the taxi has to route you through.
k) because you miss the connecting flight, you spend another RM70 taking the train to and fro
KL because you now have to spend a night at your in-laws’house (only if you have your in-
laws in KL)

More nonsense from the crews:

l) bad grooming -- inconsistent hair color/hair-do. This is a service industry, not some wild
wild west show case;
m) you can’t even get rested because air crews hawker and peddle loudly their in-flight food;
n) we are consistently not communicated when the flight is on the run way and for some
reasons it is not taking off. Can you not manage the expectations of the passengers?

Intangible cost -- it will come a time when even it is for free from Air Asia, we can't even afford to do business with you. Funny thing is that it is not about the product, its feature, and price that are issue here. These would be normal things we hurl our complaints against the service provider. Air Asia is too inward focus to care about Customers who pays the CEO,and Air Asia's employee wages/salary. They make it very painful for people to get the basic service. Do we have to tolerate their nonsense just because they are cheap and just because we have no choice at the moment in terms of budget airline substitute? Air Asia is only selling its brand but no intrinsic value in terms of its service; it has no respect for travellers. Mind you, the air ticket may be cheap but when the service becomes overwhemingly poor, problematic, intriguing (that is, the whole service sucks) and airplane is filthy, it becomes a Pariah airline. They have failed to live up to their brand name and promises as the experiences that follow the brand are not in congruent with each other. They choose not to hear the voice of the people / travellers. Maybe, a larger segment of the travellers are the very low income group -- maids, construction workers -- who just want to go home or get from one point to another. Life is already tough enough for them and if air ticket is cheap what is there to complaint.

This should not be the case. We are all human beings and deserve to be treated with respect and Air Asia should listen to the voice of the customer on how they should care to improve -- simple things from allocating seat numbers (to avoid the unnecessary mad rush), sensitive enough to provide immediate and consistent service recovery when flights are delayed to providing reliable and clean logistics linking LCCT to KLIA Main terminal.

Air Asia must take cognizant that their business is everyone's concern. Its business is NOT just about their profit and loss, stocks and share, of buying and selling. Their business pervades the life of others and the community and that all stakeholders in their business equation include the Customer, suppliers, nation, community and not just shareholders and venture-capitalist. Business is not just about productive economic activities but it is also about providing services that is of value to others.

SERVICE EXCELLENCE THE JAPANESE WAY!

2006-09-13T23:17:00.000+08:00

I have just returned from a business trip to Honolulu for the HAWAIIAN INTER ISLAND DRUM FESTIVAL and I travelled by JAL (JAPAN AIRLINES). It has been almost 15 years since I last travelled by JAL (JAPAN AIRLINES). All throughout, whether it was on the plane, at the airport or in the hotel (where I had to stay 1 night in Narita), I have to say that it has been refreshing as far as service excellence is concerned, especially when I get so much bad service nowadays in Malaysia.

In contrast, the Japanese always had a smile for everyone, always acknowledged everyone with a greeting or thank you even at the Immigration checkpoints. While on the shuttle bus from Nikko Hotel Narita to airport, the bus stopped for awhile and immigration officers boarded the bus to check passports. The first officer who stepped onto the bus stood in front, bowed and wished everyone good morning and then informed everyone that they will be coming around to check our documents and they had a wonderful smile, greeting people, thanking people and that was just wonderful for me and for the rest on the bus. What actually happened there and then was another brand reinforcement for Japan and when tourist and businessmen go back to their own countries, they will be talking about Japan, good things of course. And....who says that Immigration officers must put on a stern face and act tough??

At Narita airport, while queuing up to check in, a JAL staff approached me and asked if have no bags to check in. When I said “yes”, she asked me to go to a special no-baggage check-in counter. That saved me from having to wait behind that long queue. What surprises me is that JAL ensures that there is someone who goes around spotting whoever they can assist. At the check-in counter, I was again pleasantly surprised when the JAL staff asked me where I like to sit and then showed me a seats chart. I was truly shocked because I was travelling economy on my journey back to Malaysia and my many experiences tell me not to expect any good service. But I was proven wrong because every single JAL ground staff was well trained to observe and make sure JAL passengers have a wonderful service experience anywhere.

On my way back from Honolulu to Tokyo via JL073, I was travelling economy and the service level was equally wonderful. I noticed that more than half of the entire crew was Thai stewardesses and I do have to recognise them here for their efficiency and utmost courtesy. Those Thai girls really gave a great boost to JAL’s service delivery, and JAL made a good decision to hire them. The crew understood that all customers are equally precious, even though flying economy.

On behalf of the Centre for Customer Care (CCC) Malaysia, I like to nominate the Thai air stewardesses on board JL073 (Kay/Bee Su/Num Phuang) and also Japanese air stewardess Mochizuki as our Service Heroes for the month of September. These girls are really outstanding. I was captivated by the smiles. They never stopped smiling and always there to assist. Just to share one incident. As I had a headache, I asked for a pill and was given promptly by Kay. To my surprise, Num Phuang came and asked me later whether I was alright. Somehow Num saw and knew that detail and worked as a team and showed care for the passenger. She came over later and asked how I was. Then Kay came over and checked on me. That felt really good and I guess my loyalty towards JAL shot up to the roof. My trip from Osaka to Honolulu on JLO78 was equally good and I like to recognise the Thai air stewardesses namely Phinx and Pat.

However, I do have to confess before I end this blog, is that I did not really had a good impression of JAL when I travelled from KL to Osaka. I was travelling on Business Class and I was told that there isn’t any JAL BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE at KLIA. That was a BIG disappointment for an international carrier. What more when a business class airticket costs so much more. When I transited at Kansai airport for 14 hours, I spent most of my time at JAL SAKURA BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE. Again, I was totally disappointed. I have been a frequent flyer and have been into many business class lounges and I hate to say that JAL's is the worst I have ever seen. Besides some beverages, the lounge only served some cookies and peanuts to Business Class travellers. I was shocked. Nevertheless, my displeasure with JAL now has been nullified by the good service experience that I encountered later on. Yet, JAL needs to address those issues that I highlighted. What a powerful branding for JAL and Japan through service excellence.

WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISEMENT AND FREE TOO!

2006-09-07T12:12:00.000+08:00

I have just finished reading the email sent to me by my good friend John Tschohl, a fellow customer service trainer and consultant, and I can't help but putting his personally story in my blog for everyone to read. I don't know about you but I felt great elation and joy, as if I was with John at Kings Pool Camp, Africa and experiencing all these myself.

What I want to say is brief and is this: Your organisation's BEST ADVERTISEMENT is your people and the service experience they give to your customers at every point of interaction...what Jan Calzon calls it "MOMENT OF TRUTHS". It not the expensive media advertisements (which many CEOs and senior management approve and enjoy spending) and neither are frantic product innovations nor price wars (which all costs $$$$$$$). Dear Top Management and Leaders, please reallocate your resources to areas that are more important, that can enhance customer loyalty and give every customer a wonderful experience each time. And...I don't mean having to spend millions. Not everything that thrills customers costs millions. In fact, customers are highly appreciative of little little things that we do to show how much we respect and care for them as a paying customer. Spend more of your resources to hire to right people with right attitude and customer service orientation and pay them well. Initiate incentive schemes to motivate them (sad to say, people are still very much motivated by $$$$). Recognise them and reward them when they deliver WOW service! Make a big HOO HAA everytime. There are so many things that we can do to create a WOW service culture but it all starts from the TOP. So, are you ready to walk the talk and put the money where the mouth is?

p/s: Oh...by the way, I am booking my tour to Kings Pool Camp this December...anybody want to follow? There you go......your people who deliver excellent service will start creating satisfied and surprised customers, who will then go out and tell all their friends and everybody and THAT IS FREE ADVERTISEMENT AND MORE POWERFUL TOO than any media.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Heaven in Africa (experienced personally by John Tschohl and told to thousands by now!)

We have a new Distributor in Botswana, Botswana National Productivity Centre, who invited me to Botswana and arranged a 5 day safari for me while in the country. This is the 4th safari in the last 2 years. I need a little time for rest and relation while I travel to Africa.

Wilderness Safari is a firm with 25 lodges which they call camps that we selected.
Three levels, Premier, Classic and Explorations. www.wilderness-safaris.com
If you want a firm to benchmark yourself against and want an incredible time this is the place to go. The BEST SERVICE I have ever experienced. Better than any firm in the US or anywhere else in the world. Botswana is a country about the size of Texas but with only 1.8 million people. The vast majority are very quiet, shy and soft spoken people.

I will explain what I observed and hopefully give you some principles you can learn from. I suggest you spend 2 days at each camp, visiting at least 3 camps. This way you can see if they are consistent and walk their talk at each location.

The first lodge I went to was Kings Pool Camp. www.kingspool.com
A premier camp, really deluxe. They had 3 key things going for them;

1. The service was the best I have ever seen. I felt it was a 12 out of 10
As you get picked up at the private airstrip the staff uses your name, introduces themselves to you and makes you feel special. When you get to the camp the staff greats you by name, and then EACH person introduces themselves to you with their name and calls you by name. -I mean everyone-. The kitchen staff, housekeeping, management and each and every person you touch. Constantly. Whatever you wanted, they did. No rules (Except not standing up in the Land Rover when on the safari. It scares the wild animals and puts your life at risk)

2. The ambiance was incredible. The nicest room I have ever stayed in. Food was superior. We had 6 meals a day. Light breakfast at 6:30 AM. Lunch at 11 AM, afternoon break at 3:30 PM, Tea Break at sunset about 6 PM and dinner at 8 PM. Unfortunately, the food was exceptionally good and I was gaining weight fast! Nothing like great food. The room was huge and plush. Elephants and hippos were about 50 feet from the room. Free laundry each day. The shampoo, hand lotion and body wash soap were in large bottles. Bigger than I have ever seen before. Free drinks, Everything you could ever want with staff that ALL called you by name.

3. The experience with the wilderness, animals and guiding was superior. The elephants, baboons, hippos, impalas were all around the camp. I have great photos while on the safari from a guide who always used everyone's name and really cared about you. For most people the experience is what they think about the most. I was keeping my eye on the entire operation, thinking I had just arrived in heaven.

The entire management team was awesome. Innes and his leadership were the best of the best
NO weak links. No staff that didn't smile or call you by name. Everyone recognizes you throughout the stay and immediately does whatever you wanted.
At lunch and dinner the guides and management team all sat with you at a very large dinner table. Not by themselves but mixed with all the guests. Every guide and employee knew each customer by name.

After two days in heaven I was wondering how the next camp would measure up. Would the service be the same? Keep in mind I had just spent 4 days in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana where service was weak and government had just received a rating of 2.5 out of 10. As mentioned, the employees in these organizations are very quiet, rarely smile and speak real softly. In Kings Pool the employees were the exact opposite. None of the previous safaris or lodges I've ever stayed at were in the same league as Kings Pool Camp.

A private plane picks you up around noon and flies you to the next camp which was Kvetsani Camp. www.kvetsani.com They greet you by name at the airstrip and begin the same process of treating you like royalty. When I arrived at the lodge they had their staff greet me at the entrance with a welcoming song. The second night the entire staff put on a 20 minute dance and show with singing for all the customers. Wow. The maid was the lead person.

The camp was not as upscale. The rooms were not as plush. Awesome, just not as plush. Animals were all over. They walked you to your room each night so the wild animals did not have a late night snack. I had left some clothes outside early in the morning to dry but the monkeys had a little fun with them. ( I had not listened) Ian and Alida were exceptional.
No hotel in the world could match the service at these first two camps. I was wondering if the service would stay a "10" or start to go downhill. The next camp was going to be even less upscale.

Again I was taken to the dirt airstrip for a private plane to take me to Little Vumbura Camp, the next and last one on my 5 day safari www.littlevumbura.com This is a 6 room tented camp, for a maximum of 12 guests. When being picked up by the guide he uses my name and takes me to the camp. When I arrived at the camp by boat they also had their staff at the dock greeting me with a nice song. I was not expecting this and did not have my video camera. This is not a group of customers entering the camp. Just me.
Each camp has the managers greet you as you get off the Land Rover, a staff member hands you a wet hand towel and then takes you into the lobby and offers you a welcome drink. Your luggage is taken to the room. Each cabin, room or tent is different. All very nice. All give you free laundry, large amounts of shampoo and any other amenity you may want. I was getting used to no phones, no TV, no newspapers and no Internet. They want you to experience the wilderness with the wild animals. They call each room a tent. Each is very large, very spacious, very plush and really nice. Not what you think of when you think of a tent. Ian was telling the guests at night how he mastered using every guests names, always. Very impressive.
I had an early flight to Gaborne. They had another Land Rover take my luggage to meet up with me at about 9:30 am to take me to the plane. No policies or rules preventing you from taking care of the customer. Whatever I wanted I could have.

The plane was 15 minutes late. It turned out the company plane has a problem so they chartered another plane and in 30 minutes I was at Maun to take my Air Botswana flight back to Gaborne for another day of work. Very sad. I had just experienced heaven.
I would encourage each reader of this newsletter to experience heaven at least once before you really die. Wilderness Safari would be a great company to benchmark yourself against. This firm is the best of the best. Why come to the US when in Botswana (just north of South Africa) you can be on a safari, have your company fund the trip and use it to benchmark yourself against.

THE POWER OF "WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISEMENT"

2006-08-01T14:38:00.000+08:00

I happen to read this email from Steph and I am attaching below for all to read. Notice her last sentence and highlighted in RED and BOLD -

Please warn all your friends and relatives NOT to catch any movie at the Cine-Leisure at The Curve. For your safety and spare yourself from the stress of losing your belongings.

What can we learn from Steph? It's the POWER OF WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISEMENT. Surveys tell us that an unhappy customer tells 8 - 10 people (that's before the era of internet, email and sms) and a happy customer tells 4 - 5 people and of course we cannot stop those people from telling their other friends and the domino effect starts. Word of mouth advertisement, whether good or bad, has fantastic effect and influence on people. From my evaluation, at the end of the day, Steph was not as disturbed or angered by the "cinema robbery" as compared to the "couldn't careless" attitude of the Cineplex Management. If they had handled Steph's case with more empathy and sympathy, that incident could have become a very positive one whereby Steph would be telling all her friends how wonderfully Cine-Leisure handled her predicament and her misery would have been transformed to delight and excitement. Guess how much free publicity that would have gone to CineLeisure. But.....unfortunately, it did not happen that way and CineLeisure has lost a golden opportunity to create a unique brand for themselves. I do hope that businesses can train their staff on necessary skills and mindsets to handle problems when they occur.

By: Dr. Allen Teh

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear All, (by Steph)
This really happened to me. Never thought it would though. Day in day out, you get forwarded emails from friends and family how people get robbed and how their belongings were stolen away from them.
Last Thursday I was watching a movie in Cine-leisure (in Curve). Due to the fact that I was sitted next to the wall, I left my bag by the side on the ground. I didn't realised that my bag was taken away from me and placed back at the original place. I lost my mobile phone, wallet, car keys, digital camera, and my name card case. Definitely these culprits have "baca ayat" another word, jampi me. Not only was I the only victim. In the same Cineplex hall, there was another couple which lost their belongings. A guy actually lost his wallet and mobile phone too. Funny isn't it, guys usually keep their wallet at the back pocket or front pocket. Merely impossible to be taken by the person sitting behind him. Unless he has been jampi.
The management of the Cineplex was not helpful at all. They had promise me that I would be able to view the CCTV the next day as I roughly saw that guy who sat behind me. I even had witness (their cineplex supervisor) saw a group of suspicious young punks walking in and running out at the end of the movie. The next day, I called the management up to request the timing which would be convinient for me to drop by to view the CCTV. They gave the "I'm busy now, please call me back tomorrow" attitude. I was boiling pissed. I gave that manager a piece of my mind and demanded for a reply latest by the next day. Btw, when I lodge my report to the Cineplex management, the file was quite thick (which means, alot of people have lost their belongings in there). Being a NEW cineplex, about a month old. It's definitely not a good sign.
The following day, she called me and told me that I cannot view the CCTV and only authorities (such as police) are allowed. I was freaking pissed by then. I was like literally raising my voice at her. And she had the nerve to asked me to "please be understanding". I was like WTF!!!! I suspect it's probably an insider job.

Please warn all your friends and relatives NOT to catch any movie at the Cine-Leisure at The Curve. For your safety and spare yourself from the stress of losing your belongings.
Cheers, Steph

A MEMORABLE DAY TO REMEMBER FOR AN ORDINARY CUSTOMER - ME!

2006-04-27T23:47:00.000+08:00

I went to One-Utama on the afternoon of 27 April 2006, hoping to purchase a printer ink cartridge. As usual, I ended up buying more than I should. Who says only ladies are compulsive buyers...look at me....and I ended up spending more than RM400 + in 1.5 hours.

Anyway, that's not my story...I didn't put off sleeping early to tell you this. The wonderful story is going to unfold. I bought things from 4 places within 1-Utama and I like to tabulate my customer experience, knowing how awfully meticulous I can be at times.

1st Stop - Jaya Jusco

Staff at Pineapple Computers quite helpful and knows his products pretty well....I ended up buying > RM350 from there
My feeling as a customer = 6 out of 10 points
Will I go back again? = Yes because I am crazy about PC stuff

2nd Stop - Kentucky Fried Chicken

3.3opm for lunch.....wow!
good food....chicken has always been wonderful as compared to all others...just wonder how sluggish competitors are in catching up....it's not difficult...just be creative and copy shamelessly
crew behind counter - totally "AVERAGE" and that includes the crew + manager.....no wonder the crew staff are giving shitty service because the managers are showing how to....
I guess they think that customers can live without eating KFC...they forgot that we as CUSTOMERS have many choices....worst come to worst....don't eat lah.
I just a random check with the crew that served me and asked if KFC is still NOT selling chicken wings Original Recipe (OR) and he said yes and I asked if many customers are complaining and he answered yes. That blew my mind.....either this feedback is not getting up to the very top management or the top management hears about it and just turn their face and say to themselves " Hey, if those fussy customers want to eat our wonderful chicken wings, they just have to eat spicy because we have already made our decision and that's final" .....well let's see who has the final laugh when the customers start boycotting KFC for their insensitivity towards customer needs.
My feeling as a customer = So So......no feeling. I can't even remember the face of the crew.
Will I go back again? = Perhaps, when I am hungry and no where else to eat.

3rd Stop - Herbal Teashop next to Delifrance

Chinese lady didn't bother to look at me
But, she said thank you at the end, but still no eye contact - anyway, I didn't expect much because it is only RM1.30 for a cup of herbal tea.
My feelings as a customer = 6 out of 10 points
Will I go back again? = Of course 100% because this is THE ONLY shop in 1-Utama

4th Shop - Giant

Bought some groceries and amounted to RM50+
Only encounter was with a cashier and average experience.
My feeling as a customer = 6 out of 10 points
Will I go back again? Perhaps....if I am near there....

So, my 1.5 hours of shopping was just mundane and dull. None of the shops that I bought from (remember, I was the customer) gave me any reasons to remember them, not to mention LOYALTY which business' BOSSES always profess to be important and their main objective for success. None of these shops gave me a customer experience that makes me FEEL GOOD and say WOW!. Nothing. What baffles me is that everyone knows that competition is getting very HOT and you are seeing promotions, campaigns, sales, advertisements, price wars and free gifts just to draw in the customers. But when WE the CUSTOMERS step into their premises, we don't feel that we are welcomed...they way they act is like telling you" Hey buddy, go find another place...we have too many customers here and I need a break....you people are giving me too much work" You see that on their faces, their expressions, the way the stand....it's all over them. BUT....since I get to see and experience those nonsense so often, I just shrug it off and went along.

NOW...comes the biggest BOMB of my day (you thought that my story is over...think again). I was going to my car when I realised that I have misplaced my parking ticket. I went to some places I shopped at and asked the staff if they saw any lost ticket. Of course.....none. By the time I went to the Parking Office to report my lost ticket....it was a small room hidden under some staircase and once I got there, I met 2 guys - one was in uniform and the other was not. I said that I lost my ticket and they said " RM20". I was shocked and allowed myself to begin complaining. None of them bothered, told me to fill in a form, as if I am at the Police Station to report an accident. I said that I was a CUSTOMER and I happened to have bought more than RM400 worth of stuff but it fell on deaf ears. Their body language is saying " WE DON"T CARE. JUST SHUT UP, PAY UP and GET LOST BUDDY". Of course they justified their actions by saying that they are only doing their job and I guess I cannot blame them..they are just employees but they could have been nicer.

BUT....I blame the Management. Why are they having this ridiculous and stupid policy to charge RM20 for lost tickets. That plain clothers guy at the office said that if they don't impose this fine, then every one will come with lost tickets. GIVE ME A BREAK! I guess customers have nothing better to do than to get their tickets lost on purpose and enjoy the fun and adventure of looking for the parking office, filling in the form and then pay the fine. Please don't treat people as children. What irks me most is that I have just spent quite a lot of money (at least to my standards) in 1-Utama and I get penalised for losing my ticket and forced to pay RM20. It's crazy and blows my mind. Where's the caring? Where's compassion?

I left 1-Utama very upset, angry and that experience was so encompassing that I missed the turn to my office and had to go one more round. You see, I went to 4 shops and gave business to them but when I received average service, I didn't really mind and I did not get angry and upset. I do not become their loyal customer but I may go back again and I have no grudge against them. BUT....I do have a grudge against the Management of 1-Utama. All I can say is that I will CHOOSE not to shop at that place for at least 6 months because customers have many other choices where to shop and bad experiences like what I went through today will not be easily forgotten. IT'S ALL ABOUT FEELINGS....CUSTOMERS' FEELINGS.....if you don't take care of your customers, they will not take care of your business...that simple.

Signing off!

LET'S GET BACK TO THE BASICS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

2006-01-14T00:53:00.000+08:00

Providing flawless service to customers is the best strategy for keeping them and for distinguishing your company from the competition. This article tells how to introduce quality service at all levels of your organization and lists resources that you can call on for help.
Because it's essential to every company's success, customer service is one of the most critical business areas in the 1990s. Any company that gets customers but can't keep them will go out of business. Any company that keeps customers but doesn't expand those relationships will not be successful.

Statistics show that it costs much more to find a new customer than to maintain a current one. Too many companies, however, spend substantial amounts of time and money on winning new customers and relatively little trying to keep the customers they already have. Just a small investment in making customers feel special is bound to yield a lot of incremental business.
Consumers and business-to-business customers alike have a tremendous amount of choice when buying today. In many cases, customer service is the deciding factor in weighing a purchasing decision. If no one at your company bothers to make customers feel important, they will almost certainly switch to another supplier. Companies that are successful in retaining customers generally are those that make the effort to understand what their customers value and then provide it to them consistently.

DEFINITION

Simply put, customer service is whatever enhances customer satisfaction. Satisfaction, or lack of it, is the difference between how a customer expects to be treated and how he or she perceives being treated. If you give customers even better service than they expect, they are sure to notice it, and they will recommend your company to others. There is no more effective advertising than word-of-mouth.

RESEARCH AND STATISTICS

A survey of 181 American companies was conducted to see how well five service-sector industries pleased their customers: retail, hotel and catering, health care, utilities, and professional/financial. The survey, by Aleda Roth of the University of North Carolina, Richard Chase of the University of Southern California, and Chris Voss of the London Business School, found that the hotel industry pays more attention than the others to customer service. Hoteliers spend time on how their properties and people look and on how well their employees manage customer interactions. The survey found that financial-service companies satisfy customers but tend to be complacent about managing interactions.
The International Customer Service Association's (ICSA) 1996 Customer Service Benchmarking Study revealed that the most senior person directly involved with customer service operations on a day-to-day basis was a manager or director. The activities this person performs for the majority of companies include strategic planning, budget/financial planning, reviewing customer feedback, and supervising employees.

The 308 ICSA members who responded to the survey said that telephone skills and product knowledge are two of the most important assets customer service representatives must have.
Seventy-five percent of the responding companies measure customer satisfaction. Most do this using customer-satisfaction surveys or telephone interviews.

Other findings:
The average duration of a customer service phone call was 4.09 minutes.
Customer service representatives typically handle 256 calls per week.
On average, 9.4 percent of all inquiries received were complaints.

THE CRITICAL ROLE OF TRAINING

Employees must be trained in good customer service. It is a learned skill. Slogans, buzz words, and a list of guidelines do not make superior customer service happen. Only training, dedication, and commitment will. Typical training areas include problem solving, listening, communication, and stress management.

Eighty percent of the companies that have training programs of any sort provide customer service training, according to Training magazine's 1997 Industry Report, which surveyed organizations employing 100 or more employees. The report, which found that U.S. organizations budgeted $58.6 billion for training in all disciplines in 1997, revealed that approximately 7.2 million customer service people received training. They received an average of 30 hours of instruction.

Similar trends were reported in the 1996 ICSA Customer Service Benchmarking Study. Eighty-one percent of the companies that responded said customer service representatives received formal training, up ten percent from 1993.

HOW TRAINING HELPS

It's an inevitable problem. An irate customer who is very loud returns with a complaint about your product or service. Should the customer service representative:

*Tell the customer he doesn't have to take his verbal abuse and walk away?
*Tell the customer to wait while he gets a manager?
*Empathize with the customer and tell him that, if he will calmly explain the problem, everything will be done to make sure he's satisfied?

Most people recognize that No. 3 is the correct answer, but that doesn't mean they act accordingly. Unfortunately, if a person doesn't know what action to take, instinct takes over and he or she either fights or runs away. That's why training is important.

That goes double for salespeople who often find themselves in the front lines fielding customer complaints. An inability to satisfy unhappy customers often undermines a salesperson's confidence in the product, making it more difficult to approach prospective customers, face rejection, and be enthusiastic. Salespeople, like customer service personnel, should be taught to view complaints as valuable information that can be used to solve other problems. And, if they are treated fairly, dissatisfied customers will become faithful customers.

HOW TO ACHIEVE EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

The basic precepts of customer service are simple. Every customer is an individual entitled to be treated with friendliness, honesty, and respect. Treat customers exactly the way you want to be treated when you are a customer. Customers are entitled to full value for their money, fast delivery, a complete guarantee of satisfaction, and knowledgeable answers on inquiries. Word to the wise: If you don't provide these things, your competitors will.

Following are key strategies that, when combined with a comprehensive training program, will help you achieve a high level of customer service:

Commitment from management to the objectives of a first-rate customer service program is vital. Members of the management team, from the CEO on down, must be role models if changes in employee behavior are expected. Management has to uphold the customer service program with continuous training and reinforcement.

Remember, everyone in your organization is responsible for customer service. Service does not stop with the people who regularly talk to customers. Customers often deal with employees in sales, shipping, or accounting. So all employees should be involved in the service strategy. Ironically, companies that are most effective in customer service often don't have a separate customer service department.

Develop a service strategy. In order to do this, you must describe your customer in great detail. What do your customers want, need, and expect? If you don't know who you're trying to satisfy and what their needs are, it will be difficult to satisfy them. Make a distinction between customer needs, demands, and preferences.

Here are six important words to remember in your need-development process: who, what, where, why, when, how? Ask them and you'll get a lot of information to help you understand people's needs.

Treat your employees well. An organization will not have employees who treat customers right if the company does not treat its employees right.
Motivate your employees. Build your employees' self-esteem. The better employees feel about themselves, the more effective they are in providing quality service. An enthusiastic employee will want to learn about your company and its products or services. The more an employee knows, the better, because customers like dealing with people who know what they are doing.
To keep your people at the top of their form, you may want to introduce an incentive program or some other type of recognition. That can be done with a monetary award, a gift, or even a trip. It can be an opportunity to attend a seminar or have lunch with the CEO. Employee-of-the-month awards are good recognition programs, because they create competition and acknowledge individual achievements publicly. And don't discount the simple pat on the back.
Home Depot is one company that rewards employees for outstanding customer service. Customers are encouraged to fill out a questionnaire when they receive good service, and the employee mentioned gets a merit badge. After five merit badges, employees receive $100. Home Depot salespeople agree that this program inspires them to do their best.

Let employees make on-the-spot service decisions. Front-line employees must be given authority to respond to the needs and problems of individual customers with speed and courtesy. There should be no need for them to go "higher up" when dealing with a customer's problem. This philosophy also makes employees feel important, which, in turn, makes them more enthusiastic. Fair warning: If an employee puts a caller on hold to get someone else's help, the customer's aggravation level increases.

Listen and empathize. It's imperative that employees listen to a customer's complaints and be empathetic. Customers will tolerate mistakes as long as they believe that the company really cares about their feelings. Representatives must be trained to listen to customers and find out what they want and when. Obviously, courtesy must be shown in every contact with customers, whether it's in person, on the phone, or by mail. Remember to view complaints as an opportunity for valuable market research. They're an opportunity to discover problems and remedy them before they become damaging.

Reinforce the service commitment. Customer service training should be an ongoing commitment. Continue your training program on a regular basis. Don't look at it as a one-shot deal.

Follow up, follow up, follow up. After the transaction, make follow-up contacts to insure that your customers are satisfied. Follow-up may be done by phone or mail, but remember, any time you can talk to a customer one-on-one, you're way ahead of the game.

MAKING YOUR COMPANY CUSTOMER-DRIVEN

Companies that are customer-driven recognize that, if they don't run their businesses to suit their customers, their customers will suit themselves-somewhere else. "It used to be that if you built a good product you would survive," says James Feldman, president of Shift Happens! Seminars, Inc., "but today, customer service has become the distinguishing characteristic among products."

Feldman is one of several customer service experts who contributed to the book Thriving on Change, by Rick Crandall (see Books). Here are some tips on becoming customer-driven that are excerpted from the book:

· Be your own customer on a regular basis.
· Ask your customers what they want.
· Listen to those on the front lines.
· Experience your company from the customer's perspective.
· See your customers as individual people with needs, wants, and feelings.
· Experience the marketplace firsthand.

HOW TO SELL MORE TO CURRENT CUSTOMERS

Here are three tips for retaining customers and encouraging them to increase their business with your company:

Interact with customers frequently. By keeping in touch, you'll get a feel for customer needs and what additional products they're likely to buy.

Restructure your sales force. Some companies have had success dividing the sales force into two groups: account managers who hunt for new business and client salespeople who regularly visit and survey current accounts.

Conduct seminars. Invite your customers to training seminars.

AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE IS VITAL

A customized database is critical to keep abreast of customer purchasing behavior. Initially, customers may have to be persuaded to reveal their preferences so the information can be used to build a database, but it's worth the effort.

Names and addresses of customers and prospects, coupled with information about their purchasing habits and preferences, should be stored electronically. You can then search for items corresponding to certain criteria. For example, a computer can identify within minutes those clients who have not placed an order in the last six months. Letters, offers, inquiries, or phone calls, can then be made with pinpoint accuracy.

One company that employs excellent customer service techniques is the Nordstrom retail chain. Every sales clerk keeps a computerized "personal book," a profile of his or her repeat customers that includes everything from names and addresses to clothing sizes and style and color preferences. Armed with this information, the clerks call customers to announce the arrival of items that might please them.

THE INTERNET AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

Today, the Internet is one of the most popular ways to communicate a message. Researchers estimate that between 40 million and 50 million people are online around the world.
The Internet provides a new way to develop rapport with customers, so companies are building Web sites to communicate with them. Answering questions, solving problems, and selling additional products are just a few ways the Internet can play a role in customer service.
Forty percent of the companies who responded to the 1996 ICSA Customer Service Benchmarking Study said they make general company information available through the Internet. Surprisingly, only eight percent of companies offer online ordering, a number that is sure to increase over time.

HOW TO WIN BACK CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE STRAYED

It's going to happen. Even with the best customer service strategies in place, you're bound to lose a customer here or there. A personal visit from someone in your company is the best way to find out why this customer left. If the customer says your product or service wasn't what was expected, ask how the product fell short. If the customer says he or she found another company he likes better, ask why they chose another company.

Apologize for any inconvenience or misunderstanding and, quite simply, ask for another chance. When trying to win back an account, offer to provide something extra for the client, such as free delivery, or a discount on their first order.

Winning back an account is only half the battle. You have to service the client on a continuing basis. Contact the company on a regular basis to touch base. Note: There are some customers worth giving up. That is purely a business decision.

WHICH IS BETTER FOR BUSINESS? GET NEW CUSTOMERS OR RETAIN EXISTING CUSTOMERS?

2005-10-31T17:26:00.000+08:00

I remembered someone from a famous and established bank said, "Customers come and go. If they want to go, let them lah. 1 go, 10 will come. No worries". It seems that many companies and banks are having this mentality.

This is an interesting experience that I encountered with Standard Chartered Bank recently. All the hype about how foreign banks are better than local Malaysian banks, in all sense of the word, may not sound so true after all. Beware, Malaysian banks are catching up very fast, if they put more effort in differentiating themselves through their customer service! I have always been very biased to declare that fighting on price and product/service offerings will not give any business any sustainable competitive advantage at all. I used the word sustainable here because that's what all businesses want..to be leading not just 1 year but 10 years, 15 years, 25 years, and so on. What pricing and product/service innovations can do for a business may grant them a short-term competitive advantage because customers find them different and unique but once the competitor catches up and copies all that you have done and then do it better, you have then lost your comptitive advantage. So....CEOs, OWNERS, Decision Makers, please focus on strategies that will bring you lasting sustainable advantage. I am talking about CUSTOMER SERVICE.

OK...back to Standard Chartered. One fine day, I came to the realisation that I have too many credit cards (actually I have 4 then) and so I decided to cancel my Standard Chartered MasterCard Gold Card. Funny....what made me choose Standard Chartered Card to cancel? I guess Standard Chartered never established any relationship with me all the while and so I had no qualms whatsoever. Isn't that a shame!!!!! What has been done by the bank to secure a customer's loyalty???

Anyway, I called the Call Centre and spoke to one Shukor. I told him that I want to know my final amount due to the bank so that I can make my final payment, clear my account and then CANCEL my card. To my amazement, he said" No Problem sir....we can do that for you". Needless to say, he was courteous, used the right words, and following the script all the way....without using his head!

These are some of things that annoyed me:

1) I said that I wanted to cancel my card and the Call Centre agent did not even made any attempt to dissuade me. I am sure that he saw that I had a limit of RM15,000 on his terminal and that shows that I am a key client.

2) When I asked for my outstanding amount for me to make final payment, he did not account for amounts that were in my credit. When I asked him, on checking my statement, he said that I only asked him for outstanding amount and did not asked him for any amounts to my credit. Imagine if I had not asked him, I would overpaid and will take years to get my money back. But, his answer pushed a hot button within me and I blasted him. It was at that point that I asked him why he did not even bother to persuade me to stay on as Standard Chartered's customer. All he said was "SORRY, SORRY, SORRY". Must be in his script again but not using his head and common sense. He just couldn't get what I was trying to tell him. I was yelling "Stop me from leaving, stop me now, I want to give you guys more business".

3) I asked him for a printed Statement of what I need to pay, he said that the bank doesn't do that. In other words, he is saying "Just trust me and the bank and pay up".

4) He asked me to fax in a letter to cancel my Credit Card, of which I did and I specifically asked that Standard Chartered send me an email to acknowldge receipt of my letter. Until today, I have yet to receive any emails......I was also hoping that someone from the bank will call me to talk to me about my cancellation but no one called......wow. My wife has a Citibank Credit Card and she tried to cancel her card but that bank refused to allow her to cancel, called her constantly to try to dissuade and offering her fee waiver. Finally, she relented and she is still having her credit card. You see......don't let your customers go so easily.

5) Lastly, I called the Call Centre to double-check if my card is cancelled and it was confirmed to be cancelled by Amy and again, she did not make any effort to talk to me or dissuade me. Instead, she said "Anything else I can help you sir?" Another well rehearsed script I should say.

Research tells us that it costs 8 times more for a company to attract a new customer tahn to retain one existing customer. So, why are we spending so much money on advertising and promotions, trying to get new customers and forgetting that exisiting customers are leaving by the flocks, telling their friends how bad your company is and they in turn will tell aall their other friends.

Start a Defection Management System

1) Create SWAT Teams - Create an action team of your best employees and get them to contact customers who have defected or about to defect, and persuade them to give your company another chance.

2) List Actions to reduce defections - prepare a list of possible actions for individual, departments to take to reduce defections. Empower them but set boundaries wide enough. Give them enough flecibility to

3) Have a Complaint Management System to monitor, handle and manage complaints handling. Complaints not handled effectively will not only caused defections but also result in much negative mouth-t0-mouth advertising.

4) Training - implement expanded quality service training (or new approach or content) every 6 months, since employees' motivation, pasison and excitement would have fizzled off by then. Cost of training is a small fraction of potential growth in sales and profit.

2005-10-31T17:13:00.000+08:00

The “how” lingers in the customer’s memory banks long after “what” you do (the offering) is forgotten… it’s personal!

This is usually the case. When you walk into a restaurant, hotel or a retail outlet, the staff or sales people are usually more attentive and friendlier if business is slow and there are few customers. On the other hand, if business is very good and the outlet is swarming with customers, you may end up thinking that you are Mr Transparent, and nobody bothers about you. There again, many service staff are really not bothered about their customers regardless of whether they have business or not. They just downright “DON’T CARE”.

The lesson here today is: DON’T BE TOO BUSY TO BE NICE. Let’s simplify the word “CUSTOMER SERVICE” . Some service staff find it hard to understand this bombastic word. So I say this slowly – “Just be nice to all our customers, as long as you are paid a salary by your employer”. That’s all your boss is asking you to do. BUT…..it doesn’t seem to be happening. Service staff are practically chasing away every customer who walks into their shop, by their body language and their “cold-shoulder” treatment.

Let’s talk about our Service Hero of the month – Mr Richard Tan. I met him at the PC Fair held in KLCC Convention Centre. He was there with all his colleagues from Ichiban, manning their huge booth. WOW! They must be doing very well. Of all the Ichiban staff, Richard stood out from the rest, as far as my observation is concerned. Despite his busyness and so many customers visiting their booth, Richard remained attentive. I do have to say that I am a bit of a pain-in-the-neck as a customer – anyway, which customer isn’t nowadays? I always put the sales staff to the test, asking millions of questions and really taking them for a “test-drive”. In summary, Richard Tan survived the onslaught. But to the chagrin of all sales people, this customer said “Bye-Bye” after the entire Q & A session. But, Richard gave a smile and said “That’s OK. Come by again”. I actually did go by Ichiban’s booth again and to my surprise, Richard remembered me and gave me a very great, BIG smile and pursued after the sales again, relentlessly.

I do have to confess that I would not have bought the ICHIBAN AMP-22, if it had not been for Richard’s persistence and friendly disposition. So, if you want more business, DON’T BE TOO BUSY TO BE NICE! Because, customer service is all about FEELINGS!

FISH & CO - BANGSAR VILLAGE: THE TOTAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THAT COUNTS!

2005-10-31T15:39:00.000+08:00

What's the moment of truth (MOT)? This concept was popularised by Jan Carlzon, the ex-CEO of the Scandinavian Airlines. Each time a customer interact with you or your company, it is called an MOT. A cycle of value (COV) is the series of personal experiences the customer goes through in doing business with you. A COV starts with a first experience, or moment of truth (MOT), followed by a series of various other MOTs, and concluding with a final one at which the customer considers the cycle complete. So, whether the customer goes away with a smile or frown, thumbs up or thumbs down, going away telling everyone about how good you are or otherwise, whether they will come back again or never again, all depends on each MOT he or she experienced during that 1 - 2 hours in your shop or restaurant.

This brings me to our case study for today. My staff and I decided to give one of HIndu colleague a Deepavali lunch and so we wandered off to Bangsar Village and we chose Fish & Co because we have not tried that restaurant before. Place looked nice (1st MOT OK) but we have to wave frantically to get somebody's attention to take our orders. So, the 2nd MOT OUT. Finally came a young waitress and she was very courteous and nice, apoligised for our long wait and told us that they were short of staff. Suddenly, the displeasure left us because she passed the 3rd MOT with flying colours. By the way, her name is Su Ling (hope I got her spelling correct) and she is in Form 4 and thus doing some parttime work. But, I was impressed.

Food came and everything was OK and thus they have passed 4th MOT. Lastly, we called for the dessert and another waitress came with a cups of melted ice-cream and apologised that they left the ice-cream outside to defrost. WOW! That blew my mind. In all my years in F & B, I have never heard such a thing. The reason given was: "The ice-cream was too hard and we cannot scoop and that's why we placed the ice-cream outside to soften it." The other waitress looked pretty young and I do have to forgive her...but, isn't there a supervisor or manager on duty? So, they failed in their last MOT. We paid the bill but most probably will not go back again...because there is no reason to...there are so many other restaurants to go to....

The "melted ice-cream turned out to be straw that broke the camel's back. What could have been done to make things better?

* Firstly, never thaw ice-cream....you thaw meat, fish, chicken but not ice-cream.
* The waitress should not have sent the ice-cream in the first place. I noticed that the strawberry ice-cream was not melted and thus they should have served all strawberry. Instead, they served 2 cups strawberry (which was good) and the others of other flavours which were melted. That makes me suspicious that the thawing ice-cream story was all a lie and instead, they could have scooped the icre-cream, placed them outside for sometime and then served us melted. Yes...that could be it!!!!

Instead of sending melted and watery ice-cream, they should have offered us something else eg coffee, tea, etc. We hinted that we should drink the ice-cream with straw, we called it milkshake but that waitress was not listening...just not listening.

* And where was the supervisor or manager all the while, during the slight commotion. I think he was hiding somewhere.

So, what did we learn today. Here are some:-

1) Young and inexperienced staff have better work attitude and companies should leverage on them. Old and experienced staff usually develop "flak" , think they know too much and end up delivering poorer service. So, what are companies doing to harness the excitement and innocence of young staff to better their service levels and business? What are they doing about old and senior staff who are losing the "passion" for customers?

2) Su Li was the star as far as I am concerned. Kudos Su Li. Keep up the good work! She was always smiling and I do have to say that I really put her on the spot. MINTA MAAF YA Su Li!!! But, she survived my onslaught. When she got me to sign my credit card, she called me by name....WOW!. You don't get that everyday. At thata moment, I felt like standing up and giving her a hug but I restrained myself for many obvious reasons. Haha!

3) Last lesson - the Cycle of Value (COV), the total value perceived by the customer or simply put, the customer's overall experience is CUMULATIVE. It is the sum total of all the MOTs that add up to his or her judgement by the time the cycle is done. And, the COV runs on the "weakest-link" concept. One disappointing or traumatic MOT can ruin the contributions of all the others that went before it. So, this is what happened to us. I guess we will never go back again to Fish & Co, Bangsar Village or any other of their outlets. We didn't have a good and memorable experience to say "Hey...they are different lah".

SERVICE IN AMERICA IS EQUALLY BAD...SERVICE CRISIS ALL OVER THE WORLD!!!! BETTER SHAPE UP!

2005-09-12T00:13:00.000+08:00

From the youngest customer to the oldest, from the smallest purchase to the largest, or the loudest complainer to the silent purchaser - what do your customers really think of you? Were they served well? Did they enjoy their experience while in your business, or did they become so frustrated that they left without even a purchase - or worse yet, another horror story to tell their friends and family?

The past 30 days have been a real eye opener for me. I have tried to do business with a variety of companies from single operators working from their home to multi-franchise operations and it's been the same horrific experience. At 10.17am one Friday morning I was told by a large camera store they can't cash my $100 bill and that I should put my $11.01 purchase on a credit card. When I told them I chose not to put it on a credit card and that I felt that certainly with 4-6 registers in the store they must be able to make change, I was told NO by a manger, in no uncertain terms. Their attitude was, if you want this picture you deal with our rules and right now that means cash isn't good enough here. I left without my picture and vowed to write a very detailed letter of the 3 horrific experiences at this one store, send it to the manager and never to shop there again. I also vowed to put them in my Customer Service story file for the "how not to treat customers and future customers."

It doesn't seem to get any better with small operators either. I need to have my printer
repaired and needed it useable in 3-4 hours. So, I called someone from three yellow pages that did on-site printer repairs. "The expert in Laser Printer repairs! Within 3 minutes of looking at the printer he replied that he had the wrong part with him and had to take the printer back to the shop. “Okay, when would I get it back?” "Well, by 2-3 pm this afternoon" was his reply. If he couldn't fix it he'd give me a replacement to use till he could get mine fixed. Reluctantly I said okay. By 2.00pm he'd not been back to his home office and hadn't even started to repair my printer. By 3.00pm he'd called and said some part was needed that he didn't have (a major part - you'd think the "expert" would carry in his shop.) So I'd need to use his loaner. He'd bring it by for another $20.00 house call. "No thanks, I'll pick it up."

Upon arriving at his home office he proceeded to tell me what is wrong with the printer and when I asked how much would the repairs cost he replied “somewhere between $130 - $180.” "Are you crazy?" The printer now could be purchased new for under $200.00. Why would I pay for you to fix it for that amount? Once he calmed me down he said “well take the loaner and I won't charge you for it or the normal 2 cents a copy.” Am I insane? He promised to fix my machine on the spot, within a couple of hours and now I've got a ridiculous bill and he's not going to charge me for the loaner? It turned out that the loaner was so old it didn't have enough memory to print any of the documents I needed. So I left for Florida without the material and spent 2 hours in a copy shop trying to get the originals I desperately needed.

Lesson learned. Get everything in writing; believe little of what you read and never let
anyone take something from your home without a written estimate and a guarantee of
delivery. I realize not every business is like this, but do you really know what your customers think of you? How clean are you bathrooms? How friendly and helpful is your staff? What does your front yard look like? All of these make an impression - one that lasts. I’m amazed at how poor customer service in general has gotten to be in America. I will not shop at stores where the service is bad. I don't care how great their merchandise is at the time or how cost effective; the savings are simply not worth the costs.

As a businessperson in very competitive times, you need loyal customers who refer other people to you if you plan on doing business face to face. Otherwise someone who does make your shoppers happy will take them away with minimum ease. Even now as the Internet grows daily by leaps and bounds - no business is safe from savvy marketers who know what the buying population wants and needs. It's time to do a customer service audit throughout every area of your business. How much will it cost? Less than $5.00 for most companies. Simply buy 1 or 2 packs of colored index cards and ask every staff member to write on the cards 5 single words that describe how they feel when doing their job. Make it anonymous so everyone participates. Remember, I said “feelings” not job description words. Then over a one month period ask every customer who comes into your place to write 5 single words that describe the service they have received. Not a sentence, just 5 single words - positive or negative - whatever they think. We've had words like awesome, great, slow, mean, dirty, rude, wonderful, and so on.

Whatever your staff write will tell you the service they give. Negative feelings generally give negative service. Positive feelings give positive service.
Whatever your customers write will tell you exactly what they think they’re getting. In the customer service arena, perception is reality. This audit can be done in any department with any focus for the question. Delivery times and service, telephone service, cleanliness, staff response time, and so on. Just remember one question at a time, and just 5 single words. It's easy, it's fast and it's really inexpensive to do.

One last tip. Have a lock box made for the cards to be put in. That way you have a better chance of all answers reaching you rather than just the good ones. When you have the staff do it, have them complete it and put it into the box while you are there. That avoids one person giving everyone words to use. This private, cost effective and simple practice is one audit that has saved thousands for many companies I've worked with and is one I'm sure will save you headaches and hassles in the future!

- KAZ is an international speaker, author, consultant and coach

THE BEST BANK IN THE WORLD - COMMERCE BANK, USA

2005-08-30T14:01:00.000+08:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet Vernon W. Hill II, Chairman of the Board and President of Commerce Bank. He was in Minnesota, meeting with the investment community. While he was here, he and Edward Jordan, Executive Vice President of the bank, stopped by my office to meet me and endorse my new book, Loyal for Life. Wow. I was really impressed with Vernon and Edward. They have more vision and commitment to creating a customer experience than anyone I have ever met. They have created a real role model. Vernon reminded me of the late Stanley Marcus, Chairman Emeritus of Nieman Marcus, one of the legends in selling and service. Vernon Hill and Commerce Bank WALK THE TALK. They are the best of the best. (I sure wish they would come to Minnesota)

With assets of more than $33 billion, Commerce Bank, CBH, is the largest bank headquartered in Southern New Jersey. It services Metropolitan Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Washington, DC and Virginia. Commerce Bank is a growth retailer selling convenience, and has successfully developed and implemented a unique retail strategy. This retail approach to banking uses a chain concept and features standardized facilities, hours and service (all built around the best customer service in the world) along with aggressive marketing. The consistent delivery and reinforcement of this retail strategy for 32 years has built a brand that the consumer has accepted as truth. Vernon said, "if prospective employees don't smile on the first job interview, it is over." When they entered Manhattan in September 2001 (not great timing) they interviewed 3,400 people to hire 40. Commerce Bank only wants the best. Most firms hire anyone with a pulse. Service leaders like Commerce Bank hire 1 - 2 percent of the applicants. They know it is easy to teach someone the job skills but attitudes are more difficult to train.

It took their Manhattan branch at 55th & 6th Street, just four months to reach profitability and eight months to exceed $100 million in deposits. At the end of 2004 they had 61 stores in New York with $5.5 billion in deposits. They recently opened a new branch in Chinatown, New York and they had 18,000 accounts in the first month. This is a record. A normal branch opens up only 4,000 accounts per year. Hill understands the power of the Customer Experience. I wish I had recorded the meeting. Pearls of wisdom were pouring from his mouth. Vernon said all of his competitors think he and the Commerce model are crazy.

I have never seen a service role model copied. Implementing a good consistent customer service will give you a MINIMUM of a 10 year lead time over your competitors. Hills good luck is that his competitors are bankers and think like bankers. This means Commerce Bank will not be copied by other banks. Vernon said most banks are chasing loans; Commerce focuses on deposits by creating an experience their customers have never had before. The retailer (they don't want to be perceived as a bank, but rather as a growth retailer) has 330 stores (not branches) that are open weekdays from 7:30 AM - 8:00 PM and Saturdays from 7:30 AM - 6 PM and Sundays from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM. This is full service banking not an ATM machine or a drive in window. If you are at their store 10 minutes early or 10 minutes late they will be open for business. When is the last time your bank let you in if you were 5 minutes early or late? They have only one phone number. Toll free 888-751-9000. Guess who answers the phone????? Not a stupid piece of voice mail equipment that says push 1 for., etc. Instead you get a human. NOT a call center in India. A live, caring and knowledgeable person. The phone will usually be answered on the first or second ring. Twenty-four hours a day -- seven days a week. Try them. They are a great role model to benchmark your organization against. Now don't you wish you lived in their market area? I do.

Commerce Bank plans to continue its growth and reinforce its brand by increasing its branch offices to approximately 700 and its assets to $100 billion by 2009. As part of this plan, CBH commenced its expansion into the Washington-Baltimore market in June 2005, announced its plans to enter Southeast Florida in the fourth quarter of 2005 through the acquisition of Palm Beach County Bank, West Palm Beach, and remains committed to subsequently enter the Boston market at a later date. I follow nine service role models with an investment I made of $1000 in each of them about 2 years ago. Commerce (CBH) is up 71.39%. I am not a stock advisor but if you want a great stock that will only get better this is one stock you want to own. Frankly, you should own some stock so you can get all their financial statements and annual report. You might as well learn from the best. Among these role models Amazon.com (AMZN) is up 47.8%, Costco (COST) is up 19.38%, Dell (DELL) is up 23.81%, General Electric (GE) is up 17.29%, Home Depot (DH) is up 39.9%, JetBlue Airways (JBLU) is down 10.6%, and Southwest Airlines (LUV) is down 13.52%. I think the high cost of fuel has investors in airlines running scared. Both airlines are making money. Wal-Mart is down 11.94%. This is still shocking since they have record sales of $288 billion and record profits of $10.3 billion.

Very few CEO's understand the financial the power of the service strategy. If you want to improve your brand and increase the value of your company, I suggest you focus on a service strategy. Vernon Hill thinks the only way most firms can build a customer service culture is from the ground up. Most CEO's don't seem to want to have the rapid growth Commerce Bank has. Over the last 10 years Commerce Bank's 31% annual return has out performed Wal-Mart's 16% and Home Depot's 16%. Not bad. These are two retailers that also understand the service strategy. Vernon Hill was gracious enough to give me a nice endorsement for Loyal for Life, my new book on Service Recovery that is going to print this week. He says that "Loyal for Life reminds us that we are our Brand, and every customer experience either strengthens or weakens the Brand. Bravo, John."

At Commerce Bank they teach all employees that to err is human. To recover is Commerce. They want to turn mistakes into an overly happy customer. Each employee is empowered to give a customer $50 when they make a mistake. When is the last time your bank ever admitted they made a mistake or gave you $50? Only in your dreams. Unless you bank with Commerce.
The University of Michigan does customer satisfaction research. In research conducted in May 2005 Commerce Bank was the second highest firm in America in their customer satisfaction index. They even beat Amazon who was third. Most firms that advertise customer service DO NOT have customer service. Role models like Commerce Bank let word of mouth advertising work the market place. It is more believable and it is free.

When Edward Jordan set up this meeting several weeks ago he said, "Customer service is so simple. There is nothing complicated about what Commerce Bank does." Ed you are right but it takes leadership, vision, thinking outside the box, commitment and a passion for service, not lip service.

I suggest you visit Commerce Bank's web site at http://www.commerceonline.com/Call them some time, anytime of the day at 888.751.9000. If in New York or one of the markets they have stores in, stop and experience Commerce Bank. If you live in their market, open an account and experience heaven.

BY: John Tschohl, President of Service Quality Institute (SQI) USA

LET'S LEARN FROM STEW LEONARD AND HIS ROCK OF SERVICE COMMITMENT

2005-08-30T13:50:00.000+08:00

Stew Leonard's, "the world's largest dairy store" is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. It operates three stores and is planning to add two more in the near future. It is estimated that its 2005 sales will reach $300 million. Its 300,000 customers a week are served by 2,000 employees. The company has an 11 percent voluntary turnover. The stores sell more of every item it carries than any other store in the world.

Does anyone not know about the 6,000-pound piece of granite in front of Stew Leonard's and the phrase chiseled into it? That phrase is: "Rule 1: The Customer is Always Right!" Below it is a second inscription: "Rule 2: If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule 1."

Stew Leonard's does many things to develop a company culture dedicated to producing satisfied customers. One of them is their no questions asked refund policy (http://www.stewleonards.com/).Each year, over 5 million shoppers visit the Norwalk, Connecticut store and have earned it the honor of being called Connecticut's #1 tourist attraction. In 1988, the family business baton was passed on to Stew Jr. who is the current CEO. Stew Jr. is a hands-on leader who spends his day, not in his office, but on the store floor with his managers and employees or ''team members'' as they respectfully called.At Stew's, they believe in developing and growing leaders from within. More than 88% of the company's managers have been promoted from within the company. Recognition and celebrating outstanding performance is an everyday occurrence. In 2004 alone, more than 15,000 "Moo Notes" (personalized notes to team members,from their managers, with a free lunch coupon) were handed out. For the 4th year in a row Stew Leonard's, was picked for Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For." Still, some businesses perform as if the adage, "The customer is always wrong," was their business philosophy. They react to customer complaints with the same alacrity as Stew Leonard's rock.

How Stew Leonard's Customer Service Rock of Commitment Came to Be

Two weeks after Stew Leonard's grand opening in 1969, Stew Leonard, Sr. was standing at the front door of the store greeting customers. Suddenly a customer came up to Stew and said, "YOUR EGGNOG IS SOUR!" and thrust into his hands a half-gallon carton. "My eggnog is sour, from my brand new dairy plant? Impossible!" exclaimed Stew, "You're wrong! It can't be sour. We've sold over 200 half-gallons of eggnog from this batch and you're the only one who's complained!" The customer was so mad; veins were popping out in her neck. She said, "I don't care how many cartons you sold, it's sour and I want my money back!" Eggnog was 95 cents per half-gallon so Stew reached into his pocket and gave the customer a dollar. She snatched it out of his hand and started out the store. The last words he heard her say were, "I'm never coming back to this store again!" That night, Stew relayed the story to his wife, Marianne, and she, too became upset with him. "I don't blame her at all," said Marianne. "You didn't listen to her. You contradicted her and practically called her a liar. I hope you are not going to run your store like other store managers, who think all customers are trying to put something over on them. They don't trust us -- but we fix them -- WE JUST NEVER GO BACK!"After thinking about it for a while, Stew realized that he had everything in the world tied up into his dairy store. He could not afford to lose a single customer by telling them they were wrong. He realized that most customers were honest and wouldn't try to take advantage of him. However, if he tried to protect himself from the one percent who were dishonest, he'd end up penalizing the other 99 percent who were really good and honest!Stew decided Marianne was right and that no customer was ever going to be wrong in his store again.

On his way to work one morning, Stew drove by a monument yard, where they were unloading granite. Suddenly, Stew got an idea. He stopped and bought a huge slab of granite from Mr. Bates. It weighed 6,000 pounds. Then Stew had him deliver the rock to the front door of his store, and had their stonemason chisel the store's new policy into its face:

Rule 1 The Customer Is Always Right!
Rule 2 If The Customer Is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule 1.

To this day, 35 years later, the rock still stands at Stew Leonard's store entrance. Every single team member knows the eggnog story, and how the rock came to be. They know that they can do anything in their power to make the customer happy. Happy customers not only come back, they bring their friends!

How Stew Leonard's Keeps Customers Happy"

We strive every day to create happy customers, to make them feel welcome in our stores and do everything in our power to exceed their expectations," said Stew Leonard, Jr., President and CEO of Stew Leonard's. "To do this, we really listen to and love our customers."Customer service at Stew Leonard's is not tied-up into one or two neat, easy rules. Here are some of the company's key customer service programs:" Monthly focus groups. "We offer shoppers an opportunity to come in and tell us what we are doing well and what we can improve on. Each department manager is responsible for identifying a good customer and asking them to attend. " Daily suggestion box. Suggestions are typed up by 10:00 a.m. the next day, and store managers either act on or call the customers about the complaint or suggestions. "

We average approximately 100 per day - this is the pulse of the store, it's important to know what everyone is thinking," Tavello explains." No waiting in line at checkouts. "Stew Leonard's strives for this - we want our customers to leave the store thinking they have had a pleasant experience. Instead of having 15 cash registers with 5 open, we keep all 30 of our registers going so that the customers don't wait in long lines and become frustrated," Jill Tavello says. "As my brother, Stew Jr. says, 'He never met a customer who liked to wait in line'."

The bottom line, says Stew, is that: "Customer service cannot be a sometimes thing. It must be earned and re-earned every day."

BY: John Tschohl, President of Service Quality Institute (SQI) USA

EMPOWERMENT AND PET FISH

2005-08-30T13:48:00.000+08:00

Last week I purchased 4 Koi fish from PETsMart for my water garden pond that is in my backyard. At the time I purchased them they told me that I could get my money back if they died within 14 days. I put the Koi in the pond, but several hours later could only find one of the fish. The next day I found two dead Koi by the water filter. Later that day, I returned the 2 dead fish that I had found and told them that I could not find one of the other two. The young girl at PETsMart, probably age 16 or 17, was not real happy with me. I had my sales receipt. The Koi were only $3.99 each so it was not a lot of money. She said the one dead Koi was a sponge, and refused to give me a free fish for the one that disappeared.

Founded in 1987, in Phoenix, Arizona, PETsMART, Inc. is the nation's leading retail supplier of products, services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. They have 726 stores, 30,300 employees and last year their sales were $3.36 billion. Many employees are security motivated. They like rules and are resistant to change. Rarely will you find these employees using empowerment. They feel the customer is lying or that they will lose their job if they give in. Seldom are they trained on customer service and never on empowerment. Most firms believe you know all this stuff from birth.In the work force there are millions of young teenagers, like this girl at PETsMart, who have never been trained on customer service and empowerment, so when an issue like mine happens, the employees does not know how to handle it properly.

When she refused to give me the third free Koi I asked to speak to the store manager. She then said, in a very demeaning way, "Ok, I will give you the fish, because the manager will anyway". She was not happy but she knew the manager would give me the fish. I suspect PETsMart is not going to go broke because she gave away a $3.99 fish. How many of your employees would be reluctant to make an empowered decision? How many of your employees have been trained on the art of service? On empowerment? Many firms believe that 1-2 hours of customer service training is all that is needed to change 16-30 years of conditioning. Wrong!! Ideally, this young girl would have said, "Sir, I am sorry the Koi died and disappeared on you. We really value our customers at PETsMART and appreciate your business. Let me give you 3 Koi and explain how you should transfer the fish to your pond so they all live this time. Thanks for bringing the problem to our attention."

Empowerment is the key to world class service. It is also the most difficult skill for employees and organizations to master.

BY: John Tschohl, President of Service Quality Institute (SQI) USA

FITNESS FIRST...BETTER BUCK UP BEFORE YOU GET TOO UNFIT FOR BUSINESS!

2005-08-29T11:19:00.000+08:00

I have a member of Fitness First, The CURVE for a few months and I do have to say that it was not too pleasant all the way. Once, being a brand new outfit, all their treadmills (at least 30 of them) were not functioning and the entire area was cordoned off. When I asked one of the staff why, the answer was "plumbing problem". I told that staff that I came only for the treadmill and when I asked again as to when this problem can be fixed, the answer he gave was "don't know lah. why don't you go to another Fitness First" elsewhere. Another lady staff came over as well and was equally unhelpful. Hey....where is customer care....? At least get my number and volunteer to contact me when the treadmills are functioning. I had to call a few times to find out!.

The other things that really bothers me are their opening hours. For Sundays, they are opened till 5pm and so is Public Holidays. I am not too sure about Saturdays though. Guys...remember you are not operating an office. Your competitors are opened till 12 midnight, just to make sure that members can have a more flexible schedule.

So, due to the fact that I hardly use the gym (sigh), I decided to cancel. I smsed the sales person that I dealt with and asked him to cancel for me. Funny, customers always go back to the sales person that they signed up the membership with and just dying to strike up a warm relationship with him/her. But, he replied: "Sorry sir, I am back at my hometown because my gradma passed away. Please go to the Fitness Centre to cancel." My condolence to him but ...Imagine that....he could have asked another colleague to call me....this is a GREAT opportunity to impress customers and to create a unique branding for Fitness First and he blew it. So, I gave him another chance and I smsed him again and said that he could have asked a colleague to call and guessed what was his reply. He said in summary "I don't handle attrition" . In other words, all I heard was "I AM NOT GOING TO HELP YOU...SO BUZZZZZZ OFF!" The re goes that wonderful business relationship that I wanted to develop. What a pity!

OK, i troubled myself and went to Fitness First, The Curve, today and told the frontdesk girl that I wanted to cancel my membership. THERE WAS TOTALLY NOT REACTION FROM HER. She did not try to ask me why and try to dissuade me. She started to PROCESS my cancellation. Then she said that I need to pay a penalty of RM68 for cancelling withing a year. But she said that I can use the gym until September because I have a deposit. So I asked if I can use my deposit to offset the penalty and she said "NO!" What inflexibility. Even if I paid rental deposit for a house, I am able to use my deposit to offset the last 2 months' rental...so why can't they. I don't understand. The best part has yet to come. Lastly, this lady (I coudn't name her because she does not wear a nametag) gave me a form to sign and said "Please write down here the reason for cancellation" and I wrote there "CALL ME TO FIND OUT" . I am not too sure if they will call up but I am waiting because I am very dissapointed with this supposedly international fitness centre chain. I think I better join a smaller, cheaper, locally owned, lower profile gym where I get treated like a CUSTOMER.

In this Fitness business, competition is building up and Celebrity in 1-Utama is even giving 1 Free Membership for 1 membership signed up. So Fitness First, how are you differentiating with other players. You are not even on the same fighting level with the other, at this point of time, as far I am concerned. Competitors are cheaper and having longer hours. If members do not feel good about Fitness First, especially in the service interactions, they will go away without any qualms. Research tells us that a company spends 8 times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing one. So, Fitness First, why are you allowing members to quit so easily. Find out why? So some concern? Don't just apply lip service and proclaim that you put customer first when we as customers don't even believe in that.

Sad to say, right after this entire fiasco, I have told not less than 10 people and I guess my blog will tell more people. There goes more business for you Fitness First unless you buck up and do something to show your customers you care. Start with your PEOPLE! Go the extra mile! Don't process members....we are human beings. You process cheese and butter but not people.... Lastly, increase the portfolio of the sales agents to handle also complaints and cancellations. They are usually the first person the member will contact and if he says it is not his job, there goes another membership.

SERVICE IS ALL ABOUT "FEELINGS"

2005-06-30T11:26:00.000+08:00

Ms Sukhdev Kaur Sidhu, Captain, CIBO Restorante Italiano, Holiday Villa Subang Jaya, Malaysia

I had been conducting a series of customer service workshops throughout Malaysia and I do have to say that I was pretty drained as a result. As I was staying at Holiday Villa Subang Jaya, I decided to have my dinner there and ended up in CIBO Restorante Italiano. Despite my plans to have a quick meal and get to bed early, I stayed there quite a while. This was because I met Ms Sukdev, who was the Captain there.

From the very start, she made me feel very welcomed with her sweet smile and utmost courtesy. She was a very patient lady. Why I said this was because I am that kind of customer who likes to put my service provider to the “test”. I was asking her to explain to me the different kinds of items on the menu, the different kinds of wine that they serve and which she would recommend. I do have to say that she passed my tests with flying colours. Never did she showed any signs of impatience but rather, her smile was always there and she was totally attentive.

That brings me to my point today! Most customers, in fact, are very easy to please. What they want is to feel appreciated as a customer who is giving money to the establishment. And when they leave, they want to leave with a good feeling that they have received value for money and most of all, leave with a GOOD FEELING! Customer service is all about FEELINGS!

Every customer has 3 major VALUE POINTS. They are:
1. Price of the products or services
2. The Product or Services and its Quality
3. The Service Delivery provided for the customer

From my service encounter with Sukhdev, it is clear that customers value the Service Delivery Value Point the most. The Price and Product/Services are “what” is offered to customers but the Service Delivery is “how” a company delivers the offerings to their customers.

The “how” lingers in the customer’s memory banks long after “what” you do (the offering) is forgotten… it’s personal!

In other words, companies should focus much more on the “hows” that will differentiate them from their competitors than merely competing on price and product innovations, which can easily be copied.

emaran amir

2005-04-18T22:36:00.000+08:00

emaran amir
Originally uploaded by DOCTOR SERVICE.

EMARAN AMIR

BUSINESS IS ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIP

2005-04-15T15:27:00.000+08:00

I was conducting a “High Performance Service Organisation” programme for one of my clients recently and it was held in Glory Beach Hotel, Port Dickson, Malaysia. I have never heard about this hotel before and I do have to admit that I was pretty negative about this hotel from the onset. However, on checking in at 10.00pm, I was attended to by Mr Emaran and we went to the training room to check the facilities, to ensure that they are all in order for my tomorrow’s training. This is one of the very rare occasions where a hotel staff actually take the trouble to make sure that the training room is ready for next day’s training.

All throughout my stay in Glory Beach, Mr Emaran has always been around and I noticed that he was attending to customers from morning till night. What Mr Emaran was doing was that he was establishing a relationship with his clients and that has truly secured my loyalty towards Glory Beach Resort. Customers loyalty is based all on feelings: how they felt during their stay and not because it is a 5 Star hotel.

Business in general has undergone a fundamental shift in thinking and behaviour in the last decade, a shift that cries for better service. There are 5 critical changes in the business landscape that are embraced by successful companies.

Companies need to transform satisfied customers to extremely satisfied customers. They need to move from meeting expectations to exceeding expectations. The reality is, satisfied customers simply aren’t enough anymore to make a prosperous business. They aren’t really loyal and will readily defect at the slightest prompt. ONLY EXTREMELY SATISFIED CUSTOMERS ARE GENUINELY LOYAL!

So, if you are planning to take a vacation at Port Dickson, you may just want to call Mr Emaran Amir to book you a room....and I believe that you will like him. Call him ....016-6559699

WOW BEYOND THE BASICS!

2005-03-24T01:41:00.000+08:00

Mr Santanasamy (Asst Security Manager, Gurney Hotel, Penang)

Staying for the first time at The Gurney, Penang turned out to be an enjoyable experience for me. Hotels’ service levels never did impress me so far and I was not expecting any wonderful experience too this time. Much to my amazement, I met Mr Santhanasamy as I was trying to find a parking lot and it was raining then. He was trying to explain to me how to get a good parking lot at the basement but I guess I was too tired and thus could not understand what he said. What happened next was that Mr Santhasamy ran in front of my car and led me to the basement, mind you in the rain, and led me to the parking lot which was big enough for my pretty large car. Little to say, I was impressed and felt good about The Gurney already, even though I have yet to check in.

This is the lesson. Do your job in way that will make customers want to tell positive stories about your organisation. That will turn them from mere customers into apostles (followers). It’s probably the most significant contribution you can make to your organisation’s success. Gaining customer loyalty requires a performance level much higher than what it takes to merely “satisfy” customers! It’s true…customers must be satisfied in order to become loyal. However, satisfaction alone does not result in customer loyalty. Getting the basics right, all the time, is a big step in the direction of loyalty. The next step on the loyalty ladder is finding ways to add value to the customer’s experience.

Each customer that does business with your organisation will have an experience that results in a positive story, negative story, or no story. What does it take to create positive customer stories? You MUST EXCEED customers’ expectations. You MUST provide random, positive surprises. You MUST be consistent in the appreciation, courtesy, and respect bestowed upon the customer. When the customer is really in need, take every effort to fulfill the need!
To become known for the service you provide, your service must be better, faster, and different than what customers normally receive. That is called the “WOW” factor. Average service does NOTHING to enhance customer loyalty.

Each employee must look for opportunities to do a little extra – to do things that are outside the normal process of serving the customer. There is no marketing strategy as powerful as how you perform your job for your existing customer base.

DO SOMETHING TOMORROW and give your customers that WOW! Experience.

BIG BOYS ....LEARN FROM THE SMALL BOYS ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE

2005-03-24T00:21:00.000+08:00

Mr Lee Teck Wei, Owner, TIC-Y Aquarium, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Fish rearing has become my pastime as of late…..one of my de-stressing secret. When work gets too stressful, I would sit in front of my aquarium and it works wonders, let me tell you. This hobby leads to visit quite a lot of aquarium shops in town and not to mention how much I spent. I came across a small aquarium shop in Taman Tun Dr Ismail and if it is not for my sister-in-law, I would not even have spotted this shop, which is located in a very inconspicuous location, not too good for business I thought. But to my amazement, this shop is packed with customers each time I visited and I have to squeeze myself through the crowd each time. I decided to talk to the young boss Mr Lee Teck Wei and he told me that his secret is service plus “do not cut your customers’ throat” – in his own words. I noticed that Teck Wei moves around like a busy bee and talking to his customers, answering their many questions, cracking a joke or two (in fact he is a joker) and always a smile for his customers. I noticed that his customers like him a lot and I realized that those customers have become his friends. WOW! BIG boys….learn from the SMALL boys for once.

Teck Wei’s shop does not even have a computer, he does not wear a tie, he goes around sometimes in his T-shirt, shorts and slippers. But …..his customers love him and they keep coming back. Since he started 2 years ago, he revealed that his business has burst through the roof. He may very well be hiding a Mercedes Benz somewhere at home.

Relationship Marketing. There is certainly a lot of talk about it these days; it’s the thing that most business- to-business marketers believe they are doing. And it's a giant part of what is termed CRM. But put your "customer hat" on for a moment and think about the last five to ten interactions you had with someone you buy from. How many of them felt good? How many of these encounters left you feeling like the company had made an effort to build a long-term relationship with you? Did you get the feeling that the company really cared about you and your business success?

My guess is that relatively few of those interactions came close to providing you with the warm feelings that are created when you genuinely care about building and sustaining a relationship.
Some companies are trying but so many fall so far short. Why is that? My guess is that there are many reasons. For one, many sales and marketing budgets are still loaded at the "acquisition" end and are too lean at the "retention" end. Even with all the talk about the importance of retaining customers, few companies seem to be able to get the funds appropriated to do the nitty-gritty, people and relationship related activities that provide the basis for long term customer loyalty. Or maybe they just can’t figure out how.