CUSTOMER SERVICE 

CUSTOMER SERVICE  = QUALITY SERVICE
ARE YOU DOING IT RIGHT?

by Carrie Severson

IT'S SIMPLE. Two words, and in any order they appear, the meaning doesn't change. Service and customer. Customer and service.

What's your definition of customer service? It's safe to say that everyone knows what bad customer service is. We've all experienced the horror of being on hold for 30 minutes while listening to the elevator version of Olivia Newton John songs. This is not customer service--at least, not good service.

There are several issues right now pertaining to customer service. How you handle your customer service internally may, in fact, be hurting your business rather than helping it. The fact is, many distributors are looking at these two key words less as a way of doing business and more as a mere "department" in a business.

David Schreiber, president of Customer Relations Group, says considering a customer service department as a non-revenue department couldn't be farther from the truth. And cutting back from this department will hurt a company.

Perhaps, he says, the phrase "customer service" should in actuality be "quality service," because that's what customers want--quality service.

"You can talk about the economy, the product, price and location, but when it's all said and done, it comes down to how customers feel about your business. It's all about the service," Schreiber says.

CUTBACK WOES

Business consultants both inside our industry and outside are seeing companies letting go of "customer service employees" because business is slow and not as many calls are coming in.

Eillen Yurish, president of Yurish Associates, a management consulting company with the industry, is seeing a lot happening with her distributor clients.

"Everyone's business is slow, and typically one of the things that happens is customer service ends up being one of the areas that is changed," Yurish says. "There are less orders coming in, less phone calls, and distributors say, 'I don't really need that many people in this area.'"

Clearly cutting back employees is one way to meet your budget. However, when the economy turns back around, the companies that felt they didn't need as many employees in the customer service department will be at ground zero.

Is it better to bring in someone brand new to the industry when the economy picks back up and more orders are being taken, or is it better to cut an area of your company that is considered a fixed overhead expense?

"We are now approaching the busy season, and those distributors who have cut customer service departments in half because the volume wasn't there a while ago may come up in trouble," Yurish explains. "Non-experienced people are just as bad as a lack of people, and then you run into the risk of all the mistakes that happen because people either have to rush or they are working too many hours."

It's a catch 22.

Schreiber says 80 percent of the U.S. Gross National Product is in the service industry, giving people choices everywhere. If the dry cleaner you do business with three blocks from your house suddenly loses your clothes, would you go back?

It's likely you would not, because you know you have other options. So do your clients. And if you're cutting them short of their service, they'll leave you for another company. Because they can.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

Schreiber is the chairman of Customer Service Management Association Worldwide. He gives speeches around the world on customer service, management and leadership skills. He's brought in by companies like Harrod's of London and Tiffany & Co. to implement training programs.

He works on team issues with his clients. He will ask managers to take a retreat with him to discuss what productivity and teamwork mean and how to incorporate empowerment into their businesses.

He also teaches courses at six universities about leadership, management and communication. He initially pursued teaching lectures at different universities around the country because he wasn't aware of a course that taught verbal communication and leadership skills at the college level.

"We have a whole generation of people growing up that have not been taught in school how to verbally communicate," he explains. "Students are taught all about online communication and streamlining; everything is done by e-mail so there's no need for verbal communication."

He says if you equate that to the percent of GNP of the country that is in the service industry--which is all about communication--something has to change. The companies that utilize one-on-one verbal communication will be the most successful.

GENERATION GAP?

By the year 2005, there will be about 55 million workers age 45 and older. That will equal about 37 percent of the labor force.

A U.S. Census Department Report states that by the year 2006, the number of those in their fifties will jump by 50 percent. The 75 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 will dominate society with their numbers.

Schreiber believes with almost half of the nation's population--as well as much of its buying and political power--being in the "Baby Boomers" generation, corporations should market to that target audience with a more personal touch.

Marsha Londe, vice president of Summit-Nevins, doesn't believe that the technology available today takes away from the service she and her colleagues offer clients. She believes it actually enhances her service.

Londe stresses that the generation who will be hired to fill the jobs that have been cut with the economic slowdown should be educated in how to incorporate a "human touch" with technology.

When she thinks of how customer service has changed over the years, she points out that technology has been able to enhance communication with customers in a more timely manner, such as sending personal e-mails to clients after finding the tracking record from UPS to see where their shipment is located.

"Regardless of generation, we can use the new technology to better service our clients so that we can give them information before they ask for it," she says. "My only concern would be (if we) use technology to the point that we exclude voice and face contact, which would be a terrible mistake."

For the time being, though, she strongly feels technology is a means to enhance customer service.

Londe recalls bringing a client into her warehouse, creating an assembly line, packaging the goods, providing the client with dinner and then sending the client on his way. That can't be replaced with technology.

"My client base seems to be getting younger as the promotional product researcher is generally getting the newest person on staff. Ultimately that contact will develop and become a manager, so it is up to us to build a relationship with that person and to train and educate them," Londe says.

If this buyer doesn't understand customer service in the way that the over-50 crowd does, companies such as Summit-Nevins, who are passionate about the service they provide customers, could be a source of good examples.

LIFELONG SKILL

Though it can be exhausting and time consuming, perfectionists take ownership of a project and follow through beyond a sale. One of the first lessons Londe would like to teach is the three-way partnership she believes correctly keeps the business going.

Customer service in her eyes is a partnership with the distributor, supplier and client.

Customers may not call up during tough times, but Londe believes if you are partnering in the true sense of the word with your client, then you are frequently going to the company with ideas. With constant contact, there is no end in customer service and therefore no cutting back.

Mary Sandro, president of Professional Edge, trains companies in bettering their customer service skills.

"I think everyone in an organization has customer service as part of their job. You should concentrate on both internal and external customer service. With anyone you work with, being professional and timely helps the work environment," Sandro says.

She tells her clients when people are able to perfect customer service, they are able to do anything because the skills you learn in this position are invaluable, making you a better manager and a better entrepreneur.

In Sandra's opinion, customer service has become even more important with technology. Before becoming a customer service trainer, she worked in a much more technical atmosphere and she herself had the attitude that because these employees are so technical and smart, they are excused for being lacking in their "personal touch" interaction skills.

She sees that attitude all the time with her clients' employees, but the problem is it doesn't make a good organization and it doesn't make good customer service. "Technology makes customer service more important and a big motivator can be reduced stress," she tells her clients.

EVERYBODY'S JOB

Sandro believes excellent customer service really reduces a person's stress level. When you are nice and going that extra mile, you take advantage of what she calls the "virtual cycle" in customer service.

The philosophy behind the virtual cycle is: the better you serve your customers, the better they become to serve. When you practice customer service you get less irate customers and less repeat calls from the same person.

Your customers actually respond better, so it makes your job easier. It does take effort to do these things, but the bonus is you will have less stress.

With cutbacks causing more work for other employees in the company, the last thing they want is Ms. Jones calling back five times about the same issue.

"I'm getting a lot of organizations that are asking me to train the entire company in servicing their customers. In my opinion, if you look at customer service as this one group that has all the responsibility to clients rather than a philosophy as an entire company, you will run into problems," she says.

She, too, has seen her clients cutting within the customer service department. She tries to stress to them that when cutting cost, you do add money to your bottom line immediately. However, when you change customer service, it takes longer for the financial impact to take place--and it may not be a positive one. Yes, a company may have less cost because it has fewer salaries and benefits to pay, but it may also inadvertently lose customers and therefore incoming profit because of a lack of adequate customer service.

FIRST WORK WITHIN

How a company runs internally will determine how clients are treated externally. And how a person is treated when he or she calls up your company or walks into your place of business will determine if he or she will do business with you again. Everyone that person has had contact with is part of the final decision.

Geiger concentrates on creating a strong internal structure by keeping the employees satisfied.

Sheila Olson, the Total Care manager with Geiger, says the sales partners are its customers. With the economy being slow, sales partners' revenues are behind and therefore wages aren't where they normally are. Geiger is trying to provide top-notch customer service on the administrative side to the sales partners. This allows them the time to get out and sell.

Within the past year, Olson has been sending a customer service tip every week to all customer service associates in their field offices and within the corporate office. She calls it the "Tips and How To's for Today's Busy Promotional Product Professional."

Lately the tips have been on how to handle customers with care. There are frustrated customers in relation to a fragmented economy and Geiger is trying to set their sales partners' customers at ease.

"It's a win-win situation. When you have employees that are comfortable with what they are doing and happy with Geiger, you can retain them so that the level of experience that you have is high," Olson explains.

Having a high level of experience in turns kicks back to the customer. Now they have customers who are happy and pleasant when dealing with them.

Gene Geiger, CEO of the company, sends out a quarterly president's survey to the sales partners and they all rate the different programs in the company. The survey is on a scale of one to five, and if the results do not return in what Olson says is called the "Zone of Affection," they aren't satisfied.

To guarantee a high rating in their quarterly survey, employees are sent off to customer service seminars, or participate in internal customer service classes. The goal is that every associate within customer service has 200 hours of education by the first of September. Olson believes that the more educated they are, the better off the company will be.

Sandro tells her customers that when you believe customer service is a philosophy, rather than a job, you can make money. If you want customer service to be a profit center like sales is, you need everyone to be marching to the same drumbeat.

Everyone, from the janitor to the CEO.

"CUSTOMER SERVICE IS MASTERING THE ART OF SAYING 'YES'. IT'S YOUR ATTITUDE. AND YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A PARTNERSHIP." MARSHA LONDE, SUMMIT-NEVINS"I'M A TRUE BELIEVER THAT IT'S NOT PRICE AND RELATIONSHIPS THAT BRING IN THE BUSINESS, IT'S THE SERVICE. IF YOU CAN'T PROVIDE THE SERVICE, PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH YOU." SHEILA OLSON, GEIGER