Quality Service Marketing

It's the Employee Experience, Stupid!

Customers have lots of choices these days. It’s one of the reasons the "customer experience" has become a critical differentiator – treat customers right if you want to keep them coming back.

Employees also have choices. While the current economy doesn’t offer as many opportunities for employees to switch jobs as customers have to switch companies, employees can choose their level of on-the-job engagement.

How much longer can they continue like this?

While companies may think they have the upper hand over their employees because of high unemployment and economic uncertainty, they’re ignoring the reality that the customer experience begins with the employee experience. 

Consider employees who have taken pay-cuts, given back benefits, or haven’t had salary increases for the past several years. Yes, many organizations have had to cut back to stay viable and learn to “work smarter, not harder.” But some employees have reached the point where they’ve gone from “doing more with less” to now being expected to “do everything with nothing.” No wonder employee frustration is considered the "enemy of engagement." 

What’s a company to do?

Talk with employees before they reach the breaking point, not after. Find ways to respectfully (rather than gratuitously) engage them in the process of coming up with ways to keep business going; i.e., let them take some ownership of the situation and possible solution(s). Then recognize and reward their participation.

Remember, customer relations “mirror” employee relations - the way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers! 

The Ten Foot Rule of Customer Service (or Avoidance?)

As a business professional specializing in employee-customer care, I know many companies tout the “Ten Foot Rule” of Customer Service – whenever employees come with ten feet of a customer, they’re supposed to stop what they’re doing and give their full attention to that customer.

As a consumer, I also know that many employees have their own version of this rule – they try to steer clear of coming within ten feet of a customer. And if they do get close, they avoid eye contact and turn in the other direction. Sadly, some employees also observe this practice with fellow employees who are their “internal” customers.

Forget the excuses for bad customer service. The bottom line is the ten foot rule and other prescribed practices won’t be effective when simply issued as top-down edicts. Organizations that want their employees to serve customers in this way need to provide the training, tools, and reinforcement (including measurement and reward) that enable and encourage effective customer service.

It’s something to think about. How do employees apply the ten foot rule in your organization: do they step up to serve customers or do they turn tail and hide?

"I'm Just Happy to Be Here ..."

This was the gist of a conversation I had with Julietta, who works in food service at Mohonk Mountain House. Her “attitude of gratitude” went beyond feeling fortunate to be employed – Julietta truly loves her work. 

I met Julietta during a recent visit to Mohonk. She was smiling all the while she cleaned up the area where the continental breakfast had been set up. We engaged in conversation, and it was obvious that she enjoyed working at Mohonk. “It’s like being part of a wonderful family,” she told me – a family that includes both co-workers and guests. Here’s an excerpt of our conversation.

Julietta: I love my customers, and sometimes, I listen more to my customers than my boss. I want to make my customers happy.”

Me: “If you’re customers are happy, then your boss will be happy.”

Julietta smiled: “Yes!”

And she’s not the only one who enjoys her work at Mohonk. I also met Emily, a young woman who was one of our hiking guides. She’s worked there for less than a year, but it’s a job she literally grew into. Emily explained that her family had been going to Mohonk for years, and she’d been an active participant in its kid’s club and teen program. From an early age she knew she wanted to work there and was thrilled to get hired in the recreation group. “I feel so fortunate,” she told me. “How many people get to live their dream job?” She spoke enthusiastically about her love for the place and the people. 

Since my husband and I began visiting Mohonk several years ago, we met many such members of the Mohonk family, including Rudy (dining staff), Michael, Annie, and Matt (recreation), and others too numerous to mention. This was the first time I met Julieta and Emily, and they reinforced the engagement that’s part of Mohonk’s culture.

How many employees have you encountered lately who truly love their work?

[Note: For more on Mohonk’s guest service culture, see my interview with Jackie Appeldorn, Mohonk’s general manager.]

Do Your Customers Have a Rosie?

I’ve been fortunate in my 23 years as a consultant to work with truly wonderful people. Among them is Rosemary (Rosie) Makosky, who recently retired from Lehigh University’s Office of Distance Education (DE).

Lehigh was a pioneer in offering graduate degree programs by live satellite broadcast to corporate employees in the early 1990’s. I served as distance ed‘s marketing consultant back then, and we relied on relationship marketing for company/student recruitment and retention. Several times throughout the year we visited company sites to meet with current students and recruit new ones. These  visits also enabled us to acknowledge the efforts of corporate staff who helped coordinate the on-site details of Lehigh’s distance ed programs. As DE Director Peg Portz was fond of saying, “Our programs may be by distance, but not our relationships.”

Rosie was the student administrator who coordinated distance ed’s admissions, handled registration, answered student questions and concerns, etc. She was the behind-the-scenes “go to”person for students … but she wasn’t kept behind-the-scenes.  One of my favorite memories working with DE was accompanying Rosie on site visits, especially watching the reaction when she and the students met face-to-face for the first time. “So you’re Rosie!” they’d exclaim. “It’s great to finally meet you in person!” And then Rosie would engage in conversation asking about the student’s classes, family, and work situation. I loved witnessing such powerful connections – these students knew and appreciated how much Rosie cared about them.

I loved watching Rosie work her magic with students. Regardless of when they called, she never treated them as an interruption. She was always responsive, empathetic, and concerned in helping students get what they needed so they could succeed. She shared their triumphs and occasional setbacks. What I call being truly customer-focused is part of Rosie’s DNA. If only we had more Rosies in the workplace …

Thank you, Rosie, for all you shared and taught me when we worked together. Enjoy your retirement, dear friend!

"Customer-Smart" Customer Service

[Note: This guest post was written by Chip R. Bell, customer loyalty consultant and the author of several best-selling books. His newest book (with John R. Patterson) is Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to do About it. He can be reached at www.wiredanddangerous.com.]

 “Are You a Genius or Smart?”

There is really big difference between genius and smart. I traded in my flip phone and Blackberry for a brand spanking new Iphone at my neighborhood AT&T store. Lloyd was the perfect sales person. But, within a week my happy scale had dropped from delight to disappointment - the Iphone speaker would not advance past the whisper level. A keynote in midtown New York put me a few blocks from the giant Apple store on Fifth Avenue.

“I need a genius!” I thought. Vision’s of rapture from the reputation of the Apple Genius bar were dancing in my head as I approached the twenty-something genius. I bounced my description of the no sound challenge off the face of the “I’ve heard this a million times before” expression of the Genius. There were no questions and little eye contact. The genius seemed impatient to begin his diagnostic wizardry. After, ten minutes of checks and tests the Genius announced his verdict: “You have a defective Iphone. You’ll have to take it back to the AT&T store where you bought it for a replacement.” As I backed away from the genius, I could hear, ”Next in line,” echoing in the background.

Fast forward to the AT&T store the next day. As soon as Lloyd saw me in the waiting area, he beckoned me back to the really smart side of the store. “How’s our new Iphone behaving?” he asked, obviously recalling in complete detail the previous week’s sale. Lloyd patiently listened as I outlined the problem and my trip to the genius bar in the giant, really cool New York Apple store.

“Before we take a look at how we need to reprimand our misbehaving Iphone, Chip, let me ask you a few questions.” Lloyd laid the Iphone on the counter as if it were getting in the way of his quest for understanding.

“Did you make any changes in the settings after you left the store last week?” asked Lloyd. His focus was clearly on his customer, not on the product. ”Three questions later, the answer to his “Did you make any changes to the Iphone itself” question brought a smile to his face. “Now, now, Chip! A Blackberry screen protector will not fit on an Iphone! It covers up the speaker!” Peeling off the interloping screen protector, he brought perfect sound into the room. As I left the AT&T store, I thought, “Apple may have a Genius bar but AT&T stores have Smart bars.” And, customer smart will trump product genius every time!

 

 

 

"The Music is Not in the Guitar"

[Note: I love the message in this guest post written by Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson, co-authors of the new book Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It.]

“The music is not in the guitar” are lines from an extraordinary new book called Life is Good by Jake and Rocket (aka, Bert and John Jacobs). It holds a special message for remarkable service. Examine how much energy and resources organizations typically spend on CRM software, ironclad return policies, service processes and procedures, and call center metric mania. In the end, service is not about stuff--it is about people creating positively memorable experiences for customers. Even erudite and super sterile business to business connections are far less B2B than P2P--people to people.

The recent recession has triggered budget cuts that have had some unfortunate impacts on service quality. Some budget cuts were necessary for financial survival. But, some of been the result of very flawed decision-making. We all appreciate the value of belt-tightening and trying to do more with less. We all understand the virtue of instilling in employees a strong sense of frugalness, particularly during tough economic times.

When I was in junior high school my dad lost his job at a bank. It took a while before he was named a credit manager at a small farm implement company. During the lean months he taught us kids a lot about financial conservation--it was a family affair we all shared. When we sat down for a family meal, if there was a bedroom light left on, he charged the last person to exit that room a nickel (40 cents in today’s dollars). We soon learned to switch off lights as we left the room.

There is an old saying that goes, “cutting fat makes you healthier; cutting muscle makes you weaker.” When the budgeting ax carves an extreme cut out of support needed by frontline employees, then customers suffer. The circular effect will come back to haunt you. Such a penny wise-pound foolish approach can leave employees demoralized and the customers they serve disappointed. If important front line tools and training are excised from the budget, it is the customers who fund the organization that catch the impact.

Convergys Corporation in March 2010 completed a major survey of over 2500 customers and over 1500 employees. Seventy-seven percent of customers indicated that service quality over the last year has either stayed the same or gotten worse. And, 31% of employees stated they did not have the necessary tools; 25% reported they did not have the necessary training. There is likely a direct link between the customers’ assessment of service and the employees’ assessment of the lack of tools or training!

Who is paid more--an IT programmer or a front-line clerk; the bus driver or the bus mechanic? Where are training dollars directed---toward supervisors or the customer contact people? Do systems make service delivery easier for the people who serve customers or more efficient for the organization? Guitars make harmonious melodies only in the hands of talented, prepared and passionate performers. The same thing is true for customer-facing employees. Take care of the guitar; but, cherish the musician.

(Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson are customer loyalty consultants and the authors of several best-selling books. They can be reached at www.wiredanddangerous.com.)

 

What is Happening to Customer Service?

I’ve been reading a lot about customer frustration these days – due to decreasing customer service levels or decreasing customer tolerance. Probably both.

Here are two prime examples:

1. A customer is put on hold indefinitely and unable to track down a living, breathing person to actually talk with. (“Your call is important to us” … yeah, right!)
2. Based on a unsatisfactory training experience, a customer requests a refund. The training company denies and refutes the request in a series of back-and-forth emails with the customer.

As a marketer, here’s my take on these situations:

1. Put on Hold: The customer eventually got through to the company after sending a copy of her blog post. The company explained the “long hold” situation to the customer as a result of increased call volume due to new industry regulation. Stuff happens, but does this excuse the company? One hopes the company learns from this experience so it can be better prepared (via better planning and agility) to respond the next time it has to deal with increased customer calls. That some companies don’t learn this lesson only adds to consumer cynicism. Consider this comment posted in response to the blogger’s question: “Does it sometimes seem they might be doing this on purpose, as if perhaps they just don’t want to provide customer service at all … ?” “It’s a carefully contrived conspiracy, formulated in strategy meetings at the highest level.”
2. Refund Request: What’s puzzling in this case is the company spent a lot of time and energy defending its training program, ultimately creating greater customer alienation and negative word-of-mouse (i.e., the 21st century version of word-of-mouth that with a mouse click can be instantaneously shared with millions of people). I don’t understand why the company didn’t just refund the customer’s money to “recover” the situation and minimize brand damage. Most customer-focused training and professional development offer money-back guarantees as good business practice. Even some training firms who don’t promote guarantees will prudently refund part or all of a registration fee to a dissatisfied customer. 

Note to all companies: You need not buy-into the "customer is always right" concept. Whether the customer is right or wrong is irrelevant. What matters - and the reality you ultimately need to deal with - is that the customer perceives s/he is always right!

On the bright side, I recently came across these examples of positive customer service: Shannon, a food server at Einstein Bagels in Dallas TX, who took care of her immediate customer and those that followed;. And Sharman, Verizon business tech support, who stayed on the line with her customer for several hours to resolve that customer’s issue.

What do you think?
For every customer service horror story, there is a positive one … and vice-versa. Although we tend to hear more of the negative experiences than the positive, what is your take on what’s happening to customer service these days?

 

Internal Marketing Spotlight: Mohonk Mountain House (Part 2)

This post continues my interview with Jackie Appeldorn, General Manager of Mohonk Mountain House, a family owned resort and historic property in New Paltz, NY. Mohonk is known for outstanding guest service, and I can personally attest to its warm and welcoming hospitality. My husband and I have enjoyed staying at Mohonk for the past several years and plan to continue our annual visits there.

QSM: Jackie, in our previous interview you described employee involvement in perpetuating a guest service culture. Please share one of your favorite Mohonk stories of employee-customer care.

Jackie: Earlier, I referred to a quarterly publication titled Mohonk Bits that is produced by employees for employees. One of the regular features of the publication singles out an employee who provided exemplary service. (We provide a $50 award to the individual who is singled out in the article.) Rather than repeat the story in my words, I’ll share the entire article from our current issue. It not only provides a wonderful example of one of our employees taking the initiative to “Save the Situation” (one of our 14 Service Steps), it also offers some insight into the way our employees view one another and what we do here. The individual cited here for exemplary service is a Mohonk valet.

About Legendary Service
by Alex Sherwood, Mohonk Director of Recreation

It was a Saturday in late November and I had pulled the MOD [Manager on Duty] card. Prepared with a fresh from the cleaner’s shirt, tie, and awesome staff, I was ready to take on the day. The shift had started smoothly, and the Mohonk operation was up and running like a well-oiled machine. Guests were having a great time, and staff were meeting or exceeding their expectations … then I received the call from Guests Services!

“93, Manager on Duty? Could you please call Guest Services?”

With cat-like reflexes, like all our MODs, I was already dialing the 2015 extension before the radio transmission was complete. What I heard on the other end was a fellow employee putting into motion the action team we have in place to take care of challenging situations, and by the tone of this request a challenge this was going to be.

As I gathered what information I could, I armed myself with the LEARN defense system [“Listen – Empathize – Apologize – Resolve – And Never prove a guest wrong”] and made my way to Guests Services, where I was told the guest needing assistance would be. The background to this point was there were two Fed Ex packages which this guest had shipped out the day prior that had not been delivered to their respective parties. As I arrived to the desk, there stood a guest, who by her body language was easy to identify as the earlier mentioned challenge. Immediately this person turned and, with a small chuckle, remarked: “Looks like you’re the one they sent to take care of this… good luck!”

As soon as this guest had been turned over to me, you could quickly see many others scattering for something else to do, as the guest explained how, upon arrival the day before, she had dropped two Next Day Fed Ex packages at Guest Services to be delivered that morning, and according to her, one of these recipients had called to inform her the package had not arrived. This guest had come to Guest Services to find that both packages were indeed still in our possession. It quickly was apparent that why this happened was of little importance; what we were going to do to fix it was all that mattered.

Through a little further conversation this guest revealed the contents of the first package contained New York Knicks tickets for Saturday’s game which tipped off at 1:05 pm. It was now 12:15 pm, and I was pretty sure I was doomed on this one and prepared myself for the guest’s whipping. As the sense of defeat overwhelmed me, in walked David Kelso from Guest Services, with his hand raised in the air to get my attention.

What follows may be one of the all-time greatest “Save the Situations” ever conceived. Dave pulled me aside and informed me that he had taken it upon himself to open the package, retrieve the two game tickets, place a call to Madison Square Garden’s ticket office, introduce himself, and explain the situation he was trying to resolve. He then faxed copies of the tickets to the ticket office and received confirmation the tickets could now be redeemed by the person who was to receive the tickets in the first place.

Armed with this bit of information I was able to inform the guest that a resolution to the first part of the problem had been found. In disbelief the guest questioned, “How could this be?” I explained to her what David had done and said she could inform her client they could still make the 1:05 tip off. With a phone call, the client was on the way to the game. David’s fast thinking and willingness to create a solution to the problem turned a complete loss around to a positive resolution ... which may be talked about for many years to come. It was amazing to have a staff member who was willing to assist in resolving the challenge.

Great job, Dave!

QSM: Thank you, Jackie, for your time in sharing a bit of what makes Mohonk such an exceptional place. I look forward to seeing you and your wonderful staff on my next visit!

Internal Marketing Spotlight: Mohonk Mountain House (Part 1)

One of my favorite vacation spots is a sprawling castle that sits amid thousands of acres of beautiful land nestled in upstate New York. Mohonk Mountain House is a family owned resort facility that was founded in 1869 by Albert Smiley and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. In its fourth generation of family leadership, Mohonk maintains “19th century charm” while offering 21st century amenities (including a fabulous spa). Mohonk provides its guests with exceptional service and hospitality and has received numerous industry accolades, including recognition by Conde Nast Traveler’s  Readers’ Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards.

My husband and I have enjoyed visiting Mohonk as returning guests for several years now, and we continue to be impressed with the its commitment to service excellence and hospitality. After our last visit, I contacted Jacquelyn Appeldorn, Mohonk Mountain House General Manager, and she graciously agreed to a blog interview. Jackie has served in this position for 11 years and oversees a staff of up to 750 full-time and part-time employees. (The total number of employees fluctuates seasonally in this year round operation.)

Part 1 of this interview provides insight into Mohonk’s service culture and how the organization engages employees in maintaining this culture. Part 2 will feature a special follow up.

QSM: Jackie, please tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to be at Mohonk Mountain House (MMH).

Jackie: I’ve had two tenures at MMH. While I was in college, I started working in the Mohonk Mountain House dining room for what I then expected would be a summer job. I worked there for a few summers while in college, and then stayed for another 15 years, as I progressed through the organization. I was a vice president when I left to take a position on the faculty in the business department of a nearby community college (teaching had long been my career aspiration), where I remained for 9 years. During this time, I joined the Board of Directors at Mohonk, and then was offered the General Manager position. Although I enjoyed college teaching, the offer represented a unique opportunity, and I still am honored to be here.

QSM: Mohonk has been serving guests for more than 140 years. How do you apply this tradition of service in current times?

Jackie: We have a long tradition of serving guests. When we were designing our Service Program in 2003, we determined we needed to create a Service Statement: a brief but inclusive message that all employees could recite and understand that accurately articulated our vision of service at Mohonk; almost a mission statement for our service program. We spent many hours struggling over what it should say and really needed and wanted it to be perfect.

One day, our archivist presented our Executive Group with a document dated June 19, 1916, and signed AK Smiley (the nephew of the first AK Smiley who founded the resort in 1869). At the top was the phrase “MEMORANDUM IN EFFECT UNTIL FUTHER NOTICE …” In the body of the memo, we found our Service Statement: “The cardinal aim of our business is the comfort and contentment of guests.” Mr. Smiley’s memo provided a blue print for the right way for employees to behave in the workplace and to treat guests, which is just what we intended our Service Program to do. The behaviors addressed in his memo are some of the same behaviors our program addresses almost 90 years later.

QSM: The hospitality industry employs people around the clock. What are the key challenges of engaging staff in a 24/7 operation? And how do you prepare to meet these challenges?

Jackie: The biggest challenge in this regard is communication. I feel all of us spend so much of our time in meetings, and we still don’t convey everything we want our staff to know – and what they want to know -- on a timely basis. One element of our Service Program was the introduction of Daily Shift Briefings, a brief activity intended to take place at the start of every employee’s work shift that provides key information about that day’s events, activities to reinforce specific service practices (we have 14 Service Steps and 3 Service Standards) and trivia about Mohonk history.

As our Service Program evolved, we added a quarterly employee publication called Mohonk Bits (initiated and produced by non-managerial employees) and a weekly cafeteria tabletop flyer, known as Tidbits. These publications do more than relay information; they emphasize our traditions and service commitment, highlight successes (individual and organizational), convey historical anecdotes (as a 142- year-old family-owned business, history is important to us) and reinforce our pride in what all of us do at Mohonk.

QSM: Tell us more your Service Program and Service Committee: why it was formed ... its purpose ... who is involved … what are some typical activities ... and its overall impact.

Jackie: Mohonk’s Service Program was the result of a well-planned, thoughtfully considered, comprehensive initiative to change the culture that existed at that time to one that values and exhibits a high standard of service to guests as well as co-workers. Developing and launching the plan took about two years and involved many employees throughout the organization. Once the program was launched, a newly created Service Committee took on organizational responsibility for maintaining and nurturing the service culture.

We all recognize our individual roles in perpetuating our service culture, but this committee is charged with developing and executing activities on a regular basis that provide on-going, consistent reinforcement of good service behavior. Our Training Manager, who works in the HR department, now chairs the committee. Most departments have a representative who volunteered or may have been invited by other committee members to join. Members can rotate off, which exposes a greater number of employees to the function of the committee. The committee is composed of supervisory or management staff, although not senior management, and the occasional hourly employee.

Members meet weekly and plan monthly programs, holiday events, and on-going activities. For example, they create two annual all-employee events. The one in November has evolved into The Parlor Games; past themes have been Jeopardy, professional wrestling, and the Dating Game. These games feature contests involving volunteers and members of the audience that reinforce our Service Steps and Standards. Every May, the committee produces the annual Albert Awards, the Mohonk version of the Oscars, where individual employees receive awards (an Albert statue, cash and prizes) for Best Performance in each of our 14 Service Steps. We award two for each category – one to “front of the house” employees, those that regularly deal with guests; and one to back-of-the-house employees, who work behind the scenes and are more apt to serve co-workers. We run each of these events once in the morning and again in the afternoon to allow employees working both shifts to attend. These two annual events are elaborate productions, much enjoyed and anticipated by the staff.

An example of a monthly service program is Cash Cab. This program reinforces the service step of “Escort Guests to their Destination.” Throughout the month, a member of the Service Committee drives around picking up employees in the parking lot to drive them to the entrance. (The parking lots are a long downhill walk from the entrance.) On the trip, employees have a chance to win prizes by answering questions about Mohonk (reinforcing the Service Step “Be Knowledgeable About House History.”)

Another popular monthly program is when management staff replaces the cafeteria servers at meals. An additional ongoing activity is the awarding of “Summerhouse Tickets” (Mohonk’s logo is a summerhouse). Managers receive tickets each month to award to employees they catch in the act of providing good service. Ticket recipients are entered into a monthly raffle for prizes.

We have 15 people on the Service Committee who perform their regular jobs in addition to the work they do for the Service Committee (unlike academia, we don’t offer release time for work outside of one’s job description). The committee and the individual members are highly regarded. We are very, very fortunate to have such creative, motivated, dedicated and hardworking staff members who are eager to serve on the committee. The programs and activities that they develop, and that we as a company support, do much to create an energized, positive work atmosphere.

QSM: Impressive! Thanks, Jackie, for sharing how Mohonk engages employees in reinforcing its culture of guest service. We look forward to learning more.

Note: Stayed tuned for Part 2 of this interview in which Jackie shares an employee story of service recovery.

"Customer Focus from Top to Bottom"

[Note: The following guest post was written by Brendan Cruickshank, VP of Client Relations, Job Search Engine. As a specialist in the online job search and recruiting industry, Brendan often gives expert insight on employment and jobs trends in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and US News & World Report.]

A Customer Focus from Top to Bottom: Why and How to Hire Customer Focused Employees for Every Job
by Brendan Cruickshank

We talk a lot about value when it comes to providing customer service, but it starts with valuing the company. Your business must value itself enough to develop a quality company culture, then defend it by hiring employees who will enforce it. Finally, companies must value the employee enough in order to maintain an exceptional workforce … even when it’s tempting to take shortcuts.

Value Your Company
Before you even hit the pavement to seek high quality workers, you need to get a sense of your company culture and how the employee plays into that. This company culture should place high emphasis on correctly addressing customers and responding to their needs. For example, Macy’s trademark customer service feature is the attitude of outstanding. Employees are to answer the phones with: "Thank you for calling Macy's. How can I provide you with outstanding customer service?" It’s the word outstanding that is the underlying message, and they are encouraged to use the word whenever possible. Customer service isn’t just about language, though, and Macy’s employees are required to communicate the word outstanding in their actions, for example, spending extra time shopping with the customer or calling all the locations in the city to locate that perfect prom dress in a size 8.

The Job Ad
Once the company culture is established, it’s time to populate. Help wanted ads are the first form of communication companies will have with their employees, and it must be done right, a point made by business consultant Adrian Swinscoe. Referencing a help wanted sign, he illustrates what not to do when you’re trying to attract exceptional labor. If you will notice, the sign makes no mention of strong customer service skills as a requirement.

"If you want to deliver a great customer experience, a great place to work, and a great team, then it has to start before your employees start and one of the first places that they will come into contact with you is via your job advertisements," he said. "This is where your brand and your employee experience starts. This is where you start motivating the right people to apply for a place on the great team that you are building." In addition to making the statement that you’ll only accept employees who care about customer service, you are setting the stage to attract the right kind of candidates – ones that do care about customers and are drawn to companies that do as well.

The Interview

It’s not simply enough to ask an employee about previous jobs and superficial questions such as “What is your strongest quality? What is your weakest?” That may be good information to have, but interviewees will expect those questions and you will likely get a fabricated example. Instead, quiz the employee on a specific scenario and see how he or she responds when caught off-guard. Business strategist Kristina Evey recommends this type of interviewing to determine how creative the employee would get to solve the problem, and to what limit would they go to reach a satisfactory conclusion for the customer.

Clues to listen for, recommends Inc.com, are dedication, response to pressure, decision making skills, friendliness, and the ability to handle pressure. Also look to your favorite workers to help determine who you’re looking for. Knowing exactly the type of worker you already like will help you visualize what to seek in interviewees and their place in your company’s culture. Lest you believe this is too much effort, especially if you’re short-handed, remember how much harder it is to gain new customers than keep current ones. Good workers will keep those existing customers, making them an invaluable asset. In addition, you’ll have an easier time attracting new customers.

Value Your Employees
Now that you have the right staff, it’s time to make sure you keep them. Clothing retailer L.L. Bean, reports Businessweek, is the perfect example of valuing employees to achieve premium customer service. In its annual Customer Service Champs 2010, Businessweek points out that free shipping and the loosening of return policies in 2010 did help L.L. Bean’s standing, but it’s what they did for employees that put them a cut above the rest.

Its powerhouse call center in Maine, maybe the top contributor to L.L Bean’s stellar customer service reputation, is arguably the place to work if you want to be treated well. The company declared that it would not trade domestic labor for overseas labor, that it would send home workers to telecommute rather than lay them off to save operational costs. Similarly, when The Ritz Carlton made staff cuts in 2010, not only did it keep 95 percent of employees that directly interface with customers, it ensured their job benefits were protected.