{"id":90,"date":"2013-04-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fishingforcustomers.com\/ten-steps-to-great-customer-service\/"},"modified":"2013-04-30T22:04:36","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T05:04:36","slug":"ten-steps-to-great-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/ten-steps-to-great-customer-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Steps To Great Customer Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally Published July 12, 2006<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>The scene is a national restaurant chain. I\u2019m meeting a client for lunch. I notice that our hostess, who doesn\u2019t appear to be much more than 19 or 20 is wearing a pin on her apron with the number \u201c10\u201d on it.<\/p>\n

I must have looked a bit puzzled when I asked \u201cHave you worked here for ten years?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

She laughed and said, \u201cNo, this just means that I\u2019ve been through our training course and know the ten steps to great customer service<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally<\/em>,\u201d I asked, \u201cwhat are they?<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, you great the customer with a smile\u2026<\/em>\u201d she said, her voice trailing off. <\/p>\n

Then she laughed, and said \u201cWell, I used to know them<\/em>,\u201d as she seated us. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Were Those Ten Steps?<\/h3>\n

Our waitress informed me that her name was Thelma and she\u2019d be our server today. I asked \u201cThelma, do you know the ten steps to great customer service?<\/em>\u201d Thelma said \u201cOh, sure\u2026<\/em>\u201d and quickly listed three. She pondered for a minute before naming the fourth\u2026 and after a mighty struggle came up with a fifth.<\/p>\n

I flagged down three other waitresses in the next 30 minutes, and none of them did any better.<\/p>\n

When Thelma brought our check, she also handed me a scrap of paper on which she\u2019d dutifully noted the ten steps, in order. She mentioned that it took a bit of effort to remember them all.<\/p>\n

Michael LeBoeuf<\/a> said it so well in his 1985 book, The Greatest Management Principle In The World<\/a>: \u201cBehavior that gets rewarded, gets repeated<\/em>.\u201d (And if you haven\u2019t found time in the last two decades to read this elegantly simple concept, isn’t it time? Click the link and invest three and a half bucks in your personal management library).<\/p>\n

Our restaurant chain thought that ten steps to great customer service were so important that they required all of their employees to learn them.<\/p>\n

Those Ten Steps Slipped Out Of Consciousness<\/h3>\n

Unfortunately, it appears that as soon as all employees memorized the list, management thought their job was done. Employees saw no benefit in remembering the list, or applying it. Consequently, they didn’t bother to do so.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t think this could happen in your company? Unless you’re constantly reminding your staff of the things you want them to convey to your customers, I can guarantee that it’s already happened in your company.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been conducting a small experiment. I\u2019ve been calling businesses randomly at odd hours and asking whomever answers the phone why their company\u2019s service or products are better.<\/p>\n

Dare To Try It Yourself?<\/h3>\n

When the dispatcher picks up the phone with \u201cMary\u2019s Pizza, how can I help you today?<\/em>\u201d ask \u201cWhy is Mary\u2019s pizza better?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last week I\u2019ve asked \u201cWhy is your coffee better?<\/em>\u201d \u201cWhy is the doctor you work for better?<\/em>\u201d \u201cWhy is your customer service better?<\/em>\u201d \u201cWhy are your puppies better?<\/em>\u201d \u201cWhy are your roses better?<\/em>\u201d \u201cWhy is your chili better?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve made fourteen calls to businesses in my neighborhood. So far, nobody\u2019s been prepared with an answer.<\/p>\n

It’s a simple test. Only takes a few minutes. Doesn’t cost anything ‘except maybe a few pennies in long distance charges.<\/p>\n

Call your own company. Call your competitors. Call businesses in other cities. Call businesses you\u2019re curious about. Ask the question.<\/p>\n

What Do You Hear When You Call Your Own Company?<\/h3>\n

And if you\u2019re not hearing a clearly articulated point of competitive advantage, may I suggest that you have some work to do for more successful fishing for customers.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re not hearing a clearly articulated point of competitive advantage, may I suggest that you have some work to do for successful fishing for customers.<\/p>\n

Your Guide,
\nChuck McKay<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>\"MarketingYour Fishing for Customers guide, Chuck McKay<\/a>, gets people to buy more of what you sell.<\/p>\n

Need some help strategizing the best way to help your staff to articulate your values? Drop Chuck a note at\u00a0ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com<\/a> and start a conversation. \u00a0Or call him at 760-813-5474.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The restaurant chain required all of their employees to learn ten steps, and thought their job was done. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42,44,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-credibility","category-customer-focus","category-previously-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3217,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/3217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}