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| Credit: zirconicusso via FreeDitigalPhotos.net |
My wife's story involves a nearby +McDonald's franchise. An interesting tale involving a simple drive-thru order for a combination meal that took an unexpected turn.
After being informed the soda dispensing machine was broken and they could not serve Sprite at the drive-thru window, Theresa was given a choice of either water, tea, orange juice or milk. Being a fan of McDonald's $1.00 sweet tea, she chose that as her drink and proceeded to the pick-up window. Upon reaching the window, she was given her meal with tea; however, the drink was served in a medium size cup that normally accompanies the combination meal and not the larger cup size in which McDonald's serves their $1.00 sweet tea.
Given that a medium sized drink's cost is normally slightly higher than the $1.00 charged for their sweet tea, my wife asked if she could have the larger tea. She was told they could not make the exchange; however, if she wanted to walk into the store, the soda-dispensing machine in their seating area was working and she could have the Sprite initially requested. After a moment of quiet disbelief at what she was just told, Theresa decided to let the situation go, accept what she had been given and drove off. We have since discussed why they could not have obtained her drink from the working soda machine and other customer service challenges experienced at this McDonald's. As one might expect, our visits to this store have diminished since it opened, now occurring only when a more desirable, viable food option is not present.
My sister's early morning visit to a local +Dunkin' Donuts provides the setting for customer service story #2. As she often does on her morning commute, Beverly stopped for coffee and a bagel one recent morning. To her delight, there was a sign outside advertising a special promotion for the coffee she loves so much. 3 bags of coffee for $19.99. A good deal considering the product's normal price.
Inside the store she picked up 3 bags of coffee and proceeded to the register for check-out; however, upon being informed of the total cost, she questioned the clerk about the coffee special since it was apparent the special promotion price was not being applied. The clerk stated he was not aware of any special pricing and called over the store's manager for assistance. The store manager was also unaware and went outside to view the promotional sign after being informed of it by my sister. Once back inside, the manager stated that specific promotion was no longer in effect.
My sister, being the ever vigilant consumer she is, asked why they would still have signage in place promoting the special if it was no longer valid. She continued to press for the promotional price. The manager then informed her they could not give her the promotional price because they did not know how to overwrite the initial price charged in the register with the promotional price; nor did they know how to separately ring-up the promotional price since it was no longer in the system. They could void the initial price charged, but that was about it.
After a brief period of silence to see if any other solution might be offered, Beverly assumed the "forget it" mindset. She asked them to void the sale minus her individual coffee and bagel (which her early morning commute demanded). She then left the store, much less satisfied than she otherwise would have been.
The common theme across both stories is the way in which operating processes prevented my wife and sister from receiving the product or service expected. Their experiences underscore the need for truly customer oriented enterprises to incorporate steps that ensure established procedures do not result in disgruntled and subsequently "former" customers.
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| Credit: 2nix via FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
"A continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a definite manner; a systematic series of actions directed to some end."
If, in addition to achieving operational cost efficiency, the end result of an organization's process is to ensure customer retention and growth, then businesses must be keenly aware of process deficiencies that negatively impact customer service. If the company's operating manual does not include an "immediate recovery strategy" for customer service situations that do not follow standard operating procedures, then a process gap exists that must be addressed.
In her blog post entitled 15 Ways to Improve Customer Service at Your Business, Mary Shulzhenko includes as item #12:
"Know how and when to bend certain customer service policies, especially for long-term , loyal customers."
This concept is mission critical to any organization's long-term growth. It also serves as a backdrop for my 3 keys for maintaining alignment between operational processes and positive customer service experiences. I refer to these as the T.E.A Strategy, due in large part to my wife's customer service experience at McDonald's.
#1. Train employees thoroughly.
A business should never place their customer facing personnel in a position where a lack of process or systems knowledge could potentially create a negative customer experience. Organizations should ensure customer facing employees understand where and how its operations directly touch the customer; furthermore, these employees should possess the knowledge to handle customer issues in a timely, satisfactory manner. This includes having immediate, direct access to management and operational personnel who can provide lifeline support to help resolve customer issues, regardless of time of day.
#2. Empower employees.
Businesses should hire and retain customer facing personnel whom they can empower to manage its most important asset, the customer base. Organizations should establish a framework within which front-line employees are empowered to go outside of standard process when deemed necessary to solve customer problems.
This empowerment should include a streamlined feedback loop from customer facing employees to business process owners and decision-makers. This channel should be used to funnel real-time information on process detours required to solve a customer service issue as well as employee recommendations that can aide in continuous process improvement.
#3. Adjust financials.
While not an easy task initially, organizations should determine the best means of adjusting standard financial projections to account for unexpected, "out of process" customer service costs. This becomes easier as the tracking and correlation between customer service problems and financial impacts resulting from unexpected operational events improves (e.g. material shortages, processing delays, returns due to quality, etc.).
When have you seen a company refusing to step out of process to resolve a customer service issue? We would love to hear your story.
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