Nicholas Bate

Connect!

That's what great customer service is really about: connection. Particularly this time of year: present shopping, extra food shopping, quick trip to the dentist, car serviced before the long trip...What really makes the difference-whether they connect with you. Or are they distracted? We empathise of course; there' s lot happening, a lot of pushes and pulls, but the ability to:
be there for you
be in the moment
fully listen
show you-just for those 2 minutes-that you are a valued customer
is absolutely, definitely the difference that makes the difference.
Connect more today; notice the amazing difference.

Customer Service

is not about:
-metrics
-call centres
-agreements
-appropriate T&C
-getting back to you
-cliched value statements

It is about making the customer feel valued and loved and wanted. And that's it.

Customer Service 2

Most of us would probably agree that great relationships require effort from both parties. Maybe we need to remind ourselves of this when seeking great customer service. Perhaps sometimes we expect 'them' to 'perform'. But maybe we can ignite the process. Over the last couple of years I have hired cars from National Car Rental. I have found their central telephone booking service ordinary. And at two separate offices, their desk staff often rude. BUT and it's an interesting BUT, for various reasons (usually conveneince of pick-up) I have stayed friendly, made an effort to get to know the team and thanked them when they have sorted out issues. Within a couple of visits, the service I receive becomes awesome!

It's just a basic human thing of course: we are not going to give of our best until we know we are valued.

Today:
1. Try igniting some awesome customer service. Ignore the initial surly attitude. Build the relationship and see what happens.
2. Ensure your teams have a low 'ignition point'.

Customer Service 1

Great customer service as all of us know is always about the simple stuff. Most of us are now being 're-trained' by our airlines to book on-line and actually finding it's quite helpful to choose our seat, check that our veggie meal has been ordered etc. But then-oh-no way of printing. Guy points out a hotel which has recognised this. I doubt whether anyone will CHOOSE their hotel for this feature, but it will all add up to a better experience.

At your next AwayDay (off-site to get back to basics; you do have them don't you?), try asking:

If we were re-inventing this business, what would we do differently?
What just needs some effort, but hardly any money to create a better customer experience?
Why didn't we do ALL our actions from the last AwayDay because had we done them all it would have been AWESOME.
In your business, what's the equivalent of providing the PC+printer FOC?

Oh, and when's your next AwayDay? No-that's too long. Make it sooner.

The New World of Work Differentiators

1 of Many. Every Friday. 1000h.

The Story So far:
To build market share, to defend price, to ensure longevity of our organisation, we must be distinct, we must be different ('be distinct or extinct'). But in the New World of Work that is increasingly difficult to do. Globalisation, speed of change and technology drivers amongst other factors rapidly remove our advantages. But some organisations have managed to do it and continue to manage to do it: Starbucks is oft-quoted of course. In the UK the John Lewis organisation. Apple. Harley-Davidson. Many small web-based businesses who do a great job.
"If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed, and that increasingly means you won't get paid much either."---Michael Goldhaber, Wired Magazine
What makes their businesses successful and sustainable? The new differentiators. Many of the differentiators they use are surprisingly 'soft'. That is, they are tricky to define and to measure: they are intangible. In coming weeks we will explore them and understand how we can replicate the methodology.

New World of Work Differentiator 1: Design (Week 2 of 2). Week 2: the action.
Step 1: accept that great design does not come easy but that it will repay in: premium customers, word of mouth marketing, an element of simplicity (New World of Work differentiator to be discussed), an element of experience (New World of Work differentiator to be discussed), competitive edge, premium pricing.
Step 2: start noting and asking: how is this product/service used? In the UK the majority of the railways and the post office for example appear to have never asked those fundamental questions. Munich Airport from where I flew recently has.
Step 3: steep yourself in good design. Attend museums and read.
Step 4: commit and pay for good design and improve the design whenever you can
Step 5: pay for a trusted expert who can get your design to look good, too. Now you have cool and you are on to a winner.

Join us next week for another New World of Work Differentiator.

The New World of Work Differentiators

1 of Many. Every Friday. 1000h.

The Story So far:
To build market share, to defend price, to ensure longevity of our organisation, we must be distinct, we must be different ('be distinct or extinct'). But in the New World of Work that is increasingly difficult to do. Globalisation, speed of change and technology drivers amongst other factors rapidly remove our advantages. But some organisations have managed to do it and continue to manage to do it: Starbucks is oft-quoted of course. In the UK the John Lewis organisation. Apple. Harley-Davidson. Many small web-based businesses who do a great job.
"If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed, and that increasingly means you won't get paid much either."---Michael Goldhaber, Wired Magazine
What makes their businesses successful and sustainable? The new differentiators. Many of the differentiators they use are surprisingly 'soft'. That is, they are tricky to define and to measure: they are intangible. In coming weeks we will explore them and understand how we can replicate the methodology.

New World of Work Differentiators 1: Design (Week 1 of 2). Week 1: the concept.
We, the consumer, increasingly seek well-designed products and services. We expect:
Forms to be easy to fill out.
Web-sites to be intelligent and easy to navigate.
Technology to be easy to use.
Phone-lines to be easy to navigate.
Stores to be well sign-posted.

Otherwise you lose us and rapidly.

When good design is coupled with aesthetic appeal, we tend to refer to this as cool. The Apple iPod. The Starbucks Café. The Audi showroom. The Amazon 1-click facility.
Increasingly, whatever you provide must be well-designed for your audience and sufficiently ‘cool’ to appeal. How do we do that? See you next week.

The New World of Work Differentiators

1 of Many. Every Friday. 1000h.

To build market share, to defend price, to ensure longevity of our organisation, we must be distinct, we must be different ('be distinct or extinct'). But in the New World of Work that is increasingly difficult to do. Globalisation, speed of change and technology drivers amongst other factors rapidly remove our advantages. But some organisations have managed to do it and continue to manage to do it: Starbucks is oft-quoted of course. In the UK the John Lewis organisation. Apple. Harley-Davidson. Many small web-based businesses who do a great job.

"If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed, and that increasingly means you won't get paid much either."---Michael Goldhaber, Wired Magazine

What makes their businesses successful and sustainable? The new differentiators. Many of the differentiators they use are surprisingly 'soft'. That is, they are tricky to define and to measure: they are intangible. Let’s sample them this week and in coming weeks we will explore them and understand how we can replicate the methodology.

Design. By design we mean ease-of-use, elegance, attractiveness. It has particular over-laps with simplicity (through great design we can create simplicity) and peak experience. Great design can led to peak experience. The Apple iPOD of course is a classic example. A Starbuck's store, from the round tables to the individually designed stores.
Experience. Beyond product, beyond service to experience. Harley-Davidson does not sell motor-bikes: it sells an experience.
Abundance. Being generous: changing a Starbucks drink immediately (I observed three times in one store where two Japanese girls with no English in a York store (N of England ) could not get their perfect frappacino).
Simplicity. Of web-site design. Of 1-click from Amazon. Of communication: high staff ratio at John Lewis. The banana phone at Innocent Drinks.
Possibility Thinking. Of going beyond. Of John Lewis clustering its Christmas displays by themes for ease of shopping.

All of these New Differentiators (and this is by no means an exclusive list: we will be looking at others) had their origins in the Old World of Work. And the ordinary manufacturer, service organisation have got to that level. But it is not enough. It is the awesome players who are going beyond:

Old Standard/Old World of Work
-It works
-Positive customer service
-Helpful
-Returns policy
-Same old thinking

New Standard/New World of Work
-A delight to use: design
-Fantastic experience
-Remarkably easy & simple
-Whatever it takes: abundance
-What’s possible: Possibility thinking

Give this some thought: for your business, for your planned start-up, for your part-time web-based business. For your team, your job. Give it some thought.

See you next Friday. 1000 would be perfect.