A blog post last week by Peter Shankman titled, The World’s Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told, Starring Morton’s Steakhouse has generated some debate as to whether Morton’s Steakhouse demonstrated amazing customer service or capitalized on an opportunity to grab some great press when it delivered a porterhouse steak and sides to Mr. Shankman upon arrival at Newark airport.

While I don’t refute Shankman’s claim that Morton’s delivers exceptional customer service (a quick scan of his post’s comments reveals dozens of testimonials to the superior customer service experienced at Morton’s), I do believe this story is more about public relations than it is about customer service.

Compare the Morton’s story above with an experience I had at Tiffany & Co.:

I was in New York City for a business trip a week or so before my 10-year wedding anniversary. One afternoon, I stopped by the Tiffany & Co. flagship store on 6^th Avenue to look at anniversary rings.

A thoughtful representative named Duncan showed me several rings as he explained some of the nuances of color, cut, clarity, and carat weight.

The rings looked magnificent beneath the showroom lights. I recall that of the half dozen or so rings that I looked at, there was one that I kept going back to. Duncan noticed it too. And, of course, it cost 25 percent more than the others.

After about 30 minutes together, I thanked him for his time and told him that I wouldn’t be buying the ring today. I mentioned that I had an appointment in two days with a representative at the Denver location of Tiffany & Co. He congratulated me on my 10-year anniversary and wished me luck in finding the perfect ring.

Two days later I arrived at the Denver location of Tiffany & Co. and met with a representative named Cynthia. Cynthia brought me into a private room to show me a set of anniversary rings that she had selected based on my criteria. As she revealed each successive ring, she would say something like, “Now, this ring combines the color you are hoping for with the mounting we discussed.”

After introducing several rings in this way, Cynthia produced the final ring saying, “Now, this is the ring that you were especially taken by when Duncan was showing you rings at the 6^th Avenue store on Tuesday.”

I was absolutely floored! I said something like, “Huh? What? How did you…?”

Cynthia sensed my astonishment, smiled, and then explained that she had received a call from Duncan shortly after I’d left the 6^th Avenue store and that together they had made arrangements for the ring to be shipped overnight from New York City to the Denver location of Tiffany & Co. in time for my appointment.

Duncan and Cynthia worked together to deliver customer service that was completely beyond the realm of customer expectation. I had no reason to expect that the ring I’d looked at in New York would be among the options made available to me in Denver.

Does this level of customer service influence sales? Guess which ring I bought?

Although this story, as a blog post, has brought unexpected positive social media attention to the Tiffany & Co. brand (albeit, a fraction of the attention enjoyed by Morton’s), it is ultimately about exceptional customer service.

Recently I wrote in a blog post that due to the effect of social media, customer service and public relations are now inextricably linked. As customers increasingly broadcast their experiences over the web, this will benefit companies like Morton’s and Tiffany & Co., that consistently deliver superior customer service, and will punish those with lackluster customer service.

So whether these companies are serving Peter Shankman or a less influential customer, if they do it right every time, they’ll be doing it right at the right time.

What’s your view?

I read two things yesterday that cemented for me the fact that, due to the effect of social media, customer service and public relations are now inextricably linked.

The first was a quote by Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook’s former marketing director (and sister of the social networking site’s famous CEO), in the August 2011 issue of Hotel Management.

She said, “We’re basically at a place where you can’t afford to [let] a very vocal person have a bad experience [at your business].”

The second was a blog post by Peter Shankman titled, The Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told, Starring Morton’s Steakhouse.

In it, Peter describes an act of heroic service delivered by a Morton’s Steakhouse in New Jersey that was initiated by a simple tweet by him in Florida hours earlier. While Peter attempts to play down the role his Twitter follower count and related influence may have played, Morton’s is savvy enough to recognize a PR opportunity when they see it.

What happened next is the stuff of legends—though one may debate whether it was legendary customer service or a legendary PR ploy.

Either way, you’ve got to hand it to Morton’s for assertively monitoring its Twitter feed and capitalizing on an opportunity that countless, less engaged businesses would have simply allowed to lapse…

And it was an opportunity. Within one day of Shankman’s blog post, there have already been hundreds, if not thousands, of social media pings—blog comments, Twitter retweets, Facebook Likes, etc.—pertaining to it.

Aside from the obvious benefits to Morton’s reputation, consider this sampling of comments by readers of the post:

• “I don’t eat out at steakhouses too much, but Morton’s is now on my radar.”
• “I’ll be looking for an opportunity to visit a Morton’s in my area and will definately remember this story.”
• “And then you have me, just a guy who has never heard of Morton’s reading this post because a friend linked to it on Facebook. I read it and think, huh, maybe I should try this place.”
• “I’m from Northern Ontario in Canada and I’ve never even heard of Morton’s but I swear if I’m ever near one I will remember THIS story and I will stop in!!”
• “I’ve never eaten at a Morton’s…but I’m looking for a place for a special dinner soon and will now be booking it at the Morton’s in Baltimore.”

Whatever resources Morton’s may have invested in this over-the-top PR stunt, its positive return on investment is incalculable.

Randi Zuckerberg cautioned businesses to avoid letting a very vocal person have a bad experience. The opposite is also true: Businesses should go out of their way to ensure that a very vocal person has an exceptional experience.

By capitalizing on the opportunity presented—even unwittingly—by (a very vocal) Peter Shankman, Morton’s did just that. They understand the new reality that, due to the effect of social media, customer service and public relations are now inextricably linked.

Have an opinion? We’re listening.

The other day, I trailed a King Soopers employee as she returned about a half-dozen shopping carts from the parking lot to the store.

She pushed the row of carts into another row of carts inside the store and then, with a dreary facial expression and a heavy sigh, returned to the parking lot to collect more shopping carts.

Besides her enervated body language, I noticed two things that telegraphed a lack of concern for her customers:

1.) By not bothering to evenly distribute the carts, she created an inconveniently long row of carts that left a very narrow space between the last cart and the wall. This created a bottleneck that forced shoppers attempting to exit the store to form a single file line.

2.) Although it was quite obvious in a short row of six or seven carts, she neglected to notice the used drink cup lodged in one of the carts (pictured). Or, worse, noticed the cup and chose to do nothing about it.

To me, this employee conveyed disinterest in her work and indifference towards serving customers.

So, what went wrong?

On the surface, it’s easy to blame the employee for being careless or lazy. But there may be other forces at work…

I’m reminded of the adage, “Blame the process, not the people.” In that spirit, King Soopers should examine every process that may have contributed to this young woman performing as she did during my visit.

Several come to mind: recruiting, selection, onboarding, training, managerial modeling, performance management (e.g., feedback/recognition), standards, etc.

In most cases where I have observed apathetic employee behavior, I have also observed ad hoc recruiting efforts, inadequate selection criteria, unstructured onboarding, insufficient training, inconsistent supervisory modeling, non-existent performance management, and low (or undisclosed) standards. In such environments, employees are set up to fail.

If I were advising King Soopers, the first thing I would do is revisit the performance standards. In the absence of high standards, good is good enough. Can you imagine King Soopers, or any company, embracing “Good is good enough” as its credo or slogan?

Once the standards (and expectations) have been set and communicated, every single process—from recruiting to performance appraisals—must reflect and uphold these high standards.

Next, I would remind its staff that their jobs consist of both job functions—the duties and tasks associated with their job roles (e.g., returning carts from the lot to the store) and job essence—their purpose/highest priority (e.g., anticipating customers’ needs and paying attention to details).

Most employees define their entire jobs solely in terms of job functions. And why shouldn’t they? Oftentimes, the feedback they receive from management—assuming they receive feedback at all—pertains strictly to the duties and tasks associated with their job roles.

When employees focus exclusively on job function, their jobs may become routine, monotonous, and transactional. In work environments like this, employees tend to become disinterested in their work and indifferent towards serving customers.

But when employees recognize the totality of their roles, which includes both job function and job essence, they are predisposed to provide exceptional customer service—by anticipating customers needs, paying attention to details, and expressing genuine interest in serving customers in other ways.

And this is not just wishful thinking. It is possible.

You wouldn’t expect to encounter a surly employee at Chick-fil-A, an unresponsive phone rep at Zappos, an apathetic salesperson at Nordstrom, or a used drink cup lying along Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland. Would you?

These companies have set exceedingly high performance standards and their employees are acutely aware of them. Employees also recognize both their job responsibilities as well as their higher purpose: to create delighted customers.

So, while employees are responsible for their personal conduct and performance in the workplace, their employers are responsible for setting high standards, for establishing processes that position employees to delight customers, and for defining an employee’s entire job role.

What do you think?

According to a recent Accenture survey of 7,000 people from 13 countries, significant gaps exists between what consumers want from their insurers and what they feel they are receiving.

For instance, more than three-fifths (61 percent) of respondents said that it was very important for their insurer to provide prompt and effective service, or to answer requests in a timely manner, but only 32 percent of respondents were very satisfied with their insurers’ ability to deliver such service.

When you think about “prompt and effective service” or “to answer requests in a timely manner,” what comes to mind?

To me, above all else, I think about displaying a sense of urgency.

Clients notice and appreciate when a service provider hustles on their behalf. Whether a receptionist quickly answers the phone or an account representative personally delivers a policy or check, displaying a sense of urgency is a way to express genuine interest in your clients.

To express genuine interest in a customer is to go beyond that which a client typically expects from a service provider. For example, a client might expect for their phone call to be answered or to have their policy delivered. But she may not expect the phone to be answered on the second ring or to have the policy hand-delivered by her sales representative.

By conveying a sense of urgency, service providers express genuine interest in serving their clients. These actions will narrow the gap that exists between the service clients expect and the service they ultimately receive.

This will result in clients who become promoters and, as such, will be less price-sensitive, will have higher repurchase rates, and will be responsible for 80-90 percent of the positive word-of-mouth about the company.

How do you display a sense of urgency as a service provider?

Remember the Aesop’s Fable, The Goose with the Golden Eggs?

A man and his wife had the good fortune to own a goose that laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough. Imagining the goose must be filled with gold inside, they decided to kill it to obtain all of the gold at once. However, upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose.

The primary moral of this story that many companies would do well to acknowledge is that greed destroys the source of good. In the same way, by nickel and diming customers, many companies are damaging the relationships they have with loyal customers.

My favorite nickel and diming story comes from Bob Farrell, co-founder of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors. In his timeless book Give ‘em the Pickle, he shares a letter he received from a customer:

“Dear Mr. Farrell,
I’ve been coming to your restaurants for over three years. I always order a #2 hamburger and a chocolate shake. I always ask for an extra pickle and I always get one. Mind you, this has been going on once or twice a week for three years. I came into your restaurant the other day and I ordered my usual #2 hamburger and chocolate shake. I asked the young waitress for the extra pickle. She said, “Sir, I will sell you a side of pickles for $1.25.”
I told her, “No, I just want one extra slice of pickle. I always ask for it, and they always give it to me. Go ask your manager.” She went away and came back after speaking with the manager. The waitress looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll sell you a pickle for a nickel.”

Needless to say, the customer refused the offer, left the restaurant, and was instantly transformed from a promoter of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors, a loyal enthusiast who keeps dining at Farrell’s and urges others to do the same, to a detractor—an unhappy customer who doesn’t return, refuses to recommend Farrell’s, and shares his negative experience with others. In the pursuit of golden eggs, Farrell’s was killing the goose.

Here’s another truly outrageous example of nickel and diming customers:

Ryanair, the Irish discount airline, has taken nickeling and diming passengers to a whole new level. Last year, its CEO announced—with a straight face—that he was working with Boeing to install pay toilets in the airline’s 168 Boeing 737s.

It’s true. Passengers would be required to spend one British pound (about $1.50) to use the toilet. No word yet on options for those passengers who either don’t have cash or don’t have the proper change. I suppose they can cross their legs—assuming there’s sufficient legroom…

And, just today, The Consumerist reported that a class action lawsuit was filed against Hilton for allegedly charging hotel guests 75 cents for newspapers they did not request and believed were provided at no charge.

Any time making money becomes more important than properly serving customers, the business suffers. When the bottom line drives a company’s decisions relative to serving customers, it will begin cutting back on product and service quality in order to improve its near-term operating statement at the expense of long-term customer goodwill and loyalty—not to mention comfort.

If companies genuinely believe that there’s a valid relationship between customer satisfaction and financial results, why would they ever agree to nickel and dime customers to capture another half-percent when they could invest in and deliver exceptional customer service and reap double digit returns on every metric that matters: employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, market share, revenue, profit, etc.?

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) produces scores for the causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their relationships to, among other things, financial results.

Claes Fornell, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, oversees the data collection and analysis of the quarterly ACSI results.

According to Fornell, “A five percent improvement in customer satisfaction leads to an increase of over 35 percent of future operational cash flow.” That’s a lot of golden eggs!

He refers to customer satisfaction, or the goose’s health, as “the ultimate economic asset for business, because the sum of the value of all its customer relationships is also the true value of the company.”

If companies would channel the same energy and ingenuity into customer satisfaction that they use to identify and apply creative ways to nickel and dime customers, they would more than recover the revenues gained from these irritating practices.

Instead of nuisance fees, these companies should look for efficiencies and cost containment strategies that will have the least negative impact on customers. By searching for ways to add value rather than fees, they will be caring for the goose—customers—while earning plenty of golden eggs!