I enjoy taking my family to On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina. In fact, I look forward to it. The restaurants are clean, the food quality is excellent and the value for price paid is fair.

My wife, however, has one problem with On The Border. This single issue has caused us to choose competing restaurants on a number of occasions. Her problem: Servers consistently allow tables to become overrun with used side plates, chip bowls and salsa, sour cream and guacamole ramekins.

During college, my wife worked at her father’s restaurant and learned early on to never leave a table empty-handed when there were items to be cleared. By observing their surroundings and paying attention to detail, the most effective servers would spot discarded straw wrappers, empty appetizer plates or depleted breadbaskets. In this way, the dining tables were kept neat and orderly.

Servers at our local On The Border restaurant appear to be completely unaware of this protocol. With four children, the dishes add up. It’s not long before our table surface disappears behind a pile of used plates, dirty napkins and other clutter. Near the end of the meal, even if we had room for dessert, we wouldn’t have the space for it.

One of the benefits customers cite when justifying the added cost to dine out, is the ability to enjoy a dining experience they would otherwise be incapable of reproducing at home. My family is perfectly capable of producing a cluttered dining table at home. When we dine out, we appreciate an attentive server who maintains a clear table.

Sure, I could stack the used plates, move them to the side of the table and request their removal (I do this routinely at On The Border) but I don’t want to. That’s why I’m out to eat. If I’m going to accept responsibility for stacking plates and clearing table space, I’ll save my money and eat at home.

Restaurant guests appreciate being looked after—even pampered. Servers, by observing their surroundings, paying attention to detail and committing to never leave a cluttered table empty-handed, reduce table congestion and maybe, just maybe will make room for dessert!

What are your dining out pet peeves?

A restaurateur recently approached me and asked, “How can I fake that I know a customer’s name? I have a thousand regulars in my restaurant each week and can’t possibly remember all of their names.”

She was asking the wrong question. Any objective that involves faking out customers (or any form of deception) is destined to fail. Why not make a sincere effort to learn customers’ names instead?

I recognize that remembering names is not always easy. I’ll be the first to admit that I often forget a name just seconds after hearing it—especially if I’m being introduced to a group of people. Recalling names takes real effort and, for many of us, if we’re not intentional about it, we’ll miss opportunities to greet others by name.

We already know that people love hearing the sound of their own name. And when they are greeted by name, especially in a setting where they are customers, this affirms their importance as customers—and the value they bring to the business through personal spending, referrals, and loyalty.

My response to the restaurateur was this: “Rather than mislead customers by faking that you know their names, why not make the effort instead to learn them?”

I then shared with her some advice I had given to my 10-year-old son, Cole, while he was attending a tennis camp with a dozen or so peers after school. On the drive home from camp one evening, I asked Cole the name of the boy he’d been hitting with during the final drill. To my surprise, he had no idea what the boy’s name was.

When I reminded Cole that learning and using others’ names conveys respect and affirms their personal importance, he complained that there were a lot of kids and that learning all their names would be difficult.

So, together, we devised some strategies that he could use to help remember the names of all the other players at camp. We started with the names of players he already knew. There were two: Paris and Rachel. (Mmm…)

I asked him to describe Paris and he said she was tall. Then I asked him what came to mind when he thought of the name “Paris.” He said, “Paris, France.”

Next, I asked him if there was anything tall in Paris, France. He said, “The Eiffel Tower.”

Then Cole said, “I get it! To help remember her name, I will think of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.”

Exactly! (I mentioned that this is an example of a mnemonic—or memory aid—but Cole was already thinking of a way to help remember Rachel’s name…)

Cole said, “When I see Rachel again, I’ll remember that her name is the same as my cousin Rachel in Sioux Falls!”

“That’s great Cole!” I said, “You’re using an association you’re very familiar with to help remember the name of someone you’ve recently met.”

The last suggestion I gave to Cole was to repeat the name of the person he was meeting several times during the initial introduction. For example: “Rachel? I have a cousin named Rachel. My name is Cole. Nice to meet you Rachel!”

There is no easy way to remember the names of all your customers. It takes genuine effort. But it is possible to facilitate learning names by using mnemonics (e.g., Paris is tall like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.), associations (e.g., Rachel has the same name as my cousin Rachel.), and repetition (i.e., Try to use the name three times during your initial introduction.).

Invest the time and effort to learn customers’ names and if you draw a blank, don’t try to fake it—be honest. Chances are that your customer may not readily recall your name either. This re-introduction will give you both a chance to reinforce each other’s names while strengthening the relationship.

How about you? What techniques help you to remember names?

It occurred to me that rain and customers have a lot in common.

Rain is required to sustain physical life. Customers are required to sustain corporate life.

We want rain on our terms, when it’s convenient, so that it does not interfere with our plans. In business, we’d prefer that customers arrive on time and prepared, so as not to disrupt our operations.

Weathermen track weather patterns in attempts to accurately forecast rain. Revenue managers monitor consumer trends in order to anticipate customer demand.

Rain is taken for granted—unless it’s in short supply. Similarly, customers are treated indifferently—unless they’re in short supply.

We try to shield ourselves from the rain using raincoats and umbrellas. Many businesses attempt to ward off customers by using barriers such as elaborate phone trees and terms and conditions that insulate them from responsibility.

Over the years, humans have tried to influence the rain by using a rain dance whereas companies have long tried to manipulate customers by using a song and dance.

I could go on but you get the idea.

It’s ironic to me that many companies use terms like “guest” and “partner” to convey the intimacy they have with their customers but the reality is that most employees, when given the opportunity, do not behave as though they are serving a valued guest.

Instead, many of the frontline employees I observe appear to be simply going through the motions—treating each customer like the last customer. And so on…

This may explain why 68 percent of consumers surveyed claimed to have quit doing business with a company due to perceived indifference towards them as customers.

Just like rain, we recognize the value of customers but then try to elude them.

I’ve tapped my Irish roots in order to craft the following limerick:

Customers, they are like rain:

An aggravation that many distain.

The irony the two share,

Is that, unless they are rare,

About them, most will complain.

And lastly, here’s something else I noticed: After much rain, a rainbow appears. After many customers, a pot of gold appears.

Mmm… Maybe there is something to that Irish myth?

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!

Do you pay attention to the greetings and farewells you receive as a customer?

I do.

Here are a few that I’ve received lately:

Last weekend, as I pulled up to the Krispy Kreme drive-thru window, this was my greeting: “$16.65”

That was it. I was greeted with the total cost of my order.

After paying, the cashier handed me my doughnuts saying, “Your receipt’s in the bag.”

That was my farewell. Nothing more. This employee seemed to prioritize efficiency: processing more customers faster.

And earlier this week, after spending $62.15 on groceries at Albertsons, I received this farewell: [Cashier speaking into register phone handset] “I’m at (register) six. Do you want me to bank out on (register) seven?”

That was it. I was completely ignored by the cashier as he chose to focus on his real priority: getting the hell out of there.

Compare these employee interactions with the one I had at Chick-fil-A last night:

As I approached the drive-thru intercom, here’s how I was greeted: “Welcome to Chick-fil-A! How may I serve you?”

And the experience ended on a refreshing note as well. In place of the typical fast-food industry sendoff of “No problem” (in response to a customer’s “Thank you” upon receiving his to-go order), I received an elegant “It’s my pleasure.”

Ladies and gentlemen, Chick-fil-A is a quick service restaurant—like Krispy Kreme or McDonald’s. The difference is that Chick-fil-A genuinely prioritizes customer service and this is reflected in the behavior and language of its employees.

If a quick service restaurant can do it, there’s hope for the rest of the service industry.

Care to share any memorable greetings or farewells you’ve received?

In today’s economy, consumers increasingly scrutinize the “value for price paid” of a product or service. While extraordinary customer service adds value, many service organizations miss opportunities to provide the “little extras” that create value in the minds of their customers.

Companies that recognize the value of offering “little extras,” and are intentional about incorporating them into the customer experience, can elevate the quality of their customer service. These value-added extras are frequently unexpected and so provide a pleasant surprise that forms a lasting positive impression on customers.

Here are some examples of “little extras” that I have experienced as a customer:

• Chick-fil-A, a quick service restaurant, provides a mint with each order—similar to full service restaurant.
• Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza gives me a two-stamp head start on my pizza loyalty card. Now I’m 17 percent closer to a free pizza!
• Tony’s Market in Denver, CO includes preparation instructions on its meat packaging (e.g., oven/grill temps, meat temps, etc.).
• A New York City hotel I visited encourages its front desk clerks to spontaneously send guests “Connection Cards” intended to welcome them, acknowledge something they shared during their check-in (e.g., where they are from, the reason for their hotel stay, the Broadway show they plan to see, etc.), and provide the clerk’s name and extension number for further assistance.
• The General Motors dealership that services my car always washes it before pulling it around front and delivering it to me.
• Our garbage collector always brings the trashcans from the curb to the top of our driveway.
• The Wine Experience Cafe & World Cellar in Aurora, CO serves its coffee tableside in French presses.
• Starbucks Coffee on occasion offers complimentary samples of ground coffee, pastries, and specialty coffee drinks.
• The professional waiters at Sparks Steak House in New York City are adept at changing the table linens between entrée and dessert courses without removing your wine glasses or exposing the tabletop.

Sometimes these “little extras” are tangible (e.g., Chick-fil-A’s mints) and other times they are intangible aspects of the service experience (e.g., the changing of table linens at Sparks Steak House). In most cases they are unexpected and have the power to transform routine and ordinary transactions into unique and extraordinary service experiences!

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary really is that little extra.

What “little extras” do you offer your customers?

Is it me or do you find that merchants are constantly asking you to “take five minutes” and “tell us how we’re doing” by responding to a customer satisfaction survey?

Sometimes these surveys appear in your email box following a purchase. Other times, hard copy surveys arrive in your mailbox or you’re encouraged to access a website and enter a code that’s printed at the bottom of your receipt.

In large part due to the deluge of surveys, response rates are typically abysmal—oftentimes not generating a sufficient number of responses to enable the results to be statistically valid.

It baffles me that companies continue to pour resources into these satisfaction surveys while consistently forfeiting opportunities to engage customers via social media channels.

Case in point: Last weekend, my family and I dined at On The Border. With one exception, we had a terrific experience. On the bottom of my receipt was the message: “YOUR OPINION MATTERS. We invite you to complete our GUEST SATISFACTION SURVEY. YOU COULD WIN $1,000. A WINNER EVERY DAY!”

The receipt also provided a personal code that I was instructed to enter at the survey website: www.onthebordersurvey.com

Instead of following the script laid out by On The Border to share my feedback, I took to my blog and to Twitter—although I could have just as easily taken to Yelp, Facebook, or another social media channel.

That was three days ago and, as of today, I have yet to hear back. You might be saying, “C’mon Steve. It’s only been three days. Cut them some slack.”

Immediacy in addressing problems experienced by customers is paramount. The more time that separates the issue and its resolution, the less likely it is that the problem will be resolved to the customer’s satisfaction. Even On The Border’s receipt instructs guests to respond to its survey within four days.

Frankly, based on previous experiences I’ve had with other organizations, I would be surprised to receive a meaningful response from On The Border. It’s not impossible. It’s just unlikely.

And when a customer’s posted feedback is ignored, that’s a missed opportunity to engage, address any issues raised, and, potentially, cement his ongoing loyalty towards the company or brand.

Why don’t these companies redirect some of their spending on overused “push” strategies to obtain customer feedback and invest in “pulling” this feedback from social media channels? It’s as easy as searching for relevant keywords on Twitter or establishing a Google Alert to notify organizations whenever they have been mentioned by name in cyberspace.

Many customers, like me, may not conform to a company’s standard customer feedback mechanisms but that doesn’t make our feedback any less relevant or valuable.

Companies that recognize this and adjust their feedback gathering and engagement practices accordingly will benefit from candid, real-time customer feedback. Those that don’t will continue to push their rigid feedback systems onto customers and wonder why response rates are so low.

Your opinion matters. Take five minutes and tell me what you think.

The week before Christmas, I brought my car in for maintenance. The dealership offers both a waiting area as well as a shuttle service to take you to local destinations while your vehicle is being serviced.

While leaving my keys with the service department, I inquired about the shuttle driver and learned that he was off site and would return in the next 10-15 minutes. I then asked the rep if he’d have the driver locate me in the waiting area upon his return in order for me to run a local errand while my car was being serviced.

The rep agreed, made note of my name and cell phone number, and assured me that it would be no more than 15 minutes.

So far, so good.

While I was sitting in the waiting area, a client called. I took the call and moved to a quiet corner of the waiting area to talk.

Within five minutes or so, the shuttle driver appeared and called out my name. I motioned to the driver that I was on the phone and would be a few minutes.

The driver left the area, returning a few minutes later.

As I was listening to my client and taking notes in my planner, the driver walked towards me, pointed to his watch, motioned for me to wind things up and said, “I’ve got places to go.”

Stunned by his actions, I instructed him not to wait on me and that I would just take the next available shuttle. Clearly annoyed, he let out an audible sigh, turned, and walked away.

Think about the irony of this situation: Because I’m making myself available to serve a client over the phone, I’m reinforcing his decision to hire me. Because he hires (and compensates) me, I can afford to have my vehicle serviced at the dealership. Because I’m servicing my vehicle at the dealership, there’s a need for a shuttle driver. And because there’s a need for a shuttle driver, this employee has a job.

After my call ended, I approached the dealership’s general manager and we sat together briefly in his office.

I shared what had happened, recognizing my contribution to the misunderstanding. I realize that conflict doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Conflict is the result of a failure to meet expectations—and I clearly did not meet the shuttle driver’s expectations. After all, I had requested the shuttle service and then wasn’t available when the driver returned. I get that.

Even so, I told the GM that the driver’s behavior made me feel devalued as a customer. His dealership spends a lot of money to evoke certain feelings from its customers and I’m certain ‘devalued’ isn’t one of them.

What the GM did next cemented my loyalty to his dealership and the Cadillac brand.

He said, “Here, take my car” as he handed me the key to a white CTS in the parking lot.

As we walked from his office to the showroom, he apologized on behalf of the shuttle driver, thanked me for my business and said, “Take as long as you need. I’m here until 7 o’clock.”

Misunderstandings are inevitable. How employees respond to them, however, is optional.

Those employees who truly value customers, seek understanding, and give customers the benefit of the doubt (or, in some cases, the keys to their car), are one step closer to resolving misunderstandings—and creating loyal customers.

Because of my work in the field of hospitality, I read quite a few books on the topic of customer service and thanks to great authors like Chip Bell, Scott McKain, Colin Shaw, and others, I always complete a book more prepared to serve my own clients.

Recently I was reading a book by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon titled, Exceptional Service Exceptional Profit. I had already underlined several refreshing insights when, on page 43 of the book, I highlighted this sentence:

Individual customers are irreplaceable.

I was so energized by the sentence that I called to my wife in the other room to share it with her.

Conventional thinking about customer retention is that customers are replaceable. That is, when one customer leaves, there’s always another to take his or her place.

But the authors are not talking about the anonymous masses. They are talking about Mr. Lewis in room 512 who cannot access the Internet, Ms. Connor who’s been on hold with technical support for seven minutes (and counting…), and Mr. Garcia who is challenging an unexpected split plate charge on his check at table 17.

If Mr. Lewis, Ms. Connor, and Mr. Garcia are not satisfied with their experiences, they may choose to defect from one provider to another in search of improved quality, responsiveness, value, or a number of other factors. And because a majority of customers do not complain—you’ll never know that they left or why they left.

And here’s the scary part: Mr. Lewis, Ms. Connor, and Mr. Garcia are irreplaceable.

When they decide to quit doing business with you, they are gone. Forever. You may attract a new customer’s spending but you won’t receive another nickel from these three individual customers. Ever.

A great illustration of this truth is the cable industry. In 2006, cable TV companies had 68.5 million video customers. The number fell to 63.3 million in 2009, according to research firm In-Stat.

Why did cable customers defect? To save money? To get better quality? Or were they just tired of waiting for the cable guy to arrive between the hours of 9am to 1pm?

How much revenue does each customer represent to the cable company? My last cable bill was $119.79. That’s $1,437.48 per year. At that rate, my lifetime value to my cable company is significant.

Calculate the lifetime value of your own customers. Given that total, can you really afford to lose even one because of a lapse in customer service?

Recognize that when one of your customers (e.g., Scott Lewis or Jill Connor) defects, he or she is irreplaceable. And his or her lifetime contribution to your business—including future spending, feedback, and referrals—can never be replaced. Ever.