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.

I recall a statistic: 68 percent of customers quit doing business with a company or entity because of perceived indifference toward them as customers.

When I share this statistic with groups, most participants are shocked: “How is it that so many people claim to be treated indifferently? That’s appalling!”

And when I ask audience members to describe what it feels like to be treated indifferently, I hear responses such as:

• I feel like I don’t matter.
• I feel as though I’m unimportant.
• I feel ignored.
• I feel taken for granted.
• I feel devalued.

Exactly.

And the same sad phenomenon is happening in the social sphere. Businesses are establishing a social presence on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels and then ignoring attempts by their “fans” to engage.

Not long ago, I wrote a post titled, Engage or go away. The gist of the post was my surprise and disappointment at the lack of engagement from businesses in the social sphere.

Let’s be clear. By “engage,” I mean to take part in conversations, to be responsive to others, and to be interested in others.

Some people mistake activity for engagement. Activity (e.g, frequency of Twitter updates) has nothing to do with engagement. If you’re actively promoting yourself and your links via Twitterfeed, you’re not engaged, you’re probably a spammer.

If, however, you’re contributing to conversations as your schedule allows and making a sincere effort to reply to Twitter @s, DMs, emails, and blog comments from your social media fan base, then you’re likely engaged.

While it’s doubtful that you’ll be able to reply to every social media or email contact in a meaningful way, it’s a good idea to minimize the frequency of communication lapses with your fan base.

Here’s why: Lapses erode your brand.

Three nights ago, on November 8th, I tweeted this message to @comcastcares and have yet to receive a reply. That’s a shame. Seriously, to be treated indifferently by a commercial Twitter account with “cares” in its name is quite ironic and, sadly, all too common.

Here’s more irony: Bill Gerth, the Comcast employee behind @comcastcares, found the time to post a blog titled Connecting with Our Customers on November 10^th but didn’t find time to connect with a real, live customer who reached out to his Twitter account two days earlier.

Now, I haven’t met Bill. He’s probably a great guy. But Bill’s travel, work, family, and social schedule (or whatever may have contributed to his inability to follow up with me—a social media “fan” and Comcast subscriber—for three days and counting…) have no bearing on my perception that I was ignored and that my feedback was not valued by Comcast.

I’ve been contemplating a switch from Comcast to DirectTV (mostly for the unique NFL access) for a while now and lapses like this just make it easier to justify the decision to change cable providers.

If you’re going to make the decision to hang out a shingle in the social sphere, remember to be social. And a large part of being social is to avoid the perception that you’re treating others indifferently—as if they’re unimportant and don’t matter.

While fans and followers likely make allowances for those brands—people or companies—with whom they’ve established a genuine connection in the past, if lapses persist, the brand and its fan base will erode.

Do you agree? I welcome all comments, bouquets, and brickbats. Or, you can be like Comcast and just ignore me.

Last weekend, my 7 year-old was the ring bearer in a family wedding. It was a formal outdoor wedding that required Cooper to wear a tuxedo. (Insight: Most 7 year-old boys resist wearing collared or button-up shirts let alone a full-on tuxedo for 3 hours of picture taking and ceremony.)

For being a great sport, I told him that I’d buy him a toy he’s wanted (LEGO Star Wars Republic Attack Shuttle) when we returned to Denver following the wedding.

The first full day we were home, I spent 50 minutes on the phone calling area Target and Wal-Mart stores looking for this particular model. It was painful.

Every call was answered by an automated-attendant. No surprise here. The easiest way to get rid of customers so that you can focus on important work like scheduling, counting banks, stocking shelves, managing inventory, etc., is to send them into an abyss of options hoping that one of these options will appease them or at least prevent them from speaking to an actual person—which is expensive and time-consuming.

The option to speak with a representative was always the last option made available to me. And sometimes there is an audible delay before the automated-attendant finally releases the coveted option. It’s as if the last thing these companies want the customer to do is to actually speak with a company representative who can answer their questions or otherwise address their needs.

Unless the people answering your phones are ill-equipped to do so due to an inadequate selection process, insufficient training, non-existent or unenforced standards, inattentive supervision, and other factors, why wouldn’t you want them speaking to customers? It’s the perfect opportunity to sway comparison shoppers and attract first-time buyers. (Here’s why: Most employees are ill-equipped to answer the phone for the reasons mentioned.)

After navigating the automated-attendant and eventually reaching an employee, most were indifferent towards me over the phone. Indifference is communicated in many different ways. The most obvious way is speaking without any energy or enthusiasm in your voice. It sounds flat and uninterested. Have you ever reached an employee over the phone who matched this description, recognized it, ended the call, and then called back—hoping to get a different employee on the line?  If so, then you know what I’m talking about.

Employees were inattentive when placing calls on-hold. Hold times exceeded two minutes on average before employees rejoined the call with a status update. In two cases, I simply hung up after being ignored for more than three minutes while on-hold. Customer calls should never be placed on-hold for more than 30 seconds without the consent of the caller. A caller’s expectations should be managed. For instance, if you know that it’s going to take 2 minutes or more to find the information the caller needs, let him know that up front. Give him the option to hold or request a number to call with the information as soon as it’s located.

Employees were careless when transferring calls. Two calls were dropped entirely, requiring me to call back and navigate the automated-attendant labyrinth all over again. On one occasion, I was transferred to “Boys” instead of “Toys.” On another, I was transferred to “Fitting rooms.” When I again asked to be transferred to “Toys,” the “Fitting Rooms” employee said, “I can but it usually doesn’t work.” This type of response doesn’t inspire confidence or sales.

Finally, after calling about a dozen stores, I located an engaged Wal-Mart employee who was genuinely interested in helping me. She conveyed this interest through the authentic enthusiasm in her voice and, after personally locating the last LEGO Star Wars Republic Attack Shuttle on the shelf, by offering to then deliver the toy to the Customer Service desk at the front of the store to simplify my buying experience when I arrived.

This Wal-Mart employee also illustrates the truth that, regardless of a company’s customer service culture, a customer’s satisfaction is heavily influenced by his one-on-one interactions with frontline service providers.

If your business has a phone, it has a phone bill. Never forget who pays that bill. It’s the people who are calling your business for everything from directions and store hours to product availability and host of other questions that cannot be answered by an automated-attendant.

Recognize this and treat your company’s telephone interactions accordingly. Ensure that standards are in place governing the attributes and selection of employees who will be answering telephones. Communicate guidelines for effective greetings, placing calls on-hold, and transferring calls. And support these guidelines through consistent employee observation and feedback.

Your company has spent a lot of money to try and get noticed in a crowded marketplace. If a customer takes the time to look up your number and initiate a call, don’t take the caller (along with her personal spending, referrals, and loyalty) for granted.

Appreciate each and every caller and seize the opportunity to answer the call of service!

Questions? Comments? Leave them here or call me: 303.325.1375

Last month, I enrolled my two oldest boys in lessons at the Breckenridge Ski & Ride School located at Peak 8 in Breckenridge, Colorado.

As it was over spring break, there were hoards of skiers making every line (from the ski lifts to the registration area) longer than usual. It’s situations like these, especially when kids are involved, that test the patience of employees and customers.

I decided to take this opportunity to observe the ski instructors who ran the ski school as well as the parents—many of whom were international travelers whose native language was not English.

Here’s what I noticed:

Efficiency. Although there were perhaps twenty employees total, there was an appearance that there were twenty registration agents, twenty equipment rental employees, and twenty ski instructors. That’s because they were cross-trained and easily redeployed to whatever function needed support.

Helpfulness. There was always someone available to hold a door open for little skiers encumbered by their equipment, help with fastening lift tickets to jackets, attach identification stickers to equipment, apply sun screen, etc. These are examples of the “little things” that leave big impressions on customers.

Assertiveness. Rather than sending me to the back of another line after she realized that I had pre-registered online, the registration counter employee excused herself to slip into an “employees only” area and collect my registration packet for me. Later, I noticed a parent who had arrived late with his child and was a bit uptight. Detecting this, one of the ski instructors assured the father, “We’ll stay with your son outside while you get checked-in.” Meanwhile another employee personally escorted him inside to facilitate the check-in process.

Engagement. The lights were on. People were at home. The ski and ride school employees consistently smiled, made eye contact, and added enthusiasm to their voices. These employees were engaged!

If you plan to have customer service differentiate your business, identify ways to more efficiently serve customers. Notice the “little things” that will leave big impressions and be assertive in providing them. Lastly, be engaged. Demonstrate to customers that there’s no place you’d rather be than right there, right now, serving them.

While the Breckenridge Ski & Ride School promises “mountains of discovery,” it’s clear that its employees also provide mountains of customer service.

Earlier today I received this note from a friend, Evan Crist, and just had to share:

We were traveling from Denver to Phoenix for some fun in the sun when Southwest Airlines lived up to their reputation for spontaneous entertainment and pleasing service. (I love the line, “If you are not pleased with our service, we have six emergency exit rows throughout the plane. Please locate the one nearest to you!”)

Approximately halfway through the flight, Nancy, the flight attendant, came on the intercom and announced, “We have a very special guest today. Spencer is five years old today. Spencer could you please join us at the front of the cabin?”

As Spencer made his way to the front, a bashful little girl who appeared to be eight years old or so emerged from behind Nancy toting a flute.

Nancy explained, “Spencer’s sister, Elisa, would like to play ‘Happy Birthday’ for her brother on the flute.”

Elisa sporadically blew her best ‘Happy Birthday’ song and the cabin clapped. Then the whole cabin, led by Nancy, sang the birthday song to Spencer—again to his delight.

Next, without any fanfare, Nancy placed a crown on Spencer’s head. The crown was made of clear Scotch tape, Southwest Airlines peanut packets, and red plastic olive skewers.

As King Spencer pranced down the aisle proudly, I noticed the crown—an unnecessary, spontaneous, free, yet brilliant example of customer enthusiasm that cannot be mandated but cannot be overvalued.

No doubt, Spencer ate his crown before his parents retrieved their bags but he won’t soon forget that flight. Neither will I.

I bolded Evan’s observation above because it illustrates the theme of the previous post, That little extra…

It’s true. When you break it down to its fundamental components, exceptional customer service really is optional and free! (Or, at least no more than the cost of some peanuts, olive skewers, and Scotch tape.)

If employees choose to perform like Nancy, the flight attendant, (and it’s supported by the corporate culture), their company may also be crowned the industry’s best customer service provider—just like Southwest Airlines.

Over the past 15 months I’ve been on Twitter, I have contacted dozens of businesses for a variety of reasons.

In some cases I’ve had feedback on a product or service. In other cases I was interested in buying a product or service. A majority of the time, however, I was simply trying to engage.

The accounts I contacted varied from restaurant chains and coffee and wine retailers, to independent authors and consultants. When providing feedback on an experience I had with a product or service, whether positive or critical, I seldom received a response.

On one occasion, I ordered three pounds of coffee from a Washington-based retailer I met on Twitter. After the coffee was three days late in arriving, I sent an @reply to the account. The coffee arrived the next day but I never heard back regarding my comment. That was the last time I ordered coffee from that retailer.

Another time, my family and I had a negative experience at an area location of an Italian restaurant chain. After blogging about it, I forwarded the blog link to the chain’s Twitter account in an @reply. Instead of following up, they ignored the message. We haven’t returned to that restaurant chain.

And since posting this blog regarding obtaining signed books from two well-known Twitter personalities, I have had another request for ten signed books ignored by another Twitter celebrity. That’s okay, there’s no shortage of competing books for me to buy.

And before anyone attempts to rationalize this lack of engagement and poor customer service due to these organizations or people being busy, understand that we’re all busy.

If you and I are too busy to clean our homes, we hire a maid. If we don’t have time to cook, we eat out. And if we’re too busy to follow up on customer feedback and sales inquiries, we hire an assistant. No one is above responding to customers or making a sale.

Speaking of busy people, two who took the time to respond to me and to ensure that I received ten signed copies of their latest books were bestselling authors John Miller (@QBQGuy) and Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee).

These guys are not too busy to respond—or make a sale. They are busy professionals with a lot on their plates who not only preach about the importance of customer service, they deliver it.

In summary, here’s a list of Do’s and Don’ts:

Do:

• Engage
• Respond to others
• Capitalize on opportunities

Don’t:

• Be indifferent
• Ignore others
• Miss opportunities

Bottom line: If you don’t like to engage, you’ll like irrelevance even less.

In an earlier post I asked the question, “Why is it okay to behave indifferently toward customers and roll out the red carpet for the division president?” Specifically, why do employees paint, wax the floors, and polish the chrome for the division president and text friends, smoke near store entrances, and complain and banter in the presence of customers?

I have a theory about this. Here it is: Familiarity breeds contempt. Most employees rarely come into contact with and, thus, aren’t familiar with the division president. Oh sure, they may know his or her name but they’re usually not familiar to the point of lowering their guard in the executive’s presence.

Not so with customers. Customer-facing employees come into contact with customers all the time. And whether or not there is personal familiarity with a particular customer, there is a sense of familiarity with customers in general. And where there’s excessive comfort and familiarity, there’s contempt—a lack of respect—and a tendency to take the relationship for granted.

It’s not that employees don’t know what service is or how to deliver it. They do. And they showcase this aptitude in the presence of the division president. The issue is that many seem disaffected by customers—as in, “Oh, you’re just a customer. For a minute there I thought you were someone important, like the division president.”

In the introductory paragraph of this post, I listed three behaviors that I regularly observe in retail settings. These behaviors are chronic. They occur frequently. The only time they are exceptions is when the division president is on-site.

When executives grace the operation with their presence, the floors are spotless, there are plenty of employees scheduled, employees’ uniforms are pressed, there are lots of smiles, and there is a sense of urgency—dare I say, a bit of giddiness and extra pressure to perform?

The best operations don’t distinguish between a scheduled site visit by a division president and the scheduled opening of the store to service customers. Sure, there may be a bit of anxiety associated with the presence of a company executive—that’s natural—but the company’s standards don’t wane in the absence of headquarters staff.

Nordstrom comes to mind as an example of a retailer who puts its best foot forward whether a customer or Blake Nordstrom is entering the shoe department. The last time I was in Nordstrom, an employee from the men’s department walked me to the women’s department in search of an umbrella. When we returned to the men’s department, I decided to buy a bottle of cologne too. It was an impulse buy—in the moment. I didn’t plan to buy it and, in the absence of his outstanding service, I would not have.

Here’s an assignment for division presidents everywhere: If you really want to see how your operations run, stop by unannounced in a ball cap and jeans over the weekend. Don’t embarrass anyone. Just observe and take mental notes about what you see—the positive as well as need areas.

Then, assuming there was a gap (or chasm) between what you observed during your last official visit and this one, take action. Establish or reinforce credible standards to guide employees’ behavior. Make sure that every manager is aware of the standards and actively uses them to manage their employees’ performance. And, perhaps most importantly, hold managers accountable to model these standards at all times. If they don’t, the standards are no longer credible and become unenforceable.

Bob Farrell, author of Give ‘em the Pickle, is fond of saying, “What they see is what you’ll get.” When employees see their managers modeling established standards of service and procedure, they will perform similarly. When this happens, employees will stop texting friends, smoking near store entrances, and complaining and bantering in the presence of customers. And they will no longer seem disaffected by customers. Instead, they will treat them with the same courtesy, respect, and care with which they treat the division president.

Who’s more important: the division president or the customer? You decide and then your employees will follow suit.