Typically, when you think of airline connections, you think of events that occur between departure and arrival at your final destination.

But there’s another type of connection that’s equally important to the long-term success of an airline: personal connections.

I recently read a Wall Street Journal article about the customer service training being offered to 11,000 Delta Air Lines agents.

A few points in the article stood out:

1. Delta emphasizes being “present” when serving customers, suggesting that if agents don’t remember their last three customers, they’re just processing.

I loved this insight. In fact, employees who “just process” or simply go through the motions may be the single greatest barrier to companies achieving consistently high levels of customer satisfaction.

Every employee’s job is made up of both job functions (the duties associated with a job role) and job essence (his highest priority which, for most companies, is to create delighted customers). Issuing a boarding pass is a job function. Making a personal connection is job essence.

Many employees focus almost exclusively on job function. The result is accurate work that conforms to standards. In the process, however, customers often receive homogeneous, bland and uneventful service during the transaction and no personal connection is made.

2. After surveying customers, Delta discovered that one of their recurring frustrations was that “no one cared or apologized” when something went wrong.

Bravo to Delta for surveying its customers and learning how frustrating it is when employees don’t seem to care and refuse to apologize when something goes wrong. (Although this revelation is not surprising.)

Apathy or indifference conveyed by customer-contact employees is pervasive throughout the service industry—and airline agents are notoriously indifferent toward mishaps such as lost luggage, delays, and canceled flights.

By apologizing and expressing genuine interest when something goes wrong, employees can establish a personal connection, neutralize the customer’s frustration, and actually increase overall satisfaction and customer loyalty.

3. Later in the article, Delta reveals a peek behind the curtain at some of the lessons being taught to agents during the customer service training. For instance, “Never apologize for baggage fees when customers complain.”

I thought it was ironic that in the same article that Delta acknowledged customer frustration because “no one cared or apologized,” the airline would then advise its agents to “never apologize for baggage fees when customers complain.”

In fact, one of its customer service training role-play scenarios deals with customers who are angry when asked to pay baggage fees. If Delta knows this is a hot button with passengers, why escalate matters by instructing agents to refuse to apologize?

There’s no harm in apologizing to passengers by saying, “I’m sorry that you were surprised by the baggage fee.” From there, the agent can offer an explanation for the charge, such as: “To provide the best value, we offer an a la carte menu of services where customers pay only for what they use.”

It’s much easier to establish a personal connection with a disappointed passenger by apologizing and expressing genuine interest in working together to resolve her problem. It doesn’t mean the agent agrees with her position, for instance, on the merit of baggage fees. He is not admitting fault, making excuses, or assigning blame. He is simply empathizing.

The opportunity I see for Delta agents is to anticipate the problems that their customers will likely experience (lost luggage, delays, missed airline connections, baggage fees, etc.) and then rehearse problem resolution approaches that include the words “I’m sorry” and expressing genuine empathy.

In the airline industry, connections are important. And while properly boarding connecting flights is a vital job function, making personal connections is the essence of every agent’s job.

Though business has its own set of complexities, customer service isn’t one of them. Exceptional customer service is simply a choice.

Employees develop their own definitions of customer service and decide for themselves how they view customers: as honored guests who contribute to the success of the enterprise or as fickle adversaries who are just looking for the best deal.

And, as the lyrics from Rush’s Freewill advise, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

This describes most customer service employees. They have not made a conscious choice to provide exceptional customer service. As a result, they are indifferent toward customer service and customers.

Why haven’t they made a conscious choice? No one’s asked them to. In most cases, no one’s even brought it up.

As a result, employees go about their shifts tending to the mandatory job functions (i.e., the duties associated with an employee’s job role) for which they are accountable (you can bet these conversations have occurred) but give little or no thought to the essence of their jobs, their highest priority—to create delighted customers.

Ignorance may be bliss but it’s bad for business.

68 percent of customers surveyed quit doing business with a company because of perceived indifference toward them as customers.

Oftentimes, employees don’t even recognize when they treat customers indifferently. If you were to poll them, most would rate the quality of their personal customer service as excellent.

Why the discrepancy? There are many factors. Here are three:

1.  leadership apathy

2.  managerial myopia

3.  systems/processes that undermine service quality

If company leaders don’t emphasize the jugular importance of customer service to their employees, where else do they expect them to get the message? The framed mission statement hanging in the reception area? The employee handbook? Please…

Managers are largely tasked with running a profitable operation within a given budget. In order to accomplish this, managers oversee the execution of a set of defined job functions associated with one or more job roles. This is not the problem.

The problem is when managers focus solely on job functions and neglect job essence—an employee’s highest priority—which is always to create delighted customers. (Unless, of course, you work for the US Postal Service or some other entity that can lose $8.5B a year and continue to exist. Then, I suppose you can focus exclusively on job function and get away with it.)

Many organizations create systems or processes that undermine service quality. Perhaps the most common are call centers where employees are evaluated based on the quantity of phone calls processed and how quickly they can end those calls. In these environments, employees are conditioned to treat calls as timed transactions rather than opportunities to serve customers.

In the end, it requires a choice. Employees choose whether or not to express genuine interest, convey authentic enthusiasm, provide pleasant surprises or, in some other way, delight their customers.

Company leaders can influence this choice when they communicate their passion for serving customers in words and deeds. Managers can guide this choice by emphasizing the importance of both job function and job essence. And systems will reinforce this choice when they are designed to serve customers rather than frustrate them.

I welcome all comments, questions, bouquets, and brickbats.

The title of this post is a quote by Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a “somebody.”

I had my first interaction with Guy in 2009 when I approached him through Twitter to see about obtaining ten signed copies of his book, Reality Check.

Although he was busy with a leading blog, How to Change the World, a media website, Alltop, a venture capital firm, Garage Technology Ventures, and numerous writing, consulting, and speaking projects, he took the time to personally respond to me and fulfill my request.

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True story: My original request was for ten signed books. This was the number of books ordered and paid for in advance.

When the box of signed books arrived from Guy’s Palo Alto office a week or so later, there were only eight books in the box. 20 percent of the order was missing!

I immediately wrote Guy a note on my stationery thanking him for taking the time to personally sign the books and fulfill my order. I also mentioned that, for some reason, there were only eight books in the box, instead of the ten books originally ordered for which I had prepaid.

I’ve never met Guy but know from his writing and speaking that he has a great sense of humor. With that in mind, since he had sent me only 80 percent of my original order, I decided to send him 80 percent of my original thank you note and business card.

After carefully snipping 20 percent off the right-hand sides of my business card and thank you note, I then mailed the remaining 80 percent of the note and business card to Guy.

About a week later, two more books and an Alltop t-shirt arrived in the mail.

Fortunately, the 20 percent strips from my original thank you note and business card were still on my desk. I mailed them to Guy the next day.

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Months later, I sought Guy’s advice pertaining to an unconventional marketing idea that my wife, a marketer, opposed.

In his response, he endorsed the idea saying, “Steve, tell your wife that the way I got to be Guy is by doing stuff like this when I wasn’t Guy.”

In other words, the way Guy became a “somebody” is by doing things differently when he was a “nobody.”

Fast forward to Dec. 23, 2010: Because my blog is listed on Guy’s media website, Alltop, I received an exclusive email offer to preview an advance copy of his upcoming book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions (Available March 2011).

Guy’s thinking is that, because recipients of his offer are bloggers who are loyal to Alltop, there’s a good chance that they will dedicate a blog post to his book around the time of its release in early March. As a result, Guy will gain exposure to his fans’ fans and the endorsements (and book sales) will multiply.

This is an unconventional (and brilliant) marketing strategy. Guy knows that anyone who has been introduced to his work through social media, by reading his books or blog, or hearing him speak at an event, and, further, has taken the time to register their blog with Alltop, will likely be receptive to his offers. And, due to the exclusivity of this particular invitation, I suspect his response rate will be quite high.

Contrast Guy’s unique approach to engaging with and marketing to his fan base with the familiar and predictable patterns of other well-known business authors and entrepreneurs who set up Twitter and other social media accounts in order to “connect” with their fans.

In my experience, these high-profile accounts generally connect with each other (i.e., well-known “somebodies”) and are indifferent towards others (i.e., lesser-known “nobodies”) and their attempts to engage.

In so doing, they may be unwittingly forfeiting opportunities to enchant their fans and influence their hearts, minds, and actions—in the way that Guy Kawasaki does so masterfully.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between an exceptional customer service provider, like Nordstrom, and a typical service provider, like Toys”R”Us?

First, consider what the two have in common:

• Both are retailers with physical stores as well as a web-based store
• Both distribute merchandise catalogs to a mailing list of existing customers
• Both rely on front-line employees to be the “face” of the company
• Both periodically advertise sales or other promotions
• Both face competition from other retailers
• Both serve customers

And where they differ:

• Standards

Sure, they stock different products, offer different pay scales, serve different clientele, and differ in other ways but the biggest difference is the rules and principles used as a basis for employee judgment and behavior.

Recently, I was at Toys”R”Us shopping for a Christmas present for my three-year-old son. I was unable to locate a certain toy in the Scooby-Doo aisle so I stopped a store employee who was passing by to ask whether or not they carried the Mystery Machine.

He said that if it was not on the shelf, then they didn’t carry it.

Okay. I can accept that. It was a predictable response to an ordinary question.

But I would have appreciated a more engaged response such as, “If you have a moment, I can check the website for you to see if we carry the Mystery Machine. If so, you can purchase the toy now and I’ll waive the shipping charges to your home since we didn’t have what you were looking for in the store.”

I recognize that I was not dealing with a Nordstrom employee. Even so, there’s no reason why a Toys”R”Us employee cannot behave like a Nordstrom employee.

What he said next surprised me.

While holding up two novelty toy balls, he asked me, “Do you know where these go?”

I responded, “Are you serious?”

He said, “Uh huh.”

I said, “No. If I worked here I might.”

Can you imagine a Nordstrom employee asking you, the customer, where a misplaced pair of slippers go? Of course not. That’s ridiculous.

Earlier this month, I stopped by the Toys”R”Us merchandise pick-up door behind the store to retrieve a Barbie bicycle that I had bought for my daughter.

When the employee delivered the shiny new bike, he ripped the “HOLD” sticker off the seat and then suggested that I get some Goo Gone cleaner to remove the remainder.

Can you fathom a Nordstrom employee delivering a pair of blemished shoes to you at the counter and saying, “Give those shoes a good shine and that blemish will come right off!”

That’s preposterous! Why? Standards.

Since Nordstrom considers the effects of its procedures on customers, a sticker capable of leaving a residual blemish on a piece of merchandise would likely never enter the process. And if something did result in a product imperfection, it would be rectified or replaced in keeping with Nordstrom’s high standards of product and service quality.

Not so at Toys”R”Us. There, you’re instructed to pick up some Goo Gone on your way home to remove the imperfection yourself.

Some will consider this an unfair comparison. They will focus on the differences in products, pay scales, and clientele as justification for why a Toys”R”Us employee didn’t go the extra mile to locate a Mystery Machine. Or why he asked me, a customer, where the novelty toy balls are located within the store. Or why another Toys”R”Us employee was indifferent about delivering a new bicycle to me with an unsightly, sticky blemish covering much of the seat.

The major difference between exceptional customer service providers and typical service providers is the difference in their standards—the rules and principles used by companies as a basis for employee judgment and behavior.

So if you are looking to improve your customer service, you must first elevate your customer service standards.

I welcome all comments, questions, bouquets, and brickbats.

Happy Holidays!

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.

I met a colleague at ink! Coffee in Denver last week. I appreciate great coffee as I’ve blogged about before and was really looking forward to trying ink!’s.

My first impression was positive as the barista welcomed me and briefly shared ink! Coffee’s philosophy regarding product quality and freshness.

After determining that I was meeting someone for coffee, she dispensed the coffee into a sturdy ceramic mug—which was refreshing. I took my first sip and was truly impressed with the quality. As advertised, it was rich, smooth and not at all bitter.

About twenty minutes into my appointment, the barista came by our table and mentioned to me that they offer free refills.

“Free refills?” I said. “That’s great! I’d love one. Thank you.”

Then she said something that shocked me.

“Oh…but I don’t get it for you. You have to go to the counter to get it.”

She then justified her response by explaining that we were a team and, as such, we all played different roles. Apparently, her role was to prepare and sell me a cup of coffee and my role was to pause my meeting, get up, go to the counter, and wait in line to request a refill.

ink! Coffee’s slogan is: Coffee. Above all else.

Clearly, this includes customer service.

In the men’s restroom, there is a sign boldly displayed which reads:

THE INK ON ink! COFFEE

In 1994, ink! started in Aspen, Colorado with one cart and a lot of passion. We continue to hand-roast our coffee at high elevation in the mountains which allows us to roast longer at a lower temperature making the coffee rich, smooth and never bitter.

Beans are delivered fresh to ink! stores, brewed into coffee, and served to adoring customers. And because we take pride in freshness, we only keep a pot of coffee around about as long as it took to brew it. Same goes for beans. We never stockpile them.

Our baristas have a passion for great coffee (without the attitude). And most importantly, they know how to make the perfect cup.

At least they’re consistent. This sign really does accurately capture the ink! Coffee culture that I experienced: A focus on coffee—not the customer. Notice the only reference to customers is in the second paragraph where we’re described as “adoring.”

I found this definition of “adoring” at Merriam-Webster.com: To worship or honor as a deity or as divine. In the context above, it would seem that customers are expected to “worship” ink! Coffee. That’s flawed. It’s reminiscent of American automakers’ attitude towards their customers until they began defecting to imported brands at an alarming rate. Only then did Detroit begin to refocus on customers.

In the third paragraph, it’s noted that “baristas have a passion for great coffee…And most importantly, they know how to make the perfect cup.” Both of these references have to do with ink!’s product, not service. In fact, there’s no mention of customer service anywhere—so I really shouldn’t have been at all surprised that the barista had no intention of refilling my cup of coffee for me.

I am a huge supporter of smaller, independent brands that compete against the behemoths and I want to see them succeed. That said, it’s unlikely for a coffee shop (or any other business) to succeed based on product quality alone. Service quality must be part of the equation.

If I were advising ink! Coffee, I would emphasize that its highest priority should be to create promoters of the ink! Coffee brand.

Global consulting firm Bain and Company defines promoters as those customers who are the least price-sensitive, have the highest repurchase rates, and are responsible for between 80 and 90 percent of positive referrals to a company or brand.

Promoters respond to the question, “How likely is it that you would recommend ink! Coffee to a friend or colleague?” by selecting 9 or 10 on a zero-to-10 scale with 10 indicating they are extremely likely to recommend.

Promoters recognize product quality and they expect a commensurate level of service quality. If customers get one without the other, they’re less likely to recommend the company or brand to others. And, by definition, they’re not promoters. They’re either passives (indifferent about your brand) or detractors (responsible for 80 to 90 percent of the negative word of mouth).

ink! Coffee has a great location in Cherry Creek and an amazing product. But the reality is that there is a Peet’s Coffee & Tea and a Starbucks located on the same street. And ink! simply will not succeed in creating promoters and growing market share by focusing exclusively on product quality while remaining indifferent about the customer experience.

Is there an organization that comes to mind when I ask you to consider a predictably poor customer service provider? By this I mean a company or entity you dread returning to because you’ve been consistently disappointed with previous customer service experiences.

When I pose this question to audiences, I tend to hear the same responses: DMV, IRS, USPS… Maybe you’re thinking of one of these—or perhaps you have in mind a cable company, airline, or cell phone service provider?

Now, the easy answer is to exercise your freedom of choice as a consumer and discontinue using these organizations and eliminate the recurring frustration. The problem is that that’s not always possible—or convenient.

In the case of the IRS, doing “business” with them is mandatory. And as long as driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations are required by law, you’ll likely be visiting a local branch of your state’s DMV. The same is true of the USPS. If you miss delivery and have to retrieve a package, send a registered letter, or some other exception, then (at more locations than not) be prepared to wait…

And there are some companies that you may begrudgingly do business with for one reason or another. Maybe your cable services are bundled at a great rate for the next eight months so you’re willing to endure long hold times? Or perhaps you’ve signed a two-year contract with your cell phone’s service provider and so, are willing to tolerate patchy coverage? And you may be willing to relax your grudge against that airline you said you’d never fly again because it’s offering a nonstop flight for half of what your preferred airline is quoting for the same itinerary with connections.

In my case, I gave in to my seven year old, Cooper, and returned to Toys “R” Us last weekend to buy him a LEGO Space Police Galactic Enforcer. Our first stop had been Target but they didn’t carry this particular model. Next, I called Walmart but they did not have it in stock. So I was forced to return to our local Toys “R” Us store.

This particular Toys “R” Us location, to me, is reminiscent of a wholesale club. Its atmosphere (austere), staffing (sparse), and customer service (indifferent) are more suited to a warehouse setting than a retail store. I don’t recall a single hassle-free shopping experience in the past. I do not look forward to returning. From my perspective, it has predictably poor customer service.

Having phoned ahead to verify that they had the LEGO toy in stock, Cooper and I arrived at the Customer Service desk at the front of the store to pick it up.

When I asked the Customer Service employee about the toy and provided my name he said, “If you called ahead, it’s probably in ‘Holding’ at the back of the store.”

Observation #1: The word “probably” does not inspire confidence. The number one reason why customers buy where they buy is confidence.

I said, “Holding?”

He said, “Yeah, ‘Holding’ is where we hold special orders and call-ins. I’ll go back and get it for you.”

Observation #2: When a customer calls a retail store to verify that it has a particular product in stock, provides his name, and states that he’ll stop by later that day to purchase it, (assuming it’s not a swing set or, otherwise, oversized merchandise) that product should be available at the nearest service counter to the front of the store—where customers enter.

He then disappeared for several minutes before returning with the product.

“Great!” I said, “Here’s my credit card.”

Surprised, he said, “Oh, I can’t ring that up for you here. You have to go around to the check-out area.”

Looking at two cash registers behind the Customer Service counter, I asked, “What are these registers for?”

“Oh. Those are only for returns.”

Observation #3: Avoid telling customers that you “can’t” do something or that they “have to” do something. Try a softer approach: “While these registers are for returns, the registers to my left are for purchases.” (I realize we’re talking about Toys “R” Us and not the Four Seasons. Even though you may not work for a luxury brand, there’s no reason why you can’t treat your customers with professionalism and grace.)

Observation #4: Why on earth would you designate the only two cash registers as “returns only” at a Customer Service counter in a retail store—where, presumably, you sell stuff?

So I walked around a long aisle stocked with Nerf products, past the Toy Story 3 display, to the front of the store where, as expected, both checkout lanes were filled with shoppers.

Sensing the irony of the situation, the customer service employee came out from behind his counter, motioned to me, and offered to ring me up at one of the registers located further down in the video game department.

There, he rung up my purchase and asked if I was a member of the Toys “R” Us Rewards Program. (I’m not.) He then made the pitch: There’s no cost to enroll. It just takes a minute to sign up. Shoppers accumulate in-store credits as their spending reaches certain milestones. For instance, for every $150 one spends, he receives a $5 in-store credit that can be applied to a future purchase.

Even though it’s free, fast, and I was already two-thirds of the way to my first $5 bonus, I passed. It’s just not worth $5 or $10 for me to return to this particular Toys “R” Us store. I’d honestly rather spend a little more at Target or another retailer where the customer service is not so predictably poor.

And I’m not alone. Last month, American Express and Echo Research compiled research that revealed American consumers are willing to spend, on average, 9% more with companies that provide excellent customer service.

Toys “R” Us is offering me a savings of about 3% to join its loyalty program but they’re completely missing the point of what truly drives loyalty. Loyalty is not reflected in the number of people who enroll in a rewards program. It is evidenced by positive word-of-mouth, repeat purchases, less price resistance, and other tendencies of loyal customers.

Loyalty has very little to do with plastic keychain rewards cards and 3% discounts. It has everything to do with committing to absolute customer satisfaction, making exceptional customer service the focus and priority of your organization’s culture and brand, and inspiring genuine customer loyalty through predictable service excellence.

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

The other day, my family and I went to Dairy Queen for “Something Different” (the DQ slogan).

After waiting in line for a few minutes, our family of six made its way to the front of the line. Looking at the “scrumdelicious” pictures on the menus suspended above the counter, my youngest children could hardly contain their excitement!

Their eyes, wide with wonder, darted from one delectable menu image to the next. They smiled and began to giggle as they realized it was now our turn to order and that, within minutes, they would have their frosty treats in hand…

Smiling in response to my children, I looked up to face the counter employee. In sharp contrast to my children’s faces, her facial expression was matter-of-fact—even serious.

Her greeting consisted of, “Do you know what you want?”

She then robotically gathered information, processed the order, issued a receipt, and completed the transaction.

After we placed our order, my son Cole (age 9) and I waited off to the side for our order while the rest of the family found a place for us to sit on the patio.

I asked Cole, “On a zero to ten scale with zero being rude and ten being very friendly, how would you rate the girl who took our order?”

He said, “Six.”

I asked him why he rated her a six and he said, “Because she didn’t smile.”

I then asked him, “Was there anything else?”

And he said, “Yes, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

What Cole couldn’t put his finger on (because he’s only in third grade) is the leading cause of customer dissatisfaction: indifference.

In one survey, 68 percent of customers said they quit doing business with a company because of perceived indifference towards them as customers.

And here’s what is really scary: Most customer service providers are blissfully unaware of their own indifference. From their perspectives, they are efficiently executing customer transactions.

They may not recognize that what customers tend to remember the most are not the routine steps that make up transactions—they remember the demeanors and unique personalities of the employees who served them.

Behaviors like eye contact, smiling, and adding enthusiasm to one’s voice do more to convey appreciation for customers than any other aspect of a customer transaction.

These are the “little things” that make a lasting impression—and a real difference in customer satisfaction.

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.