If you were a patient about to go into surgery, would you rather have an expertly trained, highly experienced surgeon operating on you, or a first-year doctor who barely squeaked through medical school? In the same way, while it may not be a matter of life and death, your customers also want to deal with experts they can trust.
As we learned from my granddaughter, Margot, “Be nice” is the first rule of great service—but it is not the only rule. The truth is, customers can be lured and seduced by niceness, but if they don’t also receive expertise and competence, they’ll take their business elsewhere: someplace where people know what they’re doing. In my travels around the world, I have run into an awful lot of nice incompetent managers and nice incompetent employees. I feel sorry for them, because without the training they need to fulfill their roles, these nice folks are missing out on the satisfaction of a job well done.
Once you hire people with the right stuff, you need to teach them your service philosophy and train them to carry out the specific tasks required of them. I often ask my audiences, “How many of your companies have a training and development department?” Almost everyone raises his or her hand. But what few of them realize is that training and development is not a department, it’s a responsibility, and one that belongs not just to a few HR reps or training coordinators, but to everyone in the company. I learned that lesson early in my career, when Bill Marriott told me, “The only way to get excellence is with training, education, and enforcement.” I’ve seen those words proven true time and time again; organizations that devote meaningful time and resources to training their employees deliver service better than the rest.
This means educating everyone in the organization about everything the company does, from its mission statement and corporate philosophy to its full line of products and services, even to its business model. Only when employees are solidly grounded in knowledge about the company and its products are they equipped to serve properly when they’re face-to-face, voice-to-voice, or keyboard-to-keyboard with your customers. Knowledge is power, and a knowledgeable employee can turn a vaguely interested consumer into a purchasing customer and a onetime customer into a regular customer. We all know how frustrating it is to do business with ill-informed employees. Once, on a business trip, I accidentally backed my rented car into a pole. Because I had a tight schedule and a flight to catch, I phoned the insurance agency’s special hotline on the way to the airport to find out how long it would take to do the insurance paperwork when I returned the car. The person who answered the phone had no idea, so he connected me to the help desk. Once the service rep finally picked up, he listened politely, then launched into a rambling list of alternatives—you can do this, or you can do that, or maybe another thing—none of which answered my question. He just kept talking, as if moving his lips might unlock some secret compartment in his brain where the answer was hiding. Finally, I stopped him and repeated what I had said originally: I just need to know how long it will take. He admitted he didn’t know. So I asked for the number of the rental return lot. Happily, a friendly woman answered my question without hesitation. “Five minutes maximum,” she said. Then she added, “Claims will call you when they have the damage estimate, and you can work out how you want to take care of it. They will take a check, money order, credit card, or cash.”
What a relief! She knew exactly what I needed to know, and she gave me the information without beating around the bush. If everyone at that company—especially people at the so-called help desk—had had her expertise, I wouldn’t have wasted fifteen minutes before she took care of me in less than sixty seconds. Not only that, the employees I spoke with wouldn’t have wasted fifteen minutes of the company’s valuable time spinning their wheels with me when they could have been helping other customers. I find that to be typical, by the way: experts serve their customers quickly; non-experts ramble on and tell you things that are inaccurate, untrue, or irrelevant. Make sure the people who answer the phone or work the help desk are not the ones who really need help.
That kind of incident is a reflection of bad training on the part of management. Contrast that with the good training that led to the kind of experience I had at my local Verizon store when I was having problems with my wireless MiFi device. Someone greeted me within sixty seconds of my entering the store. He asked me a couple of questions, immediately diagnosed the problem, downloaded a new program, and sent me on my way with a device that worked, all in under five minutes.
In my experience, companies with excellent service reputations are constantly training and developing every employee from day one until day of departure. They instill the necessary expertise and refresh it constantly, whether through regular newsletters, e-mail, courses, seminars, or retreats. They also encourage and foster the kinds of interactions with fellow managers and employees that lead to the sharing of new tips and tricks. Basically, the organizations with the best service are ones that become environments of continuous learning, at every level of the company. Disney World does all this and more; it has professionally staffed Learning Centers, fully stocked with books, videos, and online courses, that are open to all employees at all times.
Another thing managers can do to constantly refresh learning is to meet regularly with employees and ask what kinds of questions and complaints they receive from customers. Then make sure everyone gets the answers, solutions, and skills they need to deal with those problems, so they are well prepared the next time they crop up.
Ongoing training is a way to ensure not just quality, but consistency of service. This is key, because if people in the company aren’t on the same page, your business will suffer. An acquaintance once shared a story that illustrates this perfectly. She was spending a weekend at a hotel. On Saturday, she asked the front desk agent about the cost and duration of the taxi ride to the airport on Monday morning. He said it would take forty-five to ninety minutes, depending on traffic, and cost about $40. On Monday morning, she asked the concierge to get her a taxi. He told her the ride would take less than half an hour and cost about $65. Two employees, two vastly different estimates. Each one was right about one thing and wrong about the other. My acquaintance ended up $25 richer, but with an hour’s less sleep and an extra hour on her hands at the airport. She was not happy about it. The point is, make sure all your employees have the same information and that the information is accurate.
If your manager is not expert enough to help you become an expert, take matters into your own hands. Don’t blame your supervisor or your company if you do not have the knowledge and skills you ought to have. Yes, it’s their responsibility to train you, but it’s also your responsibility to develop your skill set and get what you need to do your job with excellence, one way or another. If your manager can’t answer your questions, find someone who can. Take advantage of every available resource, within the company and elsewhere. Becoming an expert will not only improve the service you provide to your customers (and in turn help improve your company’s bottom line); it will also improve your self-confidence and self-esteem and give you a competitive edge in the job market. Becoming a service expert won’t serve just your customers; it will serve you well throughout your career and your life.