How to turn Unhappy
Customers into Raving Fans
 The New Zealand manager of a large international company recently
told his salespeople about a meeting he and his team attended last year
in
Europe. All the top executive teams from around the world were asked
to describe how their business had ‘wowed’ their customers
recently. “Imagine our embarrassment,” he said, “when
we couldn’t come up with any New Zealand stories.”
It is not very often customers get an experience that really delights
them. After all, how many ‘wow experiences’ have you had as
a customer in the past few years? Yet, in a tough marketplace, you need
to knock your customers’ socks off if you want them to come back
and especially if you want them to become raving fans, who will help you
attract new customers.
Ironically, it does not take much to delight customers. Last week, the
head of a large retail chain told me about his recent experience at McDonalds.
He took a car full of kids through the drive through where they ordered
burgers, fries and drinks. After they had collected the order, the kids
discovered all the fries had been left out of the order. Back through
the drive through they went. At the speaker they explained the problem
and by the time they got to the window the fries were ready. The trouble
is, by then the kids had wolfed down the burgers and the fries were surplus
to requirements. “I asked if the fries could be replaced by sundaes,” this
senior manager told me, “and I was blown away by the response.” The
woman serving at the window sais that was no problem and within minutes
he was driving down the road with a car full of very happy kids scoffing
down their sundaes. “I really expected the woman would say no,” he
said, “or at the very least, she would have to check with her manager
first. I really was prepared for a fight because I was pretty brassed
off at the hassle we’d been through. Instead, I left delighted.”
As this story shows, it often takes only little things to turn even
angry customers into raving fans but for these little things to happen,
most business owners and managers need to make major shifts in their thinking.
That shift is from managing staff through command and control to empowering
them. Empowering staff is not a new idea, of course, so why is it that
most bosses are reluctant to let their people off the leash? Could it
be fear?
It is scary giving staff the ability to make decisions on the spot that
could affect your reputation and impact on your profitability? Here are
six tips that will allow you to delegate with confidence.
1. Get staff thinking like businesspeople
Remind your staff the aim in business is to have profitable customers
who stay with you a long time. Tell them every decision they make, every
action they take and every word they speak should be designed to help
your business achieve that goal. Explain that wowing customers is the
best way to
get people coming back and that going the extra mile or doing something
out of the ordinary are great ways to wow customers. It is also worth
explaining that when something goes wring and a customer complains, saying
sorry, taking quick action to put it right and giving the customer something
extra for the trouble they have been caused will turn an unhappy customer
into a raving fan.
2. Explain the investment
You will probably also need to explain that in business, you have to invest
a little to get a larger return later because, ironically, staff who
are empowered are often less prepared to give something away than the
boss. I consulted to a large bank a few years ago and we empowered staff
to cancel up to $60 in fees if the customer felt they had been charged
unfairly. Our biggest problem was staff were very reluctant to refund
fees. We had to explain that ‘giving the customer a freebie,’ which
was how staff saw it, was an investment in the bank’s future because
these delighted customers would become the banks best advocates.
3. Allay their suspicions
Research indicates only one or two out of every hundred customers is out
to rip you off. Since staff are often even more suspicious of the customer’s
motives than you would be, you might need to explain it is not good business
to assume every customer is out to pull a fast one just to protect the
business from the tiny minority who are. Tell your staff there is a lot
to be gained long-term by giving people the benefit of the doubt, at
least on the first occasion they ask for something.
4. Explain what to do.
Of course, you cannot foresee every scenario your staff could be faced
with so you cannot give them specific instructions for specific situations
they will face. What you can do is tell your people to do what makes
sense to them at the time. You are even more likely to get staff making
a decision that will delight your customers if you tell them to put themselves
in the customer’s shoes first, and then do what makes sense to
them.
5. Assure your staff of your support.
Often staff are reluctant to give anything away because they are afraid
they will get in trouble. This was certainly part of the reason bank
staff were reluctant to refund fees. In this case, senior management
had to reassure staff they would not get in trouble if they did what
they believed was the reasonable thing to do.
6. Help them see the benefits for themselves.
Ask staff how they cold benefit if they wowed their customers. They will
say their jobs would be more fun because they would be dealing with happy
customers who are appreciative of their help. Stress at work would be
reduced and they would look forward to coming to work as a result.
You succeed in business by managing risk not avoiding it. Empower your
staff to delight your customers and everyone will win: customers, staff
and you.
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