February 2004 - Volume 9

Inspiring Quotes A verse to motivate you and other people at work or home! "To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money: sincerity and integrity." - Douglas Noel Adams "To prosper soundly in business, you must satisfy not only your customers, but you must lay yourself out to satisfy those who make your product and those who sell it." - Harry Bassett "If you could change anything about the way you serve your customers, the thing that will make the biggest difference would be your attitude – your attitude toward your customers, your products, your company and yourself." - Dan Brent Burt

5 Steps to WOW Your Customers Customer service is becoming increasingly important as competition in the marketplace threatens to take away your business. Unfortunately however, your company can NOT provide quality customer service! That’s right. It doesn’t matter whether you work in a hospital, bank, factory or restaurant. Providing positive experiences with your customers is all up to your employees! Each person that has a face-to-face or phone conversation with someone who does or would like to do business with your company plays an important role in creating your company’s reputation. The key to making a positive impression upon someone is to do something that causes your customers to think or even say “WOW”. A WOW is something extra done or given to create a delightful surprise or to favorably impress someone. You may have experienced a variety of “WOWs” in your life, at work, home, school or play. It’s much like your reaction to watching fireworks on the 4th of July. Other examples include: Pleasant surprise Kind words Something extra done or given Achieving a goal Overcoming a challenge Something bad turns out great Beautiful scenery Watching an unbelievable performance An unexpected act of kindness The following five steps describe a practical, yet valuable process to “WOW” your customers, both external and internal. Step One: Put a Smile on Your Face and in Your Voice You don’t get a second chance to make a positive first impression. Let the customer see and hear how glad and prepared you are to help them. This communicates your confidence and willingness to take the time to meet their needs. Step Two: Ask, “How Can I Help You?” Communicate your willingness to help them. Your customer has chosen to come to you because they: Believe you can help them. Trust your product or service knowledge. Believe you can do something better than someone else. Trust you will keep your promises. Step Three: Understand the Customer’s Request People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care about their situation. It’s obvious that your customer has called upon you for something…a product, service, solution, or a correction. Your job is to listen to their request and find out what they want you to do for them. Step Four: Describe How You CAN Help Your credibility relies upon your ability to follow-through with promises and commitments made to help the other person. But what if the customer is asking you to do something you either can’t or don’t have time to do? There isn’t anything worse than hearing someone say, “I can’t do that…it’s not my job!” Certainly there is some action you can take to help them (i.e. transfer the call, give them a name of someone else to contact, or get back to them at a later time). Step Five: Express Your Gratitude Final impressions are just as important as first impressions. Strive to leave the customer feeling appreciated and pleased they chose to do business with you. Some ways to complete this final step include: saying “Thank you”, asking “Is there anything else?”, inviting them back again or using their name in closing. Remember, if you don’t meet your customers’ needs, they will find someone else or some other organization who will! Examples of ABC’s of Customer Service As a part of our “WOWing The Customer” program, we ask employees to distinguish the difference between A, B, and C levels of customer service within their job responsibilities. The principles for the ABCs are consistent with the grading scale used in school: C-Level of Service – Just doing the basic job or task(s). B-Level of Service – Going beyond the task or request. A-Level of Service - An unexpected, pleasant surprise! The following information describes examples of the ABC Levels of service we recently collected from 145 employees that work in a variety of departments within a retirement community. C-Levels of Service – Doing the basic job or task(s). Health Center - Care for the Health Center residents with bathing, personal care, assisting with meals, and give medicine AIL - Provide health care assistance for independent residents Health Center Activities - Provide a variety of stimulating activities to help health center residents at various physical and intellectual levels. Laundry - Wash, dry, fold, press, and return laundry. Housekeeping - Clean floors, windows, and fixtures in resident’s apartment, HC rooms and offices. Empty trash throughout buildings. Porters –Clean all common, public areas and the Health Center Food Service - Back of the house: Inventory and prep food. Cook and plate the food. Food Service - Front of the house: Take orders, serve food and beverage. Clean up front & back of the house. Transportation - Drive residents to medical appointments, shopping and group trips. Resident Services - Plan, schedule and host routine and special event activities for independent residents. Provide resident social and concierge-like assistance. Stock and manage the resident’s convenient store. Accounting - Accurate and timely processing of finances. Marketing - Prospect with leads to close sales. Assist with the move-in. Human Resources - Coordinate the recruiting, hiring, orientation, and employment administration of all employees. Front Desk - Answer and direct in-coming calls, coordinate office communication, and resolve problems. Maintenance - Keep the internal property and equipment clean and in working order. Grounds - Keep the external property and grounds looking nice. Security - Monitor the safety of the property. Everyone - Do routine tasks in the same way, at the same time on the day(s) scheduled B-Levels of Service – Going beyond the task or request. Smile. Eye contact. Say, “Good morning, afternoon, or night.” Demonstrate a positive attitude. Encourage employees to do their “specialties.” Thorough, on-going communication within and between departments. Teamwork within and between departments. Arrive early to do a task. Move furniture for a resident. Squeeze in transportation for last-minute appointments. Arrange alternative transportation, if our services are full. Ask customers (residents and coworkers) for feedback or suggestions. Use their name, appropriately (If they prefer proper or first name). Share conversations about: Family Meal Their day Weather Holiday Visitors Health-feelings Dinner Activities Television show Past experience Their pet Compliment them – appearance, clothing, hair, etc. Ask, “Is there anything else I can do/get for you?” Diffuse a difficult resident by: Listening Apologizing for their situation Explaining what you CAN do Fulfill a special request Develop and implement strategies to make it easy to work with you/your department Saying something to make them laugh A-Levels of Service – An unexpected, pleasant surprise! Celebrate birthdays and anniversaries or residents and employees. Take photos of residents, post on a board, and then give it to them. Dress up and make up a Health Care resident. Give them “special” treats without them asking: Back rubs Massage Eye drops Holding their hands Favorite food or drink, even if it’s not on the menu Personalized activities. Leave/give them a card that says “Today, you were taken care of by Your Name.” Offer to or just take action to help a resident, visitor or co-worker: Carry a package Open the door Give directions Charge a car battery Mention/confirm their dietary needs. Encouraging residents to attend an activity. Suggest a walk, etc. Accompany a resident to an activity or appointment Do special foldings: napkins toilet tissue laundry Use a dryer sheet to freshen smell. Seat them at their favorite table/location. Drop/stop by their apartment to say, “Hi” or ask “How are you today?”