Your company policies or procedures mean nothing if your front line employees cut corners or do their own thing.

I paid cash for my last meal at the local Kentucky Fried Chicken. I should have received 17 cents in change.

Instead, the cashier handed me a quarter.

So, you think: so what?

It is just eight extra cents.

What if this cashier did that on every transaction? Every day? What if it happened at dozens of locations across the company?

Pretty soon those pennies start to add up. All of a sudden, the company isn’t quite making its financial goals.

Individual accountability at the employee level can help keep performance inline with expectations. What if that cashier had to zero out her cash drawer at the end of the shift, even down to the penny? Would that change behavior?

Cutting corners hurts your business and tells customers that you are lazy. Lazy companies don’t deserve repeat business. Please don’t be lazy.

When you get lazy, your ability to be consistent in delivering quality customer experiences diminishes. Without those experiences, customers start to chose the competition.

Your potential customers will arrive at the point of sale and sometimes will not be able to pay. You need to be ready for these times so that the interaction between you and the customer can go smoothly.

On a recent trip to Target, the couple ahead of me at the checkout had their credit card denied.

They argued for a minute with each other, got frustrated, told the cashier “sorry”, and walked away without their products.

I asked the cashier if that happened a lot.

She said, “Yes, all the time. And people get mad at me like I had something to do with it.”

This is one example where your front line employees are getting frustrated by customers. What are you doing to help both parties in these situations?

You Need Procedures

When you leave it up to the employees to field an awkward situation like this, they get frustrated and the customers get inconsistent experiences. Having procedures in place will help ease tense situations.

When customers’ payment fails, your employees need to:

• Know what to say to the customer. (Reassurance, guidance, explanations)
• Give alternatives on how to purchase. Maybe try cash or check instead of the denied credit card.
• Instruct the customer on what to do next. “Sorry we can’t complete your purchase today, if you …”
• Know now to handle the incomplete purchase in your systems. Are there certain keystrokes or database fields that need to be updated to cancel an order?

Sometimes customers forget their money and sincerely want to and can pay for their purchase. Treat them with respect and have a plan for them too.

Even if you are a sole proprietor, having a checklist of actions will save you time and effort when you encounter similar situations in the future.

Today’s Interaction Determines Tomorrow’s Customer

Make it smooth because today’s lost customer could come back tomorrow with cash in-hand. Don’t let a little hiccup today stress out your customers or your employees.

Every day people are talking about you and your company. Sometimes those people have trouble with your service. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could overhear those conversations and jump in and help out?

That is where Twitter.com offers you an opportunity to save the day.

What is Twitter

Think of Twitter as a water cooler where folks gather to talk about what is on their mind. This video covers the basics of Twitter and how it works:

Additionally, a recent Wall Street Journal article explains how Twitter works and its associated lingo.

Once you’re up to speed on the basics, sign up for an account at twitter.com and get started.

Set Up Your Profile

If you are representing your company, your Twitter user name should be that company name. Also include your company name in your profile. It helps to link to your Twitter account from your official website as well so folks know you are authentic.

Listen

You can search all the conversations that are happening on Twitter with the right tools.

I like Monitter.com where you can see real-time updates of tweets that mention keywords you monitor.

Twitter.com has a built-in search function which is also useful for finding relevant messages that pertain to your company or industry. You can even search for people specifically.

Respond

Using Twitter for customer service requires you go beyond just monitoring. You need to take action. When you find a relevant message:

• Acknowledge the problem
• Fix the problem or give instructions on how the customer can correct issue
• It is OK to take the conversation outside of Twitter. You may want to acknowledge publicly what you will do but then jump into more details via a direct message or engage the customer through other channels to resolve the issue completely.

Good Examples

More and more companies are jumping into Twitter everyday. Here are some great lists of companies that have Twitter accounts:
blog.fluentsimplicity.com/twitter-brand-index
buzzmarketingfortech.blogspot.com/2008/12/brands-that-tweet.html
Directory of companies on Twitter

While many companies use Twitter, there are some gems that are excelling in using it for customer service. Check out these profiles and how they interact with customers:

• Comcast cares
• Jetblue
• Southwest air
• Dell

Take Action Today

Your customers are waiting to hear from you. Join the conversation and make a difference.

More Reading

Twitip.com offers a great article on building your company’s community on Twitter.

Chris Brogan shares 50 ideas on using Twitter for business that can help you get started and overcome the naysayers.

You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/joerawlinson.

Want a compelling read that will change the way you think about the customer experience? Try Subject to Change, compiled by a handful of authors at product experience strategy and design firm Adaptive Path.

Focus: Customer Experience

The world in which we do business is changing rapidly and to be successful, we must focus on the customer experience.

This means you can’t really bet on the longest feature list or efficiency advantages to beat out the competition:

The processes for measuring and controlling efficiency are well-known and well-documented, and so in today’s world they no longer provide a significant competitive advantage.

Since you won’t be able to do everything, you have to be selective in your strategy. This involves deciding what to do and what not to do.

Design is a Keystone

The authors proudly proclaim that “design must become an organizational competency.” Everyone is a designer, not just the official design team your company may have. “Design is an activity” that involves empathy with the customer, problem solving, and prototyping of options.

Empathy

To the customers, the experience they have is the only thing that matters.

After all your product does (or doesn’t do), the experience a person has with you and your product is what will leave the biggest impression. To make this as smooth as possible, you need to understand where a customer is coming from:

An appreciation of customer’s motivations, behaviors, and context leads to the development of a product, service, or system that can satisfy them.

Too often we may rely on reports or surveys to gain insight into customer intent. Nevertheless, we have to go “beyond statistics or extrapolation from [our] own behaviors” if we want to truly empathize with customers.

You can’t shoehorn people into generic “users” or “customers.” Your customers aren’t all the same, they are different and will do things you didn’t foresee and in ways you didn’t imagine. Truly understanding a customer can come from effective research.

Customer Research

Design research needs to inspire and indicate a clear direction.

Research for research’s sake isn’t worth the effort. The output must be understandable and actionable.

One of the authors, Todd Wilkens, stated that “the effectiveness of a research report is inversely proportional to the thickness of its binding.”

When implementing a new product or feature, ask yourself these questions:

What do people want to accomplish?
How does this activity fit into their lives?
How can I deliver on those desires?

Corporate Structure vs. Customer View

Your company is made up of silos of groups and divisions. However, to your customer, you are just “the company.” How can you make that customer experience uniform and make you actually look like your right hand knows what your left is doing?

The book refers to this as a “coordinated symphony that addresses the whole customer experience.” Nice imagery.

Contingency Design

Not everything you make will work perfectly.

The true success of experience design isn’t how well it works when everything is operating as planned, but how well it works when things start going wrong.

The more you add or build into your product, the more likely that it will “fall apart and confuse customers.” Avoid the dreaded feature creep. By keeping things simple, your customers will be more likely to succeed.

Create the Long Wow

You can achieve long-term customer loyalty by systematically impressing your customers.

One of the authors, Brandon Schauer, explains “The Long Wow” and how to achieve it in his essay and this presentation:

Keep Going

Succeeding amidst uncertainty requires continuous improvement.

You can’t sit still or even just get by with what worked in the past. Continuous improvement, and its associated change, will help you meet the needs of customers and deliver great products and services.

Joe’s Recommendation

Buy the book – Subject to Change is a very quick read that helps shake up the paradigms to which you or your business may be accustomed. This will foster some healthy self-evaluation and discussion of your business.