When istant coffee isnt fast enough!
By Rowdy McLean. June 2009
In this crazy world where everything happens so fast we sometimes struggle to keep pace. These days instant coffee is just not fast enough.
So our customers' expectations, in terms of speed of service, can sometimes seem unreasonable.
There are 4 strategies that you can use to ensure the customer is at ease and to increase customer understanding, so they do not take their business somewhere else.
1. Communicate
This week I had dinner at a French restaurant, entree and main only and the whole experience took 3 1/2 hours just to be served two courses. A little outrageous you may be thinking, but in fact it was quite fabulous. They communicated the process very well, signs in the foyer and in the menu made it quite clear that each dish was cooked individually right down to the individual sauce. The waitress also explained that the chef took quite a deal of pride in delivering to your table the best possible quality so the attention to detail may mean things may take a little longer. The other thing they did was bring a small taster during the wait, so before you knew it 3 1/2 hours have gone! I enjoyed the meal and the experience so much I returned to the restaurant the next night as well.
2. Processes and Procedures
Do not expect your customers to understand your processes and procedures, let them know how your systems work and how they can participate in ensuring prompt service and more than anything let them know what is going on. Yesterday one of my team was sourcing some materials for my upcoming Get Real seminar series (click here for more details). We needed these materials in a hurry. Mel placed the order online and during the next few hours received 4 different emails, 1 to welcome her as a customer, 1 to confirm the order, 1 to update that the stock was available and 1 to confirm the order had been packaged and sent. This removed any concerns for us about what was happening and how long before we would receive what we were after.
3. Queuing
Educate all your staff on how to deal with queues, whether they occur in person or on the phone. Acknowledgment is the key here, let your customers understand that you know they are waiting and are going to get to them as soon as possible. If you do this really well no-one will shoot off to the next store or hang up the phone and call a competitor. We spend so much money marketing to people to get them to come into our business or contact us, that it is essential we find ways to hang on to them when things are busy. This is one of the aspects we train staff in at our Customer Service Champion course (for more information on educating your team click here).
4. Review
Sometimes we get into habits of doing things a particular way because "that’s the way we have always done them". The speed of technology and innovation today means that if we take that attitude we can easily get left behind. Look for new opportunities to speed things up and regularly ask your customers and your employees how you may serve them better to stay at the cutting edge. Check out your competitors and see the way they do things and if they are using some technology or procedures that you should adopt. There are many simple low cost strategies to speed things up; you just need to keep your eyes open.
Ron McLean is an international author and customer service strategist. If you think your organisation would benefit from having Ron present his Service as a Business Strategy message to your team, please contact us on 1800 GET REAL or email emma@creatingsynergy.com
Copyright 2009 Ron McLean
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