What is the Next Step in Customer Service?

What is the Next Step in Customer Service?

More often than not companies try to impress us by using the phrase “exceeding expectations” when describing their levels of customer service.  As I ponder this I realize that it’s a bunch of hogwash and only means that you get more of what you are already receiving.  More is not always better.

Because there has been so much emphasis on customer service over the past decade or so, we are now at a point, as a nation of consumers, where we are rarely surprised by the level of service we receive. More often than not, I find myself frustrated by companies not meeting my expectations or wowing me. On more than one occasion I have left a store and begun to craft the first line or two of a nasty letter in my head.  I always promise that I’ll get this letter on paper and send it to the manager.  Then life gets in the way and I never follow through on my threat.

I did script a letter last year to the manager of the local Home Depot.  But it wasn’t to share my disappointment.  It was to communicate with them how impressed I was with their staff and with their company policy.  Here’s the story.  My wife and I must be colour-blind because the carpet we purchased from the Home Depot was awful.  I mean, it wasn’t even a colour we could get used to.  I don’t know how we blew it, but we did.  We decided that it was so bad that we would return to the store and see what kind of price break we could get on a different colour.  We were fully prepared to sink another $2500 we didn’t have into another new carpet.  It was that bad.  Upon our arrival we were pleased to see the same lady who had helped us before.  Within 2 minutes she had us choosing a new colour and I was happier in a store than I have ever been before.  We must not have been the first customers to have this happen to them because the Home Depot had a policy that allowed you to replace your carpet within a reasonable amount of time and pay only the installation fee.  My new, new carpet only cost us about $200.  You can imagine how elated we were. The competition doesn’t get my business anymore, even if they are cheaper and closer.  My heart belongs to the Home Depot.

I don’t know the carpet business so I can’t tell you whether our instance was a common occurrence or not.  But it was a personal example of a company anticipating and filling a need for their customers.  In my case, I didn’t immediately see how it was economically possible for them to do this, but then I realized that it was not a product loss but rather a marketing expense.  I was so impressed about our experience that I told everyone who would listen and the Home Depot knows it.  That is some great service and even better target marketing.

Customer Anticipation=Jumping the Curve

The next step in strengthening the connection with your clients and patrons is anticipation. Write that down.  In the not too distant future, people will get tired of having more of what they already have, and simply meeting expectations will not be enough to compete.  Consumers are already becoming jaded and unmoved by the current level of services. They are by most accounts- bored and it is becoming harder to please those who walk through your doors.  If you want to keep your customers and grow your business then you will need to start thinking about giving them what they didn’t know they wanted. That is the next step.  That is the next curve.

To do this, you must be observant of your clients and take a personal interest in them.  Being observant entails noting behavior and improving your listening skills.  If for example, you hear a customer relay that he drinks a specific kind of coffee every morning, then have it ready for him the next time you have a scheduled meeting.  Or let’s say there is a new golf club on the market and you know it would do wonders for his game.  Don’t wait for him to ask you about it, go ahead and order it and put it in his bag.  This is anticipating his needs and acting upon them.

By definition, anticipation is the result of acting upon a previous notion.  In this context, the notion is a very calculated risk and not a wild guess.  You act on this notion because on some level you care enough about the person to attempt to please them.  It is not any different then the type of anticipation we already practice with close friends and family.  We often do things for them hoping they appreciate it without them having previous knowledge of it.

To jump to the next curve, your service oriented business needs to be focused on “customer anticipation.” As has been the pattern in the past, the gap between the customers’ expectation levels and a company’s ability to deliver continually widens and narrows.  But as we bound forward towards the next curve and begin to put distance between the two once more, we can only hope that the day the customer begins to narrow the gap is a long way off.

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