Good Service Is A Lottery

22 June 2007

Why you have more chance of winning a ‘scratchie’ than getting good customer service, and how to change it

In New Zealand a customer has more chance of winning $2 on a ‘scratchie’ than he or she has of receiving good customer service – but the fault may have more to do with human nature, than the Kiwi business owner.

Director of KiwiHost New Zealand, Simon Nikoloff, says that exercises carried out by the company in its workshops over the past 17 years – during this time KiwiHost has trained more than 250,000 New Zealanders and 30,000 companies – found that most businesses will only meet two or three out of nine essential customer service criteria.

“On a scale covering the nine essential customer service actions – such as greeting a customer – a typical company or store will only score two to three out of nine. We’ve calculated that the odds are you have a better chance of winning a $2 scratchie prize, which means customer service in New Zealand is a bit of a lottery. The reason for this is human nature.”

Mr Nikoloff says when a person comes into work, or during their working day, they may get distracted, stressed, forgetful, moody – and all of these factors are part of being human, but they impact the consistency of customer service.

“All of us are customers and all of us are looking for consistency in how we’re treated. If we walk into a service station or an accountant’s office, we expect that company to treat us the same as they did yesterday, and will be tomorrow, next week or next year.

“If the service is any different, it makes us uncomfortable because we’re creatures of habit,” he says.

One way business owners and managers can help staff to be more consistent is to have a clearly defined service standard – a performance code. For example, expectation from management on how customers are to be acknowledged, greeted and how long they’re to be kept on hold.

“Turnkey operations such as some well known food franchises have everything documented, but if customer service isn’t part of the company culture from induction day, then the customer service standard will just gather dust.”

Long standing KiwiHost franshise owner for Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua, Noel Hunt, says a customer service standard should be reinforced with regular customer service training, regular monitoring by management and what he calls ‘triggers’.

“I once had a women workshop participant who was a widow with young children. It was an effort for her to cope with all the morning stresses of getting a family ready single-handedly, and then coming into work ready to face the day.

“She found this ‘grumpiness’ had a knock-on effect with other staff and customers. To counter her ‘grumpiness’, she came up with a trigger which was a simple keyword: ‘showtime’. When she walked in the door in the morning she would murmur to herself: ‘It’s showtime,’ – and that immediately put her in the right mental space,” says Mr Hunt.

He says monitoring staff customer service levels goes back to the concept of ‘moments of truth’.

“Every interaction with a customer; everything that the customer comes into contact with in the office, store or bank creates an impression for that customer – whether it’s documentation, staff or décor – and each one of those is ‘a moment of truth’

“If something can leave an impression, it’s measurable; whether a smile, attitude or appearance body language – all of it is quantifiable. The business owner or manager needs to examine each moment of truth in their business and set a standard for it and then monitor it at least two or three times a year.

“Once identified and quantified, the moment of truth needs to be communicated to the staff so they know what is required of them. This may be really simple, such as a standard for acknowledging customers.

“Bear in mind that acknowledgement and greeting are two different things. When a staff member is busy with someone else they may not be able to greet a customer, but they should acknowledge them with a smile, a nod or even a wink – these little details are the difference between good and bad customer service,” says Mr Hunt.

A basic good customer service list which KiwiHost uses can help some companies to develop their own customer service standards, and also give customers a good insight into what their minimum expectations should be:

 Acknowledgement – Customers should be acknowledged immediately on entry. A minimum requirement is a nod or a smile.
 Approach – Customers should be approached within one minute of entry or as soon as the staff member is free from serving.
 Greeting – Customers should be greeted in a friendly manner. This should be demonstrated by warmth, eye contact, smile and body language.
 Manner – Assistants should be interested in customers' enquiries and show willingness to help by providing positive affirmation of their thoughts and choices.
 Establishing needs – Customers should be asked sufficient questions to clearly establish their needs.
 Product knowledge – Assistants should demonstrate clear knowledge of their product, but if they don't have the knowledge, introduce an 'expert' at the establishment.
 Additional products – Assistants should introduce and encourage customers to purchase additional products and/or services that are relevant to their enquiry.
 Asking for business – Assistant should recognise when a customer is ready to buy and encourage a decision.
 Farewell – Customers should be farewelled in a manner that encourages them to return.

Mr Nikoloff says, however, that ultimately an individual chooses his or her own attitude and only the individual can change their attitude – management’s job is to help them do that.

Ends

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