9 Ways to Promote Your Customer Service Vision to the Team

There's a common criticism about customer service visions.

The perception is you put a lot of work into writing one. Maybe you hire some expensive consultants to run a bunch of focus groups or spend a day on it at an executive retreat. And then... 

Nothing. 

Employees forget it. Service quality remains unchanged. The vision gathers dust somewhere in an abandoned file. All that time, money, and effort wasted.

The promise of a customer service vision is still real. It's a shared definition of outstanding service. In theory, this is essential to getting everyone on the same page.

The challenge is you need a way to promote the vision to your team. Get them engaged and excited. And, keep it alive for years to come after that initial roll-out.

Here are nine ways you can do it.

 

9 Ways to Promote the Customer Service Vision

 

#1 Set SMART Goals

Many customer service teams use metrics to manage their performance. You can incorporate your vision into your daily work by setting a SMART goal for at least one of your metrics. 

SMART is an acronym:

  • Specific

  • Measurable

  • Attainable

  • Relevant <----- Here's where you connect your goal to your vision.

  • Time Bound

You can use this SMART goal worksheet as a guide.

 

#2 Hire With Your Vision in Mind

It will be much easier to get your team on-board if you hire people who can naturally identify with your customer service vision.

Here's how:

  1. Create an ideal candidate profile that incorporates your vision

  2. Develop tests to see if job candidates fit the profile

This short video from Shopify is a terrific example of an ideal candidate profile.

#3 Train the Vision

Training is the perfect time to introduce or reinforce the customer service vision. It's not just customer service training. Any training is a good opportunity.

Here are some examples:

  • New hire training

  • Customer service training (of course)

  • New system training

  • Policy or procedure training

  • Product training

I once had a client who insisted on incorporating their customer service vision into anti-harassment compliance training. Their thinking was that the way co-workers treated each other was a form of customer service, and that treatment would naturally extend to the way they treated customers.

This short video explains how you can incorporate culture into your new hire training.

#4 Empower Employees Through The Vision

Your customer service vision is meaningless if employees aren't empowered to fulfill it. 

Last year, I made a list of five reasons why managers don't empower their employees. One reason was employees don't realize what they're empowered to do to help their customers.

One way to overcome this barrier is to ask employees to contribute ideas on how they can fulfill the customer service vision with their customers.

You can use this guide to learn how to empower your employees.

 

#5 Have Leaders Talk About It

Employees tend to understand something's importance by how often leaders talk about it. 

That means if you want your employees to remember the customer service vision, you need to talk about it a lot. As in, every chance you get.

Fortunately, there are many opportunities:

  • Team meetings

  • Daily huddles (stand-ups, pre-shifts, tailgates, etc.)

  • One-on-one meetings

  • Casual conversations

  • After action discussions

  • Annual performance reviews

 

#6 Have Executives Talk About It

Customer service leaders aren't the only people who should promote the customer service vision. Executive leadership should promote the vision too.

At one company I know, the CEO kicks off quarterly all-employee meetings with a review of their customer service vision. He shares specific examples of results and behaviors that match the vision.

This helps employees understand that support for the vision goes all the way to the top.

 

#7 Create a Culture Page

Many companies create a culture page on their website to describe what it's like to work for them. It's a recruiting tool, but it's also a prime opportunity to promote your customer service vision.

JetBlue has led the airline industry on the American Customer Satisfaction Index for five straight years. Their customer service vision (also their mission) is to inspire humanity.

This is a screen shot from its culture page:

They've also created this short video that describes how they are different. Notice how their mission (a.k.a. customer service vision) plays a starring role.

#8 Involve Your Employees

A fun way to promote your customer service vision is to get your employees involved.

Here's an example from the Center for Sustainable Energy's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. Their customer service vision is this:

Make it easy to join the clean vehicle movement.

One thing this team did to promote the vision was to ask employees to think of words that described how their co-workers supported the vision. The words were then arranged in a word cloud shaped like a car to showcase their many positive attributes:

Source: Clean Vehicle Reb

#9 Use it to Guide Decisions

There's nothing that can promote your customer service vision faster than using it to guide your decisions.

REI's amazing Opt Outside campaign is an outstanding example. In 2015, the outdoor gear retailer decided to close their stores on Black Friday. This included their online store!

The decision was a clear reflection of their customer service vision:

We inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship.

REI's President and CEO, Jerry Stritzke said, "Black Friday is the perfect time to remind ourselves of the essential truth that life is richer, more connected and complete when you choose to spend it outside. We’re closing our doors, paying our employees to get out there, and inviting America to OptOutside with us because we love great gear, but we are even more passionate about the experiences it unlocks."

Bonus Vision Resource

You can learn more about creating and sharing a customer service vision from The Service Culture Handbook.

How to Develop the Perfect Phone Greeting

One chance.

That's how many opportunities you get to make a first impression. When you serve customers over the phone, that one chance is your phone greeting.

How does your greeting sound? 

A warm and friendly greeting can start the call off right. It can give your caller the confidence that you will help them. They may not even realize that your enthusiasm makes them feel better.

The wrong greeting can do the opposite. The caller will suspect they're in for yet another service failure from a lackluster service representative. (You don't want to be that person, do you?)

People discount the importance of practicing your greeting. I disagree. Developing a good greeting is essential to outstanding customer service.

Here’s how to do it.

A smiling call center agent greets a customer.

Step 1: Decide What to Say

A perfect phone greeting consists of three simple elements:

  • Salutation: “Good morning,” Thank you for calling,” “Hello,” etc.

  • Your Name

  • Offer of assistance: “How may I help you?” etc.

Don’t be afraid to try different salutations or offer assistance in different ways. This can help keep your greeting fresh and sincere, whether it’s the first call of the day or your 50th.

The specific words you use don’t matter as much as how you deliver them.

A greeting should convey warmth, friendliness, and confidence. It should let the other person know you’re there for them and happy to help.

Some companies saddle their employees with clunky, scripted greetings. I’m not a fan! But if you must greet your customers a certain way, you can still use the next two steps.

Step 2: Mind Your Body Language

Our body language has a big impact on how we deliver a phone greeting. Your tone of voice will exude more warmth when you smile, sit up straight, and focus your attention.

Try to imagine the caller is sitting right in front of you rather than talking to you on the phone. This makes it easier to remember to use positive body language.

For example, of the two photos below, who would you want to talk to?

Smiling, friendly employee.
Upset, scowling employee.

Some people place a small mirror at their desk so they can see themselves talk on the phone. The mirror helps them remember to smile. If you aren’t sure if this technique will work for you, why not try it out and see?

Step 3: Tune Out Distractions

Distractions can make it much more difficult to deliver our best greeting. Take a breath and focus your attention on the incoming call before answering.

Here are a few common distractions that get in the way of a perfect greeting:

  • Trying to finish up an email as you answer the phone.

  • Loud conversations from coworkers sitting near you.

  • Pop-up windows and other notifications on your computer screen.

Fatigue is one of the biggest distractions. Research shows that customer satisfaction is at its lowest in the afternoon, when many people are nearing the end of their shift.

A Perfect Phone Greeting Example

This short video will show you examples of all these principles in action.

This video is part of the Phone-Based Customer Service course on LinkedIn Learning. There are three ways to access the entire course:

Phone Skills Workout: Practice Your Greeting

Now that you’ve worked out what to say, how to say it, and how to stay focused, it’s time to do a little practice. Use the recording feature on your smart phone to record yourself delivering your best greeting. Evaluate yourself with three questions:

  • Did your greeting include the three elements (salutation, name, offer of assistance)?

  • Did your tone sound warm and friendly?

  • Did your greeting inspire confidence?

Try practicing a few times until you feel really good about what you hear. Then implement your perfect greeting with your next customer.

NewVoiceMedia Report: Service Failures Cost $62 Billion Per Year

A new report from NewVoiceMedia estimates that poor customer service cost U.S. businesses $62 billion in 2015. 

That's a 50 percent increase from 2013. The short version of what's happening is customer service is getting worse and customers are defecting at a higher rate.

The real question is what does this mean to your business? And, what can be done about it?

Here are some key findings from the report along with some solutions and resources. You may also download the full report here.

The Big Problem: Customer Churn

A few months ago, I published a list of 13 ways to calculate the cost of customer service. Right at the top of the list was repeat business.

Customer churn, retention, turnover, or whatever you want to call it is a big issue. If a customer is doing business with your company and then takes that business to a competitor, you've lost money.

NewVoiceMedia cites an 11 percent increase in customers leaving a company due to poor customer service. It's helpful to do the math to see just how big a problem this is in your company.

I'll use a service failure example from Adobe Connect. I tried eight times to renew my subscription without success, but finally gave up due to their poor service.

Start by calculating your customers' average lifetime value. That's how much the typical customer spends per year multiplied by how many years a customer may reasonably do business with your company.

Here are my Adobe Connect numbers:

  • Annual revenue = $540

  • Years as a customer = 7

  • Lifetime value = $3,780

Next, calculate the number of customers you've lost over a given time period. 

Finally, multiple the number of lost customers by your customers' average lifetime value. I don't know how many customers Adobe Connect has lost due to this issue but I can show you the financial impact at various levels:

  • 100 customers lost = $378,000

  • 1,000 customers lost = $3,780,000

  • 10,000 customers lost = $37,800,000

NewVoiceMedia found that customers are getting even less tolerant of poor customer service. The report revealed that 33 percent of customers switched companies more than once in the past year due to poor service. And, 25 - 34 year-olds are 68 percent more likely to switch than the 55+ crowd.

 

The Culprit

In an age of technology, our technology is causing a lot of problems.

Self-service isn't easy or it doesn't work. One system doesn't talk to another. Agents don't have access to essential information. We still have to give the phone agent the same account number we just punched into our phone.

For Adobe Connect, I tried using self-service to renew my subscription but came up short. Next, I tried chatting with a service rep, but he didn't have access and couldn't help me. I also tried tweeting my issue without success. Both the chat rep and the twitter agent asked me to call.

This type of shoddy service drives customers to call your business for issues they'd be perfectly happy solving themselves. 

The NewVoiceMedia report found that 70 percent of customers thought calling was the quickest way to resolve an issue, but only 58 percent said the phone was their preferred channel. 

For many companies, the phone is the most expensive channel to serve. So, not only is poor service driving customers away, the customers we do keep are costing us more.

To address this issue, I recommend making a list of the top ten reasons that customers call your customer service department. Next, identify ways you can prevent those calls from happening in the first place. 

Here are just a few sample solutions:

  • Fix the issue that causes people to call.

  • Improve access to self-service on your website.

  • Make your website or app more intuitive.

  • Empower agents serving other channels to do more.

  • Proactively engage customers on known issues.

That last one looks like this:

Let's say you're a cable company and your service suddenly goes down in a neighborhood. This would normally trigger a flood of phone calls. You could reduce those calls by emailing affected customers, posting an update on your website (right by your phone number), and sharing the update via social media.

There will still be some customers who call. When they do, the 2015 National Rage Study from CCMC found that the number one thing these customers want is to be treated with dignity.

This means making sure your agents are trained to work with upset customers and are fully empowered to handle issues.

 

Resources

These resources can help you stem the tide of defecting customers.

The Effortless Experience is a great book that outlines how to make things easier for your customers to do business with you, and why that's an essential part of customer loyalty.

You can revamp your customer service survey or start up a customer listening program to identify reasons customers are unhappy before they leave. Here's a video-based training course that can help you.

A customer service assessment can help you take an internal look at your service operation. You can try the self-service starter version or request a consultation for a full in-depth assessment.

Finally, give your team phone-specific customer service training to help them prevent customers from leaving. You'll need a Lynda.com account to access the full training video, but you can get a 10-day trial.

Why Air Travel is So Unfriendly

Have you ever had a bad airline experience?

OK, I joke. Of course you have. We've all had one. The only people who haven't had a bad airline experience are the people who don't fly.

One of the big problems is a lack of civility. Flight attendant turned author, Heather Poole, recently lamented on her blog about the lack of civility passengers show towards flight attendants. She has a solid point, but the issue is much bigger than that.

Passengers are regularly subjected to rude treatment at nearly every step of their journey. It's not just rude flight attendants. Rude gate agents, TSA officers, and other airport employees can all sour the experience before we get on the plane.

No wonder the U.S. airline industry is one of the lowest rated industries on the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

This post examines why incivility is such a common part of air travel. And, it highlights a few things airlines (and airports) could do to improve things.

Sources of Air Travel Stress

Let's image a typical travel day. There's a lot of things that contribute to passenger stress. It starts with the airport arrival. 

Many airports are chaos. There's a calamity of cars, taxis, and shuttle busses jockeying for position. People cut each other off at slow speed. Infrequent visitors really clog things up as they block other traffic while trying to figure out where to go.

What can airports do here? Better traffic control is a solution. The traffic control officers at many airports are typically unfriendly and unassertive. It's a dangerous combination that leads to continued chaos while these folks sit idly by.

The next step is the check-in. Savvy travelers skip this part and check-in online or via a smartphone app and then use an electronic boarding pass. Checking a bag is to be avoided at all costs.

But, there are those of us who attempt to check-in via the kiosk. Here, passengers are often met with long lines full of anxious passengers. They're also met by airline employees who frequently seem overwhelmed by the stress of it all, or, they've long ago numbed themselves to the experience. Trust me, this rubs off on passengers.

What can be done? One solution is to give these airline employees special training on how to better assist passengers who use those kiosks. This would allow them to be more helpful and allow passengers to feel more confident. 

Getting through security is the next big hassle. TSA has lately come under fire for long lines. This causes stress to skyrocket as passengers worry about making their flight. 

The unfriendly and aggressive attitude displayed by many TSA officers only makes things worse. The typical TSA process involves someone who checks your ID, but steadfastly refuses to smile. Next, you are greeted with an officer who is barking instructions at people as they wait in line. To top it off, there's the process of taking off your shoes, emptying your pockets, and taking certain items out of your bag, only to reassemble the whole mess once you get through to the other side.

It's no wonder that passengers are on edge when they finally clear security. 

One immediate solution is for TSA officers to rethink their approach to passengers. Bark less. Help more. Seek out the confused travelers and offer some polite guidance while developing a friendly rapport with frequent travelers who don't need any assistance.

The gate is the next sore spot in the journey. People cluster around the gate like herded cattle, creating stress and tension all the way around. This creates an unpleasant situation where people in later boarding groups are inevitably blocking access to the gate for people in earlier boarding groups.

Part of the problem is the shear volume of boarding groups. (I counted six on a recent flight.) People crowd the gate well before their group is called. Another issue is gate agents tend to make their crowd control announcements over the intercom, rather than approach individuals directly to ask them to clear some space.

Southwest Airlines spares itself from this ruckus by having a clearly defined boarding process where every single passenger literally knows their place. While that's not feasible for every airline, some gentle assistance to get people organized can go a long way.

Boarding the plane itself is another exercise in incivility. Gate agents at many airlines rarely smile and say hello as they scan passengers' boarding passes. Flight attendants are so busy preparing for the flight that they often neglect to greet passengers as they board the plane. Passengers themselves are so worried about getting a space for their carryon baggage that they regularly jostle and bump each other.

Here, the fix isn't so easy. Heather Poole asked passengers to be more courteous to flight attendants. I agree. But, we all could stand to take a deep breath and be more courteous to each other. Flight attendants to passengers. Passengers to flight attendants. And, passengers to passengers.

 

What the Best Airlines Know

Take a look at the three airlines at the top of the American Customer Satisfaction Index:

  • Jet Blue

  • Southwest

  • Alaska

All of these airlines consistently promote civility better than their competitors.

Their employees are more friendly. Gate agents do a better job of engaging passengers. Flight attendants do a better job of greeting passengers. 

They also tend to have better in flight experiences and better policies that make it less likely for passengers to get agitated in the first place.

Here's one specific example.

I fly Alaska Airlines a lot. The gate agent usually smiles and greets me by name as I board the plane. They get my name from my boarding pass, but it's a nice welcome.

I also fly one of their partner airlines a lot. On this airline, the gate agent doesn't even greet me two times out of three. I will smile and say "Hello" and they literally will not return my smile or my greeting. When this is a regular occurrence, it's hard to expect much friendliness on the flight.

How to Write a Customer Service Vision Statement

Updated: July 28, 2023

A customer service vision is shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page.

This guide will help you quickly write one.

You can also use this process to write other corporate statements:

  • Mission

  • Purpose

  • Vision

I'm going to show you how to write a customer service vision (or mission, purpose, etc.) that your team can memorize instantly. It will act as a compass to constantly point your team in the right direction.

Generally speaking, it's best to have fewer of these statements. Employees can get confused when they have too many statements to memorize.

So you can also use this guide to combine several statements that you already have into a single customer service vision.

Most customer-focused organizations use their mission or purpose statement in place of a separate customer service vision.

You can see some of my favorite examples here.

While customer service and customer experience are different, I often use the terms “customer service vision” and “customer experience vision” interchangeably.

That’s because the process I follow creates a broad vision for customer experience, but can easily be applied to customer service.

Finally, if your employees work remotely, you can use this supplemental guide to facilitate the process via a virtual meeting.

Prepare to Write the Vision

You'll want to do a little prep work before you actually sit down and write the vision.

First, take a moment to explore what constitutes a customer service vision statement if you aren't familiar with one already. Here's a short primer that can help.

Key questions:

  • Can you use an existing statement (mission, purpose, brand promise, etc.)?

  • Are you writing a new statement or updating an existing one?

  • What one corporate statement is most important for employees to know?

Answering these questions up front can save you a lot of headaches. Generally speaking, you want fewer corporate statements.

Next, determine your scope.

The next step is to identify any existing work that might influence the new vision. This way, you are building on your existing culture. I like to gather any examples of current mission statements, customer service slogans, service standards, etc.

For example, if you're writing a customer service vision for your team, you might want to get ahold of your company's mission statement to help guide you.

Finally, you want to get your employees' input. Unless you work on a very small team, it's unwieldy to involve everyone in writing the actual vision statement. I've found the optimal group size for that is 7 - 10 people (more on that in a moment).

I get around this with a single survey question that goes to every employee:

What do you want our customers to think of when they think of the service we provide?

It's an open response question, so participants can type in whatever they please. Many survey programs (Survey Monkey, Google Surveys, etc.) make this very easy to do. Using a survey allows everyone to weigh in with minimal effort.

I then put all of the responses into a word cloud, which is a graphical representation of the words that people use most often. (You can use free software like FreeWordCloudGenerator.com to help.)

Here's an example from the Center For Sustainable Energy's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. This team supports people who buy a car in California that qualifies for a rebate from the state. Take a look at their word cloud and see what phrases jump out at you.

Writing the Vision

Once you gather data, the next step is the write the vision.

The first step is gathering the right group of people to help you.

I've learned through trial and error that the optimal group size is 7 to 10 people. This is similar to the two pizza rule, which suggests that you should limit groups to the number of people that can be fed with two pizzas.

The group's composition is important. You can read my guide on selecting the team, but in general here's who I like to invite:

  • At least one frontline employee. They keep it real.

  • At least one senior leader. They provide authority.

  • At least one mid-level manager or supervisor. They're the link between execs and the front lines.

It may also be helpful to use a professional facilitator.

There's an art and science to keeping a group like this moving efficiently. You have to create a safe space for people to share their ideas, while challenging the entire group to think outside the box. (Use this guide to determine if an outside facilitator is right for you.)

In the meeting itself, the goal is the write a simple customer service vision statement that meets these three criteria:

  1. It's simple and easily understood.

  2. It's focused on customers.

  3. It reflects both who you are now and who you aspire to be in the future.


Meeting Agenda

Here’s how I like to structure the meeting:

  1. Clarify objectives. Define a customer service vision and share examples.

  2. Review data. Look at the word cloud and any relevant cultural artifacts.

  3. Draft the vision. I find it’s best to split the group into two teams.

  4. Capture examples. Share real work stories that represent the vision in action.

You can download this toolkit and find a complete agenda on page 4.


Real-Live Example

Let's go back to the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project team. They help their customers through the clean vehicle rebate process. As a group, they understood that customers expected things to be easy when they applied for a rebate. 

Here's what they came up with:

Make it easy to join the clean vehicle movement.

I also like to spend a part of this meeting discussing specific behaviors, examples, and stories that align with the vision. These will come in handy later when you explain it to people.

For example, after writing this customer service vision statement, the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project team redesigned their website and some of their processes to make it even easier for customers to apply for a rebate.

Caution: I’ve read a lot of uninspiring, generic vision statements. Here’s how to avoid that.

 

Sharing the Vision

You still have a few things to do once you write your vision.

First, you want to share it with a few key stakeholders to get their buy in. You aren't looking for any additional word smithing here, just a gut check that the vision makes sense and hasn't left anything out.

Here's where you want to get a mix of leaders and individual contributors to weigh-in since each group will have a different perspective. You know you've got a good statement if it immediately resonates.

Occasionally, this second group will spot something the initial group didn't. It might be a key word that's missing or needs to be replaced. This doesn't happen often, but it's good to be open to the possibility.

Next, it's time to communicate the customer service vision to the rest of the organization or team. My suggestion is to make sure that everybody can answer three questions:

  1. What is the vision?

  2. What does it mean?

  3. How do I contribute?

It's helpful to have concrete examples to help people learn about the vision and remember it.


Get Help

Do you have questions or need extra guidance? Here’s how I can help:

  1. Schedule a free, one hour call with me and I’ll walk you through it.

  2. You can hire me to facilitate the process.

I suggest starting with a call first. Click below to get it scheduled.

Bonus Resources

You are welcome to download my customer service vision worksheet to use as a guide.

The vision is just the starting point to developing a customer-focused culture. You can get a full plan from my book, The Service Culture Handbook. It’s a step-by-step guide to getting your employees obsessed with customer service.

Finally, see how creating a customer service vision is just the first step in your journey to a customer-focused culture by watching this short training video.

What To Do When Customers Don't Follow Your Rules

The airport shuttle bus driver was exasperated.

She had a nice little system, but passengers weren't paying attention. They'd clumsily get in the way, as if they somehow knew better. Didn't they understand that she'd been doing this for 10 years?!

These passengers slowed everything down. Slowing things down was exasperating.

The driver's system was carefully planned. When she picked passengers up, she'd hop out and load their luggage into the bus for them. This allowed people to quickly take a seat without jockeying for position around the luggage rack. It also made sure that she could load the luggage rack just the right way to maximize it's capacity.

It worked the opposite way when she dropped people off. Passengers would exit the bus while the driver quickly off-loaded all the bags. This was much more efficient than everyone climbing all over each other to get to their own suitcase.

If only they'd listen. 

The driver muttered angrily under her breath. "I've been doing this for 10 years. I know what I'm doing. Don't they understand they're just slowing things down?!"

Perhaps you've been in a similar situation where customers don't follow your rules. Here's what to do.

Photo Credit: TheGabeC

Photo Credit: TheGabeC

Step 1: Question Your Rules

Some rules have no obvious benefit to your customers.

Stop thinking about yourself and your company for a moment. Shove aside what's convenient for you. See your rules through your customers' eyes.

Rules that don't directly and obviously benefit your customer are less likely to be followed. 

The shuttle bus driver didn't realize this. What seemed convenient to her seemed inconvenient to her passengers. That's because passengers don't care about the fastest way to load and unload the entire bus. 

They care about the fastest way to get themselves on and off the bus. 

You have two choices when rules don't obviously and directly benefit your customers. One option is to change or abolish the rule. That usually works just fine, except for situations when you can't because of a compelling reasons like regulations, safety, or fairness.

If you can't change the rule, then go to step 2.

 

Step 2: Clearly Explain Your Rules

Some rules aren't clearly explained.

Customers get confused easily. They don't listen when you want them to listen. They don't pay attention to what you think is important. 

That's because they have other priorities.

Passengers on the airport shuttle bus were worried about getting to and from the airport. They were anxious about their flight or getting to their rental car. Following the bus driver's unique system wasn't on their mind.

A lack of explanation caused problems for the bus driver. Instead, she literally snatched suitcases out of people's hands and said, "My way works much better." She sighed and muttered to herself at the slightest hint of resistance.

This felt confrontational. 

The shuttle bus driver would have been much better off if she had spent more time communicating her rules to passengers. She could have engaged people one-on-one by saying, "I can take care of your bag for you! Just come on board and make yourself comfortable!"

She could have made a warm and welcoming announcement on the bus's public address system to inform everyone that she'd be happy to unload everyone's bag for them, while explaining people would save a little time and trouble in the process.

Sometimes, a clear explanation is enough. Other times, you need to do more.

 

Step 3: Make Your Rules Easy to Follow

Rules can be difficult to follow.

Some aren't intuitive. Others are inconvenient. In some cases, it's tough to follow the rules when everyone else isn't.

Having rules that weren't easy to follow caused problems for the shuttle driver. Just think about what people normally do when riding an airport shuttle bus. The driver's rules went against the grain of what people were used to doing.

When a typical airport shuttle bus pulls up and opens its doors, people naturally file onto the bus and look for a place to stow their bags. Most people enter via the side door that's halfway down the bus because it's nearest the luggage rack.

That meant that by the time the driver got out of the driver's seat and started enforcing her rules, people were already herding themselves onto the bus and doing exactly what she didn't want them to do.

Of course, that brings us back to #1, where she might realize her rules weren't absolutely essential.

 

Putting It All Together

The airport shuttle bus driver is just one example, but her situation was instructive. Above all else, she got stuck seeing things through her own point of view and refused to look at her rules from her customers' perspective.

Think about situations in your own business where customers don't follow the rules.

  • Can rules be abolished or changed?

  • Can you explain rules more clearly?

  • Can you make it easier to follow the rules?

These fixes can go a long way towards getting your customers onboard.

Why Your Customer Service Training Should Be Out of Sync

Carpool Karaoke is an amazing thing.

It's a popular segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is it's amazing how we can watch it.

My wife mentioned a recent episode that featured Gwen Stefani, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts. We were enjoying a lazy Sunday morning with my parents who were visiting for Mothers Day, so we decided to watch it.

That's the amazing part. 

The Late Late Show with James Corden airs weeknights at 12:37am. We didn't have to stay up that late. We didn't have to wait for a weeknight. We didn't even have to watch the rest of the show that led up to that segment. 

All we had to do was find it on YouTube.

That may not seem amazing at first, but think of all the other content we can consume the same way. For example, why can't we do the same thing for customer service training?

The notion that we need to sync up everyone's schedule to attend a training class at the same time seems so out of date. And, it certainly doesn't make sense to sit through a bunch of training you don't want or need just to get to the really juicy stuff.

That's why your training needs to be out of sync. 

The Synchronicity Challenge

Imagine you have 1,000 employees.

They're spread over 13 locations and work 3 different shifts. You can't just shut everything down and get all the shifts to come to one central location. So, how will you get them all together for training?

In the old days, classroom training was the default solution. This was a hassle because you'd spend a great deal of money on four big things:

  • Paying employees to attend training

  • Paying a trainer to facilitate multiple classes at each location

  • Travel costs to get the trainer to all of the locations

  • Covering the employees' shifts while they attended training

Webinars made things slightly better. Employees could tune in from their computers, so you could hold fewer sessions and didn't have to pay for the trainer to travel from location to location. Of course, there was a drop-off in training quality, but the savings was substantial.

This type of training is known as synchronous training.

This is where everyone attends training at the same time. It's great from a learning perspective because people can easily share ideas and contribute to each others' understanding of the topic. It's not so great because of the aforementioned logistics.

 

The Asynchronous Opportunity

E-learning promised to solve the synchronicity problem. 

The beauty of e-learning is it's asynchronous training. This means that people don't attend at the same time. They consume the training when it's convenient for them.

To relate this back to television, e-learning is kind of like your DVR. You don't have to tune in to watch your favorite show at a specific time. You can watch it when (and often where) you please.

This can help you save a lot of training dollars. 

You pay to create the training once, and then re-use it, so you don't have to keep paying the trainer for each class. It's also easier to work asynchronous training into employee schedules, since employees take the training at their own pace. That means you'll spend less on keeping your operation covered while employees attend training.

There are also a few downsides to many e-learning programs.

For one, they're boring. Many e-learning programs are nothing more than a monotone voice droning on over text-laden PowerPoint slides. Even the flashier e-learning programs make you sit through a lot of content you aren't necessarily into before you get to the good stuff.

Another problem is what happens next. How will participants get the support they need? Will they get a chance to share ideas with each other? Many e-learning programs lack this crucial element.

 

The Balanced/Blended Solution

Really good training often blends both asynchronous and synchronous elements.

To help explain this, let me go back to Carpool Karaoke. I viewed the segment asynchronously. But, I also viewed it with my parents and my wife, so we were immediately able to talk about it (which reinforced the memory). 

I've since talked about it with other people who watched the segment. Even though they watched it at a different time than I did, we still consumed the same content. 

Good training is often like this.

Imagine again that you had to train 1,000 employees in 13 locations spread over three shifts on how to better serve upset customers. You wanted to focus on giving them specific skills for diffusing customer anger.

Here's how you could blend both asynchronous and synchronous elements:

Step 1: Everyone watches Chapter 1 from the Working With Upset Customers training video on Lynda.com. This part of the course focuses on diffusing customer anger and finding a way to help them.

Step 2: Supervisors hold team meetings. The purpose is to lead a team-level discussion about the training video. Employees can discuss their key learning moments and make a commitment to apply what they learned. The conversation could take place in a regularly scheduled team meeting to minimize operational disruptions.

Step 3: Supervisors provide feedback. The goal here is to check-in with each individual employee to see how well they're using the new skills, and to provide additional feedback to help them continue their development. Supervisors could do this as part of the regular feedback sessions they're already holding with their teams.

The net result of this plan is effective training that costs less and has far fewer logistical headaches.

What the Heck is a Customer Service Vision?

I've written about customer service visions a lot on this blog.

More recently, I started calling them customer experience visions. (Here’s why.)

The customer experience vision the number one thing that companies need to consistently deliver outstanding customer service. My research into elite customer service organizations reveals that nearly all of these companies have one.

So, what the heck is it?

This post will give you a short primer on what it is, examples from leading companies, and tools you can use to create your own.

What is a Customer Experience Vision?

Let's start with a basic definition.

A customer experience vision is a shared definition of an outstanding customer experience that gets everyone on the same page.

In some companies, this is a standalone statement that's separate from other items like mission, vision, and values. In other companies, it's integrated into another statement.

Here are just a few things that can do double duty as a customer experience vision:

  • Corporate mission statement

  • Corporate purpose statement

  • Corporate vision statement

  • Corporate values

  • Brand promise

  • Customer service philosophy

  • Customer service standards

Here's a great example from REI where the company uses it’s purpose statement as the customer experience visiont:

A life outdoors is a life well-lived.

This statement gives all REI employees clear direction on how they should do their work.

Imagine you are planning a big hike. The employees working in a typical sporting goods store would likely picture the hiking section if you asked them for help finding hiking gear.

Employees in this store focus on the stuff they sell, not customers. They don’t think about what the customer is trying to accomplish or what could help customers be more successful.

By contrast, walk into REI to get help planning for the same hike. Unlike the typical sporting goods store, REI employees are guided by their vision, “A life out doors is a life well-lived.” This is what REI employees picture:

This is me on top of Mt. San Jacinto, having a great time.

This hike was a new challenge for me. It was longer, at a higher altitude, more remote, and featured a wider temperature variation (50 degrees!) than I had ever encountered.

Fortunately, a helpful REI associate knew exactly how to prepare for a hike like this. He patiently guided me through the store and pointed out exactly what I needed. His advice, combined with resources on the REI website, helped me plan for the hike and ensured I had an amazing time.

What makes a great vision statement?

Good customer experience visions have three hallmarks:

  1. The definition is simple and easily understood

  2. It describes the type of experience you want your customers to have

  3. It reflects both who you are now and who you aspire to be more consistently in the future

Take another look at the example from REI and you'll see how it fits the test. It's one clearly worded sentence. It implicitly focuses on customers. And, it's authentic because it represents who REI actually is today.

The reason a customer experience vision like this is so essential is that it gives every employee, from the CEO to the frontlines, a clear guide to follow. I like to refer to it as a compass that points people in the right direction. Without a compass, it's easy to get lost.

You can read more about the three hallmarks of a memorable statement.

 

Customer Experience Vision Statement Examples

Here are just a few examples from companies that are well-known for outstanding customer service.

The Ritz Carlton

We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.

Southwest Airlines

The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit.

L.L. Bean

Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings and they will always come back for more.

USAA

Service. Loyalty. Honesty. Integrity.

In-N-Out

Quality, Cleanliness, and Service

These examples are all a little different, but they all fit the three hallmarks of a strong customer experience vision. Imagine working for any of these companies and you can see how easy it would be to learn the vision.

 

Develop Your Own Customer Experience Vision

A customer experience vision is essential if you want your company to be customer-focused. 

It can also work on a team level, if your span of control is a department and you don't think the rest of the organization is ready to get on board.

You can use my step-by-step guide to help you create your own.

Here are a few more tools that can help you: