How to end the conflict between marketing and customer service

Some feuds are timeless.

You have the Capulets and Montagues. The Hatfields and McCoys. And of course, there's marketing and customer service.

What's their beef?

I talked to both departments to get their sides of the story. The answers revealed a fundamental problem that plagues many companies. Here’s what they had to say.

What does marketing want from customer service?

I met with marketing to hear their side of the story. (Yes, all of marketing. Just go with it.) They tell me what they'd like most of all from the customer service department is a little cooperation.

Q: You mention cooperation is an issue. Can you tell me more about that?

"Customer service is always pushing back on everything we do.

"Take the brand style guide as an example.

"We lovingly, painstakingly put our new brand style guide together. It details the correct way to use our logo, our preferred color palettes and fonts, and even the language we should use when communicating externally.

"And this thing cost a mint. We hired expensive consulting firms, expensive research firms, and expensive graphic artists. We even printed the guide on expensive paper so people knew it was important.

"So we give the new guide to customer service and their attitude was like, 'We're busy,' and then I'm pretty sure they just dumped it in a drawer."

Q: What makes you think that?

"Just look at those chat conversations! Is 'bored robot' really our brand voice?!

"Or why do so many customer service reps write their email signature in comic sans font? Show me exactly where in the guide you see comic sans font! You know what, you can't, because it's not there!

"And show me one call where a rep uses the new, on-brand phone greeting and actually sounds like they mean it. All we hear about from customer service is how much talk time the new greeting adds, as if talk time is so bad. 

"You never hear the sales team complaining about talk time, I'll tell you that."

Q: Where are some other places you'd like more cooperation from customer service?

"Social media would be a good start. The social media coordinators are getting tired of endlessly tweeting, 'We're so sorry to hear that. Please email your information to support and we'll be happy to help you.'

"I tried asking customer service to help serve customers via social media, and they went ballistic. Something about workforce management and not having the budget to hire more people and buy more software.

"Oh and can we talk about the website?"

Q: Okay, tell me about the website.

"Well, I don't mean to get back on the branding soap box, but the support side of the website is atrocious.

"We spent a lot of time and money on an awesome website. We hired a video production company to make all these witty explainer videos that everyone loves.

"Then we hired an SEO team to..."

Q: Wait, a what?

"SEO. Search. Engine. Optimization. It improves our reach from organic searches so we can redeploy our cost-per-click ad budget to social media. We’ve been having a lot of success with retargeting campaigns lately."

Q: Um. What exactly is... No, never mind. Please keep going.

"So anyway, the website. It's amazing on the front end and then you get to the support section, which is maintained by customer service, and the whole thing couldn't be more off-brand if it tried. None of the support articles use our officially approved phrases from the brand guide.

"There's not one witty explainer video, either. Not one! I gave customer service the contact info for the video company we hired and they just complained about budget. It's always budget with them.

“And don't even get me started on the support site’s SEO."

Q: Deal. I won't. Is there anything you think customer service is doing well?

"They do have a lot of data. I've never seen so much data. Now that I think of it, it would be nice if they shared some of that data.

"No, not the boring stuff about SLAs, AHT, FCR, or any of those other boring acronyms. I'm talking about the good stuff, like what are customers saying?

"I'm looking for quality and quantity here. Give me a riveting story that aligns with one of our personas, and then give me data to tell me how many customers in that particular demographic feel that way, too!

"Is that really so hard?

"It's not. We found a contact center expert, Nate Brown, who understands a whole lot about branding and he says it's not difficult."

[Editor's note: This is true. Nate Brown did share an easy way to collect this data.]

Q: Okay, do you have time for one more question?

"Sorry. I'm double booked for two meetings and I'm already late to both. Gotta run!"

What does customer service want from marketing?

I sat down with the customer service department after meeting with marketing. Yes, the entire department. Yes, for all companies. (Seriously, this post is much better if you just go with it.)

Anyway, here's what customer service had to say.

Q: Marketing says they want some more help from you. What do you want from marketing?

"Help?! They want help?! Okay, let's talk about help.

"How about giving us more than zero notice when they launch a new promotion? Marketing is always cooking up some new idea that spikes our contact volume.

"The first time we find out about it is when the contacts start coming in, when it's too late to adjust our staffing and our team gets slammed.

"What's even worse is our reps have zero information. Customers know more about the promotion than we do, so our reps feel like idiots."

A: C'mon, it can't be that bad.

"Oh really? How about that time when marketing promised customers this special, limited-edition Szechuan sauce as part of promotion for some random cartoon show. They were really patting themselves on the back about that one, only they forgot to make sure we had enough sauce to give out.

“Nobody got enough Szechuan sauce, and customers freaked. Did they yell at marketing? No. They yelled at us.”

[Editor's note: Yes, this video is real.]

A: Have you shared this with marketing?

"We've tried, but they won't listen. Just last week, we got a ton of complaints about a new product launch.

"So I email marketing and say, 'Hey, we're getting a ton of complaints.' And their response was basically, 'You're customer service, isn't that your job?'

"They were totally dismissive."

A: How many complaints did you get?

"I don't know. A lot, I can tell you that. Everyone was talking about it."

A: Wait, but you have a ton of data. Why don't you have more data on complaints?

"I'd love to help you, but tracking that sort of thing is complicated. We've asked for some new software that will help us do that, but our request got denied. Meanwhile, marketing hired some blogger to write a fluff piece about how marketing and customer service should get along.

"We could have used that money to buy the software we need to get marketing their precious data."

A: Ahem. Let's change the subject.

"Wait! Is it you? Is that why you're writing this article? Is that what this is about?!"

A: So anyway, what else would you like from marketing?

"Resources. Marketing gets all the resources.

"The next time marketing comes up with a new, expensive campaign, it would be nice if they told us about it ahead of time and then paid for some training and collateral so we actually knew what the campaign was all about before our customers. We don’t have the budget to make all those witty explainer videos that marketing loves.

"A little understanding would also be nice. They don't realize we're working on different timelines.

"Marketing is thinking in terms of campaigns and launch dates sometime in the future. Customer service is thinking in terms of how many customers are in queue who want our attention right now.

"We need more resources if we're going to stop what we're doing and do something proactive like train our reps to respond to a new campaign."

How can marketing and customer service work together?

You might be able to tell from these interviews that marketing and customer service have conflicting goals. Marketing is focused on generating new business. Customer service is focused on efficiency.

The real victim of this feud is customer experience. Marketing makes promises that can’t be kept. Customer service isn’t empowered to make things right. They blame each other out of frustration.

The secret to resolving the conflict is creating a shared goal.

Customer experience expert, Jeanne Bliss, describes a metric called “net customer value” that can be used to unite these departments in pursuit of customer-driven growth. It tracks the value of new customers, lost customers, and customers retained in one single number.

Go to the 1:24 mark in this interview to hear her description.

What happens when marketing and customer service get along?

Buc-ee’s is a chain of gas station convenience stores, predominantly located in Texas. It wins and retains customers by doing something so mind-blowingly simple that it’s amazing competitors haven’t caught on.

The restrooms at Buc-ee's are amazing. They have been rated by GasBuddy as the cleanest in America. Several locations have 20 or more stalls in both the women’s and men’s rooms along with dedicated employees whose job is to keep everything spotless.

If you’ve ever been on a road trip, you understand the importance of clean restrooms.

Buc-ee’s can do what other gas stations can’t because it’s marketing and store operations teams (i.e. customer service) work together. Marketing knows clean restrooms are a draw, and advertises them on highway billboards. Store operators know about this important promise and ensure that promise is kept.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg for Buc-ee’s. Some gas stations have over 100 fuel pumps. It has friendly, helpful employees and the largest selection of just about anything you can imagine a gas station convenience store selling.

I wrote about this incredible company in my new book, The Guaranteed Customer Experience. The book comes out in March, but you can download chapter one right now to read about the Buc-ee’s customer experience.

Learn More

Discover how Buc-ee’s uses customer experience to drive away the competition.

Get Chapter 1

What is a customer service exceptionalism?

My wife, Sally, and I visited the Albion River Inn last November. It's located in a remote part of Northern California on a cliff top with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.

Pandemic health orders allowed limited dining in restaurants, but we decided it would be safer and more enjoyable to eat our meals in our room. The challenge was our room didn't have a comfortable place to sit and eat a meal.

So Sally contacted the front desk and requested a table and two chairs.

We knew this was a special request. It would be great if the inn could provide the table and chairs and it would be unreasonable of us to be disappointed if our special request was denied.

Yet we both admitted our natural reaction would be disappointment if a table and chairs weren't available. We had just presented the inn with a customer service exceptionalism.

Fortunately, the inn came through and a table and chairs were quickly delivered to our room. It made for some wonderful dining experiences during our stay.

Here's how to spot exceptionalisms, why they are dangerous, and how to handle them.

What are customer service exceptionalisms?

Exceptionalism are situations where a customer asks for something extra or unusual that would not normally be expected. It's an exception to what's customarily provided and it's not something that's readily advertised or offered.

Customer service writing expert, Leslie O'Flahavan, coined the term in response to a great discussion on LinkedIn about what to call this situation.

Asking the inn for a table and chairs was an exceptionalism.

Another example would be a dental patient who calls and asks to reschedule a routine cleaning appointment for later that same day. The patient will either be delighted if the office can grant the request or disappointed if the office is fully booked.

Why are exceptionalisms dangerous?

A customer service exceptionalism is highly likely to end in a service failure since the request is outside what's typically offered or expected. These requests are often difficult if not impossible to grant, yet customers might maintain unreasonable expectations.

Here are a few ways that exceptionalisms can be dangerous.

#1 The request can't be granted

Sometimes, businesses or individual employees don't have the power to grant the request.

Changing a cleaning appointment for later in the day is likely a logistical challenge for the dental office. Many dental offices are running at limited capacity and have to take extra time to sanitize between patients. Accommodating a same-day request that's not an emergency might not be possible without impacting other patients' appointments or compromising patient safety.

#2 There's no procedure

In some cases, a customer's request falls outside of standard operating procedure, which heightens the chances of an error.

A customer picked out a plant at a big box home improvement store, but they didn't have room in their car to take the plant home. So they asked an employee to set the plant aside for a few days until they could borrow a friend's truck and take the plant home.

The employee agreed, but the store didn't have a procedure to care for plants that were set aside from the normal display area. The plant didn't get watered and it died by the time the customer returned to pick it up.

#3 Exceptionalisms create future service failures

Granting an exceptionalism once can cause a customer to expect the same exception again in the future. Other customers might also adopt similar expectations.

This is a challenge for airlines when enforcing carry-on baggage requirements.

If one passenger is allowed to board with an extra bag, passengers who board the same flight later on might be furious if the plane runs out of overhead bin space and they have to check their carry-on.

That passenger who was allowed an extra carry-on might get angry on their next flight if that gate agent won't let them board with the extra bag. In the customer's mind, the exceptionalism is no longer an exception since they were previously allowed an extra carry-on.

How should you handle exceptionalisms?

It's helpful to approach difficult customer service situations by looking at what you can do before, during, and after the situation occurs.

Before customers request an exceptionalism, it's helpful to anticipate potential requests and prepare for them. On a previous visit to the Albion River Inn, the general manager did a wonderful job of this by anticipating our selected room would not be to our liking and proactively offering us a complimentary room upgrade.

During the exceptionalism request, it's essential to empower employees to grant reasonable requests as much as possible.

However, there are times when an exceptionalism cannot be granted. In those situations, the employee should do a few things to prevent customers from getting too disappointed.

1. Listen and respond to the customer's emotions.

2. Treat the customer and their request with respect.

3. Use the partner technique to show the customer you're on their side.

4. Give the customer options.

Giving options is a great technique for defusing potential anger because it gives the customer agency over what happens next. Even if the options aren't great, they are likely to elicit a better reaction than a flat "No."

After the exceptionalism, try to learn from the situation.

• Is this request likely to happen often?

• Can a small change make the request easy to grant?

• Is the request a potential opportunity?

Our request for a table and chairs was a potential opportunity.

Sally and I agreed we would have paid extra to have a table and chairs delivered to our room if this option was offered as an add-on when we booked our stay. Proactively offering this amenity would create two revenue opportunities:

1. Table and chair rentals

2. Additional revenue for the restaurant

The restaurant had limited seating capacity, and quickly filled its reservations each night. The inn could generate more revenue by encouraging guests to dine in their room and making it feel like a benefit rather than a sacrifice.

It was definitely a benefit for us. Just look at this view!

Additional Resources

I’ve recommended The Albion River Inn to many friends over the years. In addition to wonderful views from your room, it’s located near excellent hiking in lush redwood forests. Scotch-lovers will rejoice at the selection of over 150 different bottles of Scotch in the restaurant bar!

Customer service exceptionalisms are an opportunity to manage customer expectations. You can learn more about expectation management from my LinkedIn Learning course.

You'll need a LinkedIn Learning subscription to view the entire course, but a 30-day trial is available.

Set yourself up for success with good customer service from Customer Service: Managing Customer Expectations by Jeff Toister

What's in your Jar of Awesome for 2020?

My wife, Sally, and I have a fun New Year’s tradition.

Throughout the year, whenever something really good or noteworthy happens, we write it down on a piece of paper and stick it in our Jar of Awesome. Yes, there’s an actual jar.

Then, on New Year’s Day, we open the jar and read the notes.

It’s a fun way to remember all the good things that happened during the past year. The notes might be about trips, family events, home projects, professional milestones, or anything else we feel like celebrating.

The Jar of Awesome helps us stay optimistic.

There were a lot of challenges in 2020, but our Jar of Awesome is still pretty full. Each time we look at the jar throughout the year, it’s a visual reminder to be intentional about making great memories.

What’s in your jar?

Take a moment to leave a comment and share one positive memory from 2020. Let’s start 2021 with smiling faces and optimism in our hearts!

How to set a good out-of-office message

Are you taking time off for the holidays? If so, don’t forget to set an out of office message.

With so many holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, and Festivus, December is a time when people take a few days off from work. Keep in mind that we all don’t take the same days off.

• Some people celebrate Christmas, others don’t.

• Some get two full weeks off, while others just get Christmas and New Years Day.

• Many don’t take any time off at all.

When you are out of the office, it is important to set appropriate expectations about when you might return a phone call or email. Otherwise, someone might anxiously wait for your response and even think a little less of you when they don't hear back.

Here’s how to set a good out of office message.

What makes a good out of office message?

Out of office messages should have three key elements:

• Inform the person you are not responding for a period of time

• Tell the person when you will resume normal communication

• Provide an alternative contact should the person have an urgent need

For out of office emails, it’s helpful to put “Out of Office” in the subject line. Here’s an example of an out of office email:

Subject: Out of office

I am currently out of the office on vacation, returning on Monday, January 4.

If this is an urgent matter, please call or text me at 619-955-7946. Otherwise, I will receive your email when I'm back to work on January 27.

Happy Holidays!
Jeff

Notice I left my own phone number as the alternative contact. It gives people a way to reach me if they really need to, but they’ll know they’re contacting me while I’m on vacation. That’s usually an effective deterrent for all but the most urgent contacts.

What communication channels need an out of office message?

Email is essential. It’s where most of us get the bulk of our business communication, so it’s important to have an email out of office message at a minimum.

An out of office message sets clear expectations that you will not be responding as quickly as you normally would. So whether you set out of office messages on other channels depends on how people normally contact you.

Set up out of office messages for phone, MS Teams, or Slack if you expect a lot of people will try to reach you in any of those channels. When in doubt, set a message anyway.

A phone out of office is as simple as changing your voice message. Teams allows you to set a status message when people contact you. Slack recommends updating your custom status to signal you are out of office.

Text is more difficult. If you have a work-only phone, you can put your phone in do-not-disturb mode and set an auto reply. It’s tough to do if you use the same phone for work and personal reasons.

Social media is also tricky. I’ll sometimes pin a tweet that says I’m out of the office, but people don’t realistically look at your profile before tagging you. So I usually just respond to social media messages when I’m back to work.

How to stop checking messages on vacation

Many people feel compelled to keep checking messages while on vacation. There are a few easy fixes to this problem, but it does take a bit of discipline.

Start by alerting your key contacts a week in advance. Let them know when you’ll be out of the office, and ask them to touch base with anything urgent before then.

Next, don’t respond while on vacation.

You’ve set an out of office message for a reason. It sets a clear expectation that you won’t be responding. So if you start responding anyway, you’ve just changed the expectation and made it okay for people to contact you.

I won’t lie. When I’m on vacation, but able to check messages, I still check at least once daily. I quickly scan messages for anything urgent and only respond when absolutely necessary.

Don’t forget to turn out of office off!

Be sure to turn off your out of office messages when you get back to the office.

It’s mildly embarrassing for people to email you on February 1 and get a message that says, “I’m out of the office until January 1.” Don’t be that person.

Who should write your customer service vision?

I could tell my client wasn't feeling great.

Her company had recently written their customer service vision statement, following the process outlined in The Service Culture Handbook. Everyone seemed excited about the rollout, but something didn't feel right to my client.

We talked about it a little to get at the source of that nagging feeling. It finally hit her, "I don't think we had the right people on the vision writing team."

Getting the right people on the team can be a challenge.

You need the right mix of people to represent your culture. Too many executives, too few frontline employees, or too many people who all think alike can cause blindspots.

This post will walk you through how to pick your vision-writing team while avoiding some common pitfalls. I've also included a link to my step-by-step process at the bottom.

Before you get started, check out this post if you want to familiarize yourself on the customer service vision concept.

Top mistakes when selecting your vision writing team

Let's start by looking at a few common mistakes organizations make when selecting the team to write the customer service vision.

Mistake #1: Only executives

Some leaders write the customer service vision at an executive retreat. I've called this the biggest mistake when building a service culture.

That's because frontline employees and middle managers had no ownership stake in writing the statement, which makes it harder to get their buy-in. A statement written by executives usually excludes something important because executives have one perspective on the culture.

Put less politely, a customer service vision written exclusively by executives almost always sets off employees' bullshit meter.

Mistake #2: Involving customers

It might seem counterintuitive, but customers should not participate when writing your customer service vision.

There are many reasons for this (detailed here), but the gist is a customer service vision statement should reflect your organization's culture. Customers aren't really part of that.

Mistake #3: Too many participants

I’ve facilitated vision writing meetings with as many as 30 people when I first started refining this process. It was always too cumbersome having that many people in the room trying to wordsmith a single sentence.

Trial and error taught me that the ideal vision writing team consists of 7-10 people. (More on that in a moment.) Any more than 10, and there's too much noise in the room. Any fewer, and there’s not enough diversity.

Bottom line, when writing a customer service vision, it's important to follow the recipe outlined in The Service Culture Handbook.

Get the book

The Service Culture Handbook

Available on Amazon

Who should be on your vision writing team?

My client hadn't made any of the classic mistakes. Yet she still felt her company didn’t choose the right mix of people to write the vision.

We talked about it and she revealed that people applied to be on the team. The leadership team got a lot of applications, which was great! But they hadn't created a selection process ahead of time.

In retrospect, my client realized the application itself was an issue. Employees were asked to describe their thoughts on the organization’s culture, and executives selected employees who most aligned with their own thinking.

The ideal team should reflect a diversity of thought within the organization, so critical perspectives are included. Here's how to build your team:

Team Size

The ideal vision writing team should have 7-10 members, plus a facilitator. The facilitator should be someone neutral, and you might want to consider hiring someone external.

If your team will be meeting virtually to write the statement, I recommend keeping the team size closer to 7 people. This makes the process easier to manage, though I've facilitated virtual vision writing meetings with 10 people.

Resource: How to write your vision in a virtual meeting

Team Composition

It's important that the group represent as many perspectives within the organization as possible. I like to start by adding three core people to the team:

• at least one frontline employee

• at least one senior leader

• at least one mid-level manager

There's a few additional qualifications I'd suggest considering for each person.

Frontline employees:

• Customer-facing

• Someone who often "speaks for the group"

• Unafraid to speak up in front of senior leaders

When possible, it's good to have multiple frontline employees on the team.

Senior leaders:

• As senior as possible

• Authority to implement the vision statement

• Influential with the rest of the senior team

• Willingness to listen to employee perspectives

Mid-level managers:

• Positive relationship with frontline employees

• Supervises at least one frontline employee on the team

I often find that employees and their direct supervisor bounce ideas off of each other during the vision writing meeting, so it's good to have them in the same room as long as they have a positive working relationship.

Once you've identified your three core people, here are some additional people to add to the team:

• Additional customer-facing employees

• Non-customer facing frontline employees

• Support employees (e.g. human resources, training, finance, etc.)

I try to include a maximum of three senior leaders on the team. You want the vision statement to capture their big picture perspective, but you also don't want so many senior leaders in the room that other team members are less willing to speak their minds.

The bottom line for this team is representation. (See my interview with J. Israel Greene on why representation is critical to your culture.)

Keep in mind that if you follow the entire process, you will have already surveyed everyone in the organization to ask for their input prior to the vision writing meeting.

Additional Resources

Here are a few additional resources to help you write your customer service vision statement.

Contact Me: Get stuck? Have a question? Please contact me. I'm happy to offer some advice and suggestions at no obligation.

The Service Culture Handbook: This book outlines a step-by-step process for building a customer-focused culture. Chapter three is devoted to writing a customer service vision statement.

Vision Writing Process: This vision writing process will guide you step-by-step through creating your vision. It's the same process I've used with my own clients for many years.

LinkedIn Learning Video: This video on LinkedIn Learning can guide you through the vision writing process. You'll need a LinkedIn Learning subscription to view the entire course.

Write a customer service vision from Leading a Customer-Centric Culture by Jeff Toister

How to improve your reputation with average customer service

Customer service is getting worse.

That's the finding from two recent reports. Companies are struggling to avoid service failures and keep their customers happy. But a third report and two top customer experience experts offer a glimmer of hope.

You can stand out from the competition by being average.

Forget wows. Stop worrying about delight. Don't fret over extraordinary. Just be consistently, perfectly, boringly average.

There are few caveats.

1. Your average has to be just a little better than the competition.

2. Your average has to be consistent.

More on those in a moment. But first, let's look at the state of customer service.

Is customer service getting worse?

Yes. Two prominent consumer studies show that customers perceive that service is getting worse.

The first is the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which publishes a quarterly national customer satisfaction score for the United States. The composite ACSI score has declined or remained the same for seven quarters.

Image source: The American Customer Satisfaction Index

The second study is the 2020 National Customer Rage Study from Customer Care Measurement and Consulting (CCMC). It found that the number of households experiencing at least one problem over the past 12 months increased by 10 percentage points since the 2017 study.

Image source: Customer Care Measurement and Consulting

There is some hope.

I conducted a survey of 1,084 U.S. consumers in November, 2020 and asked them what type of service they receive most often. Surprisingly, 66.7 percent said they usually receive good service.

Get the Report

Download a copy of the report, “What type of service do customers receive most often?”

Should you try to delight every customer?

No. It’s impossible to delight every customer, and trying to do so can be costly. It might seem counterintuitive, but research shows that delighting customers has no significant benefits.

Customer experience expert, Matt Dixon, is the author of the classic business book, The Effortless Experience.

Dixon told me in an interview that he and his colleagues set out to research customer delight and discovered something unexpected. They found that companies were better off avoiding service failures.

"On average, most service interactions don't create loyalty at all. They create disloyalty."

That's because, try as they might, companies often fail to keep their promises.

• Products don't work

• Services fall short of expectations

• Delivery is a logistical nightmare

CCMC's Customer Rage Study shows that companies continue to make life miserable for customers when something goes wrong:

• 2.9 contacts were needed to resolve a typical complaint.

• 58 percent of customers never got a resolution.

• 65 percent felt rage while trying to get a problem solved.

Despite the widespread use of surveys, many companies are doing a poor job identifying the problems that lead to customer rage.

For example, I recently experienced 18 points of frustration when ordering a table and barstools. It's likely the company only identified one.

There's got to be a better way.

How average service can win customers

Average really isn't the right word. Consistency is the key, as Shep Hyken points out in his excellent book, The Cult of the Customer. Hyken has a fantastic definition of customer amazement.

"Amazement is above average, but it's above average all of the time."

Hyken elaborates that companies win customers by being just a little above average, but doing it consistently. It's the consistency that captures customers' attention and eventually earns their trust.

You can hear more from Hyken in this interview.

There are a few things companies can do to be more consistent. The starting point is to create a customer service vision, which is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page.

I researched customer-focused companies while writing The Service Culture Handbook. A clear vision was a common trait that set elite organizations apart.

The next step is to gather voice of customer feedback. Surveys can play a role, but there are many ways to gather customer feedback without a survey.

It's also important to identify reasons employees struggle to provide consistent customer service. I uncovered ten obstacles in my book, Getting Service Right.

Finally, it's important to understand that every customer is different.

Which brings us back to my study on the type of service customers receive most often. Most people felt they usually receive good service, which is service that meets their expectations.

But there was nuance to the responses. Perceptions changed by age group, gender, and geography. For example:

• More women than men reported they receive outstanding service most often.

• People in the western United States were more likely to report outstanding service.

• Older customers felt they receive more outstanding service.

Get the Report

Download a copy of the report, “What type of service do customers receive most often?”

Take Action

Think about the companies you admire most.

They didn't earn their reputation by wowing customers once in awhile. Elite companies are known for dependably good experiences.

Let your competition flail about trying to delight customers. They'll inevitably fall short. You can stand out by being really good.

What do you need to do first as a customer service leader

You've just landed your dream job as a customer service leader. Now what?

It's a question I've been getting a lot lately. That's great news—it means people are getting hired or getting promoted. That's a source of optimism.

(If you haven't gotten promoted yet, this guide can help you.)

Starting a new job in leadership can be tricky. You'll probably spot a lot of work that needs to be done. Getting employees to buy-in and change their old habits can be a daunting task.

My friend, Jeremy Watkin, started a new job a few months ago. He's the new Director of Customer Experience and Support at NumberBarn, a marketplace for local and toll free phone numbers.

I interviewed Watkin to learn what advice he has for new customer service managers. It turns out, he has a lot of great insights.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• What is the first thing you should do when you start a new job?

• How do you stay committed to your own onboarding?

• What should you do before asking for new technology?

• How do you get your new team to buy-in?

• What can you do to build trust with your employees?

You can watch the full 20 minute interview, or read the re-cap below.

What is the first thing you should do when you start a new job?

Watkin suggests creating a plan before you arrive on your first day.

Much of the initial plan should involve listening. Listening to employees, listening to colleagues, and listening to customers.

You might be tempted to make changes quickly. After all, you were hired to get results! But you can't know what's really going on until you spend a lot of time listening and observing.

"One of my priorities was to go through a decent chunk of onboarding," said Watkin. This included taking a hands-on approach to learning the support role.

One surprise for Watkin was how much he had missed supporting customers. He had spent the past five years working outside of daily support operations, and it was refreshing to get back to it. "As hard as customer support work is, I've actually really enjoyed interacting with customers again."

Hear more on this topic at 1:06 in the interview.

How do you stay committed to your own onboarding?

"That is a huge challenge," admitted Watkin.

It's easy to get sucked into putting out fires. You might spot a problem that needs to be fixed, or an executive might pull you into an "emergency" project.

Be patient. There are some big benefits to spending time on onboarding.

“I really went into those first 30 days or so, taking just a ton of notes and prioritizing the high-level things that I think needed to be improved," said Watkin.

This gave him an advantage when it came time to ask for more resources.

"A lot of this stuff costs money." Knowing both the use case and the financials involved helped Watkin prioritize his requests, and make a better pitch.

"When there's a cost associated with it, it really helped me to write it down and try to think about the business case or ROI associated with it."

Hear more at 3:11 in the interview.

What should you do before asking for new technology?

It’s natural for a new leader to immediately spot opportunities for new technology. Watkin made sure he accomplished some more fundamental tasks firsts.

I was happy to hear that Watkin started by learning about NumberBarn's customer service vision and making sure everyone understood it.

A customer service vision is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page. It's the foundation of the process I outline in The Service Culture Handbook.

The vision can act as a filter that helps you prioritize what needs to be done now, and what can wait until later.

Once Watkin understood the vision, he spent time with the support team determining the key behaviors would be expected for each customer interaction. Frontline employees were asked for their input.

"We came up with eight," said Watkin. "And that became our quality process."

This exercise convinced Watkin to focus on helping the team do a consistent job with every contact before asking for new, expensive technology. "As much as I would love a really nice quality assurance tool, we are accomplishing it all through Google forms and sheets right now."

Listen to Watkin share more about this at 6:20.

How do you get your new team to buy-in?

"I think some of it is a really easy sell," said Watkin.

"It's not hard to prove that if you can provide a customer with an accurate response, if you can empower them so they don't have to respond more times than necessary, then customers will be nicer and volume will go down."

Helping employees see the benefits of a great service was a positive start. Watkin has also spent a lot of time building credibility with the team by leading by example.

"They read the emails that I send to customers, and they absolutely will take a cue from that."

Hear more at the 11:36 mark.

What can you do to build trust with your employees?

Employees are more likely to trust you when you listen and encourage them to open up and share.

Watkin was careful that the questions he asked made it clear he was there to help. "What are your pain points? What do you wish we could take off your plate, or make it easier to do?"

It turned out there was a lot that employees wanted. They asked for product features, new tools, and even better processes.

Those employee conversations helped Watkin learn a lot about what was working, and what was not. It also showed employees he was their advocate.

"They might not be able to back it up with data, but they're talking to customers all day, every day. They have their finger on the pulse of what's going on."

You can hear more on this topic at 15:53.

Additional Resources

Here are some resources to help you dive even deeper into this topic.

Watkin shares a lot of his experiences on the Customer Service Life blog that he co-authors with Jenny Dempsey. Dempsey is another customer service leader who has recently taken a new job, and the two of them share a lot of honest, authentic examples about overcoming challenges in customer service.

He was kind enough to mention The Service Culture Handbook as a helpful guide. You can find it on Amazon or go to BookPal for discounts on 25 or more copies.

Finally, new managers would also be wise to build these relationships.

---

How to get customers to wear masks

Two hair stylists in Springfield, Missouri developed coronavirus symptoms, but kept working.

The first stylist, we'll call her Stylist A, got a COVID test six days after symptoms first appeared. She continued serving clients while awaiting the results.

The second stylist, Stylist B, developed respiratory problems three days after Stylist A became ill. She continued to work alongside Stylist A until Stylist A tested positive for COVID.

Both Stylist A and B stopped working that same day, and Stylist B got tested. Two days later, Stylist B’s COVID test also came back positive.

The county health department traced the stylists' contacts:

• Four members of Stylist A's household contracted COVID.

• None of the Stylist B's personal contacts got the disease.

• None of the 139 clients Stylist A and B served got sick.

How did no clients get sick, despite close personal contact with the infected stylists? An analysis from the CDC points to one factor: wearing masks.

Getting customers to wear masks is critical to stopping the spread of COVID.

Many customer service professionals have told me this can be difficult. Some customers forget, or claim masks are uncomfortable. Others just don't want to be told what to do.

This article describes how you can get more customers to comply.

I've dug into my own research on employee and customer behavior from writing Getting Service Right. You'll also hear from experts such as Professor Gavan J. Fitzsimons at Duke University and Susan Discroll, President of the Crisis Prevention Institute.

Employees must wear masks at all times

Customer service employees can set a positive example by wearing masks themselves. Masks are also an important part of employee safety, since many people contract the coronavirus from coworkers.

Many employees are too lax about wearing masks around each other. Once customers are gone, the masks come off.

I've witnessed maskless employees in retail stores, restaurants, and numerous other businesses. Construction workers, hotel housekeepers, firefighters, and TSA agents have all been seen congregating without masks.

The hair salon in Springfield enforced a strict mask policy with clients. Stylist A and Stylist B reportedly wore masks at all times while cutting hair, and clients were required to do the same.

Yet Stylist A and B took their masks off and interacted with each other once clients were gone. This is likely how Stylist B became infected.

Here’s another example.

The rental car employee and a coworker (you can just see the top of her head) aren't wearing masks, despite being close to another company's customers. They only wore their masks when customers approached the counter.

This behavior is dangerous.

Contact tracing in San Diego county, where I live, reveals more COVID exposures happen at work than any other setting. By far. The chart below shows data from June 5 through November 7, 2020.

Why you need to have a strong mask policy

A clear and enforceable policy gives employees something to point to when asking a customer to wear a mask. It can also help set expectations before there’s ever an issue.

My wife, Sally, and I recently flew for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

We flew Alaska Airlines, in part because Alaska requires all passengers to wear masks. The policy explains when masks must be worn, what types of masks are allowed and not allowed, and that the policy covers all passengers over the age of two.

What's more important is Alaska enforces its mask policy.

Passengers must wear a mask to board their flight. Once on board, anyone who repeatedly refuses to wear a mask is literally given a yellow card.

It's a final warning before being banned from flying Alaska.

Consistent enforcement creates more consistent behavior. On my flight, I observed all Alaska employees and all passengers following the policy.

Meanwhile, a gate agent at a competing airline announced the airline’s mask policy before starting the boarding process. Just a few minutes later, that same gate agent allowed this maskless passenger to board a flight. Credibility gone.

How should you communicate your mask policy?

Sharing your policy with customers is just as important as having one. Use multiple methods of communication to repeat the message multiple times. It helps send a clear and consistent message that customers will be more likely to follow.

In my experience as an adult learning specialist, I've learned that two things can make a message particularly sticky: repetition and novelty.

• Repetition: people are more aware of messages they hear often.

• Novelty: people are more likely to pay attention to something unusual.

The Alaska Airlines mask policy was clearly explained multiple times before I boarded my flight, including when I:

• Booked my ticket

• Checked-in on the app

• Got to the gate

• Onboard the flight

The messages were also communicated in different ways. For instance, when I went to check-in for my flight on the app, I had to click a pop-up acknowledgement that I would wear a mask. There was signage at the gate reminding passengers about the mask policy, and the gate agent shared a verbal reminder.

Alaska also did a great job of providing "subtle nudges" to encourage customers to wear masks. Here are a few examples:

• All employees wore masks.

• Images on the Alaska website depicted people wearing masks.

• Passengers were offered sanitizing wipes on board.

Think about how you can use the principles of repetition and novelty to encourage customers to wear masks.

• Signage

• Websites

• Apps

• Email and text confirmations

• Employees

How do you prevent customers from getting upset about masks?

The masked, cheerful employee asked the unmasked customer, “Do you have a mask?” as soon as the customer entered the store.

You could tell the customer was slightly embarrassed. (After all, his face was clearly visible.) He apologized, left the store, and returned a moment later wearing a mask. The customer apologized again.

The employee told me this was a typical encounter. Most customers simply forget to wear their mask, and quickly put one one when reminded.

A few customers resist. It's important to approach these customers the right way to avoid a confrontation.

Gavan Fitzsimons is a professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University who has done extensive research on reactance. This is a psychological term that refers to a person getting upset when they feel someone or something is trying to control their behavior.

One of his more interesting research findings is that people are more likely to resist expert opinions when it contradicts their own beliefs.

"The best efforts I’ve seen at encouraging mask wearing have two key components," said Fitzsimons. "They provide the customer with a sense of agency, and provide a motivation for the customer to comply."

Agency means giving customers choices.

For example, a retail customer who doesn't have a mask can be given a few options to choose from:

• You can give them a free mask to wear in the store.

• They can opt for curbside pick-up.

• The customer can choose home delivery (where available).

Fitzsimons recommends using positive messaging to enhance customer motivation. "Even when masks are required by law, framing that gives customers motivation and agency will enhance mask wearing substantially." 

An example would be thanking customers for doing their part to keep everyone safe. You can hear more from Fitzsimons in this short video.

(Side note: research shows that thanking customers can be more powerful than an apology in certain situations.)

What can you do if a maskless customer gets upset?

The most important thing to do is avoid a confrontation. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done because our natural instincts are to either argue with an angry customer or get away from them.

This short video explains how to recognize your own natural instinct and overcome it.

Understanding our natural instincts from Working with Upset Customers by Jeff Toister

Susan Driscoll, President of the Crisis Prevention Institute, shared some helpful advice for soothing upset customers on a National Retail Federation podcast.

"Behavior influences behavior," said Driscoll. "You cannot control someone else's behavior. You can control your behavior."

Driscoll explained that an angry customer is experiencing a form of distress. "You have to understand first, that there is distress, and respond as you would to any distressed person. They can be attacking, but look at them as a distressed person."

One way to de-escalate the situation is to give the customer options. Driscoll suggested you might ask the customer if they'd prefer to step out of line and discuss the issue or speak with a manager instead.

Giving the customer options helps bring the customer back to a more rational state of mind.

One final suggestion is to review your company's security policy. The last thing you want is a physical altercation with a customer. All employees should know what to do if a customer becomes dangerous.

Take Action

There's a lot to digest here, so let's recap:

1. Make sure all employees wear masks.

2. Create a clear mask policy.

3. Use repetition and novelty to communicate the policy.

4. Give customers agency to get them to comply.

5. Treat upset customers with empathy.

Finally, please leave a comment or contact me with questions. A few things I'd like to know from you:

• What's been your experience with maskless customers?

• What techniques have worked for you?

• What techniques have not worked so well?

---

Why strong cultures have diversity and representation | J. Israel Greene interview

You've heard these words a lot lately: diversity and representation.

There's probably some confusion. What do they mean? How do they impact my business? Is this another fad project I need to work on?

Let's get one thing out of the way. It's not a fad.

My research into customer-focused cultures, and my own experience, shows that diversity and representation are incredibly important. It’s been an important topic for me since 1993, when I joined a nonprofit organization called AIESEC that helped people gain business skills while learning about other cultures.

But don't take my word for it.

I recently interviewed J. Israel Greene, founder and CEO of Greene Consulting Group. Greene was just named one of the top 10 Trending Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion training experts by All American Speakers.

Like me, Greene is obsessed with organizational culture.

Here are just a few topics we discussed:

• What is diversity, inclusion, and representation?

• How do job postings unconsciously eliminate diverse candidates?

• Why should companies care about diversity and representation?

• How does diversity improve team dynamics?

• How can we make the conversation about inclusion more inclusive?

You can watch the full 20 minute interview, or read through some highlights below.

What are diversity, inclusion, and representation?

Greene gave a few definitions to get us started.

Diversity is "the variations of different characteristics that make a group of individuals unique."

These include characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Greene pointed out that diversity can also include socio-economic status, disability, age, and even experience.

Inclusion is the process of making a diverse group of people feel like they belong in a group.

Representation occurs when people can see themselves in the workforce because there are other people like them in the group.

One of the challenges companies face is they might have diversity in entry-level positions, but the workforce becomes more homogenous as you move up the management ranks.

Hear more from Greene at :56 in the interview.

How do job postings eliminate diversity?

Recruiters can unconsciously eliminate diversity through the selection process.

For example, a recent job posting included the words, "seeking a recent college graduate" in the advertising copy. Since most recent college grads are in their early 20s, this creates an automatic bias against older workers.

In the United States, it's illegal to discriminate against job applicants over 40, so this job posting is already on shaky legal ground. The posting could also be a turn-off to well-qualified employees who are changing careers or just really like the work.

And not every older worker is interested in climbing the career ladder. I highly recommend The Intern with Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway to highlight this point perfectly.

Greene advises companies to screen job postings for unnecessary qualifications that might reduce the number of otherwise well-qualified candidates you receive. For instance, requiring a college degree is often an arbitrary requirement, especially if a particular skill set or area of study is not specified.

We discuss this challenge at 3:01.

Why should companies care about diversity or representation?

This isn't a fluffy concept. Diverse companies have stronger cultures, and tend to have better financial results.

Greene mentioned a couple fo studies that show the impact of diversity on the bottom line.

• Deloitte: diverse companies average 2.3x greater cashflow per employee

• McKinsey: for every 10% increase in diversity, companies average an .8% EBITDA gain

Another advantage is innovation.

"I work with companies in the tech sector," said Greene. "For them, innovation is one of the most important things that they can be doing. So all of a sudden, when you have this diversity in your organization—diversity of thought, diversity of people—you're now bringing innovation to the people."

A study by Boston Consulting Group discovered that companies with above-average diversity on their management teams reported innovation revenue that was 19 percentage points higher than companies with below-average diversity.

You can hear more at the 4:12 mark.

How does diversity improve team dynamics?

What we’re really talking about here is culture—how people think and act in the workplace. Greene described some tangible benefits that come with having diversity.

"Employees, if they feel like they're part of a community, and that their voice is heard in the workplace, they're almost five times more likely to feel empowered to perform."

Diversity can also help employees better cope with adversity. "When something happens, and there's someone to speak up for you, you feel represented."

When employees don't feel included in a company culture, their performance and contributions diminish. "If you don't have a company that speaks up on your behalf, it makes only a portion of you show up.”

Greene said that employees ask three basic questions when deciding whether to follow company leaders:

1. Can I trust you?

2. Do you care for me?

3. Are things going to get better if I follow you?

Go to 7:19 in the interview to hear more.

How can you increase the diversity of your leadership team?

Earlier in the conversation, Greene described a common challenge where there's diversity among frontline employees, but not on the leadership team.

I've witnessed that challenge first-hand while running the talent management function as a corporate training director. Our leadership team was fairly homogenous, and our recruiting team had to work very hard to change that.

Greene makes a few suggestions for companies.

The first is to build relationships with organizations that can help you access a more diverse pool of candidates. For example, Greene is the vice president-elect of the Chicago chapter of the National Black MBA Association. He explained that his organization frequently partners with corporate recruiters to help them recruit the organization's members.

Another opportunity is to nurture internal talent. This includes mentorship and sponsorship programs that help diverse leaders, and potential leaders, feel a stronger sense of belonging and commitment.

Hear more at 10:32 in the interview.

How can you foster more inclusion in the workplace?

Greene shared a quote from Verna Myers that explains it well.

Diversity is inviting someone to the dance. Inclusion is asking someone to dance.

Leaders should try to ask more employees to dance (metaphorically). Look for small opportunities to connect with someone else. It may seem trivial, but taking a personal interest in someone can go a long way.

This is especially important now, when many teams work remotely. It's easy for remote employees to remain unseen if they aren’t physically present in an office with their coworkers.

I once saw a simple example of intentional inclusion while visiting the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. We were treated to a coffee tasting that was led by a remote employee. This allowed the employee to participate in the onsite event, even though she wasn't physically present.

Go to 14:04 to hear Greene share more ideas.

How do we make the conversation about inclusion more inclusive?

One experience that I've often had is inclusion is not always inclusive.

For example, I've been part of groups where I was told "there's too many white males here." I fit that description, so it immediately sends the message that I'm unwelcome.

On the other hand, I've been part of other groups where someone said, "How can we increase diversity and representation?" This is an invitation that encourages everyone to take part in the process.

"We need to frame things in the affirmative," said Greene. That means using positive statements that focus on how we can do "more of" versus negative statements that might make people feel excluded.

Greene explained that people sometimes view diversity as if it's a piece of pie. There's only so much pie to go around, so if you give someone a bigger piece, people worry that someone else will get a smaller piece.

This thinking can be limiting.

Go to 17:40 in the interview to hear Greene explain a better approach.

---

Why you need to see things from your customer's perspective

Was it one friction point or 18?

That's the question from a recent furniture buying experience. One seems minor, while 18 feels egregious. The answer depends on your perspective.

I don't want to name the company, so let's just call them "Ceramics Shed." From their perspective, there was one service failure. Ceramics Shed issued a partial refund on shipping due to a misunderstanding over the delivery process.

From my perspective, there were at least 18 noticeable friction points in the experience. Buying furniture from Ceramics Shed has been a painful process. It's unlikely I'll do business with this company again.

Here's an account of those friction from the customer's perspective (mine).

My intent is not to call out the company for a poor experience, which is why I cleverly changed the name to make it harder to identify. The goal is to illustrate the dangers of missing your customer's perspective.

Discussion question: How many of these issues would have been detected by your company?

The high-friction furniture buying experience

I ordered a pub table and four barstools for a room I'm updating in my home. The first friction point came when I tried to place the order online. It proceeded to get comically worse.

Friction #1: The Ceramics Shed website didn't offer precise delivery dates for the items. Here were the quoted delivery windows:

• Barstools: October 15-19

• Table: October 23-November 6

These are way too broad. Why not just put, “When we get to it” or “Soon” as the delivery window?! The vague delivery dates were a real problem because I knew I'd be home to receive the shipment on some of the dates, but not on others.

Friction #2: There was no obvious way to get a better shipping estimate from the website, so I called to place the order. Cue sad hold music. Nobody likes to call to finish an online order.

I was able to get a better shipping window from Samantha, the customer service rep I spoke with. Samantha promised all of the items would be delivered together on October 28 via "white glove" service.

Friction #3: The total delivery charge for the order was $288.60. This is incredibly expensive, especially when you consider that Ceramics Shed has local stores. Similar local competitors typically charge $99 for furniture delivery. I reluctantly agreed to the charge because the table and chairs were exactly what I wanted.

Friction #4: Ceramics Shed sent an email recapping my order. It gave the original shipping windows I had seen from the website, rather than confirming the October 28 delivery date I had agreed upon with Samantha.

Friction #5: Another email. This one told me the barstools had shipped and would be delivered on October 14. Did I mention Samantha told me the order would arrive on October 28? Avoiding this hassle was the whole reason I called in the first place (see Friction #2).

Friction #6: The barstools were delivered on October 13. Ceramics Shed clearly plays fast and loose with time. If you're keeping score, that didn't hit any of the three promised delivery windows:

• Website: October 15-19

• Samantha: October 28

• Email: October 14

Friction #7: The barstools were left outside my front door in large packages. Samantha had promised me "white glove" delivery when I placed the order and paid an exorbitant $288.60 for shipping. She had confirmed that white glove means the delivery team would place the items inside my home and haul away all the packaging.

Friction #8: The cardboard boxes the barstools came in were too large to fit inside my recycling bin, so I had to break them down and drive them to a recycling center. That chore took more than 30 minutes.

Friction #9: I called to follow up on the table delivery since I was no longer confident it would arrive on October 28 as promised. Just in case it’s not clear, I don’t enjoy repeatedly calling customer service lines.

Friction #10: I had to navigate through endless menu prompts, key in my order number, and then wait on hold for several minutes. Right about now was when I decided to write a post about my experience with “Ceramics Shed.” Fortunately, I had time to start outlining the key points.

Friction #11: An employee named Rebecca answered the phone. The first thing she asked me for was my order number, even though I had already entered it into the phone menu. Rebecca explained that the order numbers don't come through to her system. (Then why did I have to key it in, Ceramics Shed?!)

Friction #12: Rebecca checked the status of my order without asking the reason for my call. She told me the barstools would be delivered on either October 14 or 15. I heard this with my ears while I was staring at the barstools that had already been delivered. (Side note: I was proud of myself for not verbalizing the joke in my head about building a time machine.)

Friction #13: Rebecca couldn't help me with my actual problem, so she transferred me to another department. Ceramics Shed really needs to update its phone menu. If I have to navigate through several layers of options, it’s not unreasonable to expect to be connected with someone who is able to assist me.

Friction #14: I was put on hold again. For some reason, I started imagining an alternative version of Willie Nelson's song, "On the Road Again." "I'm on hold again. I'll just wait, 'cause I'm on hold again."

Friction #15: I’m connected with Rashida. It was a cold transfer, meaning Rebecca didn't introduce me or my story to Rashida, so I had to repeat my order number and re-explain my problem. I find myself empathizing with Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day.

Friction #16: Rashida initially focused on contradicting Samantha, the person who took my order. “No! No! No!” she said. Her tone was very scold-y as she told me that the barstools and table could not have shipped together. By now, I'm getting weary of all the misinformation coming from Ceramics Shed and its employees. I don't even know who to believe.

Friction #17: Rashida tells me she can't give me a firm date when the table will be delivered. She explained the delivery team will call to schedule the delivery once the table is ready to be delivered. I do not trust this will happen. Rashida does agree to give me a partial shipping refund of $161.67.

Friction #18: I’m waiting to hear from the delivery team so I can get the table delivery scheduled. Something tells me this story isn’t over yet. Yay.

Conclusion

Now back to the discussion question. How many of these friction points would you have detected if this had been your company?

There's one simple way to detect most, if not all of these friction points: view the experience through the eyes of your customer.

• Follow the customer's journey placing an order with your company.

• Be a customer yourself, and experience the actual journey.

• Listen when customers share feedback.

That last one is key.

I called customer service twice and shared my feedback with three employees, but I haven’t completed a survey. CX expert, Nate Brown, has an amazingly easy way to collect and organize all the unstructured feedback customers share when they contact us.

Ceramics Shed has lost a long-time customer. It's not just due to a poor experience. It's their general corporate obliviousness to friction.

I suddenly recall my last order was painful, too.

---