Courtesy piled upon courtesy, all at a decent price—the food was grand. (Though, truth be known, I think almost all Indian food, as prepared in India, is pretty grand.)

But it was that last touch. As we neared the beginning of our descent, the flight attendant in biz class walked down the aisle asking us if we'd like her to clean our glasses.

Holy shit!
(Sorry for the expletive.)

NB: The wonderful founder is Branson-like in his peculiarities!

This doesn't mean that customer service isn't important. Of course it is. But customer service, like product quality, has become a basic, expected deliverable. Without it, you fail. With it, you are only at parity. Customer service is nothing more than basic business hygiene—the "brushing your teeth" of running a company.

If you try to differentiate your company through customer service, you will, at best, be a "me-too" company. Sure, you might have competitors that provide bad service, but your goal is not to be better than the worst. It is to be unique among the best.

Good customer service can help differentiate you only if it is a gateway to building relationships with customers. Customer relationships differentiate you from the competition in a way that customer service (or products) never can.

Aim high ... beyond customer service.

[See John's blog at RockandRollLessons.blogspot.com.]

Each year, Zappos publishes a book about their culture, written, unedited, by their employees. They're not just talking about how much fun they have planning parades; this video description of the book includes employees talking about the level of empowerment they feel.

This may sound touchy-feely, but their gross sales in 2008 were over a billion dollars. How? Hsieh says they're not trying to maximize every transaction, they're trying to build life-long relationships.

[Some of you said, in Comments, that I've gone too far in this "customer 2nd" stuff. Probably true—but I still contend that there is a fundamental correctness, which addresses a characteristic imbalance, to Matthew Kelly's, "Our employees are our first customers, and our most important customers"—from The Dream Manager. Let me get personal about "all this ..."]

I luuuuuuuv great customer-"end user" feedback! I am competitive to a fault in that regard and a slave to the market—"after all these years." At a higher level of marketplace engagement, I love a hearty business backlog, especially if it's based on repeat business—and I carefully measure it against year-to-date 2007, 2006, 2005, etc. And I love a fee-per-event yield that exceeds last year, the year before, etc.

And so on.
And on.

And yet ...

And yet ... in an important way ... I indeed put the customer-"end user" second or third or ...

Second or third to what?

Simple & crystal clear (to me): To give a high-impact, well-regarded, occasionally life-changing speech "to customers" I first & second & third have to focus all my restless energy on "satisfying" ... myself. I must be ... physically & emotionally & intellectually agitated & excited & desperate beyond measure ... to communicate & connect & compel & grab by the collar & say my piece about a small number of things, often contentious and not "crowd-pleasers," that, at the moment, are literally a matter of personal ... life and death.

I crave great "customer feedback"—but in no way, shape, or form am I trying to "satisfy my customer." I am, I repeat, trying instead to satisfy me, my own deep neediness to reach out and grab my customer & connect with my customer over ideas that consume & devour me.

Hence ... my "Job One" is purely selfish & internally focused, to be completely captivated by the subject matter at hand. That is, to repeat in slightly different words, Job One is ... self-motivation.

Warren Bennis, my primo mentor, in On Becoming a Leader, said, "No leader sets out to be a leader per se, but rather to express him- or herself freely and fully. That is, leaders have no interest in proving themselves, but an abiding interest in expressing themselves."

So I'm back to my somewhat disingenuous message: To put the marketplace customer first, I must put the person serving the customer "more first." (Myself, in the case of a speech, the frontline employee for Rosenbluth International's Hal Rosenbluth in days past or for RE/MAX'sDave Liniger—see yesterday's "customer second" PowerPoint re Hal, Dave, et al.)

Excitement & self-stimulation first.
"Service" second.

That's my cause & effect scheme.

[For heaven's sake, don't read this article. Ugh!—CM]

Still, a useful reminder is a useful reminder. I flew home last week from Mexico City to Boston, on Delta, via Atlanta. The ATL-BOS leg was delayed about 75 minutes, both in the waiting area and on the plane.

I do not exaggerate: Never once did waiting area personnel or the pilot provide any explanation whatsoever. Not one bloody, frigging word.

No, this is not really news in "airline service sucks land"—though it was a smidgen worse than usual. Nonetheless it was a reminder of the Insanely Important Value 100% of the Time of Keeping People Informed/Over-informed. To reiterate a reiteration of a reiteration: We can almost all deal quite well with shit—we all/almost all deal very poorly with uncertainty. Tell me it'll probably be a 90-minute delay because the pilot is in the bar popping Tequila shots—and I'm fine. (More or less.) Total Silence? I'm on edge, pissed off as hell—irate, in fact.

(NB: Show of electronic hands of those who think Delta-Northwest will in any way, shape, or form positively impact air travelers. TP: Really Big & Crappy + Really Big & Crappy = Shockingly, Gaspworthy Sucko Monumentus.)

Four hearty cheers! (And, alas, ever so rare.)

Fact is, I made a small fortune in the mid-80s bitching and bitching and then bitching some more about customer service shortcomings. I was commonly referred to, from CA to Timbuktu, as the "king of customer service"—and given too much credit for putting this critical strategic issue on the map.

Therefore I applaud Steve Yastrow's post on Hilton's misbehavior. And applaud even more wholeheartedly the fantastic discussion responding to his Post—you'd do well to read all the Comments. (I did.)

Still ...

I got to thinking about all the sophisticated ideas stirred by the Post. And thinking about all the reporters who almost automatically ask me, "Why does customer service uniformly stink?"

Whoa, chummies!

Fact is, I think customer service is a pure marvel:

**On 21 December 2007 (today), a day before leaving the country, at 4 a.m., from my bed, in West Tinmouth, VT, iced in, wireless working, I readily finish my Christmas shopping. Sure, a lot of stuff can't make it by Christmas—but a lot can, enough to get the job done. (And the rest will arrive by the 27th or 28th, not bad by my shabby standards.)
**Last week at this time I was in Dubai, and woke up to the electronic news that a good friend and mentor had passed away. The memorial service was 72 hours later, in LA. Within the space of 20 minutes I had totally re-organized my 3-continent travel, made hotel reservations in LA, and was set to be where I wanted to be when I wanted to be there. (The email received about the service had of course included a map.) (Also, within a half hour, I'd arranged to meet a couple of good friends, one from England whom I hadn't seen for 10 or so years, at my hotel in LA to drive together to the service.) (Some elements of "customer service" are beyond the Web's power—despite my prayers, God decided to do his "blizzard thing," my travel plans imploded, and I missed the service.)
**Two interesting fellow speakers I met in Dubai and I are already at work on creating a mini-conference next Spring on the Web. (I'm almost certain that Spring will come, in spite of my VT picture above—if I light enough candles this Christmas at San Marco's in Venice.)
**Yesterday morning I read a squib on an unusual, older, out-of-print technical book that sounded cool. I'd ordered it 20 minutes later from some guy who lives in that most common of places these days—God Alone Knows Where. (Oh, and there's a 93% chance he'll come through.) (Another book I came across I decided not to order, thanks to 5 minutes perusing 10 or 15 peer-reviews at Amazon; the formal reviews—Publisher's Weekly, etc.—weren't worth a shit, as usual.)
**Talking to VT friends last week who recently finished building a small recreational house in Colorado. This summer they furnished the whole thing, good stuff for an insanely low cost, courtesy eBay—and on the trip out from VT had a jolly time collecting their acquisitions at various places where the eBay sellers lived. (Batting average with purveyors: 100%.)
**Guy who drove me from the airport to my hotel a couple of weeks ago had just started a wee business that involved very sexy recording equipment—in a 6-month period he'd acquired, from various addresses on the Web and after incredible Web research, about $75,000 worth of equipment, in mint condition, for a touch less than $10,000.

To be sure, one of my colleagues ordered her daughter a computer for Christmas, a big deal and total surprise. Delivery was absolutely, positively promised by today—when she checked yesterday, dear, dear Dell informed her it wasn't gonna happen. (Too bad she didn't consult with me earlier—I could have told her how much Dell service sucks; it's even worse post-purchase.) Susan's and my Christmas trip to Italy will be courtesy frequent flyer miles, and I don't need to tell you yet another tale of the pain involved in cashing in "customer loyalty" FF miles—on the other hand, it did work out in the end and enormously lessened our guilt about this indulgent trip.

So, yes, service horror stories, real "head shakers," abound. But as for me, circa December 2007, I am in "shock and awe" at what I can get done in the way of services (breadth and depth) that would have been unimaginable a scant decade ago.* (*And I do love it that a new Web service, boardfirst.com, will allow me, for $5, to automatically get "A" group reservations on Southwest for my insanely inexpensive post-New Year's Albany-BWI trip to see my 93-year-old aunt.)

Merry Christmas—my presents to you, dear close colleagues, will be arriving on time!

I've lived in Atlanta for nearly fifteen years, but just two weeks ago I went to visit the historic city of Madison for the first time. It was like entering a time warp. I was sure I was going to run into Opie Taylor playing pick-up sticks on the sidewalk.

I enjoyed my lunch at the cozy corner coffee shop and my visit to a fabulous custom jewelry boutique, but the place that left the greatest impression was an ice cream shop (friends advised me to protect the name of the establishment for fear that what I'm about to tell you gets out to the general public and creates havoc for the store). While I was impressed with the store (the smell of its oak floors, its vibrant polka-dot painted walls, the rows of candy jars from floor to ceiling), it was the young woman working the counter, Carolyn, who impressed me the most.

Continued reading Madison, GA, or Mayberry?...

Posted by Darci Riesenhuber |

Susan gave me my 65th birthday present early, while the days in VT still have a hint of warmth and the sun sticks around for a while at least. It is a magnificent (!!!!!!!) Kubota 4-wheeler—aimed at feeding my growing passion for landscaping on the mountainsides here in West Tinmouth.

I showed it off to a good friend, and I mentioned the wonderful support Susan had gotten from the Kubota dealer. He seconded the story, as he does business with the same guy. "I still can't believe it. I bleed green [Deere's color] and I've left them behind. [He has enough Deere equipment to fill a freighter—and has had for years, and then more years.] But the fact is that when I call the Deere dealer with a question, I'm lucky if he bothers to get back to me in the next two days. Finally, after the pattern was clear and then some, I'd had enough. A pack of wild horses couldn't get me to reverse course."

So Deere makes utterly superb equipment and innovates constantly—not an ounce, or gram, of doubt about it. But today, as always, the basic "soft" service from the company or its distributor-dealer/s makes or breaks the relationship, given some decent alternatives, in which category Kubota fits and then some.

No news in this story—except for the always Big News that, whether it's your father's world or Web 2.0 world, it's the basics (e.g., of returning phone calls) that make you or break you.

(NB: People come from hundreds of miles away to purchase from the good-guy dealer in question.)

[Photo credit Susan Sargent, for the great photo of Tom and his Kubota, above]

Has the customer service department risen in organizations yet? Do you value the customer service department where you are? If not, what must change to be sure that the customer service department is "rockin'"?

(*We had to fill in a detailed form ahead of time—food concerns, medicines, etc. Obviously confidential. Or so we thought. When the guide did the first night intros, he made semi-snide remarks about Kosher food, etc, etc. "Appalling" is far too kind a judgment; and then it went downhill.)

But forget my detailed assessment-complaining. Remember my couple of riffs on Fred Reichheld's The Ultimate Question? All you need to know about customer "service" is "Would I recommend?"

Country Walkers: a resounding "No bloody way"—so much so that I'll actively try to discourage others (e.g., with this Post).

Speaking of customer "service":

It's not about free tickets.
Or multi-hundred dollar "I'm sorry" checks.
(Or multi-thousand dollar checks.)

It's about what it's about!
Totally Insane Incarceration In Supermax Prisons!

Damn it!
Fix it, you idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't want federal mandates.
I want you to pull your heads out of your ...
1, 2, 3 ... all together ... pull!!!!!!!!!!!

(I've written this Post because I've read a hundred "I'm sorrys" and plans for healthy recompense—but no damn ironclad promises about destroying Abu Ghraib of the Air.)

11 hours? No kidding, I'd be in federal custody for having attacked JB employees and having tried to chew my way out of the plane. I simply know ... FOR SURE ... that I could not have handled that.

Words matter!

The situation was an outright, stretch-the-mind disgrace-horror, but the use of "unacceptable" is also a total travesty.* Assuming the CEO couldn't have stopped it (he could have), then he should have been on hand at the end to beg forgiveness in person and to have called the situation "an incredible, horrible, disastrous, disgraceful, unconscionable occurrence."

Jet Blue are idiots!
No more Jet Blue for me!
Ever!
Period!

"Unacceptable," my tush.

(*"Free flight" ... how about a top defense lawyer to help me appeal my federal charges for what I did on board—plus weekly cookies in the high-security pen I'll be entombed in?)

When I can go on Amazon.com and order a book, CD, or DVD (usually for under 10 bucks, used, including shipping) in the time it takes to boil water for tea (about 50 seconds), I'm left thinking, "SOMEBODY gets it about convenience!" Then I'm energized to do battle with the next 20 items on my To-Do list. When I call Commerce Bank and an exuberant call rep answers, predictably, within 1 second (no kidding!), my reaction is "How come everybody can't provide this?" My faith in commerce (small c) is restored. Of course it requires TALENT in high measure to pull this off (including usability experts, I presume, in the case of Amazon.com, and highly motivated call center agents in the case of Commerce Bank).

So what companies would you like to promote, which consistently provide you a great customer experience?

Just how do companies manage to get the economies of scale needed to be competitive today, and yet provide memorable customer experiences in their day-to-day interactions? The ideal scenario is that the systems take complexity out of the way of employees, leaving them free to deliver personal service. And yet the reality is often far from that. It seems to fall to the customer to find their way through systems, often having to work out for themselves how to get the service that they need. ... I well remember the frustration of one former client, who, on introducing a highly efficient CRM telephone system found that although performance efficiency improved, customer satisfaction plummeted. Although customers previously had to wait to get service, when they eventually did get through, they felt well treated. The new system made them feel "processed"!!

Interestingly, I read a report in Saturday's UK Guardian newspaper [01.20.07] that describes what one UK Insurer (More Than) is doing to respond to customers' frustrations around impersonal call centre handling. Their solution is to provide every customer with their own personal customer manager. This manager will be personally accountable for their own customer accounts. It's good to see that they are at least attempting to find a way through this minefield

Is this likely to improve things for the customer, or is the problem they are trying to solve much more deeply rooted? The future shape of organisations is being created by those companies who really are getting to grips with challenges like these. Where are the companies out there who are consistently delivering great experiences, and how are they managing to do it?

When I finally reached a teller, 7 minutes later, my eager request for the 5 bucks was greeted by confusion then disdain by the teller. (Perhaps no one had ever stooped so low as to actually ask for the five bills before!) I cheerfully told him that now that I knew of the policy—and of the long waits in the bank—I'd be dropping by regularly to pick up my 5 dollars. (He didn't think that was nearly as funny as I did.) Of course I eventually did the complex calculation to determine that taking 20 minutes out of my day to earn a probable 5 dollars might not make great business sense. (But, then again, there is something to be said for doing things just for entertainment value.) It's ironic that the first "positive customer experience" I've had at this bank was at their expense. (I'd switch banks, but the local competition appears to be dreadfully similar.) So ... how's your bank treating you these days? Got any customer experiences to share—horror stories or uplifting testimonials?

Barcelona airport. 4:30 a.m. Biiiiiig computer glitch, courtesy United—and the elves are sleepin' in Chicago. Biiiiiig Glitch, "unexcusable" ... and I am weary weary weary. (And I have a veeeery short fuse in general, and particularly when weary at 4:30 A.M. 3,500 miles from home.)

So I did 1 minute of "practiced breathing" ... "did a Maxi-Ann." I had, I reminded myself, but one desire: in a busy airport, I wanted a very "unfair share" of the Lufthansa agent's time. With total concentration that would have made a neurosurgeon proud, I launched a Maxi Charm Offense—accepting my fate and musing on the tech-driven perils of our current age, "especially since your employer is giving you the short end of the stick courtesy understaffing and the like." [The syrup nearly flooded the airport.]

This is not, not, not a "Tom Story." This is, is, is an "Ann Story." Both you and I are, in the end, capable of a WMP* charm offense (*Weapons of Mass Politeness).

The "bottom line" ... I got that blessed Unfair Share of the agent's time, and then some; with tenacity, she did indeed untangle the Gordian Knot; we sympathized with one another on "the sorry state of human affairs"—and, unbidden, I will send a note commending her effort.

I am obviously asking your indulgence for "another Ann story"/ "another airline story." My justification, of course, is that it's in fact a fundamental saga of human nature—and, crudely, the difference between success and failure ... in an airport at 4:30 A.M., or when attempting to ice an order for another Boeing Dreamliner.

NB: Perhaps you'll recall the Henry Clay quote I offered up a few weeks ago: "Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart."

Bingo!

I remain amazed.

Hence my "golden rule" du jour: My service provider is my customer. To get good service give good service to those who service you.

As I said: Duh!