Make customers want you more by needing you less
Every good company knows that you can never do too much to make customers happy. But "too much" shouldn't be thought of by its literal, quantitative definition. In fact, in many ways, true service success can often be measured by how little you interact with customers. Or perhaps put a better way, how little they need you.
This came to mind recently when a friend told me of her experience having an invisible pet fence repaired. She told me how the service person did the work, trained her (and her dog), and was done in an hour. It took less time than the company had estimated, so he reduced the bill accordingly. The technician told her that he had an earlier customer who, despite repeated visits, didn't want to take his advice, so he spent more than five hours patiently and courteously instructing and re-instructing until that person was satisfied. In both cases he did the right thing for his customer and his company. But as my friend put it, "I'll bet I'm the one who feels like she got better service, even though I got a lot less of it."
We often don't associate the "less is more" cliche with customer service, but in many respects the idea holds true.
As is the case with many business topics, some of the best lessons on this one can be learned from Apple (AAPL). This is not meant to be yet more starry-eyed worship at the iAltar, but I think the company does serve as the best example, offering ideas that can be applied to just about any business.
On the customer service front, Apple has excelled by using what I see as a three-step progression. It starts with putting the most effort into minimizing the extent to which people need help, and ends with making excellent, ample and efficient help easily available when it is needed. Here's what they do, and how you can apply it to your own business:
1. Make the product or service user-friendly and intuitive. Apple's obsessively reductive approach to design gave us products with fewer buttons, immediately understandable interfaces and no-brainer setup and connectivity, to the point where the company was able to effectively eliminate the need for instruction manuals.
The lesson: Look at what you sell through the eyes of the buyer -- are your products or services as simple as they can be? Or conversely, are they more complicated than they need to be? Generally speaking, the fewer the moving parts (literally and figuratively), the less there is to trigger calls for help.
2. Hire well, train well. Of course, instructions or no instructions, simple or complex, at times people will need help. For those times, Apple makes the best possible people (hey, they're good enough to earn the job title "Genius") readily accessible to its customers, ensuring that they will get the most assistance in the least amount of time.
The lesson:Try to see your people as a customer sees them. Are they knowledgeable, personable, ready and able to help? The obvious truth is that the less your people know about what you sell, the less they are able to help others with it. And yet how many times do we all speak to representatives who know no more than we do?
3. Put "short circuits" in place. The best employees in the world are of little or no value if obstacles are put in the way of their ability to help people. Apple puts very little between a problem and a solution. Most of the time, a phone call or an appointment at the Genius Bar will get you from A to Z without the 24 letters between.
The lesson: Are your customer service practices bloated, wrapped in red tape or otherwise set up to make the fastest and best possible resolutions impossible? Process for the sake of process? Again, it's all about less "quantity" (time) and more quality: At the end of the day, people don't want the most help, they want the best help.
Steve Jobs spoke a lot about "empowerment." He strove to empower users with great products, and empower employees to do great work. Apple's approach to customer service reflects this ethic. Does yours?
As you prepare and invigorate yourself and your company for a new year of business, take an honest look at whether your products, processes and people are actually creating the need for more service rather than reducing it. Recognize that customers would prefer not to enter the service universe, even in the best of circumstances. Your goal should be to minimize or eliminate their need to do so, while still being fully prepared and motivated to provide great service at all times. Set them free and they'll keep flying back.