Please let me start by saying I did a search on this and did not find exactly what I was looking for. I am NOT looking for a freebee or someone to do my work; but here is the situation.

My boss has been working on a concept for a Customer Satisfaction / Service Work Instruction for several months now. :frust: We have a procedure that addresses how we measure customer satisfaction and how important it is to us; however he wants to document a general work instructions that explains the desired company methods of customer interaction and communication. Not so much on the CA side of it, but the ethical, polite and professional manner that he wants communication with the customers to take place.

We have several people communicating with customers throughout all three shifts and they are at various levels within the workforce. We are a service provider - Heat Treating - so we are in constant communication with both our large customers and our small ones. He is looking for establishing guidelines for this communication with customers and the positive image of our workforce to the customer.

One of the struggles is the vast number of people that may communicate or interact with our customers from time to time and their different ideas of customer service. For example our QA Manager interacts differently with a customer compared to our truck drive that goes there to pick up an order.

So with that all said, does anyone have anything similar or any comments about this? :confused: I don't want to create a nightmare here with the step by step process of talking to a customer - just general guidelines of what is expected when interaction / communication takes place.

He has drafted up some text for different situations and what is expected, but he is concerned that we might be trying to hard to make people act a certain way and we might loose something in that. Our customer satisfaction results of our top 100 customer (which is 92% of our sales) has steadily gone up the last several years, but we now want to take it to the next step and make improvements in this area inorder to increase customer satisfaction and customer retention.

We charge a little more than our competitors, but it shows in our quality and our service. We want to ensure that we continue this trend.

Any comments (constructive comments - I didn't want to leave myself open there) on this would be great. Thanks in advance. :thanx:

Tom,

Off the top of my head, FWIW, it seems to me that this type of issue is better dealt with via training than by a WI/procedure. I'm sure there are several places where you can either hire an expert (consultant) in this area to do on-site training, or videos that could be bought for internal training and supplemented by discussion from your in-house experts. Books are probably also out there by the dozens. Or maybe just internal training and role-playing with your internal experts. I just don't see a procedure being much help here. You might outline some basics and general expectations in a procedure/WI but I think structured training classes of some type would be more effective. JMO.

Added later: A local community college might also be a good resource.

Tom,

Off the top of my head, FWIW, it seems to me that this type of issue is better dealt with via training than by a WI/procedure. I'm sure there are several places where you can either hire an expert (consultant) in this area to do on-site training, or videos that could be bought for internal training and supplemented by discussion from your in-house experts. Books are probably also out there by the dozens. Or maybe just internal training and role-playing with your internal experts. I just don't see a procedure being much help here. You might outline some basics and general expectations in a procedure/WI but I think structured training classes of some type would be more effective. JMO.

Added later: A local community college might also be a good resource.

Let me put another spin on it. Could you see something like this in HR? A company policy for all employees?

Yep, it kind of sounds like stuff I've seen in HR manuals before relating to expected behavior like dress codes, language, etc. I'm sure lots of organizatiosn say something like "you can get in trouble if you do something unprofessional/disrespectful toward a customer or co-worker".

That doesn't mean you can't address it from both perspectives -- "rules" stuff in the HR manual and some kind of practical training on "world class customer service" or "effectively communicating with customers" or some such thing. There's nothing wrong with improving the effectiveness of the customer interface! And if the Big Cheese thinks it's important, other folks had probably better consider it important pretty soon as well. I'd propose attacking it from both directions and give him some options and maybe even ballpark pricing for different kinds of training.

Training at orientation might not be a bad idea, i.e. training in dealing one on one with customers, drawing them out (getting their perceptions) without drawing them into a heated debate.

Perhaps also there could be a form that an employee could fill out after having dealings with a customer that summarizes their positive and negative points as well as any suggestions they offer. These could be collected and used to report overall customer satisfaction.

(Just some off the wall thoughts).

Practice the Golden Rule. If the content isn't the problem, and you choose to allow some "individualism", tell them to put themselves in the Customer's seat and act accordingly. JAT ;)

Why the anger, Sheriff? :topic:

Tom:

I've seen HR policies on phone etiquette. You might try a Google search and see if you can go from there.

Why the anger, Sheriff?
What's angry about suggesting practicing the Golden Rule? Maybe the post isn't long winded, but it doesn't have to be. Try it, you'll like it. The Golden Rule, that is. :p

Why the anger, Sheriff?

He has been like that all day??? Sheriff we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends we are your friends...

Is it working yet? :vfunny:

May the powers that be help keep us ON topic in these 'Business' threads. :thanx:

What's angry about suggesting practicing the Golden Rule? Maybe the post isn't long winded, but it doesn't have to be. Try it, you'll like it. The Golden Rule, that is. :p

Sorry, I thought the bulging, flaming red eyeball you used was a symbol for anger. Maybe I'm wrong. I just thought you were angry for some reason and wondered why, as I didn't see anything inflaming. Sorry if I took it wrong.

May the powers that be help keep us ON topic in these 'Business' threads. :thanx:

Agreed. Sorry the choice of the red eyeball caused a stir. There's just so many to pick from. ;)
I still think that everybody understands the Golden Rule and you don't need a tic list to remember that when talking to Customers. If I'm buying, I expect a certain degree of respect. I'm entitled to it. If I'm the seller, I assume the respectful role and do my best to make the sale. Simple. I don't need it written down. :agree:

Agreed. Sorry the choice of the red eyeball caused a stir. There's just so many to pick from. ;)
I still think that everybody understands the Golden Rule and you don't need a tic list to remember that when talking to Customers. If I'm buying, I expect a certain degree of respect. I'm entitled to it. If I'm the seller, I assume the respectful role and do my best to make the sale. Simple. I don't need it written down. :agree:I buy into the "Golden Rule" with this addition:
Training of all personnel should include stuff to this effect:

When dealing with anyone outside the company, that person is a customer or potential customer - treat him accordingly.
When dealing with customer, the company line is: "Our whole business is focused on serving you. We need your input, Mr. Customer, good or bad, to help us continue to improve service."
When dealing with a customer who asks a question you don't know how to answer, be truthful and say so. Then add you will try to find someone within your company who CAN answer and do so.
(Nobody expects the delivery guy to answer metallurgical questions. When a customer phones about a pending order or prospective order, regardless of the shift, he deserves more than "nobody here to answer you" - he should be able to leave contact information and be told someone will return his call with an answer within a time window. The organization needs a mechanism to make that a reality. Each employee should have a reference sheet of appropriate personnel [a wallet card or printed on back of a business card?] to answer types of questions.)

The scary part is trying to compress all this good stuff into some sort of "metric" for a bean counter or other auditor.

He has drafted up some text for different situations and what is expected
Tom W,
Is there any way you can post the text your boss drafted?
Since this is the route he has chosen, it may be beneficial to see his written angle on his particular expectations.
Wallace.

I believe that it was in In Search of Excellence that Tom Peters refers to Nordstrom's as being a benchmark for communicating from the top down the importance of properly dealing with a customer's needs.

As I recall he even provides at least one example of a store clerk who took personal responsibility for delivering a suit to a customer who was traveling, had lost his luggage, and was scheduled to make an important presentation within hours.

You might consider giving someone at Nordstrom's a call and do a little benchmarking. If they really are into customer satisfaction as depicted in Tom's book, they will probably be willing to work with you. :bigwave:

Wallace am attaching a procedure I wrote for our use, fairly generic but addresses our customers.

...Since this is the route he has chosen, it may be beneficial to see his written angle on his particular expectations...

Good thought. Much like Bob's assignment for creating a Corrective Action Trigger "List", we all have our thoughts and opinions on it's usefulness and it's becoming overly binding or unmanageable, etc. - however, given a task by the boss, regardless of how we feel about it, it needs to be done. So, starting with "his angle" could help determine whether we're talking about structured training or a simple paragraph in the Employee Handbook.

Agreed. Sorry the choice of the red eyeball caused a stir. There's just so many to pick from. ;)
I still think that everybody understands the Golden Rule and you don't need a tic list to remember that when talking to Customers. If I'm buying, I expect a certain degree of respect. I'm entitled to it. If I'm the seller, I assume the respectful role and do my best to make the sale. Simple. I don't need it written down. :agree:

Sorry about going off topic. :)

Energy - I see your point and it is a good one; however I think there is one aspect that might be worth a discussion. In your response about the Golden Rule and explaining your opinions, you kept using the word "I". It is easy to say I would do this or I would do that because you control you, but when talking about numerous people, the Golden Rule might mean many different things to different people.

Interpretation of something implied can be dangerous. Interpretation of something written can be managed. Managed through training and audits and evaluation... While you can try to manage something implied, it can and most of the time is a big challenge when compared to managing a documented policy. JMO

I don't know many companies that would put their customer satisfaction solely in the hands of peoples' understanding of what the customer expects. I wish it was that simple. I truly do, but diverse work forces challenge that thinking.

While I admit that documenting this in the quality documentation might seem overboard; maybe something in a general policy; possibly coming out of HR would be best???? Just some general rules of the road when interacting and communicating???

All of your comments are extremely helpful and thanks for expressing them. I am trying to convince "him” (my boss) to either tone this down of make it an HR policy or some type with HR style repercussions if violated. :thanx:

I am trying to get his notes on this so far, so I can post them.

I believe that it was in In Search of Excellence that Tom Peters refers to Nordstrom's as being a benchmark for communicating from the top down the importance of properly dealing with a customer's needs.

As I recall he even provides at least one example of a store clerk who took personal responsibility for delivering a suit to a customer who was traveling, had lost his luggage, and was scheduled to make an important presentation within hours.

You might consider giving someone at Nordstrom's a call and do a little benchmarking. If they really are into customer satisfaction as depicted in Tom's book, they will probably be willing to work with you. :bigwave:

I agree with Energy that the "Golden Rule" distills as much into one sentence as some day-long presentations might have. It is my goal as a manager to try and follow it as my personal philosophy as best I can in my dealings with people at work, and I tell people that. That sentence may be, all by itself, 50% of customer service how-to. So I'm not discounting it at all.

However, in most cases (especially in larger organizations) I think to be an above-average to great customer service organization you need to go beyond simply telling your employees to "obey the golden rule". I think you need the Top Dog to set the bar, decide to what level(s) the organization is to go to make the customer happy, and then provide training to the people in how to best carry out this mission.

For example, say you run a hotel. A customer leaves his briefcase behind. Your employee knows he's going to a critical business meeting. Do you want the employee to simply put the briefcase in a secure location and try to call the guy's office and leave a message; or call the airport and try to get them to page the guy at the airport desk to tell him and ask for his instructions; or do you want the employee to catch a cab, drive to the airport, and try to hand-deliver the briefcase? Maybe the Golden Rule says the first effort is enough, maybe the Top Dog wants more. JMO.

BTW, Dave, I loved "In Search of Excellence". :bigwave:

Your discussions about customer satisfaction reminded me about an experience I had about 5 or 6 years ago.

I was to do a suplier survey of a prospective supplier. The supplier was about 125 miles from my home. About 5 miles from the suppliers facility my car broke down. The engine had blown. I called the supplier from the road. His son in-law, who was my contact, came out and helped me find a place to park my car and then drove me to the facility. I finished the survey that day. His son had a flat-bed trailer, so his son in-law got the trailer, loaded my car onto it and drove me home the 125 miles. That's service.

Your discussions about customer satisfaction reminded me about an experience I had about 5 or 6 years ago.

I was to do a suplier survey of a prospective supplier. The supplier was about 125 miles from my home. About 5 miles from the suppliers facility my car broke down. The engine had blown. I called the supplier from the road. His son in-law, who was my contact, came out and helped me find a place to park my car and then drove me to the facility. I finished the survey that day. His son had a flat-bed trailer, so his son in-law got the trailer, loaded my car onto it and drove me home the 125 miles. That's service.

But did that influence your audit? ;)

But did that influence your audit? ;)
You bet!:thedeal: