Retailing Commandments

"Customers don’t expect you to be perfect George.
They do expect you however to fix things when they are not perfect."

~Ralf Strub, President of Bellstar Hotel & Resorts

"You’ll never have a product or price advantage again.
They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied."

~Jerry Fritz, Director of Management Institute

University of Wisconsin

"Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will."

~Kate Zabriskie, founder of Business Training Works, Inc

com·mand·ment

kəˈmændmənt, [kuh-mand-muhnt]

–noun

1. a command

Retailing, like Hospitality, is all about the customer.  Like the real estate mantra about "location, location, location" or the allegory about how to get to Carnegie Hall ("practice, practice, practice"), the first, last and only concern is the customer.  All other considerations are secondary.

This is nothing new.  This is not an epiphany, I realize.  I have heard it often said.  I have seen it often written down on a company mission statement.  I have had people more focused on managing their careers than in doing the right thing by their clients engage in one long monologue about it, knowing full well no one in the room believed for one minute that they were sincere. Still, it needed to be said.

And yet all of these well meaning people were missing the point.  You cannot give real service to a customer, the kind that makes them remember you and want to come back with their friends or family, if you don't add something that cannot be measured with money, or with reports or with numbers.

Sincerity and Integrity.

It is the most basic and fundamental element in Service, whether that be in Retail or in Hospitality.  It is the basis of the public trust and loyalty retailers fight viciously over.  It is the end result of all the marketing dollars, focus groups, training seminars and incentive programs we put into place both for and because of our customers.  The sincerity of our staff in wanting to serve their clients as opposed to simply taking an order, and the integrity of our staff in being both honest and open, even if that means owning up to things when they are not going perfectly well.

Perhaps it is a social trend, this tendency for self gratification, that is diametrically opposed to the act of serving someone else's needs, wants or desires, before our own.  Perhaps the difficulty lies in intuitively grasping the basic tenets of what it takes to do a good job in the Service sectors, due to this penchant of the needs of the self being greater than the needs of the others. The older generations seem to be more able to do this than some members of the younger generations.

So in the interest of making it simple, what follows are the "18 commandments" of providing excellent Service, both for the employee and for those of us who lead our respective teams.  Some of them may be variations on previous item, but only because it is worth repeating.

 

 1.     It's the Customer, Stupid.  To paraphrase that popular, and successful, quote from Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign: The single most important aspect of your business is your customers. Make sure your entire team understands that - and acts like they understand it. Monitor this closely and reinforce it constantly.

2.     Spoil your Customers.  Everyone wants to think they are special. You can make your customers feel special if you treat them like they are special (they in fact are.  See #1 above.) For the time you are with them, concentrate on them and what they are telling you. Exclude everything else for that period of time.

3.     Delight the Customer.  It is heard a lot, but seldom practiced. Today I saw a Manager straighten out a mess and, in the process, calm an irate customer. When I heard her tell her team to put two mugs with the company's logo into the customer's bag, I knew she understood what "Delight the Customer" means.

4.     You never have to make up for a good start.  If a project or a job gets off to a bad start it can be difficult to catch up. Do your planning up front so you get a good start and you won't regret it.

5.     Train Your Supervisors.  The key to your business success is the productivity of your employees. The key to employee productivity is their perception of their immediate supervisor. Invest in training your supervisors and managers. It will pay off.

6.     Under-promise and over-deliver.  This goes beyond the old adage 'don't promise what you can't deliver'. Instead, deliver more than what you promised. It's a good way to build customer rapport - both outside and inside the company.

7.     Your first obligation is to the customer.  More like #1 above, but it must be repeated. Without customers you don't have a business. Treat them with the same respect you expect when you are a customer. Make sure everyone in your organization understands the importance of customer service, and again, acts accordingly.

8.     YOU have to make a difference.  The group you manage has to be more effective and more productive with you there than they would be if you were not. If they are as productive without you, then I am sorry to say that there is no business sense in keeping you on the payroll. As callous as this sounds, you and/or your Managers need to understand this truth about the business world.

9.     Your biggest business challenge is your competition.  They have to take away your customers in order to survive or grow. There is no other way. How are they going to do that? How can you stop them? How can you steal their customers? How do they steal yours?  Don't wait for it to happen. Constantly anticipate and prepare.  They may have a different product, or a lower price point, but if you can "out service" them, you cannot be competed against.

10.    Follow Through on Sales Promises.  Don't let your sales people make promises the company can't meet. If they tell a customer they can have eleventy-billion (sic) widgets "tomorrow before 10", they better be sure that many are already in the warehouse and the transportation has already been arranged. Nothing loses customers faster than broken promises.

11.    Doing it right costs less than doing it over.  I have often noticed that people will tell me why there was never enough time to do it right, but that there always seems to be enough time to do it over.  Save the costs, including customer dissatisfaction and lower worker morale, by concentrating on doing the job right the first time.

12.    Don't Be A De-Motivator.  Your job as a leader is to get and keep your people motivated and working toward the common goal. Demeaning them, to their face or to others, erodes their motivation. So does dismissively telling them that their ideas are dumb or stupid, or simply laughing when one is put forth. Watch your own actions to be sure you aren't defeating your own efforts by demotivating your people.

13.    Keep the flame alive.  When people join your organization they are all fired up and ready to do great things. Over time we all too often wear down that enthusiasm. Instead, do what you can to fan the flames of their enthusiasm and you will be amazed at their output. 

14.    You Can't Listen With Your Mouth Open.  Your associates, your employees, your suppliers, your customers all have something of value in what they have to say. Listen to the people around you. You will never learn what it is if you drown them out by talking all the time. Remember, the only thing that can come out of your mouth is something you already know. Be quiet and learn.

15.    Appearance Does Matter.  It may be a sad commentary on our superficial society, but appearance does matter. Whether it's the packaging on your product, the first impression you make when calling on a new client, or your company's web site people notice how things look. They care about how things look and make judgments about you and/or your product based on appearance.

16.    Get your people involved.  It's a lot easier to get employees to stand behind a company decision if they have the opportunity to participate in the discussion. Management still has to make the decision, but if they have had the opportunity to make their point of view known employees are more apt to stand behind the ultimate decision, even if they don't agree with it. Open town halls are a great way to elicit opinions and thoughts, even if (or especially if) your employees notice something you are doing to demotivate them or damage the business.  Most people want to do a good job and see their place of employment succeed, and if given an honest chance, they will work very hard to make it so.

17.    Fix the problem, not the blame. It is far more productive, and less expensive, to figure out what to do to fix a problem for the customer that has come up than it is to waste time trying to decide who's fault it was.

18.    Actively listen. Listen to your customers, your employees, your suppliers, and anyone else who comes in contact with your business. Honestly evaluate what they have to say, without letting your ego get in the way, and you will probably learn something that benefits your business.

If you have any suggestions or topics you'd like to see covered, or if you'd like help with an issue you're currently experiencing, please drop me a line at gbossinakis@live.com. 
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