AchieveGlobal's blog

Service (Emotional) Intelligence

By Andrew Calvert

I recently had the honour of being a judge in a national experience award competition. I was invited to attend five attractions and grade them in several areas: Business Excellence, Service Quality, and Mystery Shopping to name three.

Every attraction had a good-to-excellent workflow upon entering the attraction, where to pay, where to get information about what to do. Signs were generally clear, queues well managed, routes clearly signed (in more than one language). Once I had my tickets I knew where I wanted to go, what I needed to do to get there. And this was generally consistent for all the attractions. But I observed a few things that really stood out: the people at the point of purchase were without exception totally indifferent to the interactions with their customers. No one asked a question, no one tried to engage me (remember your parents telling you that you only get one chance to make a first impression?) - a missed opportunity for them.

Once into the customer "flow" there were several more opportunities to connect with me (and my kids) to create memorable moments that I would later recall and tell people about (as I am now):

• An usher ignored me and my son (her back to me, staring into the distance) as we waited for a ride to arrive.
• Another usher (with no verbal interaction and no smile) pointed to the "tourist shop" as we disembarked from a ride.
• A man feeding turtles ignored me and my 3-year-old while he was less than 3 feet from us.

Even when there was interaction, the service was essentially passive - I had to ask for help. Very few service providers attempted to understand what I wanted or needed. Ironically, when I asked for help almost all were very knowledgeable.

One attraction, however, did stand out. Their cashiers were as numb to the customers as everywhere else, but that is where the similarities with the other attractions ended. Every staff member in the attraction had a smile or a word or two for me or my son. They asked questions about what areas of the attraction we had been to and mentioned their favourite areas or recommendations. In fact, they were so friendly that my (other) son asked me if somehow they knew I was a judge and were therefore extra nice.

And that was the difference that won my vote. Not the product: Every attraction was world-class. Not the process: They had all managed the journey through their space. It was the emotional connection their staff made to me and my family.

As a judge, I voted. As consumers, we vote all the time - by going back again and again because of how the staff and the attraction make us feel, and by telling those we know (and those, who, for example, read my blog) how much fun we had.  

A Lesson in Humility

By Jack McDaniel Life is filled with humbling moments. My youngest daughter, just entering her junior year of high school, has landed her first job. After getting past the “Thanks, now I feel older than dirt” phase, I expressed every parent’s ebullience at the prospect that I will no longer be responsible for keeping at least one car’s gas tank filled. Naturally I expressed this enthusiasm in such a way that my daughter thought I was simply happy for her. Alas, at my age, no feelings are simple. She’s working at a local retail clothing store, part of a nationwide chain catering, it appears to me, to the tastes of girls entering their junior year of high school. As a cutting-edge fashionista, my daughter has the right look. However, I knew she needed advice on how to serve her customers-to-be. I planned my speech to strike all the right chimes: positive defining moments, steps to dazzle the customer, moving among the three dimensions of service. Each chord would build a symphonic harmony leading to a climactic crescendo of customer service wisdom. Then I took a look at my daughter’s training materials. Greet people warmly; be visible and provide information; uncover needs; then satisfy them by matching desired features and benefits to specific merchandise items. Good, solid customer service and sales skills, with the customer first in the equation. So instead of giving her a “Dad speech,” I gave her a big hug. I also recalled my first experience working in retail. I was a kid with little knowledge, sketchy training, and way too much attitude. I could have used a program like this. If the store’s sales team reinforces and encourages these skills, my daughter will be more successful than I ever was at the retail game. In the meantime, a little humility is a small price to pay for no longer filling up the gas tank.

Managing by Wandering About (MBWA)

By Andrew Calvert In one of my roles at a large US-based manufacturing company, I spent a portion of my week wandering around the office and plant. There were over 300 people in my building – tech support, finance, marketing, purchasing, material handlers, DTP operators and customer service. Quite a mix: Baby boomers, Nation builders, Gen X, Gen Y ... As I wandered around I would stop and chat to people. Often I would have a joke to tell, a story to share, or a question to ask. And that last point is most important ... a question to ask. You see, by wandering about I learned about the people I worked with, their challenges, victories, hopes, and fears. I found out whose daughter just got into medical school, whose parents were visiting (or driving them mad). I also found out who had a proposal into a ministry or was dealing with a troublesome vendor. And it is this information that allowed me to ask questions the next time I saw the person, to build a relationship that I could leverage into meaningful results when I needed to. There were many managers in the building – more than a dozen I can recall. But only two of us used the principal of MBWA. The other managers were ill-informed about employee morale and opinion. People didn’t share ideas with them – even when they were encouraged to. The reason was that speaking to those managers was strange and unusual. By MBWA, my colleague and I were making it normal and safe to speak with us. Fast forward to this economy, where fewer have to do more than ever before. Engaging EVERY employee as fully is possible is critical to getting results. So the next time you have the chance, get out of your seat and take a walk.