The Moment of Truth

Freezeframe: A regular mid-level customer, Bob Smith, has just complained to one of your employees. Bob's brow is furrowed, and his right hip is thrust out a bit. He's just run his left hand through his thinning hair, and his right hand is waving slightly out to the side, palm up.

If we looked at your employee, representing you, what would we see? Eye contact? Looking down at the desk/counter? Body language?

...annnnnd "Action!"

What will your employee say? What will he or she do? Will the customer's issue be addressed? Will the customer want to continue doing business with your company?

Feeling confident? Let's up the ante. New research shows that customers fall into discrete categories:

• 43% are shouters - people who tell as many people as possible when they experience bad service.
• 27% are switchers - people who switch to another company and don't tell anyone.
• 15% are seekers - people who try and find a better way to get good service.
• 11% are sulkers - who just put up with the bad service and sulk.
• A full 20 percent will rant to more than 10 friends about their bad experience.

Source: SunGard Availability Services, UK.

And the common wisdom:

• 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.
• It costs less to keep customers than to find new ones.

A recent McKinsey Quarterly article demonstrates how critical "moments of truth" are in profitability. Customers who experience a high rate of positive outcomes in "moments of truth" broaden their connection with the company, consuming more services. Those who experience negative outcomes tend to leave, or stay but "sulk" by seeking any additional services elsewhere. That's why it's vital that emotion-laden moments when a customer has a problem result in an employee's empathetic, appropriate, and helpful response. That response can either cement relationships or break them. Companies spend fortunes creating and enhancing brands, but without frontline follow-through, customers don't return.

While recruiting employees with high commitment and high emotional intelligence is a good approach, companies must go further. McKinsey suggests that companies can hard-wire excellent customer service by engaging employees in certain ways. It stands to reason that those who have their needs met are more motivated and enabled to meet the needs of others. Companies can best foster that culture of excellence by:

• Stressing a deeper meaning, and clear sense of purpose within frontline work, to integrate work with the values, beliefs, psychological needs, thoughts and feelings of workers.
• Influencing mind-sets of employees to both increase their abilities and help them acquire the right emotional skills.
• Aligning compensation, processes and structures with the goal of customer service, clearly placing value on customer-retaining behaviors.
• Mobilizing frontline mentors to model and teach emotionally intelligent behavior.

You know better than anyone: Is Bob going to leave with a smile on his face?

If you're not sure, call Krissi Barr at 513-470-8980 or e-mail krissi@barrcorporatesuccess.com