Empowerment = Exceptional Customer Experience
Everyone talks about exceptional customer service, but few rarely deliver it. It really isn’t that complex of a concept. If the people that work for an organization have been trained and empowered to deal with customer service issues, then we should have more stories of brilliant experiences.
I dealt with a lot of customer service issues over the years at work. Upon reflection, I often dug my heels in because we were right and the time it took to solve the issue took way longer and was more painful than it should have been. My goal was to always end with everyone satisfied, but I made it harder than it should have been by trying to prove we were right before coming to a resolution. The time lost cost way more than just solving the issue no matter who was right or wrong.
People want what they want
If we learned anything during this pandemic it is that people have really begun to flex their muscles about where they live and work, how they shop and what is really important to them. Personal choice has moved front and center and companies have to figure out how to be more flexible and accommodating to retain their customers and employees.
When you hear about crazy stories of a situation in a large company when an employee goes rogue and says or does something really inappropriate, we have to hope that it is a one off situation But the damage is done and the years that it has taken to build a reputation can be marred in five minutes.
64 days
What’s worse is when a company knowingly sets policies and prohibits their employees from being able to make decisions in a way that could gain them millions in good will. I experienced this a couple of months ago.
I ordered some eye pencils online from Sephora (national makeup chain) because they were on sale. When they arrived, I didn’t even look at them. Two months later I pulled one out to use it and realized I had ordered the wrong color. This was 100% my fault. So I hauled over to the store with my unopened boxes and the receipt and asked to exchange them. The teenager behind the counter said “Oh I’m sorry, it looks like you are past the return date.” And I asked when that was. It was four days ago. Sixty four days had passed since I ordered them. I asked to speak to the manager. A twenty something walked up and said, “Yeah, there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t override the computer and make the exchange.” I was so baffled I was speechless. So I said, “You mean you don’t have the power to make an even exchange of a product you can put right onto the shelf and sell four days past the cutoff date?”. She say’s “No”. I ask her if they have items that have been on the shelves longer that 60 days and she confirms they definitely do. So I asked why she couldn’t just make the switch since it was so close to the actual cut off and she said, “Corporate won’t let us. Sorry.” And she flapped her giant fake eyelashes at me and walked away.
Never again
So with that I vowed to never shop at Sephora again. I know it is not the fault of excessively made up girls I spoke with, it is a company culture problem. And to not allow the people that are supposed to be managing the customer experience to make a judgment call is criminal. I didn’t spend thousands at Sephora and I am not even their target audience, but here I am telling all of you about it and now all of my make up purchases are made at Nordstrom where they have a solid grasp of how to empower people to make decisions to enhance their customer’s experience.
I know everyone has a Sephora story. It’s unfortunate that we all have many poor customer service stories and I am sure they may have been more costly than my three eye pencils. With the ability to spread a story like wildfire via the internet, you would think that companies would be hyper aware of policies that aren’t really in line with today’s shopper mentality. I understand that companies have to draw a line, but when something is very close to the line, let the employee decide if it makes sense to accommodate.
Give them the power
We are seeing this in the mobility world where corporations are creating way more flexible relocation benefits plans to satisfy wider preferences and needs. Less exceptions equals better money management and more satisfied employees. Who cares what they spend it on as long as it falls in the framework of the overall expected expense of the move and is an expense that is something that is important to get them happily moved. People want choice and control. When the employee and the person in charge of managing their move have more flexibility to make decisions, then it’s a win for everyone.
While we may not be able to completely empower everyone, companies should have protocol to allow an employee to have a framework in which to operate to get everyone to a happy place so they tell the story of their great customer experience.
“If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” – Bob Hooey, author, motivational speaker
