The 4 Principles of Customer Satisfaction

...illustrated by parking cars...

...for church...

...in a rented facility.

A Perfect Product
Customers want defect-free products and services. You need to design your product or service so that it can be expected to function perfectly within foreseeable boundaries.

At Elevation Church's Uptown campus, we meet in a rented theater - the former First Baptist Charlotte's sanctuary, purchased by the city in the 70's and turned into a performance venue. It's a beautiful, intimate setting for our worship experiences - but it has no parking, other than a few spots along the street. Practically everyone attending drives from all over the city, so we have to provide parking to accommodate them. Our solution? We rent an adjacent lot for VIPs (our term for first time guests) and families with small children, a parking deck 1 1/2 blocks away for attendees, and a small lot about 3 blocks away for volunteers. All parking is free; we put up signage in a 1 block radius around the facility to direct traffic to the right place; we have friendly parking teams to provide the human touch; and our web site has a campus welcome page that includes video of where to park.

Application: Design the product (in this case, a service system) to get people from point A to point B, foreseeing all that is foreseeable. It's just parking, right? But when you're averaging over 50 new guests every Sunday, along with 900 other attenders, all coming into the same 2 block area in a short amount of time, you've got to remove as many barriers as possible. We walked (well, literally drove) through the process of getting to campus, and designed  systems to get people into the garage or lot, up the sidewalks, and into the theater. Once there, the rest of the amazing team of Guest Services (VIP team, Greeters, Ushers, and First Impressions) takes over - each with their own unique system of providing an audacious welcome to guests and attendees. It's an ongoing process, reviewed constantly to adjust to lessons learned.

Delivered by Caring People
Your perfect product now requires caring, friendly people to deliver it.

At the Uptown Campus, parking is concentrated into 2 primary areas, with the majority of that being in one parking garage - with only 2 entrances/exits. That simplifies the Parking Team a little bit (one of our other campus locations is in a mixed use environment, and has 5 surface lots, each with multiple entrances - but that's another story!). With an optimum team size of 5 people, it's our job to smile and wave at each car entering the lot, personally greet and hand a parking ticket from the dispenser to the driver, be visible inside the deck on multiple levels, and take the validated ticket as the car leaves.

Application: An interaction with just a single, caring, friendly team member can make a guest feel good about being there in the first place, and sets the stage through a powerful first impression about what's in store for the rest of the morning. We're the first face of Elevation - we take that responsibility very seriously.

In a Timely Fashion
In this fast paced world of instant results, our customers (guests) decide what is and isn't an appropriate timeline. A perfect product delivered late by friendly, caring people is the equivalent of a defective one. Ouch!

Application: I don't know about your church, but at Elevation's Uptown campus the intensity and volume of traffic increases incrementally the closer the worship experience start time approaches. For the 9:30 start time, traffic trickles in beginning at 9, picks up the pace around 9:20, and by 9:30 it's cars lined up the street waiting to get in. We move the cars through as fast as possible, and encourage those in a long line to drive around the block and use the other entrance. As we dispense the ticket, we remind drivers of the second entrance. In between services, we open two exit lanes, allowing the deck to empty quicker. Our team is always brainstorming ways to make it flow quicker and smoother. Valet parking? Nah, just kidding! Would it be easier for everyone if they came earlier and weren't as rushed? Sure - but it's not going to happen. Learn your own customer's definition of "on time", and structure the process to meet that definition - not your own.

With the Support of an Effective Problem Resolution Process
Everything described so far is great - in theory. But like most things in life, there's reality. Sometimes we are short-handed on our teams. Occasionally we have equipment malfunctions with the gates or ticket machines, or our validator in the lobby isn't working right. An occasional Uptown event (a Panther's or Bobcats game, the circus, a big convention) sometimes creates more traffic on a Sunday morning. We've even arrived to find the main entrance closed, along with the first floor of parking, due to maintenance that we weren't notified about. When these unexpected surprises occur, effective problem resolution is measured not when we have restored the situation to the status quo, but when we have restored customer satisfaction.

Application: It's almost become a game among our parking team to brainstorm what could go wrong with the process, and then come up with a solution to use when it happens. Main entrance blocked? No problem - in 5 minutes we can shift all the signage and personnel to redirect traffic down the block, around the corner, and into the rear entrance. Ticket validated but not working? The team leader pays the parking fee to get out guests out and on their way, and is reimbursed by the church. Lost ticket? Ditto. Guest have a flat tire, potentially blocking the whole deck? Pull off our best impression of a NASCAR pit stop to get them on their way. A guest wants to grab a quick cup of coffee? We have a map of nearby coffee shops and restaurants. Here's the real goal: Resolve a service problem effectively and your guest is more likely to become loyal than if they had never run into a problem in the first place. Why? Because until a problem occurs, the customer doesn't get to see us fully strut our service.

Want to learn how to provide extraordinary, loyalty-building customer service to your guests? The first step, as outlined above, is to learn what makes them satisfied. Customer satisfaction is based on the four predictable factors above. I've used just one part of the Guest Services practices of Elevation Church to illustrate the principles. Take these four factors, apply them in the context of your own place, and watch amazing things happen.

Check out "Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit" by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon for more big ideas you can put to use as you build a five-star service organization.

Looking for LUV?

At Southwest Airlines, it is more than their stock ticker symbol. The ticker symbol LUV is more than an honor to it's first flight and headquarters (Love Field in Dallas); more than an ongoing advertising theme since 1971; it represents the loving character of the company.

On Valentine's Day, there's no better way to emphasize customer service than taking a quick look at the company that is the epitome of practicing love as a way of doing business.

The Greatest Need of the Human Heart
Southwest Airlines understands that the deepest need in our human existence is the need to be loved and accepted - and it doesn't change suddenly or mysteriously disappear when their employees walk through the door at work.

Here are some of the lessons Southwest has learned about love - and how they express them:

• Love is action-oriented: at Southwest, love is something employees choose to do because they are committed to the well-being of others
• Love is patient: employees at Southwest get in the trenches with people and endure difficulty or hardship, and they do it without complaining - that's expressing love
• Love is kind and generous: Southwest employees don't look away; they involve themselves and sometimes inconvenience themselves
• Love is courteous: at Southwest, love helps employees  believe in people and look for the goodness of others
• Love is affirming: Southwest believes that when people receive affirmation, they develop the courage to change and the confidence to succeed when they try something new
• Love is compassionate: at Southwest, compassion consists of the capability of identifying with the pain of another person coupled with the desire to relieve it
• Love extends grace and forgiveness: Southwest has created a culture where the norm is to forgive and forget
• Love doesn't guarantee approval: real love comes without conditions; it doesn't depend on anything else. At Southwest, employees are loved without approving of their performance
• Love is tough and gutsy: Southwest believes that actions are motivated by genuine love, and that sometimes the most loving thing you can do for others is telling them the truth - even when it hurts.
• Love embraces humility: Southwest employees believe that when you are okay with yourself and yet not caught up with yourself, you can focus more on the needs of others

How is your organization practicing love?

Want to know more about Southwest Airlines and the secrets of their success? The comments on love found above, along with hundreds of other insights, stories, and suggestions can be found in the book "Nuts!" by Kevin and Jackie Freiberg.

Adventures in Customer Service

From Tom Peter's excellent book "The Little Big Things" - a rant about customer service that just nails it...

• My local Starbucks stayed open a few minutes late - and the barista fetched something he had already put away to fill my order
• When I handed the barista at my other local Starbucks my thermos, she filled it up without question, even though at the time it was a nonstandard order. They undercharged me - a two cup price for what was probably three cups - and they washed the thermos before filling it, with my asking - or even imagining!
• My local Whole Foods usually opens at 8 AM. But because several of us were waiting, they opened at 7:45 AM. Their folks define helpful.
• Replying to my graduate school MBA reunion, I filled out the questionnaire and when I got ready to mail it, found that the questionnaire didn't fit the accompanying envelope. I tore it all up and tossed it. That's what's wrong with most MBA programs - lack of attention!

Do you bend over backwards to go "a little" beyond the book to help customers?

Do you authorize-encourage everyone (100 percent) to break the rules "a little bit" so as to stretch for the customer?

The 25 companies that made BusinessWeek's first "Customer Service Champs" list in 2007 are very, very, very, very serious about the "little things" and the frontline service providers who make or break a Little Things Movement.

And you?
Personally?
Your team?
Your company?
How do you know?
For Sure?
What are you doing about it?
To encourage more of it?
To reward it when it happens?

Today?

Now!

Don't make the mistake of thinking this doesn't apply to you if you don't run a business - it does.

Church leaders - please take note of how important "customer service" is to your church - and do something about it!

Nordstrom's Customer Service Rulebook

One five by seven index card.

One paragraph.

One rule.

We're glad to have you with our Company. Our number-one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use your good judgement in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

What about your organization? Do your values so permeate your organization that rules are minimalized?

Customer Service Champs at the Big Moo

A quick drive-thru visit yesterday to a Chick-fil-A in Salisbury reinforced why they were a winner in Business Week's Customer Service listing.

I pulled into the drive thru, was greeted by a very pleasant associate, placed my order, and drove around to pick it up. A different associate had it ready for me, the order taker was just behind talking to another customer, and the whole transaction took less than a minute from the time I pulled up to the menu.

Our local Chick-fil-A is the same, even though we dine in most of the time. The associates are always courteous, and their deliberate decision to be so makes most customers respond in kind.

One has to look no further than the chain's founder, Truett Cathy, and his principles of business for the reason they are so successful. Here's a sample:

Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone else - our time, our love, our resources. I have always found more joy in giving when I did not expect anything in return.

The Chick-fil-A organization lives this out daily in all of its employees.

What about your organization? What's your "GQ"?

That's "giving quotient."

Back from West Coast Trip

I would have taken a picture from LAX when I left this morning, but the sun wasn't up - and I barely was! True to the nature of this West Coast trip, my original flight was canceled, but at least they rebooked it for me as a direct flight. I just had to get from Long Beach up to LAX, leaving the hotel at 4:45 AM. I'm back in Charlotte, several time zones later, according to my body.

The NACBA continues on for a couple of days, but my part concluded last night with the close of the expo floor. During the 2 1/2 days of the expo, I met some potential clients, talked to a lot of old friends in the NACBA, and made some new ones.

My presentation Sunday afternoon - "Turn the Ordinary into Extraordinary" was very well-received. Using Starbucks as a model from the business world and Granger Community Church from the church world, the session was on how churches need to provide top quality guest services and experiences. Audience participation and interaction was very good, especially since my speaking slot was the afternoon death valley: 1-2:45 PM.

I've already begun modifying and revising it, and will continue to do so for presentation at the upcoming WFX Charlotte October 28-30.

How to Build a Customer-Focused Company the Right Way

Customer service is the single most pressing problem for business managers and people in any service or sales operation. Many experts believe that you build a business from the customer up.

Ken Blanchard, bestselling author and inspirational speaker, has written or co-authored many great books dealing with this topic. In “Customer Mania!” Blanchard and co-authors Jim Ballard and Fred Finch write of the key to customer service: creating a people-oriented, performance-drive, customer-first organization. Drawing on a real-life study of the world’s largest restaurant company, Yum! – owner of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silvers, and A&W – the authors explain how any organization can develop a unified, people-first, customer-oriented culture. Customer Mania! emphasizes four critical steps:

• Step One: Set Your Sights on the Right Target-the bottom line grows from taking care of customers and creating a motivating environment for your team.
• Step Two: Treat Your Customers the Right Way-determine the kind of experience you want your customers to have as they interact with every part of the company.
• Step Three: Treat Your People the Right Way-use strategies ranging from smart hiring to training and development to managing performance and creating a recognition culture.
• Step Four: Have the Right Kind of Leadership-you can’t do it all yourself, so let your team put their own brains to work and then support them all the way.
  

In developing each of these concepts, Blanchard introduces his “dream” of how they should work. That is followed by Yum!’s reality and a scorecard of how they are doing.

Yum! Turned out to be an excellent choice; the book chronicles their journey from being a lackluster division of PepsiCo to a standout independent company. Along the way, they moved from giving lip service to focusing on the customer to diving head-long into creating a “customer mania culture” throughout the organization. And it worked.

Yum! Doesn’t merely have a purpose; it has a passion. Can you say the same about your church or organization?

Questions for ChurchWorld
What is your target?
Who is your “customer”?
Who is on your team?
Who are your leaders?

What if Your Church Took the Night Off?

Dave Ferguson, lead pastor of Community Christian Church in Naperville , IL had a great post on his blog earlier this year. Recently CCC is launching a new initiative entitled "Discover Your Dream" - I was fortunate to be a part of the first rollout and it was very challenging to me. I'm working on a presentation entitled "Turn the Ordinary into Extraordinary." In the past 24 hours, these three things have come together in a unique nexus. Read Dave's quick post below:

My high school daughter Amy is a barista at Starbucks. Earlier this year all the Starbucks across North America closed shop for three and half hours in the evening. Why? To hear from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz via video about the companies need to get back to it's original vision. Next, the store manager talked about several strategic changes that the store would make to give the customer better and more personalized service. And the evening ended by re-training everyone at that Starbucks store. When my daughter got home here is what she said to me, "Dad, you would have loved it!...It's really weird, I know that I really work at a fast food chain, but they made me believe that it really matters."

So here is my question:

If we were to close all the churches across North America for three and half hours and we had the chance to vision-cast and re-train every Christ Follower, what would need to be said and what would you do?