“Customer Service Champs”

By Jena McGregor of Business Week

Presented by:Patrick Deenihan Jennifer Griffith

The Story • Passengers waited over 5 hours to take off.

•Constant updates by the pilot and flight attendants.

•Two days later all passengers on that flight received 2 free round trip ticket vouchers.

•“I cannot believe they acknowledged the situation and apologized…Then they gave me a gift, for all intents and purposes, to make up for the time spent sitting on the runway.” – Bob Emig

•6 years ago they created a new high level job that oversees all proactive customer communications.

•Because of this story JetBlue who was ranked 4 on the Business Week’s top 25 was completely removed from the list.

1) USAA: Rating: A+ Recommend: 79%

2) Four seasons: Rating: A+ Recommend: 60%

3) Cadillac: Rating: A+ Recommend: 51%

4) Nordstrom: Rating: A- Recommend: 57%

5) Wegmans Food Markets: Rating: A Recommend: 60%

6) Edward Jones: Rating: A Recommend: 58%

7) Lexus: Rating: A+ Recommend: 55%

8) UPS: Rating: B+ Recommend: 40%

9) Enterprise Rent-a-Car: Rating: A- Recommend: 44%

10) Starbucks: Rating: B+ Recommend: 45%

Top 10 of 25 Business Week Customer Service Champs:

What Makes Them Champs?

•They emphasize employee loyalty as much as customer loyalty, keeping their people happy with generous benefits and perks.

•They know how to respond when service goes wrong.

•The need to improve continuously, no matter how many accolades they receive.

• Allowing people to talk to real not automated people, and refrain from outsourcing call centers. (Nordstrom)

•Helping employees become more empathetic with customers. (Four Seasons)

•Poor customer service is paralyzing American companies

•2007 Harris Poll, which reported 80 percent of customers saying they will never return to a business after a negative customer-service experience. That's up from 68 percent in 2006.

•Surveys show people are willing to pay at least 10 percent more to get better service on a consistent basis.

•Customer service isn't one size fits all. It needs to address what the company wants to accomplish.

•It comes down to training, experience and having a good role model who knows the techniques of the trade.

Importance of customer service:

Sources

Kelley, Debbie. "Poor Customer Service Paralyzing U.S. Companies." CRM Daily 08 Feb. 2008. 02 Mar. 2008 <http://www.crm-daily.com/story.xhtml?story_id=58254>.

McGregor, Jena. "Customer Service Champs: BW's First Ever Ranking of 25 Client-Pleasing Included JetBlue, Until It Got Stuck on the Runway." Business Week 05 Mar. 2007. 02 Mar. 2008 <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_10/b4024001.htm>.

www.youtube.com