18 · S A N TA C L A R I TA VA L L E Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L
J U LY 2022
Getting Your Customer Service Right BY PAUL RAGGIO
SCVBJ Contributing Writer
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ecent experiences reminded me how important it is to get customer service right in your company, which all centers on attitude, behaviors, and actions! I had an air conditioning and vanity light issue with my 2021 car, still under warranty, and took it to the local dealer for service. I made an appointment online, showed up on time, and waited fifteen minutes to check-in. Several service people walked by, never acknowledging my presence until I cornered one of them and said I had an appointment to fix some issues with my car. The service representative was retrieved, and I explained the problems to her and told her I would wait instead of leaving the vehicle. She immediately told me they were way behind because of service technicians calling in sick and wasn’t sure my car would be ready in two hours. Forty-five minutes later, she returned with the good news that nothing was wrong with my car. I drove it off the lot and discovered the same issues I reported to her were wrong two hours ago and still existed. During work hours, I called the service department and found they use an answering service to screen their calls, and I could not get through to the service representative who checked my car in to tell her the technicians fixed nothing. I made an appointment for another day online with the same service representative, showed up on time, waited another fifteen minutes to be seen and told her the problems still existed. She stated how can they, all the codes they ran on the car showed no issues. Get me the service manager, I said. I explained everything to him and left my car for him to work on for the day. Four hours later, I picked up my car, the issues fixed and the diagnosis was recharging the freon and cleaning and adjusting the connector on the vanity light. Every company I associate with always
states customer service is essential to their operation. Often, you’ll find it as a value statement prominently displayed in the customer collection area. However, how much of it is lip service? Does your organization believe they serve the customer and do they demonstrate that through their attitudes, behaviors, and actions? I recently talked with a COO about a challenge with her employees. How do you get them to care about our clients, she lamented? I know my team cares. She went on; however, the clients just don’t experience it. Both management and leadership actions will address the challenges. From a management standpoint, do you have documented procedures and processes as part of a customer service system that eliminates their inconvenience and maximizes their delightfulness? The auto service department’s case starts with the customer dropping off their car. Are customers attended to immediately, and is the customer service representative courteous and caring? Upon a customer departing, do they check with the customer to see if their service exceeded the customer’s expectations and, if not, what can they do better. These skills can be trained during
the employee’s onboarding process and continuously coached throughout employment. From a leadership standpoint, are supervisors present and engaged with how their employees interact with customers? Are they observing, coaching, correcting, training, and reinforcing the philosophy we serve our customers? Are their attitudes, behaviors, and actions worthy of modeling? If the answer is no, customer service is not resident in the organizational culture. Leaders must care, be present and demonstrate serving customers is a company tenet. Employees model their supervisors’ and company leaders’ attitudes, behaviors, and actions which spawns the cultural climate that values serving customers. It was clear that the service supervisor rarely observed, coached, corrected and trained their service representatives at the dealership I patronize. I’m obligated to contact and express my disappointment and the inconvenience I experienced working with their team if I want to see them change. If my feedback goes unwelcomed and positive change doesn’t result, I’ll find a dealership service center where customer service is more than lip service. Poor customer service equates to low customer retention and referrals. Customers always vote with their feet. Serving customers must be a company tenet, and ensuring leader and employee attitudes, behaviors, and actions reflect the importance of this tenet is how you delight customers and earn their patronage. Do it well enough, and your customers become raving fans and serve as a referral source for your thriving business! This is how you lead, think, plan, and act. Now, let’s get after it! Retired Col. Paul A. Raggio is co-owner, with his sister Lisa, of One True North INC Leadership and Business Coaching Solutions. For more information, visit onetruenorthcoach.com.
