Article 3.
THE SRI LANKA BUZZ 
(published in Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Motivating people to deliver outstanding world-class customer service

By Dr David Freemantle

The need for world-class customer service

Whether we like it or not we live in a global world where increasing numbers of people travel, use cellphones and have access to the Internet. Commercial competition is no longer just local, or even national. It is international. More and more companies are facing competition from around the world - whether it is in banking, airlines, fast-food or simply serving coffee.

This means working to the highest possible standards to satisfy customers who have increasing level of expectations following their exposure to the best in the world. This trend is inescapable and a country's economic prosperity (and thus levels of employment) depends on rising to these challenges.

This challenge is not just a strategic issue for the senior executives of large corporations but one for every single employee who interfaces with a customer, internal or external. Thus if a visitor to a country has a bad experience with an immigration official or taxi-driver then there is a high probability that visitor will never return. What is worse he or she will tells a large number of friends of the bad experience. The end result for the country is a downturn in revenues and a loss of jobs. Unemployment creeps up and economic prosperity decreases.

Let us take tourism for example. I could name twenty different countries which offer white beaches, warm seas, palm trees and blue skies for a relaxing vacation: for example the USA (Florida), Malaysia (Penang), Philippines (Cebu), Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and most of the countries around the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. You can also find beautiful white beaches in Sri Lanka .

So why should a tourist choose to spend a relaxing vacation on a beautiful beach in Sri Lanka as opposed to one of the countries mentioned above? The answer lies not just in the beauty of the beaches, the price of the vacation, the facilities available, the quality of the hotels and the cultural interest. It also lies in the level of service provided to customers. You can invest a million bucks in a brand new hotel but if the first visitor receives poor service from a grumpy employee then that million buck investment is wasted. My own research shows that customer service is a critical factor in customer choice. Poor service drives customers away whilst world-class service attracts customers.

That is why customer service is so important. Jobs and profits depend on it.

The world-class customer service BUZZ

The research also shows that the most successful companies really 'buzz' when it comes to providing customer service. Their employees are switched on and they make it happen for customers. They make customers feel good. It is down to all the little things they get right. They focus on what counts and in the world of commerce as well as in public service there is only person one that counts, and that is the customer. Everything else is secondary. The principle of serving the customer well over-rides all other principles and bears dividends in every sense. When the service buzzes profits follow and so does employee motivation and company pride. Everyone is happy. These buzzing organisations have a dynamic that transcends the mundanity of the essential routines of serving customers. Their employees seize every opportunity to please customers by going beyond the repetitive transactions that of necessity form a part of everyday life. They put a spark into the way they do business and this ignites positive relations which customers cherish. The spark comes from the minutiae of behaviour, from the look in an employee's eyes to the words he or she chooses in speaking with a customer. The aim is to make every minute with a customer a high quality minute. When this is a achieved a buzz is created.

Conversely when there is no buzz everything is flat. Employees are switched off and in turn they switch off their customers. There is no imagination and no initiative. Procedures are followed and that is all. The service is minimal in every sense. Little energy is expended on customers and the prevailing attitude is to get away with as little that can be given away. Smiles are rare, indifference is the order of the day and attention is focused elsewhere, sometimes on costs, sometimes on tasks, sometimes on merely following the order of the day. Everyone is unhappy and it shows. Mediocrity and ordinariness are the best descriptors of these organisations - and regrettably they are still in the majority around the world despite two decades of debate about how best to provide excellent service. In these organisations the majority of minutes with customers are low quality minutes.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

Over the last twelve months I have flown on ten airlines around Asia, Africa and Europe . Only one of these really 'buzzed' in providing outstanding world-class service, and that was Singapore Airlines. On every occasion I stepped on board the crew seemed genuinely delighted to see me. For example they took real pleasure in showing me to my seat. Nothing was too much trouble - for example helping other passengers with their hand baggage. In other airlines the crews were often 'miserable', merely went through the motions or their routines and made minimal effort to please customers. Their approach was mechanistic if not robotic and they took no real interest in thecustomers.

When most people talk of excellent customer service they talk of heroic acts, of employees who went the extra mile on their way home to deliver urgent items to customers, of front-line people who made major exceptions to the rule and actually spent money on customers, of store assistants who dazzled customers. Whilst this helps, the BUZZ is best created when every single interaction with a customer, routine or otherwise is of exceptionally high qualityand reinforced by a substantial amount of positive emotional energy.

 Differentiating through people

Thus world-class companies not only differentiate themselves from the competition through product and price, but they also differentiate through service and the employees who provide it. It is relatively easy for a competitor to come along and match the product and price you offer - but what is much moredifficult is to emulate the people in the business.

In this global world it is no longer good enough solely to differentiate through product or price. A company must also differentiate throughpeople and the service they provide.

For the people in the company to be able to deliver world-class service they have to have support systems which enable them to do this - whether they be computer systems or policies and procedures which enable them to make decisions in favour of a customer. These systems should include mechanisms for providing meaningful feedback on the levels of service provided. Such measures might well include response times, wait times, accuracy of information as well as subjective emotional measures such as tone of voice, attitude and degree of helpfulness.

 The danger is that managers concentrate solely on this systems side of service delivery and neglect the psychological aspects relating to emotions and feelings and the essential relationships that must be developed with customers. This creates a company culture where the emphasis is on the hard impersonal side of their business. Everyone becomes task driven and focuses on numbers, targets, analyses, mechanisms and processes. Everything is 'systemised' even down to a 'scripted welcome' and a procedure for railroading a customer through a routine.

None of this creates a BUZZ, in fact it creates companies that are'flat' or devoid of energy. The excessive reliance on systems, cost reduction, mechanisation and the impersonal aspect of service drains energy from customers and employees alike and leads to the alienation and demotivation of customers and employees alike.

A young couple walked into the London flagship store of Austin Reed, a major UK clothing retailer. The Austin Reed assistant took a genuine interest in the couple and discovered they were about to get married and wanted to purchase some casual clothes for theirhoneymoon. Using her initiative, and without consulting her supervisor the assistant went and fetched a bottle of champagne which she duly opened to celebrate the imminent wedding. The young couple then walked around the store, a glass of champagne in their hands, whilst they selected clothes for their honeymoon. That's the buzz!!!

 However there are exceptions and I site many of these on my BUZZ seminars. These are the companies that have risen above the cold technology of modern customer service to create a BUZZ, to create a positive energy that radiates between customers, employees and managers alike. Prime examples from around the world of such progressive companies are Starbucks (USA), Virgin (UK), Discovery Health (South Africa) and Singapore Airlines. The employees in these organisations really buzz and there is a high probability that customers will experience this and be attracted to it.

Motivating people to create the BUZZ

The key to this progressive approach is motivation and team-leadership. It means motivating employees such that every single individual is 'switched on' to provide the very best for customers. In my BUZZ seminars we explore in depth the approach that progressive managers adopt to motivate their teams and I provide many examples of such 'switched on' people.

 I have not been to Sri Lanka since the 1980s when I had an excellent vacation with my family at Negombo and this included a memorable trip to Kandy . The people I met on that occasion were truly wonderful.

In mid-May I will be returning to Sri Lanka for the first time in over twenty years and I want to see how it has developed since then. What are the service standards like? Which organisations in Sri Lanka really BUZZ? I would love to produce a series of short case studies of excellent organisations in Sri Lanka to add to my research database of world-class companies that deliver outstanding service. I would love to site an example or two in my seminars of Sri Lankan companies that BUZZ!!!

Summarily to differentiate in the provision of world-class service a company must go beyond the basics and focus on creating a BUZZ in the organisationwhich both employees and customers will feel. This means not just relying on the conventional measures of customer service (such as response times and wait times) but developing meaningful and long-term relationships with customers. This require a substantial injection of positive emotional energy into every single transaction with a customer.

Dr David Freemantle

Dr David Freemantle is one of the world's leading experts on customer service, leadership and motivation. He travels the world running workshops, seminars, training programmes and speaking at conferences and is renowned for his highly thought-provoking approach. His clients include Singapore Airlines, The John Lewis Partnership (UK) and Bank Atlantic ( USA )

Dr David Freemantle would be delighted to receive comments on this article or hear from readers on related topics. Please do not hesitate to e-mail him at: team@superboss.co.uk He will guarantee a personal reply. Please also check out his website: www.superboss.co.uk

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© Dr David Freemantle

e-mail: team@superboss.co.uk     web: www.superboss.co.uk

ARTICLE COPYRIGHT © Dr David Freemantle