Rockstar Service. Rockstar Profits.

Increase Your Revenues, Grow Your Business and Create Raving Fan Customers for Life

David Brownlee

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781642792232
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Customer Relations
• Index: Business

• Teaches how to build rapport in 60 seconds or less
• Inspires teams to deliver world-class customer service with every customer, every time
• Helps create a customized customer service strategy that readers can implement immediately and get results
• Presents a new way of looking at customers and how they must be treated to increase revenues
• Shows readers how to uncover the only three things customers need from them
• Reveals how to create an endless stream of referrals, get 5-star online reviews, and convert upset customers into life-long loyal customers

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

—MAYA ANGELOU

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

—MOTHER TERESA

CHAPTER

GET HONEST

One-third of customers say they would “rather clean a toilet” than speak with a customer service representative.

Imagine for a moment that you are going about your day, business as usual when you get a phone call. Mick Jagger (or Paul McCartney—Stones versus Beatles) is interested in your company. Or imagine YOUR favorite musician, actor or celebrity. They need your product or service. Or better yet, they actually come in to your place of business and need your help that you can provide them. After you come to from fainting and wipe the drool off your mouth (fellas, this exercise works with Beyoncé or fill in the blank), What would you say to them? How would you treat them? What length would you go to and make sure they are well taken care of? How would you entice them to tell their famous friends about you and your company? What would you offer them to come back? No ask yourself this question, “When was the last time you or your staff treated your customers in this way?”

The idea of doing business with rockstars can be an exciting thought. To me, an even more exciting thought is treating your customers that actually come into your business every day like rockstars. They will tell all of their friends (famous or not) how great you and your business are. They will come back to your business over and over again. They will write great things about you online for the world to see. Resulting in raving fan clients that are excited to do business with you again and again. Keep this attitude in mind—treating every client or customer like you would your favorite rockstar as you read through this book.

You may be thinking, “But David, I am a small business, and I don’t have the tools, time or money to implement a customer service program like the big companies to create raving fan customers.” Here’s the good news. You don’t have to. Creating raving fan clients is easier than ever to do. It’s not expensive either. In this book, you’ll learn how to gain client referrals, get more positive online reviews, increase your sales and grow your business.

In this chapter, we are going to talk about Secret No. 1: You have to be honest!

But what does it really mean to be honest with yourself and honest about your company? In order to improve your customer service, you have to be honest about where you are today. By starting right here and right now, we can put together a map to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

I have worked with tons of companies that put on a façade. On the outside, they’re telling customers, “Hey, we are great with our customers!” But when you get there, the experience is a disaster! I do a lot of what’s called “mystery shopping.” Basically, I call up a company’s customer service line or go to the store itself as though I am a real customer—and I get to experience firsthand what the customers are experiencing. A lot of times, it’s not as awesome as the company implies. It’s just horrible. If you are someone who’s identified that there is something wrong internally with your company, it’s OK to be honest with yourself and honest with your company about where you really are.

Next, I want to talk about the meaning of the term “world class.” What does world class mean to you? Before we dive into that, can you answer a question: Who won the 100-meter dash during the Brazil Olympics in 2016? Do you remember? It was Usain Bolt of Jamaica. He ran 100 meters in 9.81 seconds. He is the fastest man alive. So, is Usain Bolt world class? I would say yes. Whether you’re a sports fan or not, that guy is quantifiably the best of the best. In fact, when he trains, he works so hard that he pukes afterwards—and he’s only practicing. He gets up to that starting mark with his coach, gets on the track, and runs his heart out, pushing himself harder and harder. When was the last time you pushed yourself so hard during customer service training that you puked? Kidding! But you get my point. Pushing yourself beyond what everybody else is doing is the first step toward being world class at what you do.

Now that you know Usain Bolt won the 100-meter dash in 9.81 seconds, do you know who came in second? It was Justin Gatlin, an American who ran it in 9.89 seconds. Who came in third place? That was Andre De Grasse from Canada; he ran it in 9.91 seconds. What about fourth place? I recently asked a class if anyone knew who came in fourth place, and a guy answered, “Who cares? It doesn’t matter!” It’s kind of funny, but he is the fourth fastest person in the world. Well, it was Yohan Blake, and he ran it in 9.93 seconds. All four of these runners were separated by less than a second as far as speed goes. You just read about the top four fastest guys in the world, but many of you probably didn’t know who won fourth place.

So, where are you in your marketplace? Are you Usain Bolt? Are you No. 1? Are you world-class? Before you answer, I personally believe that No. 4 is still passing in terms of good customer service—but is that how your clients would see you? That’s a big question. If you can’t remember the names of the second, third, or fourth fastest man in the world—if you can only remember who is No. 1—that should tell you something about being world class.

I’ll give you another example. There is a hotel where my wife and I spent our anniversary. We wanted to do something really special. We decided to drive up the coast and get a hotel right on the water with a beautiful view. The hotel chain we chose is known for its service. It builds its brand based on that service. As soon as we pulled up, the valet—his name was Parker—was so happy to see us. He was genuinely excited. He got out and shook our hands.

He said, “Hey, Welcome! What’s your name?”

“Mr. Brownlee.”

“Mr. Brownlee, we’ve been expecting you!”

“You have?”

I mean I hadn’t even gotten out of my car yet. When we finally did and went to the back, there was already a bellman gathering our luggage out of the trunk. He took all of it and walked us right up to the counter to check in. The concierge said, “Mr. Brownlee, we’ve been expecting you! Happy anniversary!” He knew it was our anniversary. I had told another man earlier, but now this gentleman brought it up, too. He made me feel like a rockstar.

As my wife and I walked with the bellman to our room, he made polite conversation and told us about the hotel and asked us what we would like to do. He engaged with us and helped us make our stay even more fantastic. When we got up to the room—which was gorgeous—what do you think was waiting for us? Flowers, chocolates, and a little card that said, “Happy anniversary.” That’s world class! And that’s the lesson: What is your business doing to be world class like that?

This is a big hotel chain, and you may be thinking, “But I’m a small business! I can’t afford to give flowers and chocolates to all of our clients.” Maybe not. But it’s not the flowers or the chocolates that make them world class. It is how the staff made me feel as a customer, as a client! Later on in this book, I will be teaching you a little bit about the psychology of your customers.

If we’re going to take you from where you are to where you want to be, we need to be honest. So, where are you right now? Let’s use a metaphor. I like metaphors. We’re going to take a road trip from L.A. to New York. We are going to drive. We need to know where our starting point is because we’re going to enter it into our GPS. We need to know our destination.

Let’s imagine our favorite rockstar is playing a concert in New York on a specific date and time. We really want to go to that concert. If we like that band enough, we’re going to do whatever it takes to see them perform. That’s the kind of roadmap you are going to set for your customer service goals. You are going to know exactly where you’re starting from, exactly where you’re going, and exactly what it’s going to take to get there. If you don’t know where you are starting from, you’ll never get to where you want to go. That’s true for customer service, and it’s true in life.

✶ ✶ ✶

84% of customers say that their last customer service interaction did not exceed their expectations.

This part of chapter 1 is going to take a deep dive into the history of customer service—old school versus new school. We’re going to look at the customer service timeline.

We’ll pick four different places in time: the 1950s, 1990s, mid-2000s, and 2020. Did you ever see Back to the Future with Michael J. Fox? It was a great movie. There is a particular scene after Fox’s character arrives back in time to the ‘50s to his hometown. He’s disoriented, and he looks around and spots a gas station. A car pulls into the gas station, a little bell goes “ding, ding,” and four attendants come running out wearing hats and bowties while the song “Mr. Sandman” plays in the background. Do you remember that scene? They come running out, and one guy is wiping the windshield, one is pumping the gas, another guy is checking the oil, and a fourth guy is pumping air into the tires. When was the last time you had that experience at a gas station? What happened to that level of customer service?

Back in the ‘50s, small towns created a real sense of community. Everybody knew each other, and businesses knew that the members of their community were their livelihood. If you owned a hardware store, you had a keen sense of customer appreciation. You understood that Mr. and Mrs. Smith were putting food on your table. These small businesses really made their customers feel welcome and special. The most important part of doing that was creating relationships—real relationships! Having a real relationship with somebody creates a loyal customer. In this section, we’re going to discuss how that applies today in the 21st century.

Let’s talk about the 1990s—because this is when customer service really began to change. The world was going through a tech boom. Companies were creating unique products for customers with home computers. Remember when MapQuest came out? I do—because it blew my mind! I couldn’t believe I could just log in and look at my house from a satellite … on my computer! I mean, it was via a dial-up modem, and it took a while to render, but there it was. We had a lot of innovative products like this back in the ‘90s, and their popularity grew exponentially. Tech companies realized that the world wanted and needed their products, so they started charging an arm and a leg for them—and the bottom line was born.

Companies began operating with the attitude of entitlement—”If you want my product, you’ve got to come to me.” The customer was no longer special. It was all about the product and the stock market (which, at that time, was going through the roof), and the shareholders. These things were always important, but in the 1990s, companies shifted away from the consumer. It’s no surprise, then, that in the ‘90s the world was introduced to voice prompts. The companies no longer felt they needed people to talk to customers or clients. Instead, they sent customers through an endless maze of voice-prompted options for customer service. Pushing 0 would sometimes get you a human operator. That didn’t last long. What happens now when you press 0 for an operator? “Sorry, we don’t recognize that request.” Click. Is that the experience you want your customer to have?

When you get on the phone with a customer service representative today, and you want to ask a quick question, their response is usually: “You know you can get your question answered on our website. Stop calling us!” They don’t literally say that … but that’s definitely the sentiment.

Let’s review: Starting in the ‘50s, you have a special relationship with your clients; you are taking care of them and treating them like they’re special. In the ‘90s, we see the advent of voice prompts and the outsourcing of customer service to people in other countries who have a completely different culture. Some representatives may not even speak English well enough to communicate with you or empathize with you, or really understand your problem. It’s no fault of theirs; this was a corporate-level decision for dealing with customers.

Now, let’s look ahead to the mid-2000s. We have technology like social media and online review sites (which we’ll talk about in more detail later). In the 21st century, your customer now has a voice whether you like it or not. There are now online review sites where your prospective customers can read about what’s happening with your business. Your customers can now see—almost in real time—how you are treating them and what kind of experience others are having with your business. This is a game-changer.

Research shows that, by 2020, 89 percent of businesses will be competing for customers and customer service. For example, someone will come up with a successful business concept or product, and what happens the very next month? A million other nearly identical versions pop up. More choices. Some products might be better or worse—and they will be offered at different price points with more features to choose from. As technology gets better, it will be easier to duplicate and improve upon different ideas. Studies also show that 85 percent of transactions will be made without human contact—85 percent! We’re moving toward an era in which customer service still exists but without humans to do it. Technology is important to consider if you are a customer service representative: What does it mean for your job if your company replaces you with a robot?

What will distinguish a business among the fray? If you are a business owner who doesn’t have any humans talking to customers, what are your customer service rules and procedures? What is the actual mindset that you are going to put into your customer service plan for treating your customers well? The opportunity for customer service representatives now is to step up their game and start showing the value their humanity brings to a company’s bottom line and reputation—and getting clients to spread the word about how great their company is. That’s the future. And it is not too far off. We need to start thinking now about what we’re going to do in the future.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Get Honest
• Chapter 2: Get Leverage
• Chapter 3: Psychology in Customer Service
• Chapter 4: Master Understanding
• Chapter 5: Response & Responsibility
• Chapter 6: Empathy in Customer Service
• Chapter 7: Clarify, Clarify, Clarify
• Chapter 8: Solutions in Customer Service
• Call to Action
• About the Author