“Customer service shouldn’t be a department, it should be the entire company”- Tony Hseih, CEO Zappo’s.
Our mailbox got hit, well not just hit, destroyed.
I am not a handyman by any stretch of the imagination and working full time meant the chance of us getting our mailbox replaced in a timely fashion was slim.
My wife called the post office and went through the process of placing our mail on hold. We would have to go to the local post office daily to pick it up until the new mailbox was up.
Not the most convenient, but when you don’t have a mailbox you make due.
Monday came and our mail showed up on our front porch neatly held together by some rubber bands. The next day the same thing happened, except this time my wife saw the mail carrier leave her truck and walk it to our front porch.
My wife explained that she had put our mail on hold, and the mail carrier replied, “I know, I saw that, but I don’t mind bringing up to your porch. Gives me a chance to stretch my legs.”
Wow! Talk about customer service, from an unlikely place, the postal service.
Our mail carrier could have just skipped our house, technically our mail was on hold, but she was aware of the uniqueness of the situation and used her own judgment to deliver a really awesome customer experience.
Independent Action
The fact that she was able to make a decision to go against a policy, because she knew our situation was unique, is at the core of delivering excellent service.
Our mail was not on hold because we were out of town; our mail was on hold because we did not have a mailbox.
What if her company had been very rigid on the policy of holding mail?
Staff had been told that under no circumstances could you go against the policy. Our experience would have been a little different.
Not necessarily bad, we had anticipated a daily trip to the post office, but it turned into a truly “wow” moment when we started having front door mail delivery.
“Policies cover common things, however a truly excellent customer experience comes from an amazing response to an uncommon event.”
Rigidity Kills Initiative
To deliver great customer service, you have to put the control in the hands of the frontline staff. Add layers of bureaucracy or decision makers and you kill the initiative.
The harder it is for staff to deliver a “wow” moment the less likely your customers will experience one.
In his book Delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh talks about the customer service philosophy at Zappos. These employees are empowered to do whatever it takes to make things right for the customer.
If you Google Zappos and customer service, you will find hundreds of stories ranging from reps who stayed on the line with a trouble customer for ten hours, sending flowers to a customers ill family member, even ordering pizza for a customer.
Leaders must remove barriers from staff to make the customer experience successful.
Policies cover common things, however a truly excellent customer experience comes from an amazing response to an uncommon event.
We need to look for ways to deliver the mail to our customer’s front porch.