Is good customer service possible over the phone?

Hi all, just a quickie this week am a tad busy as you'll see.

Today I had to ring BUPA to make arrangements for a visit to a consultant surgeon I will be making shortly, I get BUPA coverage as part of my work benefits so don't get carried away with visions of my wealth.

Anyway I rang up with details of the Surgeon I need to see and the appointment date, I was electronically directed to "new customers" and got through to a charming young lady called Linda.

Well I explained the situation and she took me through the process immaculately, I didn't know the first name of the surgeon so she rang the hospital to find out for me making sure I could hold and offering to ring me back if it was more convenient, she completed whatever details she needed to on her system and gave me two reference numbers to take along to the appointment.

The surgeon will bill BUPA direct so all I have to do is turn up !

Before letting me go she explained about the rules of out patients’ costs and warned me to check that the surgeon would operate, if necessary, within BUPA rates.

At the end of the conversation she enquired if there was anything else she could help me with, a standard enquiry for this role but spoken with practiced conviction rather than bored disinterest.

I hung up feeling that I'd dealt with a true professional.

Ok nothing that happened was earth shattering, nothing that couldn't be scripted, but so much more satisfying than dealing with some call centre operative with no interest in her job.

So what did I learn here?

Good customer service is definitely possible on the phone
A decent script will cope with the unexpected
A well motivated employee will deliver it with care

I wonder how BUPA maintain these high standards?

John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com

My Dentists' and my Doctor's are three doors and seven light years apart !

My dentists are two lovely ladies from ireland, Mary and Kathleen Macarthy and their practice is on the Brighton Rd in South Croydon I tell you this not to encourage you to join them, they don't need to advertise, but so that you will know that the people I am describing are real.

These ladies should be writing this blog because they have customer service down pat, every time I visit I am amazed at their skills.

Now let's face it a visit to the dentist isn't something any of us looks forward to and I'm no exception but these two ladies do everything they can to make the experience as pleasant as possible.

When I walk to the door and ring the electric door buzzer I know what will happen next, Kathleen or Mary will come to the door themselves, it's a remote operated door so there's no need for them to get up but they would see buzzing someone in as just plain rude.

A warm smile greets me and a genuine interest in my well being is evident in everything they do, whoever welcomes me to the practice walks me to the waiting room and makes sure that I have everything I could want before returning to her desk.

Often if there is a delay one or other will pop in and explain why and have a chat, my whole family go there so we always have plenty to talk about, how's your mum and dad, and Margaret etc.

We talk about all sorts of things until whoever is seeing me is ready when she comes to collect me, with a smile I am led to the couch and invited to recline.

We talk about whatever is required and agree together on any treatment before it is carried out, ok a filling is a filling and I'm not goingto tell you that they never hurt me but what I will tell you is that they hurt me as little as possible, I have total confidence that whatever they do is absolutely necessary for my well being.

When the treatment is over whoever was operating will walk me to the office for a brief chat on any next steps repeat visits etc. before returning to her next patient, the other sister will deal with the administration and walk me to the door.

As I pass the surgery I'll get a cheery farewell and at the door the same from the other sister before I leave with a fresh smile on my face.

My doctor's is also in the Brighton Rd but I won't name it as I would not want to encourage anyone to attend there.

When I have to attend and believe me I rarely do I dread it, the surgery is grubby the staff indifferent at best and the doctor herself when she is there and normally I see a locum, is brusque and completely fails to listen.

I hate being late so I am always early for appointments, I'll arrive 15 mins early or so despite the fact that I know my appointment will be at least 30 mins late.

When I eventually get the receptionists attention he or she will grunt and point me at the waiting area, the waiting area for this surgery was originally decorated in the late 50's or early 60's and since then has seen not a lick of paint.

There has obviously been a flood at some point judging by the huge brown stain on the ceiling, there are posters on the wall that have been there at least 9 years as that's how long I've been going and they looked old when I first went !

The place is as inclusive as a private gentlemans club with none of the redeeming features.

This time I had to visit the loo, hmmm interesting experience fighting my way past broken toys to find a cardboard box over the pan, I turned and spotted another door to find a working example but no loo paper, I did a bit of searching and found a roll tucked away so all was well, apart from the cork ceiling tiles hanging off the ceiling and the smell.

When my long wait was over normally a buzzer goes off to signify that I may approach the doctor but today the locum I was seeing came and got me, we made our way up the dark corridor to the front room, as you would expect there is an examining couch, a desk and mountains of other stuff in there.

The place looks like it hasn't seen any organisation for years and with locums coming and going I'm not surprised no one takes any ownership of it.

I explained the reason for my visit stripped so an examination could take place, a few prods and squeezes later I was back in my clothes and receiving a blood pressure test.

Apparently my blood pressure is 90 and it shouldn't be above 85 but no ideas on what to do about it were forthcoming before I was dismissed.

I wandered back down the dark corridor and out of the surgery unremarked into the fresh air.

What a contrast huh?

I wonder why?

Do my dentists have fewer patients?

No that I can see, their appointment book is always full and they start at 8 and finish at 7.

Do my dentists get paid more?

I don't believe so, it's been a long time since I worked in payroll for the NHS but at that time Dentists were very badly paid in comparison to Doctors, no they are not private dentists by the way.

So what is it then?

Well they do all the things I've discussed before, "Live the vision", "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "Care" but they do one more thing too.

When I walk into their surgery they treat me like a visitor to their home, another classic lesson there so I'll repeat it.

Treat customers like visitors to your home.

When I talked to them about this they said that that was what they were taught at dental college and it's served them well through their careers, in their own way they are also seekers after customer service truth as they both admitted to watching how it goes when they are out and about, it's a small world it seems.

John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com

The Goodwill Bank and the BPF !

Hi all,

this week's blog is on this saying "People don't care what you know till they know that you care." I don't know where or when I first heard it but I do know it has applications in all areas of my life.

From a customer service point of view it helps me give better service, from sales I make more, from leadership I get more co-operation, at home I have a better life etc.

It's almost as powerful as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" or as my lovely wife asked me the other day, "What does, do unto Otters as you would have them do unto you mean?"

So how can we put this simple phrase into action in our everyday lives?

Next time you deal with a customer try imparting some care into your phrasing,

I'm sure you must feel terrible about this let me see if I can help
I can see that you are very angry about this, let me see if I can sort it out with you
You look like you're looking for something, can I help at all?
You know I've got one of those at home and I use it every day, can I show you how it works?

By adding that dash of care you are identifying with your customer, they will quickly stop seeing you as a barrier and start seeing you as a solution.

It works just as well in the leadership arena.

You've obviously worked really hard on this let's go through it together and see if we can make it even better.
Tell me how you feel about this, I'm interested in how it will be received and I know you have your finger on the pulse
I've completely failed to explain this properly can you help me?
I can see your concerned about this let's grab a coffee and talk it through?

By using this approach you are stepping over the boundary between you and whoever you are talking to, you've seen that diagram about personal space and this is one way that you can move closer.

Ok ok I can hear you saying "I don't have time to do all that soft stuff every time I want something done" and to a certain degree I agree that it is not practical to always use this approach.


Now let me introduce you to something I really hate the Big Pointy Finger (BPF)

This is a dangerous tool, needed at crisis points but should remain holstered at all other times


If the office is on fire it's no time to hold a fire warden's steering committee meeting, out must come the big pointy finger and you may have to give orders "everyone out, you do this, you do that" etc.

This is the antithesis of the caring leader's method of doing things however, I don't have a cute graphic for showing a caring manager but I guess if I did it would be of a concerned face and an open hand.

So why am I so against the BPF?

I look on it like a bank, when you are put into a position of leadership or indeed service you are given by dint of your appointment some coin of goodwill, those of us who wish to be successful will do all they can to increase this account of goodwill, spookily enough by spending it freely for like bread cast upon the waters it returns many fold.

We keep this goodwill in the goodwill bank, that every person we interact with has an account at, we put coin into their accounts in many ways, not least of which by demonstrating our care for them and they put coin into ours in return.

Now all goes along smoothly until we start to spend more goodwill than we credit, we can spend the coin most effectively by using the big pointy finger but there are a million ways we can fritter it away, eventually we come to spend some of the coin of goodwill and find that the account is empty and that means trouble with a capital T !

If however we continue to accrue more coin than we spend when the crunch comes and we have to pull out the BPF, to get something done in a hurry for instance, we find ourselves in the happy circumstance of still having funds in our account and things go smoothly still .

Now when I was in the position of leadership I spent coin freely, built up huge supplies with everyone I came into contact with and yes when I found myself in a hole I had the reserves to spend to buy my way out, you can bet your bottom dollar that when the crisis was over I made some pretty rapid deposits too.

Yeah yeah yeah I can hear you all saying "It's all a bit airy fairy John" but I would urge you to consider putting it into practice.

There's a side effect that may encourage you, it makes your life so much easier and happier.

Ok so I hear some of you say my boss is a poor leader, uses the BPF all the time, I am demoralized and despairing, how can I put this into practice and how will it help?

Congratulations you are in an ideal place to see the beauty of the goodwill bank, next time the BPF comes out try responding with care.

"I can see this is really important do you think you could find time afterwards to explain it to me?"
"You know it's great to have such strong guidance but do you think you could find time to ex-plain the bigger picture sometime?"
"How can I help?"

Ok not easy I agree, I'm not always capable of doing it myself and I've been practicing for years, what's important is that you know what effect your attitude will have and make a conscious choice of which one to adopt.

If you are unlucky enough to be labouring under a poor leader, remember this.

No one cares what you know till they know that you care.

John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com

Wet in every sense of the word !

Hi all,

well last week was interesting for me on many fronts, I went swimming with my niece, learnt a new phrase went on a stag do and learnt a bit more about myself.

Now where to start?

My niece who is 16 and has just started studying for her A levels is kind enough to give her old uncle some exercise once a week, normally it's Badminton but last week we went swimming for a change down at Leatherhead, they have some great lockers controlled by individual magnets in a wristband very posh, I managed about 18 lengths when I got cramp and nearly drowned, it's amazing how painful cramp can be and how far 10 yards seems to be when you are clutching your calf and trying to swim at the same time.

Once we finished I headed for the changing room and a shower only to find that the showers are shared and in full view of the pool!

Ok not fatal but still unusual, what swung this trip from a normal event to one worth talking about was the behaviour of 2 parents in the showers.

Now now calm down !

When I went in, a mum and dad were washing the hair of their kids, I guess the children were about 4 or 5, one of the children twitched and got some soap in his eyes, needless to say he started greetin (Scottish for crying) his mum bellowed and I use the word advisedly, you fxxxing xxxxhole !!!

She then went on to explain exactly how useless he and his sister were, what a waste of space their father is and how much she hates them all, all at the top of her lungs and all the while she was scrubbing away at the poor tykes head.

I started thinking about the lessons this little boy was learning and by default the other kids who were being exposed to it.

So what has this kid learnt from his experience?

• He's useless
• So's his sister
• So's his father
• His mother hates him
• His father will allow his mother to abuse him
• It's ok to use abusive behaviour if someone annoys you
• It's ok to abuse those who are weaker than you
• It's ok to shout obscenities at the top of your lungs in public
• It's not ok to show how hurt you are to those you should be able to expect to care for you

I wonder what they are going to grow up like?

In a few years when these poor kids are putting these lessons into effect will we care why?

Saddened by this experience, I read this week about a child who went beserk with a rifle and killed a schoolmate, injured others and finally killed himself, his actions were described as "Going Postal" which phrase came from the USA where stressed postal workers went beserk so often that the phrase stuck.

What is it that this young man found in life that prompted him to act in this way?

When I was going through my "Kevin" years I was undoubtably a very sad young man, sad in all definitions of the word, yet I managed to avoid "Going Postal" was that because I didn't have access to a gun?

Was I happier, wealthier, better looking, better built ;), better anything than my peers?

Err nope.

So why didn't I get a gun and blow away the people I identified as persecuting me?

I dunno but I know my parents never bellowed at me in the showers !

Last week I received some bad news, not earth shatteringly bad news but bad enough to get me thinking about the big questions, why, who, what etc.

I felt pretty bad about it until Saturday night when I was lucky enough to attend a stag do with some of my friends.

My friend Jason has recently got married but it had all happened in such a rush that he'd not had time to have a stag do, so we had it after the event.

The day started at 2:10pm for me when I was stood outside my house waiting for my best friend to pick me up, I was still feeling down about my news but determined to enjoy myself and put it behind me.

2:25 he turned up and we were off, his delightful wife Nikki kindly drove us down to the venue the AMF Bowling Alley in Purley.

We arrived having picked up another friend en-route and met up with the groom and a couple of other friends, 6 in all we got the drinks in and the fun began.

We were bowling away, some better than others when during the second round the next alley became populated with 4 physically disabled and their carers.

I looked at this group with guilt in my heart, how dare I be sad when I have all I do and there are people who have so much less, not a million miles away but right next door !

As they enjoyed their game I found that I was thinking hard about how I was feeling and behaving, I realised that I was being selfish in the extreme, that by wallowing in my self pity I was extending it and hurting those I loved.

That's such an important lesson for me I'm going to repeat it. "By wallowing in my self pity I was extending it and hurting those I loved."

I've vowed to try and stop doing that, so if you see me falling down please feel free to give me a kick in the pants and I'll do the same for you.

John Anslow

http://www.ffriar.com

Monkey see Monkey do !

Last time I talked a lot about leadership and how it affects customer service and I promised I'd expand on that a bit more this time so here goes.

The title of this week's blog is not intended to be a slur on anyone but a very old saying which like so many very old sayings has a huge dose of truth in it.

When we are little we look up to our parents, older siblings, nannies, minders etc. to see how to act, there are lots of studies that prove that what we experience when we are children has a direct effect on the rest of our lives and it would be a brave man indeed who claimed that this is not the case.

My point is, this never ends, we continue to change our behaviour based on observing our direct superiors and colleagues or to put it another way, "Monkey see Monkey do"

You must have noticed in yourselves how your behaviour, speech mannerisms, language etc. alters when you are in different surroundings, do you use the same language to describe a missed tackle down the footy on Saturday as you do to describe a missed deadline at work on Monday morning?

Why is that?

Aren't you subconsciously fitting in with your environment, acting the way your peer group acts, going with the flow or whatever phrase best suits you?

Of course you are, I do the same, we all do, well almost all of us anyway.

Take a close look at the best leader you know personally, watch their body language, listen to how they say things not just what they say, if the studies are to be believed that's what you do 80% of the time anyway, but this time do it consciously.

What do you see, how does it compare to the worst leader you know?

If you are lucky you will see them painting pictures sure but you'll also see them and I'm going to use a horrid expression here, "Living the vision"

I can here you saying it now "WTF does that mean?"

Put as simply as I know how "Living the vision" means representing the best method of behaviour in everything you do, the finest example I can give you is Jesus Christ, now there was a man who lived the vision, there is nothing in the Bible that shows him doing anything that is inconsistent with what he was trying to achieve.

To truly live the vision you have to believe in what you are trying to do, gauge every act against your objectives and discard those that take you away from rather than towards your goal, you have to act as a role model at all times, not only in using the systems properly or wearing the right clothes etc. though these things are important, but in your attitude.

If you are trying to encourage honesty, say in retail or cash handling situations, then you must not steal, seems obvious doesn't it?

What about a pencil or a paperclip or a minute off the working day no one would begrudge you a paperclip surely? It's a short trip from a paperclip to a £5 note and that way lies ruin, how can you discipline a follower for dishonesty if you are guilty of the same crime but to a lesser extent?

When I was in a position of leadership I told my followers that they could do anything they saw me doing, you can bet your life it was a hell of an incentive to display the right attitude and do the right thing at all times.

Attitude is the single most important thing in life, there are hosts of saws about attitude I quite like "It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so" which demonstrates for me that it is how we choose to perceive which makes the difference in how we react.

And like a badly scratched record that brings me back to Living the Vision.

OK so how does “Living the Vision” help people become better leaders?

Well, I've already established that people act differently in different surroundings and that we tend to look to our superiors to see how to act, so it's not much of a leap to see that if a leader wishes to produce a given attitude and behaviour in his staff he should model it himself.

Have you any respect for a "Do as I say, don't do as I do" kind of guy, do you religiously do as he says or do as he does?

Hmm interesting that, when you see juveniles in the papers or on television behaving badly what's the first thing that goes through your minds, is it "I blame the parents"?

I wonder why that is so common a reaction?

Of course there are bad eggs born to good families just as there are good eggs born in horrendous circumstances, there are no hard and fast rules in life but I am convinced that environment has a lot to do with how people behave, is it nature or nurture?

Given that I believe all that, it is no surprise that I believe also that by Living the Vision any leader can affect his followers for the good.

Keep an eye out for leaders in your environment and see how they affect their followers, see what vision they are living how they model behaviour and how closely their followers model them.

I think you'll be surprised !

John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com

Hello sir, how can I help you?

Sometimes those words can really brighten my day, and sometimes they make me cringe.

I went into Superdrug in Wallington today and had a look around, I was very impressed with the standards and took the time to observe the cashiers at work.

I heard the above phrase spoken several times with real feeling, made me smile all over my face, the cashiers were showing that they were interested in:

• what they were doing
• giving good service
• making a good impression on the customer
• making the most of their opportunities.

I finished my business and popped into Boots on the way back to the car, what a difference.

Exactly the same phrase completely different effect !

The cashier behind the till obviously didn't want to:

• be there
• serve anyone
• serve me in particular
• make money for her company
• keep her job
• progress any further

And yet the same phrase was used in both shops, so what is the difference?

Well I believe passionately that it is a direct reflection of the managers.

Ok I can hear some of you saying, yeah but it's different companies or different locations or just you caught the Boots girl on a bad day and to those of you I say nay !

In retail there are no such things as bad days, let me repeat myself cos I think that's so important. "In retail there are no such things as bad days" in fact I'll go further than that and say

"In service there are no such things as bad days"

As a consumer I couldn't give a fetid dingo's kidney what sort of day my cashier is having, I couldn't care less if he has a headache, groin strain, a horrible home life or an appointment at the dentist I am solely interested in my wants, another nugget there so I'll repeat it

"As a consumer...I am solely interested in my wants"

So if we wish to give excellent customer service whose wants should we be focussing on?

Seems simple doesn't it?

So why is it that Superdrug in Wallington managed to satisfy mine and Boots failed?

Which brings me back, rather neatly I think, to the store managers.

An excellent store manager, nay leader, will paint pictures for their staff, it is their job to make the future sound bright, you've heard that classic song, "The future's so bright you just gotta wear shades" it should be the mantra of anyone who wishes to be a real leader, they should go to bed humming it and wake up to it on the radio, sing it in the shower, ponder it in the car on the way to work .... well you get the message.

Ok so why is it so important?

Well look at it this way when do you do your best work?

When you are sad and depressed, worried about your job and the future, feeling undervalued and unappreciated, in the dark, ignored, passed over etc. etc.

or

When you are feeling on top of the world, valued, prized even, when you know what you are doing and why, when you have hope in your heart and a smile on your face?

Well durr !!!

And yet again we find that this simple fact is ignored time and time again, how many times have you felt like a mushroom, you know, kept in the dark and covered in xxxx?

Did you do your best work?

I think not !

Ok so is painting pictures enough?

Hardly but it's a great start !

I'll go on with what else is required to be a great leader next time but for now let me finish telling you how the two stores I visited reflect their managers and how one satisfied my wants whereas the other didn't.

I don't know the manager of Boots but I do know the manager of Superdrug in Wallington and I can tell you this she had every reason to be down in the dumps today and yet when I walked in she was acting like a beacon for her staff, stood on the shop floor she was briefing the staff on something or other that needed doing whilst opening her mail and scanning the shop for opportunities, she took comments and feedback from her staff and garnered agreement before moving on.

Could I experience service like I'd got at Boots in a shop managed like that?

I could tell by the way her staff reacted to her that she is a great leader and as I've said the store reflected that, what I wanted was well displayed easy to find and served to me with obvious care and concern let alone efficiency.

Conversely in Boots I struggled to find what I wanted, it was grubby on a grubby shelf and I've already spoken about the service, if the manager was painting pictures for his staff would I have had that experience?

Answers on a postcard to "No of course not you damn fool, c/o ffriar Productions, Croydon.


John Anslow
http://ffriar.com/