Care About Your Customers
So, who's tired of "customer service" articles? Raise your hands. Is that topic a dead horse, beaten beyond recognition? What's that you say? Your customer service program has been in place for years and everything is great. Glad to hear it. You keep up the good work. There is no need for you worry about anything.
Don't you sometimes wonder what those FM (facilities management) groups think about your established and unchanging customer service philosophies? Well, they love them! They have found a crack in your armor.
If you handle customer service in the same fashion as you handle your printing facility, then the groundwork is laid for an FM inquiry. Your practices may be great, and your customers may love you, but you must remember, it doesn't take much for the FM boys to slip in and chat with your CEO or vice president. Then, all of a sudden, questions are asked, and maybe they decide they ought to take a look at your operation.
We must remember that those individuals that we report to may not really know what we do and provide to our organizations. They may think, "What the heck? Why not take a little look-see and maybe save the company some money? What do I have to lose?"
We all know what they have to lose: dedication and loyalty to the company/organization; consistent pricing; guaranteed delivery on the President's last-minute holiday cards. If we are lucky, we have the ear of upper management and have their support. They recognize the FM infiltration and dismiss it for what it is. Pity to the poor departments that aren't so lucky.
Well, then, why all the commotion about improving customer service? If you think about it, customer service is pretty straightforward. It is as easy as understanding what people really want from you. What might that be, you ask? All that customers want is to know that you care about them and their job orders. Big jobs or small jobs, large customers or once-a-year users—all they want is for you to care.
How can you show them? First of all, by not being stagnant. Be a change agent and make continual adjustments to anything that affects how your customers perceive you. Some of our employees fight change fairly hard. Those are the ones who don't understand why we are in-plant printers.
Back-door Customer Service
A favorite customer service improvement of mine is to purchase devices that makes my employees' jobs easier. What does that have to do with customer service? Everything. I have found that small things that make work more efficient and improve quality, directly relate to how your customers view your services. Improved on-time deliveries and more consistent color are just a few things that will be noticed by your customers. Maybe not right away, but eventually they will recognize the improvement, especially if improvement is continual.
Some examples of these devices are scanning densitometers, skid turners, electronic ink scales, proper viewing lights, electric pallet jacks, new rollers, and maybe even a new press, folder, copier or computer. This is not just a morale improvement twist, it is what makes the customer service representative (CSR)-customer relationship really work. Our staffs want to do good work and be recognized for their efforts.
Front-door Customer Service
Since customer service is an ongoing relationship, it only makes sense that we strive to make that relationship stronger. For those of us with dedicated CSRs, the one-to-one dynamic is fairly simple. Over a period of time, a CSR can accumulate significant knowledge about specific customers and departments. This relationship must not be allowed to become stale. Frequent contacts must be made, whether in person, on the phone or via e-mail. Keep in mind that outsiders are making sales calls too.
Shops with few employees must become very inventive to find ways to interact with customers. Regardless of your situation, this interaction must take place. Identify customer contact points and make the most of every opportunity. The primary contact points are your receptionist, your delivery person and your sales calls. Less frequent contacts come with proofs, production questions and maybe follow-up surveys. The more contacts you have, the better and safer your customers feel.
Keep in mind, though, that whenever customers come in contact with employees who have less-than-stellar attitudes, this can create havoc with customer relations. Negative attitudes broadcast themselves loud and clear, no matter how well they are hidden—and when they aren't hidden, just think of the effect on our customers. So minimize the risk by limiting these contact points.
Anticipate Job Status Questions
We all have customers who get nervous towards the end of a project. They call daily to check the progress of their jobs. Save yourself some time and anticipate these calls. If you are lucky enough to have access to a computer management system, then you also have access to job location and production data. Whether it is real time data or not, the minimum information you have is where the job was at the close of work yesterday. In the worst case, you can walk through the shop each morning and track work progress. With his information in hand, you can send an e-mail or voice mail to your nervous customers and prevent intrusive calls later in the day.
Of course, real time data gives you up-to-the minute locations and is a huge time saver for all involved. Even more time can be saved if you train and empower your receptionist to field these inquires. The key is to have some mechanism in place to quickly place the location of each job. Nothing impresses a customer more than instant knowledge of their work.
Buy Their Respect
Hopefully we all know the benefit of the free giveaway. It never fails to amaze me how excited people get when they receive some small trinket. Besides the mainstay notepads, we distribute pens, pencils, rulers, calendars (of various shapes and sizes), bookmarks, coffee cups and order forms. Yes, order forms. Several times each year we send order forms with deliveries, job confirmation letters, statements and giveaway items.
We constantly remind departments that they can order items directly from our Web page (www.ou.edu/printing). We produce informational sheets called Q and A's. We typically choose a topic and brainstorm out four or five questions and answers related to some production issue. These are then distributed to all departments and customers to help make their jobs easier—which, in turn, makes our jobs easier.
Probably the most successful customer relation project we have instituted is the direct result of the In-Plant Graphics/IPMA In-Print contest. Like many of you, we submit samples of our best work. The University of Oklahoma has been fortunate over the course of the contest to have received numerous awards. These awards are huge morale boosters for the production staff, and they also make your department look good to the higher-ups. But most of all, the customers whose projects were submitted love it. Even if they don't win, they are honored to think that you believe their work is worthy. We send out certificates to all customers whose projects are submitted.
If their job happens to receive an In-Print award, we go the next step and produce a full-fledged wooden plaque. These awards are then presented with all the fanfare that can be mustered. Letters are sent to department heads, VPs and, yes, the president. At the ceremony, pictures are taken and attempts are made to get them published. Sometimes the student and local paper cooperate, and most times the university newsletter comes through. The beauty of this scenario is the low cost, simplicity and massive upside potential.
Conclusions
Relationships must be built, maintained and grown. If you don't have growth, you have stagnation. The "same-old, same-old" attitude is a sign of impending problems. Customers will see this way before you do.
So develop an attitude and an environment where ideas and change are commonplace, not unusual. Reward innovation and extra effort from your staff. It doesn't matter how customer service oriented you are, if your staff can't follow through, you lose.
Attack customer service improvements from all sides and always place your customers' needs first. If you don't know what your customers need, then ask. They will be happy to tell you. It is another way for you to show them that you care—and it's cheaper than a card.
John Sarantakos is the director of Printing and Mailing Services at the University of Oklahoma.