Managing to the Rule and Not the Exceptions

Image by Torley via Flickr

Any business that wants to deliver a consistent customer service experience must, at some point, define how they want to approach customers and then train their associates to deliver to that expectation. Satisfying the greatest number of customers means managing to the general rule of what your customers desire and expect when they walk into or call your establishment.

One of the most frustrating realities of customer service is that there are exceptions for every rule. For every eight people who appreciate you making sure you've answered all their questions before hanging up, there are always two who irritably growl (or think) "NO! If I needed anything else I'd TELL YOU!"

If you manage your service delivery to please the two, you're not going to satisfy the eight. While it's a lovely thought that we can please all the people all the time, it's simply not possible. Winning the customer satisfaction race is largely about having good intelligence about your customers (I mean all of your customers, not just the ones who like to play the follow-up survey sweepstakes). Not only do you need to understand the dimensions of service for which the the majority of customers will reward you, but you also need to understand the dimensions of service for which customers will penalize you.

Armed with this information, you go about building your service delivery system to satisfy the greatest number of customers knowing that there will always be exceptional customers to the rules you've set up.