Secret Service

John DiJulius

• Publisher: AMACOM
• Year: 2003
• ISBN:
  9780814426975
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Relations clientèles

All businesses have customers, but how many of them deliver unforgettably good customer service?

Customer experience expert and author John R. DiJulius reveals the hidden systems of the few exceptional companies that do: what actions they take behind the scenes to consistently surpass customer expectations. These organizations reap the benefits of greater customer loyalty, exponentially expanded referral networks, lower employee turnover, and stronger bottom-line results.

Packed with examples applicable to a wide range of industries, Secret Service provides practical, realistic ways to:

• Turn customer complaints into positive experiences,
• Use marketing to go deeper with existing customers,
• Increase customer and employee retention,
• and turn bland customer service into truly memorable customer experiences.

By quantifying and examining each phase of the "Customer Experience Cycle, " Secret Service reveals clever, practical ideas that can be transformed into repeatable best practices in any organization and at every level.

CHAPTER 1

Secret Service Systems:

Creating Behind-the-Scenes Systems

In the new world of fanatical customer service, even small companies never sleep and no request is too ridiculous. That intensity is evident among cutting-edge companies.

—Inc. Magazine, April 2001

“Service in America today has never been worse.” This is a quotation from a book on customer service written more than 25 year ago, and this feeling has been expressed in dozens of books published since then. Regardless of whether it is true that service continues to decline or our mindset is that customer service in America has reached its lowest point, there can be definite advantages to the public having a poor perception of customer service. The most important of these is that consumers are willing to pay a premium to have their needs met and that there is no limit to what they will spend if their expectations are consistently exceeded.

Secret Service

Secret Service is the implementation of hidden systems that enable our staff consistently to exceed the client’s expectations and to make the client feel welcome, comfortable, important, and understood. These systems help companies create a solidly loyal customer base by implementing simple ideas that provide customer service that will be remembered. By managing these systems, companies turn most customer encounters into a surprisingly pleasant experience for the customer. The result is that repeat business is ensured, more dollars are spent, and many referrals are gained.

When we first opened John Robert’s in 1993, we wanted to make our mark not only in the beauty industry but also in the business community. We didn’t want to be another business with good intentions but poor execution that could not keep its promises.

A noticeable quality sets the Nordstroms, Ritz Carltons, and the Walt Disney Worlds apart from other companies that offer the same types of goods and services. Our goal was to be in their category, not a company with occasional great flashes, or one in which a percentage of employees merely walk the talk, but a company that exceeds customer expectations on a routine basis.

We started off in typical fashion, with an impressive philosophy and written mission statement, with the hopes that our staff would automatically observe them every day, every time. But as our employee numbers grew from 2 to 15 to 30 to 50 and then to 130, we found it very difficult if not impossible to provide a high level of service on a regular basis. It became obvious that we would eventually become an ordinary business that couldn’t execute what it preached if we didn’t find a way to create and manage systems that employees could consistently deliver. There could be no allowance for deviation. By creating Secret Service systems, we reduced the inconsistencies and gray areas that lead employees to rely on their personal interpretations.

Establish Non-Negotiable Systems

Secret Service systems are non-negotiable in two ways. First, if created and managed in the right way, customer service becomes non-negotiable for employees, who must deliver it. Second, if we implement Secret Service consistently, then we become a non-negotiable entity in our customers’ lives.

In a slower economy, people start to look for things they can cut out or cut back. When you deliver exceptional customer service regularly, you go from being a discretionary entity to a necessity. People put you on the list of things they cannot do without, along with food, rent, and utilities. We don’t want to be considered discretionary, so it is vital that we deliver non-negotiable customer service.

When I started in the salon industry, one of the first things I learned was the dismal client retention rate throughout the business. How hard could it be for a salon to get a new client to return for a second visit? It turns out to be extremely difficult. The national average retention rate for salons is about 35 percent, which means that more than 6 out of 10 new clients do not return to that salon for a second visit. Given this statistic, how could salons keep their doors open? I learned that’s exactly why a large number of salons go out of business every year.

At that time, in 1994, we had been open about a year. Like most salon owners, I assumed our retention rate was much higher, closer to 80 or 90 percent. We provided very good services and all our operators had been very well trained. We purchased a software system to track client retention, and the numbers weren’t impressive: Our average retention rate was about 50 percent. I was sure something was wrong. After cross-checking the numbers, I realized that the computer data were true.

The trade magazines considered 50 percent acceptable and anything above 60 percent excellent. I couldn’t accept 50 percent, however. At that time we were attracting 150 new clients a month, 1,800 a year (today we get about 1,000 new clients a month). A 50 percent retention rate meant we were turning off 900 people a year. Even more worrisome, if we were turning off 900 people, what were they saying about us? Furthermore, the cost of acquiring a new customer is estimated to be at least six times greater than that of retaining an existing one. And to think, our numbers were considered good in our industry.

The Customer Experience Cycle

Clients want either the best or the least expensive; there is no in-between.

—David Wagner

At this point I realized that the service is about much more than a haircut. It is about an experience, especially at our prices. Even in those days, we were one of the more expensive salons. We provided great haircuts, but so did many other salons.

So we pondered, “What would make clients feel that our services were such a great value that previous salon and spa experiences would pale by comparison? How could we make everyone feel like a regular client?”

Our answer was to create and implement Secret Service systems that would become the foundation of our training program for all employees and would be just as important as their technical training. Plain and simple, we were creating a client-retention game plan that would help us get more clients to return to our salons on a regular basis. A major portion of our Secret Service systems is what we call the Customer Experience Cycle. This is the total experience, starting when the client first contacts us, continuing through the visit, and ending with our follow-up phone call a few days later.

Our entire team, 15 at that time, got together and started to brainstorm answers to some very specific questions: In a perfect world, what would we want clients to experience when they call us? What would we want clients to experience when they walk in the door? And so on.

That brainstorming led to our Secret Service systems. It is of key importance that everyone participates in its development. Not only do you get excellent ideas that you may not have thought of on your own, but you also gain employee buy-in. If we had walked in one day and told our staff, “This is the way...