Customizing Customer Service

Customizing Customer Service Requirements

• Companies often apply a one-size-fits-all approach to customer service, neglecting to personalize it to meet individual customer needs.
• It is a common mistake to define customer service by company standards.
• Company standards ensure consistency and provide a sense of order, indicating the level at which needs will be addressed, not how distinct requirements will be met.
• Example: A company standard to answer the telephone by the third ring shows efficiency and importance to callers, setting consistent expectations for all callers.
• Transferring callers and handling hold times can be part of a company's standards.
• Companies can distinguish themselves through polished and professional company standards.
• Company standards include office dress code, code of conduct, and correspondence protocol.
• Policies and procedures provide clarity of acceptable business behavior, ensuring consistent operation.
• Company standards form the foundation for excellent customer service.

Meeting Customer Needs

• No two customers' needs are identical, similar to how special events require unique planning verses using canned programs.
• Providing a uniform service method for diverse needs is like producing canned events.
• Neglecting individual needs risks losing customers to competitors who offer tailored solutions.
• Recall personal experiences of frustration with suppliers who lacked understanding of business operations or willingness to compromise.
• Facing poor customer service, planners seek new sources, knowing unmet needs will affect their clients.
• An event planning company adjusted payment dates on a client's contract which was a customer service request .
• Adjusting the payment schedule was easily accommodated by the new supplier, this lead to winning the clients account.

The "Es" of Personalized Customer Service

• Mastering the "Es" of exemplary personalized customer service is essential:
  • Expectation
  • Excel
  • Embrace
  • Enlighten
  • Educate
  • Enrich
  • Energize
  • Excite
  • Environment
  • Employees

Understanding Expectations

• Companies often boast about excellent customer service to attract buyers, but empty promises have become meaningless.
• Companies can show how the level of customer service will practically help their clients succeed to impress potential clients.
• What clients actually want to know is how the level of customer service will help them achieve their company goals.
• Companies define customer service uniquely, and high expectations often remain unspoken when contracting services.
• Lack of mutual understanding can lead to disappointment when expectations are unfulfilled.
• Customer service is a two-way street and to satisfy customers' needs, their needs need to identified, and action plans must be developed to fulfill them.
• Every business has intricate, unique requirements.
• One car company required event planning staff to be available after hours for questions from their overseas head office.
• Knowing these unique needs is key to customizing service.

Industry-Specific Customer Service

• Each industry and company has unique ways of conducting business.
• For financial industry events, ensure access to newspapers like The Wall Street Journal, message boards, and prompt handling of urgent calls.
• Managing these expectations affects event costs, such as staffing a message center.
• Discovering such needs on-site can disrupt operations and pulling staff off other duties.
• Items like newspapers or message boards may be easily overlooked.
• Hotels may offer specific newspapers at no extra cost if requested.
• Event planning companies bidding on financial business can use this research as a marketing tool.
• Presentations can include customer service features, demonstrating industry understanding which provides a competitive edge.
• Event planners must deeply understand each company's expectations.
• Customer service expectations included provisions for a president's children and nanny and another had someone in the office by 7:00 a.m and ensuring promotional mailings reach offices on time.
• Promotional mailings may need collation with participant mail to minimize costs.
• It is important to determine customer service needs before promising anything which may not be met.
• Promises impact staff and must be considered. When clients have unreasonable expectations, it needs to be dealt with up front to avoid both disappointment.

Excel

• Define customer service and assess current levels, identifying what specific customers value.
• List areas of excellence, which can be highlighted when combined with personalized service.
• Differentiate company standards from customer service which are distinct.
• Companies reviewed industry clients' history and looked for unmet needs to step in and meet.
• It also kept detailed notes on occurrences on site and ensured past requests were reviewed in order to prepare for the next event.
• One client would not go on stage and the event planers ensures to bring a special brand of hair gel so the event could go on stress free.

Embrace

• Clients are looking for companies that embrace their business operations, and that can offer customer service to meet their needs without a full understanding of what reasons they may choose to do something.
• Respecting a client's need for constant, immediate answers to questions is part of the client's requirements.
• National culture can make it extremely important never to be placed in a position of losing face by not being able to answer a question.
• A sales repress made it his mission to find out when client meetings were and asked for a list of possible concerns from his main contact with providing answers in advance.
• One company owner was unwilling to fly economy class and the planning company was unable to negotiate an upgrade.
• Company was able to make overseas flight bookings for client when direct flight that had only economy seats could be booked so he could travel first class.

Enlighten

• Customers expect their suppliers to enlighten them to produce an event that will meet their objectives and is more efficient.
• Customers expect company expertise made available to them as part of customer service experience.
• Sometimes customers don't know what they need in order to con duct there business.
• An event planning company prepared a sheet for a client that would take her medicine at a specific meal time.
• The event planer also enlightened a client who wanted to have print material to be available to have print material made available by a annual meeting on a cruise ship but to have material arrive by a specific date.

Educate

• Educational advice in strategic planning, marketing, motivation, communication, and public relations from event planning companies is needed.
• Companies expect for trust event planning companies to keep them updated as part of their customer service.
• Technology is needed in events and programs to increase attendance and delegates' before, during, and after.
• The companies were concerned that the program was not fully satisfying the needs of guests.
• The company proposed a upscale all-inclusive resort where all meals, beverages, activities, sightseeing entertainment and tip- ping was included to satisfy the guest.

Enrich

• Clients expect to learn something from their event which will help their company move and grow forward.
• The event shows how they can use operational expertise and hope to take away something from the experience they can use in the future and reward them.
• This is a added value service that event planning companies can provide that will enhance working relationships.
• The event would not be held in a ballroom and will be doing something fun to launch event product line.
• The even suggested taking over a movie theatre complex to launch new product.

Energize, Excite, & Environment

• Companies expect energizing and invigorating not only as guests but internal staff.
• Having staff with no stake in the event requires constant follow through.
• Disparaging remarks or giving away too much information, motivations can be lost and it can be a critical hit to their company's success.
• Excitement creates energy which is what customers strive for.
• Customers want safety in event planning and need it to mirror their work ethics.
• Client confidentiality needs to be on top of of the list.
• Customers want to place their trust and money on a company that they can rely on.

Employees & Efficiency

• Companies are spending money to find the right employee.
• Employers are working hard to make sure that there is work between staff and their customers.
• Its important to make sure your plan for efficient customer service sits into clients requirements.
• Executives may not be handling certain contracts or frontline requests from the company and person who is assigned to manage the file.

Evaluate

• Evaluations from the client can help better customer service and reconciliations with suppliers and staff.
• Without comments the evaluation can can stay the same and no one one can see what the problem is.
• tired of his staff's complaints about the event planning company's receptionist and accounting staff's brusque manner and demeaning attitude.
• Had been pleased with the event planning company's sales representative, and when she moved to another company he opened the door for her to bid again and finally voiced his past concerns.

Ethics and Etiquette

• Excellence in a two lead way into customer service which are business ethics and personal and professional ethics as the highest standard.
• It could potentially lead into a money pit in order to fully train areas of busines sethic and etiquette.