Sonya Ruff Jarvis, Jarvis Consultants, LLC
It is always intriguing to me that when you ask most companies what differentiates them from their competitors they always say customer service. How many videos have you seen where the CEOs promote that delivering the best customer service is their most pressing pledge? They go on to tell everyone that they have the best team to deliver that brand promise.
Truth be told, majority of businesses fall short on customer service. We truly get in our own way. In most cases, even for major brands, at best, the customer experience is inconsistent. Primarily, because your customer service is only as good as your customer facing people. We like to think that there is no gap in our image of who we say we are and what others experience when interacting with our brands.
The reality is that it just depends. We are only human and a lot of issues come into play when your people are dealing with customers. It can be the same brand; yet, customers can have totally different experiences. Here’s one of my recent experiences with a brand that I really enjoy.
I have a Starbucks app on my phone that I like to use when I go to Starbucks. The app tracks my spending, purchases and visits. Sometimes I will receive a survey from them asking about my recent experience at Starbucks located at XYZ. It is interesting to compare notes on my responses. Unfortunately, while I appreciate the skills of a Barista, I do not need one. The drink I order is not complicated. It is as simple as you can get at Starbucks, Grande blonde roast aka a black cup of coffee.
As I stated before, it all depends. The one Starbucks generally gets higher marks because they seem happy, friendly and genuinely interested in serving what I want, however boring it may seem. At a different Starbucks, they seem hurried (in a competent way) and disengaged with the customers. You got it, not very happy.
Your employee’s attitude shines through with each customer experience.
Some Starbucks seem to have green stoppers; and, others do not. I did find out that the franchise Starbucks are different from the corporate Starbucks; and, do not have the green stoppers; nor, do they honor the Starbucks phone app to use as a form of payment. Honestly, it should not matter whether it is a franchisee or not, the brand’s integrity should always be intact.
Your brand’s consistency or in this case inconsistency shines through with each customer experience.
I like the brand, so I have a tendency to give it the benefit of doubt through all of my experiences both good and not so good. Yet, my recent experience got me to thinking about the tolerance of the unevenness of the brand. When will all of these broken promises add up for me and start cracking my loyalty? When will the customer service gap become unacceptable and I jump to the next brand? I will not know until it happens and I suspect that is the case with each loyal customer. As brand leaders you are called to make sure every store, every unit, every division, and every department employees feel supported. If they feel supported and appreciated they most likely will consistently deliver on your brand promise because they are only human.
Sonya Ruff Jarvis, is the Managing Member of Jarvis Consultants and the Founder of the eRetailer Summit and JC Event Group. An expert in her field, Sonya has been published in numerous retail industry b-to-b publications. Sonya shares her experiences in her book series Mindful Minutes: A Marketer’s Journey Through Business. In addition, Sonya collaborated in publishing an anthology, Mentoring Moments: 14 Remarkable Women Share Their Breakthroughs to Success.
Sonya has a M.B.A. in Marketing. She is married and has a daughter and they live in Trumbull, Connecticut.
Follow Sonya on twitter at @jarvisconsult or @eretailersummit.