Increasing Customer Satisfaction Through Positive Customer Experiences

Every interaction we have creates a story. If you checked into a motel, bought lunch at a restaurant, signed up for a service, or paid a bill today, you likely have a story about that experience. It may be positive, it may be negative, it may be neutral, but if asked, you probably have a story to tell. Now here is a painful truth. We don’t usually remember or share the good experiences. But we sure remember and share the bad ones. That's where customer service training can make a significant difference.

Here is my personal customer service story, and it is certainly not a positive one. Each time I speak on this subject I point out that I think public utilities do a pretty good job at customer service. This investor-owned utility, however, failed completely. The year was 1988, I remember that because that is the year I got married. The date was February 2. It was a Tuesday. I had just moved back to my hometown with a new job and an upcoming wedding. During lunch, I visited my local, nationally known cable company to request service. I was renting an apartment and the service provision was already in place, so it was simply a matter of screwing the coax connector back into the splitter near the back door. After collecting my personal information and package request, the conversation continued as follows:

Service Rep: “Will you be home on the afternoon of February 20th?”

Me: “I have no idea. I just started a new job. Why?”

Service Rep: “That is when the technician will be there to connect your service.”

Me: “I can try to be there, but the new job….”

Service Rep: “If you are not there, we will have to reschedule, and it will take another three weeks.”

Me: “I don’t understand. All they have to do is screw the connector to the splitter. I have never had to wait more than a day before when I lived in Starkville or Jackson.”

Service Rep: “Will you be home on the afternoon of February 20th between noon and five?”

Me: “I tell you what, I will connect the coax. Just start charging me.”

Service Rep: “If you do that, we will file criminal charges for stealing cable.”

Me: “I don’t want to steal cable, I said to charge me.”

Service Rep: “Well Sir, (she was bringing the attitude at this point), if you don’t like it, you can always go to the competition.”

So, dear reader, guess what I did… Yep. I made sure I was at home on the afternoon of February 20th to get my cable service turned on because there was no competition, but more on that later.

That experience was so bad that I am still telling that story and using that illustration to audiences 35 years later. That was a horrible customer experience, and it soured me on the company forever.

When I started working with utilities 30 years ago, managers would all say the same basic thing. “This business is easy, just keep the rates low and keep the lights on.” They were often part of a generation that remembered getting residential electricity for the first time. And thirty years ago, many rate payers in rural Mississippi had those same memories. And because of that, they were grateful just to have electricity, or water, or natural gas.

Today, utilities are an essential service. Keeping the lights on and the rates low doesn’t excite anyone. It is simply expected. So, to increase customer satisfaction, we must also deliver an incredible customer experience. There are many things we can do to create positive customer experiences, but let’s look at three key strategies below.

1. Have a Knowledgeable and Well-Trained Workforce Who has had an experience at a business where the employee who was supposed to be helping you knew less about the product or service than you did? I imagine we have all been there. Do you remember how frustrated you felt? That employee was likely a great person, and it was likely not their fault that they were not trained and knowledgeable. Nevertheless, just one of those interactions can sour us on an entire business or product.
   Every GREAT customer experience builds positive equity with the customer, so we must deliver a great customer experience – every single time. This requires education and training. Obviously, employees must have basic human interaction skills, but it also means they must be knowledgeable about your products, offerings, rules, and regulations. It means they must follow up every encounter to conclusion. It means they must be able to take an unfortunate situation and resolve it with care and empathy, within the parameters set by your business.

2. Meet Customers Where They Are So, where are they?
   They are on their phone. They are on their computers. They are on social media.
   We must understand that times have changed. Younger generations like Gen X, Y, and Z think differently than my baby boomer generation and we must embrace those differences. And while this is not true of everyone under 40, for the most part they don’t want to “go to the utility” for anything. They don’t want to speak to a person. They just want to handle business through their devices and go on with their day.
   To increase their satisfaction, we must keep up with the latest technologies and we must do business with them through their preferred channels. And just for the record, Gen X and Gen Y now make up about 68% of your workforce and about 61% of your rate payers. We must serve them in the way they want to be served by offering digital communications options, online bill delivery and payments, online updates, online customer service requests, customer service chat, and much more.

3. Be Proactive For years, utilities have relied on providing great REACTIVE customer service. A customer calls or comes into the office and we help them get answers or take care of business.
   Today, customers expect their utility to be PROACTIVE in sharing information with them. Does your utility send text messages or post on social media when a planned outage is going to occur? Does your utility use a tool to notify a customer that the bill they are about to receive is X-percent higher than expected, and offer some reasons why that might be? Does your utility share an outage map through a phone app, and let customers know when to expect a resolution through the app and on social media?
   There are technological tools to address all of these.

Finally, from a proactive perspective, social media can be our best friend or our worst enemy. According to ESource, utilities that are proactive on social media have a consistently higher satisfaction rating than those that rarely use those platforms or ignore them altogether.

Bonus Thought – Every Employee is in Customer Service, ALL THE TIME. I know that utilities say, “every employee is in customer service,” but this message must be driven home. Employees must remember that they are in customer service and responsible for creating positive customer experiences 100% of the time. On the clock and off the clock.

What they do or say at the grocery store, or at the little league field, or on social media, reflects on their employer. This is especially true if they are wearing the logo shirt. If you want to increase customer satisfaction, 100% of your workforce must understand that every interaction they have is important. People will judge them – and their employer – whether that is fair or not.

So, in summary, I encourage all of you to a) have a well-trained workforce, b) meet your customers where they are, and c) be proactive in your communications. Finally, drive home the point that all employees are representatives of your municipality, cooperative, or utility district – AT ALL TIMES. If you do these things, and do them consistently, your customer satisfaction will continue to improve because you will be building positive equity (aka creating brand loyalty) through positive customer experiences.

And Now… For The Rest of The Story… Some of you may remember radio legend Paul Harvey and his line, “and now…. for the rest of the story.” I told you about my experience with that large investor-owned cable provider and I told you how the woman told me to go to the non-existent competition. Well, this is the rest of the story.

I am thrilled to say that nine years later, when my wife and I built a house, there was this relatively new solution to my problem called Dish Network Satellite Television.

It was with great satisfaction and a smile on my face that I returned my equipment and instructed that cable provider to turn off my service because I was following their instructions and going to the competition. Your business or utility may or may not face competition today, but every business and utility must constantly work to increase customer satisfaction and undergo customer service training and build positive equity by providing ongoing great customer experiences. One never knows what the future holds.

 ——-

For information about employee education opportunities, speaking engagements, or to book a customer experience strategy session, please visit www.rwsmithetc.com or email roger@rwsmithetc.com.