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We talked before about the Five Simple Starting Points for creating the greatest customer experience ever:
1) Focus inside out and look at your business the way a customer does
2) Listen actively
3) Measure everything from the customer’s perspective
4) Maximum joy is your new goal, and
5) Improve constantly. Let’s look in more detail at
4) Maximum joy.
I had my septic tank cleaned yesterday and I experienced customer service very close to maximum joy. Remember “maximum joy” is your new goal for your business, not order fulfillment. Almost anyone can write down the orders and deliver the goods, we’re trying to create an environment where the customer cries for joy, rushes to the phone to tell friends, orders 100 more and rips up your competitor’s phone number. They got me so close to maximum joy that I wanted to share the experience with a few thousand readers. That’s what joyful customers do.
When you first think about cleaning your septic tank-get to this at least once every two to three years by the way-you’re not placing any bets on getting the slightest jolt of maximum joy. You’re just hoping your lawn does not end up looking like that scene from “Meet the Parents” where brown sludge was churned over every inch of the lawn and Mr. De Niro.
I called Russell Reid on Wednesday and they said they’d be out on Monday between 12 noon and 4 pm. Not great, but better than the 8-5 you get from so many service companies.
Five minutes after noon they call and say they’ve arrived “Is it alright if we open the gate?” It was great that they called before opening the gate. Lot’s of people, like me, have farm animals on their property. I can’t count the number of delivery people that have just opened the gate and trucked on up to the house-most of the time leaving the gate wide open. Is anyone going to help me chase pygmy goats once they’re running down the highway?
I lock up the animals, walk down to open the gate and see that UPS has dropped a bunch of boxes off outside of the gate. Not a perfect solution, but better than opening the gate. Astoundingly one of the septic tank servicemen offers to help carry the boxes to the house. The other fellow drives the truck up by the septic tank while the two of us carry the packages inside.
It’s 95 outside so I offer them both water and access to a bathroom. They thank me, but say that they’re good and keep working. I hang around outside while they set up the hoses and uncover the tank. While they’re getting ready the serviceman asks me if I’m familiar with septic tanks. I say, not really, and he proceeds to offer a quick but useful summary of some key usage and maintenance points.
While they’re pumping the sludge they lower a mirror into the tank and do a quick inspection of the entry baffle. They also check the water flow in and a few other items on their checklist. Now, it’s boiling hot, they’ve already done 5 houses before mine, they’re spending their day pumping raw sewage, but they’re focused on the customer, they’re well trained, their truck is immaculate, they have on clean uniforms and wear rubber gloves throughout the process.
They even put a bucket under the hose connection at the back of the truck so nothing spills on my gravel driveway when they disconnect. After an hour they’re done, we sign the paperwork, they give me an information booklet and promise to call me in two years to see if I’d like another appointment. They were friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. The service wasn’t free, but you could see that the company was investing in things that mattered like training, attitude, good procedures, service documentation and a focus on the customer.
Now, if the guys pumping the crap out of the ground can get this so right how come the airlines flying the crap over our heads can get it so wrong? Which do you think is more likely-that Russell Reid will call me in two years to set up another appointment–or that the airlines will tell me my flight is cancelled before I drive two hours to the airport and back? Maybe if we could get the crapper pumpers to clean out the waste at the airlines there’d be a little more maximum joy for all of us to spread around.
There are a thousand ways to turn your mindset inside out and start running your business the way your customers would like-instead of the way that’s most convenient for you. Remember, you’re trying to create maximum joy and maximum customer loyalty that leads to maximum returns. If you start from maximum returns and expect that to turn into the greatest customer experience ever you’ll be sadly mistaken, as will your saddened ex-customers.
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