Made for the job: Sara at WFM

Yesterday, I was doing some Sunday grocery shopping and found myself at Whole Foods Market.  For any store on a Sunday, it can be very crazy.  It seems everyone, as if in synchronous harmony, leaves their homes and arrives at the store at the same time.  Someone should study that :)

But this blog post isn't about the synchronicity of shoppers.  Rather, I want to focus on Sara.

 

I arrived at the prepared foods counter and took #24 from the ticket reel.  They were on #20 and my number was called just a minute later.  I had a very large order and told Sara, the girl who called out my number, that we were in for the long haul. She smiled and asked where we can get started.

I called out my first item and, as she was packaging it up, she told me I could continue calling out my list to her and she would remember it.  I told her the next two items (item and quantity) and she stayed right on point with packaging, labeling, and presenting it to me.  We immediately hit a rhythm. 

She was focused, deliberate, methodical, friendly, and outgoing.  She was right on point and zipping right through my list of about 16 different items from a case that stretched about 30 feet.  I also noticed she had great problem-solving skills.  When the scale was unavailable, she turned to me and asked what item was next, keeping an eye out for the scale to be available again.  I was amazed.

In the past (at other stores) I've gotten a real flake that barely greets me and treats everyone like the number they pulled out of the reel.  They don't smile or thank you and when you're finished, you're not one inch closer to liking the store or its people.  It's just a transaction.

Sara was amazingly different.  I thanked her at the end of my long orger and she smiled again, thanking me for shopping at Whole Foods.  I felt personally affected and want to return to the store only to work with Sara, regardless of what I am purchasing.

I wanted to post a quick note to Twitter, but thought Sara deserved a lot more.  The way I see it, she is an Action Mover and as I presented my organized list to her, it was a natural way for her to work through it quickly.  She and I teamed together and I felt like the craziness of the Sunday droves at the store didn't matter for those few minutes.

So thanks, Sara, for making my Sunday even better.  Whatever happens, I hope WFM realizes your value and keeps you on their team for a long time!  Good luck!

Changing 'Policy' = Bad Customer Service

I was at a grocery store with a friend recently and we encountered a peculiar situation worthy of a blog post.

A price rang up incorrectly at the register and this particular store has a policy where you get one quantity of that item free when this happens.  Just tell the customer service desk after you are rung up and they will refund you for the price of the item you were charged.  It seems to be a clear, straightforward policy.

However, that policy's application seems to be fluid depending on who is at the customer service desk.

That evening, my friend was told that a customer must purchase two of the item to get one of them free in the case of a price discrepancy.  He contested it because that did not seem intuitive, but without the policy laying out on a counter for reference, it essentially became a stalemate and he walked away without anything free, but a price adjustment.

Last night, we went shopping again and, knowing this policy was for two items, he intentionally tested the system with an item he found to be priced incorrectly.

Sure enough, both items scanned incorrectly, so he paid full price and proceeded to the customer service desk.  After about 10 minutes of price checking, hemming and dithering, a manager told my friend that the policy was that you only needed to buy one of the item, not two as he had previously been told. So he get one item free and the second was price matched to the current sale.

This changing policy created confusion in the mind of the customer, resulting in loss of loyalty to the store.  Ironically, it's called the 'Price Integrity Policy' at this store.  Go figure...

How often does this happen to you as a customer?
How often to you see this at your place of work, especially if in a call center?

The easiest way to correct this is some simple training on what the company policies are around pricing.  If there is confusion, simple language in an easy-to-access manual should be available to the employees.  Heck, throw in a live demonstration for your employees at the initial or quarterly training...or even the morning meeting before the store opens.  The point is:  If you claim integrity, apply it!

DMV Delight

The Department of Motor Vehicles is rarely a place where customers are delighted.  People go there to get something done, usually mandated by the state, making the transactions entirely functional.  Need a new license?  Need a photo for a license renewal?  Need a vision test for driving?  Need a driving test?  You'll find your self at the DMV.


They are known for slow service, stuffed seats, and a barely organized chaos of people coming and going, all staring at their # tickets as if waiting to win a random lottery.

Saturday morning, I experienced a very different side to the DMV...and I was delighted!

I arrived at the location just after they opened, expecting to see a line of 100 people waiting to get in.  No line.  Considering it was a Saturday and most people can't make it there during the week, I found this strange.  I chalked it up to a packed inside, since I was arriving 5 minutes after opening.

I walked inside and was again surprised to see just a handful of customers, all organized and with none of the usual ruckus in the air.

I was greeted immediately by a smiling, bright-eyed employee at a podium who said, "Good morning!  Welcome!  How can I help you?"  Whoa!  This was quite unexpected!  I was expecting a tired, sour-faced employee ready to process the next number.  I happily told her that I was there for a photo for my license renewal and she pressed the 'Photo' button on a machine on her podium.  #A003.

Before I had a chance to even have the little numbered ticket in my hand, I heard on the overhead announcement, "Now serving #A003 at window 3!"  WHOA!  Slow down there!  I was shocked by this point because I expected to wait at least a few minutes.  After all, weren't these places always slow?  Again, not what I expected.

I went to the window and was politely greeted by a male employee who walked me through the process as if I was the only customer there.  He took his time and guided me through a multitude of screens so I could confirm my current information.  He then took my photo and took a second one to make sure it was centered correctly on the card.  The last time I went, I was not expecting them to take the photo so fast, so I looked like a Russian hitman with jetlag.  Eeek! 

He then asked me to take a seat in the waiting area while my new card printed.  It was finished about 3 minutes later and I was walking out the door about 10 minutes after I walked in.  I even took a moment to wish the lady at the entry podium a great day and she returned with a smile and a similar closing.

This experience fundamentally shifted my understanding of customer service at the DMV.  I based today's expectations on the three previous experiences I had with three different locations in two states.  They had all been the same: slow, annoying, negative.  This was different.

I'm not sure what changed at the DMV to warrant Saturday's experience.  Perhaps they have better people.  Maybe I went at a good time.  It could be that the team at that location just works really well together.  I definitely know this:  If you're in/near Philadelphia and need DMV services, go to the 801 Arch location on a Saturday morning at 8:30 AM.  You're sure to be pleased by their excellent customer service! 

Good Apples / Bad Apples

The perception of a company rests on its touch points.  Whether it is a call center or a face-to-face interaction, a customer's willingness to return or recommend is dependent on the interaction at that touch point.  I have a story of a company with two faces.

I called AT&T's customer service a few months ago to correct a billing error.  After explaining the cause of the error and requesting a correction, the agent on the phone immediately launched into how I was wrong based on company policy..."because we never do that."  And yet, there I was, with that exact case.  When I insisted, with documented proof that the error laid with AT&T, the agent then told me they would need to open an investigation against the individual who promised me this break in price because it was against standard procedure.  I felt like I was breaking rules AND ratting out a good employee.  I felt 'dirty' after I finished and, naturally, verbally told my co-workers about the experience.

In a surprising twist, I received excellent customer service from an AT&T store recently!  Rather than my experience on the phone, the story was quite different with Dan, an in-store customer service associate at their 16/Market store in Philadelphia. 

I went to the store after trying, unsuccessfully, to retrieve voicemails with my iPhone.  I did the recommended fixes I found online, but none of them worked.  I looked into the matter more closely and realized that I had not actually received a voicemail on my phone since July 1st!  When I arrived to the store, they had a new (at least since I was last there) sign-in procedure via a touchscreen computer rather than the paper/pen system they had been using previously.

The wait was only a couple of minutes and I was called by Dan and then explained my issue.  He collected the usual information to validate the account and phone ownership and then asked some very good questions to troubleshoot.

When he was unable to figure it out, he called tech support and together, they figured out the issue and resolved it.  I was not in the store for longer than 15 minutes and have a very favorable view of their in-store service.  I only wish Dan worked in billing so I could go to him int he future for those issues as well.

Remember, folks, a company that has many touch points still has a reputation at stake with every touch.  If the customer service is inconsistent among the channels, customers can become very confused.  Rather than bad apples on the phone and good apples in person, the company should strive to have a harmonious bunch of apples.  That's something my company's Role-Based Assessment can help with.  After all, don't you want good team players on your team?

Test yourself!

Have you ever been away from your desk, perhaps visiting a co-worker, when the phone rang and you had to pick it up right where you were at the moment?

I bet you were standing at the time.

Pay attention to yourself the next time you do this.  It's the ultimate test of "What do I know?"

How well do you know your customer?  If you know them very well, a standing conversation is easy because you can start it by accessing the information you have in your head.  And, just because of the fact you are standing (body language counts on the phone!), you will probably be more in control of that conversation.

I just did this with one of our partners and, even though a chair was available right next to me, I did not think to sit down in it because I was so focused on the customer at the moment.  When I could not proceed without accessing a particular website at my desk, I asked the customer to hold a second as I went back to my desk, brought up the site, and picked the phone back up, making it seem as though I am comfortable in any environment, no matter the distance from my desk.

I don't recommend a standing-only 8-hour workday, but the next time you're away from your comfort zone, test yourself. "What do I know?"