SERVICE THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY

Rough Notes, Feb 2005 by Bailey, Robert L

Customers appreciate the personal touch

Mr. Bailey, I strive to provide outstanding service to my clients; but being the sole owner, manager, sales staff, file clerk and janitor of a small agency, I have trouble doing so. I try to answer the phone every time, but some conversations with clients are lengthy, and I'm sometimes out of the office calling on clients. Therefore, I use voicemail to take messages from clients and technology for customers to retrieve basic commonly requested information. Two or three times a month, however, I get complaints that my phone prompts and messages are too long and too complicated. Is it better to have a simple one-message system that simply says "Leave a message"?

I get back to clients promptly, usually within an hour, but my phone message advises that I will return each call no later than the end of the business day. I often work late, and most clients are impressed when I get back to them in the evening.

Outside of not always being available by phone, I give my clients outstanding service. I do the legwork for them on front-end sales, and back-end service on claims to avoid their getting lost in paperwork and bureaucracy.

What would you suggest for a one-man agency to give clients a better sense of immediate personal service and attention? Right now adding staff is not an option due to financial constraints.

-A Rough Notes Reader

Let's sum up your problem. You give outstanding service before the sale; you give great backend service; you eliminate the hassle on claims; you usually return phone calls within an hour and always the same business day. Add to the mix great personal relationships with your clients and it seems to me that you already rank pretty high as a customer-focused agency.

Probably most impressive to your customers is that the "head guy" is involved with every transaction. This is service "the old-fashioned way." A great many U.S. consumers want to do business with the boss-a person who knows his business, has the authority to get the job done, does what he says he's going to do when he says he's going to do it, and always has customers' well-being foremost in his mind. American consumers are literally screaming for attention and for personal relationships. Agencies meeting these criteria will survive and prosper.

Your single greatest concern seems to be that you can't always be immediately available by phone. That's a legitimate concern, but it's not the end of the world. When I call "big outfits" that have a nearly endless supply of human resources, I often experience a tangle of phone messages that give me the impression that no human being works there. Not being immediately available by phone is not unique to one-man operations.

I'm impressed because you want to do better. This sincere desire to give more immediate service further separates you from the rank and file. Here are several points to consider.

Starting with the sale, point out to your client the services you offer. Name them specifically. Then note, "Being a one-man agency, I'm not always immediately available by phone. But normally I'll get back to you within an hour and always the same business day." This statement sets an expectation standard. The client knows what to anticipate. In view of most phone experiences with most businesses, not many customers will feel that the phone service you've offered is inferior.

Then turn over your business card, write (don't have it preprinted) your home or cell phone number on the back, and say, "This will assure you that you'll always be able to reach me when you need service of any kind." Your customers will be impressed with this special service of having a private number.

Yes, customers are generally unhappy with voicemail. Audiences to whom I speak across the country tell me that this is the single most disturbing aspect of dealing with most American businesses. They can't talk to a human being. Therefore, my suggestion would be to make your voicemail greeting as simple as possible. In my view, there should never be more than one simple message before a real person answers. If your voicemail equipment can accommodate it, I suggest that first you give your callers an easy way to leave their names and numbers. Next, for the more technically tolerant, give options for retrieving common policy information. For instance: "This is John Doe of the Doe Agency. Fm serving other clients right now. Please press 1 and leave your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. If you prefer to talk to a computer instead of a return call from me, press 2 and you'll get a menu of options to access information about your policy. Thanks for your call. We appreciate your business."

Longer term, you'll need to work out a system to give clients immediate phone contact with a human being. It isn't fair to your family to spend every evening on the phone. And you'll eventually burn out with 80-hour work weeks. Also, you need-and deserve-a vacation now and then. Consider a professional answering service; or a part-timer who works at home, paid on a per-call basis, to whom calls are rolled when you are unavailable.