Another great blog post from my colleague Howard Shore:

I have been reading about Jet Blue’s flight attendant’s meltdown, and whether or not Steven Slater started the affair or the passenger did, it still highlights something that we can all probably agree on. People in general have lost their manners, and society needs to get back to basics. Whether we are on the road, in an airplane, in the workplace, shopping, or at home, people are not treating each other properly and in many cases are just downright rude and disrespectful.

I could never talk to my parents the way I hear kids speak to theirs today. The quality of communications among people has declined thanks to e-mail, text, twitter and other reasons not to talk face-to-face. Texting and e-mails have caused more strife between people than ever could be imagined. People do a poor enough job expressing themselves in person.

Even without the messaging problems, the basics have just gone out the window. For some reason, it seems that as generations go by, people think that it is okay to be disrespectful. Common courtesies have gone out of fashion like clothing. For example:

• How often do all the ladies leave the elevator first?
• How often are people holding the door open for people or just rushing in?
• In South Florida I do not think anyone is ever on time. When someone is late, they are showing lack of respect for the people waiting for them.
• When someone cancels a meeting at the last minute, they are showing disrespect for the other person’s schedule.
• How often does someone see someone else carrying something heavy and pretend not to see them instead of offering assistance?
• People do not return phone calls, e-mail, or invitation responses.

So after pondering these thoughts, I was considering some of the companies in the world that are known for their customer service. These customer service techniques are rooted in good manners. Saying thank you and you’re welcome, holding open the door for people, and other basic good manners.

I recently visited Aruba and was amazed at how friendly everyone was. I do not care who it was. You could talk to anyone, and they were helpful. The Aruban economy is clearly dependent on tourism, and the small country totally gets it. Compare that to say, Miami, which also heavily depends on tourism, and I would say half the hotels are not nearly as friendly and helpful as some of the street people were in Aruba. There was no surprise that in Aruba they have 2% unemployment, low crime and what they call a “happy island.”

So maybe if our state and federal governments want to spend money on something useful to improve our economy, they should require every American to attend good etiquette and customer service training. This alone might put our economy back on track and give us a competitive advantage over other countries.

If the government cannot see the forest through the trees, business owners must. If your company does not have a large loyal customer base, take a look at how well the staff treats each other and its customers. If you do not think they are setting an example in how well they treat people as human beings, I am sure it is having a negative impact on your top and bottom lines.

It’s always a treat for me when I experience outstanding customer service from a company.  I had such an experience last week at my dry cleaners.

I started using Capital Cleaners in Sherwood a few years ago when I found out that they always clean the used school uniforms (at no cost) that our Sherwood Rotary Club collects for those local children who can’t afford new ones.  I knew I wanted to do business with a company that practices giving back to the community.  I didn’t know, however, that an extra benefit of being one of their customers was to enjoy great service.

I probably only drop off clothes there a maximum of once or twice a month.  Yet, last week when I pulled through the drive-through, and the employee, Lila, saw me, she immediately turned and retrieved my dry-cleaning off the rack and came out and hung it up on the hanger over my left rear door.  I was stunned because she didn’t even ASK my name – Lila KNEW who I was!  I LOVE that!!!

Of course, I praised her like crazy and asked how she knew my name.  Lila (at the time I didn’t even know her name, but I sure know it now!) said that she really makes an effort to learn the customers’ names.  I told her that it was very impressive and that most people really appreciate being recognized.

I’ll continue to use Capital Cleaners because they do a good job, and now they just ensured that I’ll tell everyone I can about their great customer service.  I just became an even more Loyal Customer! 

Isn’t it great when you notify a company of a problem and end up having a really nice customer service experience?  That’s what happened to me last week when I called my cell phone company about a charge posted on my recent statement.

I told the customer service rep that I had inadvertently ordered the product appearing on my bill and then immediately cancelled it because I realized my mistake.  I explained that I’d even received a text showing the cancellation.

The service rep proved that she was listening to my explanation when she pleasantly and correctly repeated my situation back to me.  She then asked if she had stated the issue correctly.  I LOVE it when someone hears exactly what I’ve said!

She apologized for the error (even though it was ME that had caused it in the first place!), and gave me her opinion of what had probably happened.  She then proceeded to check into the charge, detailing each step as she went through, and reported that she’d take care of the charge and give me the $19.99 credit.

I’ve been a loyal AT&T customer for years, and this experience insured that loyalty for many more years.  It reminded me that truly listening to the customers, and letting them know you’re listening, pays off for companies.

Great article by Kate Nasser: 

Choose Your Mindset – Not Theirs.
Before you start each customer service day, choose and fill your mind with the 5 best emotionally intelligent (EI) customer service thoughts. It will also transmit to every customer — the “rude” ones and the civil ones. So just as a satellite receives and sends signals, your mindset can do the same.

1. Put Your Mindset on the Right Channel to Get a Clear Picture
   If you set your mind purely on the emotion coming at you, you will most likely view the transmission emotionally. I hear the emotion so that I can empathize. Yet my mind is tuned to what the customer needs not to the emotion.

    

2. Empathize Emotion; Don’t Analyze It! Trying to analyze or justify a customer’s emotion in the few minutes you have to deliver service is not feasible or logical. It takes therapists years to analyze a client’s emotions. Yours is to deliver service, not to change the customer.

    

3. Don’t Trade a Shiny Heirloom Coin for a Slug. Why trade your positive mindset for the negative one coming at you? If you had a valuable heirloom coin and someone walked up and offered you a slug coin, would you trade it? Hardly. Hold on to your positive outlook. It will give you and your loved ones a lifetime of happiness.

    

4. Positivity Beats Equality! During a recent workshop a technical support rep asked me “Why does a customer acting badly deserved to be treated well?”. I replied, “Because it works. Treating the customer well gets you to the end goal. Positivity beats equality as a winning strategy in customer service. Treating the customer badly will not get the customer to treat you well and it will veer you off course from business success.

    

5. Recharge Your Battery. It takes energy to speak positively and energy can drain. Did you ever notice that you get less patient as you get tired? Most people do. So make sure you recharge your battery after work and throughout the day. Heck even cell phones lose their strength and we plug them in and give them juice. Do the same for yourself. You deserve it!

    

   Remember, inner strength is its own billboard. When you find yourself thinking the 10 thoughts in the article noted at the beginning of this post, you are spraying graffiti on your own billboard — your precious mindset and happiness. The customer has not ruined your day. You have chosen to live their emotion. Live your life, not theirs.

     On the way home last week from a conference in Pennsylvania, my flight was delayed about 45 minutes from departing.  Now that’s certainly not the first time that I had to sit on a plane and wait for it to leave the gate.  The usual reasons are some mechanical or technical problem, or even a weather-related issue.  I was told, though, that this delay had to do with a conflict in information about the weight on the aircraft, and I received this information by overhearing a conversation between our flight attendant and an off-duty flight attendant who was sitting in the seat in front of me.  

     I understand that the weight and balance issue on small aircraft is extremely critical.  I’m not questioning that issue.  My frustration that day, along with all my fellow travelers, was the way the situation was handled.  I felt that if the customer service had been different, especially an improvement in communication, the number of disgruntled passengers would have been much fewer.  If the flight crew had told us exactly what was going on and how long the delay was expected to continue, I think passengers’ attitudes would have been more understanding. 

     I felt that this was the perfect example of how organizations could greatly improve their level of customer service simply by being more open and honest and giving their customers a realistic timeframe about the expected delivery time.  I believe that customers are much more understanding and trusting when they get consistent and candid communication.