LL - Customer Happiness Lesson 1

Lesson 1: HeroCo Customer Happiness

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There is a shift that is taking place in the world. A revolution if you will. Companies are beginning to take the focus off of profits, and realizing that focusing on customer service and employee engagement will translate into larger profits.

In many companies the customer service department is viewed as a “cost” and representatives are given incentives to “sell, sell, sell!” as a way to try to reduce that “cost" with little focus on actually providing good service. We've shifted the focus away from the “cost” and towards the “investment” that is being made through the customer experience instead.

We define providing WOW customer service as creating a unique experience to meet or exceed a customer’s expectations (consistently over-delivering). By creating a caring experience, we hope that customers will evangelize for The Hero Co and tell their friends and family to do business with us. Word of mouth has been one of the driving factors in our repeat customer rate every year and therefore we can help more and more people meet their health (or relationship) goals.

The purpose of the customer happiness agent is to create a memorable experience for each guest in order to build a long-term relationship and to spread health & happiness by providing the best customer service and experience possible - we call this WOW Service. WOW!

The first step in the customer experience is the website. By creating an online environment that is easy to navigate and enjoyable we've created a happy shopping experience. We make sure to put the toll-free number on every page because we want customers to call for any reason. While only a small percentage of our customers actually contact the customer service team, we know that over the course of the lifetime that customer will eventually reach out. We want to use this opportunity to create a lasting impression.

At HeroCo, we decided a long time ago that we wanted our brand to be more than just selling our products or internet retailing. We wanted to build a brand around providing the very best customer service and experience possible. Hence, we became the "Happiness" team. In order to accomplish this we believe that customer service is not a department, but the entire company!

Group Discussion: What does WOW service look like to you?

Wowing internal and external customers

The old adage “the customer is always right” is a saying that has lost meaning. While we may not agree that the customer is always right, they ARE always special. Without customers, our businesses are nothing. Customers are the very thing that allows a business to survive.

When we are talking about customers we are not only referring to external customers but to internal customers as well.

In the HeroCo culture, employees are viewed as internal customers. What do we mean by internal customers? We are talking about the various departments within an organization that you work with on a daily basis. It is easy to forget that the external success of an organization is positively correlated to the internal success of an organization.

How often do you take the time to make someone within your organization feel special? What do you think would happen if you did? When your internal customer is happy and made to feel special your external customer will feel this as well.

When internal customers are supported and made to feel special, conversations flow more smoothly, teams work more cohesively, and communication and trust increase.

When your internal customers are acknowledged and celebrated, it is only a matter of time before the external customers feel the same. Having internal customers means that you treat any interaction in a way that you would treat an external customer.

When a fellow HeroCo buddy approaches you with a question, the response that is given should reflect the core values of the company and our overall commitment to service. It may be very easy to fall back on thoughts like “Oh well, they aren’t a paying customer… they can wait” but the service approach is top-of-mind, and the response that is given is one of service, just as it would be if the person where a customer.

Top 10 ways we instill customer service into our company:

1. We make customer service a priority for the whole company, not just a department. A customer service attitude needs to come from the top.

When your leaders are displaying an attitude that customer service is the top priority of your company, it tends to trickle down to the masses. A customer service attitude will also make a big impact on how your departments work with each other. When team members look at everyone else as customers, they will do a much better job of assisting other people with their needs.

2. We make WOW a verb that is part of your company’s everyday vocabulary.

When a person says “WOW” it’s usually because they are blown away by something. When team members start saying WOW because they are blown away by the atmosphere in the office, or how nice everyone is, it creates a state of happiness that translates into higher performance.

3. We empower and trust our customer service agents. We trust that they want to provide great service… because they actually do. Because of this escalations to a supervisor are rare.

We all know how frustrating it can be when we have a question, or want something done, and we get put on hold so the team member on the phone can ask their supervisor for approval. Empowering team members to make decisions in the best interest of the customer, creates a great experience for both the customer and team members. This then translates into better calls for a longer period of time.

4. We realize that it’s okay to fire customers who are insatiable or abuse our employees.

It’s one thing to make exceptions for customers on certain policies and procedures, and it’s another to let people abuse your company. Here at HeroCo, we have a 365-day return policy for everything. It is clearly written that we only allow items to be returned if they are in their original received condition. If a customer tells us they opened every bottle the moment they received their order, we will probably make a one-time exception and explain the policy. If it continues to happen we will ask that customer to shop elsewhere.

We also have a very short tolerance for customers that verbally abuse our team members. As a team member, if you are being harassed by a customer, it is huge to know that your lead will step up and explain to the customer that we will no longer be doing business with them. It builds loyalty and trust in a team when it is known that the customers are important, but the team members are the most important.

5. We don’t measure call times and we don’t use strict phone scripts.

Allowing team members to build a connection with customers, and have organic conversations will lead to story-worthy experiences. If call times are being measured then team members are more likely to focus on the time rather than the customer, and when that happens the experience is not there.

Someone reading a script is a thing that no customer wants to hear. Especially if you are focused on having a company with customer service as your focus. It is hard to create story-worthy experiences when a person is reading lines off a sheet of paper.

6. We don’t hide your 1-800 number and provide many channels for customers to contact us through. This is a message not just to your customers, but to our employees as well.

By displaying our phone number on every page of your website it sends a message to the customer that you are inviting them to call you. It lets people know that you are available to take their call and sets precedence with team members.

7. We view each call as an investment in building a customer service brand, not as an expense we’re seeking to minimize.

Our customers are our strongest marketing agents. When customer service team members are creating story-worthy experiences, our customers are telling those stories. One person that has a great experience may tell 5 people their story, and that may translate into 5 new customers who then have the same experience and may tell another 5 people, and so on.

8. We have an entire company that celebrates great service. We tell stories of WOW experiences to everyone in the company.

Just as customer wow stories are important, so are the ones that you tell in the office. When you get a customer that sends an email to say thank you, or how happy they were with your service, celebrate that with everyone. We have set up designated Slack channels where we can post the amazing feedback we get from our customers, and others to boost ourselves and teammates.

9. We find and hire people who are already passionate about customer service.

When you have team members that are excited and passionate about helping others, they will naturally deliver the best experience possible. There are certain aspects of customer service that you can teach a person, but if that person already has a friendly outgoing personality, it will make it that much easier for them to create great experiences.

10. We give great service to everyone; customers, employees, and vendors.

We use these "Happiness" rules because they are consistent throughout the HeroCo Family core values in that we are all about providing great service. When it is on the forefront of people’s minds it creates an atmosphere that is hard not to notice.