I am going to steal from Seth Godin and Ben McConnell/Jackie Huba who do an infinitely better job writing about this stuff than I do, but after a couple of recent experiences here in Seattle, I have a couple of customer service rules that all business owners should follow (and make their employees follow!):

1. Don’t tell me why you can’t help me

When we got to Sea-Tac, we rolled over to the rental car counter, and there was no one there to help us. Soon, a line formed behind us. Then, three of us were on our cell phones calling Enterprise seeking help - to no avail. Finally, an employee from a competing firm came over and told all of us that there was another counter at the other end of the terminal. So we all trucked over there. When I got there, I told the gal at the Enterprise counter that there was a line of people at the other counter, and we had been waiting for service. She tells me: we just don’t have enough staffing to cover both counters. I politely responded that a sign indicating such information would perhaps be helpful, but inside of course I was thinking “I don’t care why you can’t help me. I am trying to get a rental car. If you can’t help me, I can go to one of your half-dozen competitors that are right here next to you.” The rental car business is a totally commodotized business. No one can afford to give poor customer service, but if you are in a business where there is very little product differentiation, you had better make sure your employees are trained to maximize the customer experience.

2. Fix your problems

When we got in to Seattle, I ran over to Key Bank to pick up some cash. After two successive tries, the ATM machine refused to give me any cash. I went inside. There were no checking account withdrawal slips at the customer service counter, so I proceeded to the teller counter. I explained to the teller that I needed to withdraw some cash from my checking account and that I had attempted to use the ATM twice, and that perhaps there was a problem with the ATM machine. His response: “Yeah, I know it’s broken.” So rather than (a) just fix the problem, or (b) place a sign on the non-working machines notifying customers to come in the bank for withdrawals, they let me waste my time and then boasted about it at the teller window. This is my third such experience at Key. Note to Key: you are a commodotized business as well. I can let my money sit anywhere and it all seems the same to me.

BONUS

3. One word for ultimate customer service

Carol and I went to the Crab Pot down on the waterfront for a late lunch and had a big pot of seafood dumped out on the table; it was fabulous. At one point in the meal, our server came by and we asked him to bring two more beers, and some more melted butter. His one word response: “Done.” It was actually Carol that noted what a perfect response that was. We didn’t need to know that the wait staff was short handed. We didn’t need to know that it was “no problem” for him to bring the beers, we just needed to know that when we asked for something, we could consider it “done.” That is all your customer is really looking for.