Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2012 | Page 76
CustomersCount
BY JACK MACKEY
Olympic Opportunity!
Score a perfect 10 in customer service
T
he Summer Olympics reinforced
my respect for world-class athletes
of all nationalities.
At a recent gathering of international franchisees, I had a similar sense
of admiration, this time for remarkable
customer experiences being created around
the world by companies outside the U.S.
The occasion was the annual convention
of Crestcom International. While many
franchise organizations today have global
reach, Crestcom was founded 25 years ago
by Hal Krause with the explicit mission to
bring state-of-the-art management training to the world.
Crestcom’s video-based management
skills workshops are conducted by franchisees in more than 50 countries and 25
languages. Their recent information
sharing regarding customer service around
the world was full of nuggets I want to
share with you.
Above and beyond service
For example, international franchisee Joerg
Hasenclever was participating in a management training program at a premium
hotel called the Vila Vita Rosenpark in
Marburg, Germany.
On checking into his room, Hasenclever
noticed an MP3 player with a headset on
his pillow. When he put on the headset,
he was surprised and delighted to discover
that his favorite music was on the player. It
turns out that before the training started,
the hotel contacted each attendee’s family
to find out the participant’s favorite music.
Also, when Hasenclever checked in,
the hotel asked for his car keys on the
pretext that they may need to move the
car to another parking spot. But at the end
of the seminar, his car had been washed
and cleaned inside and out. This level of
service is so unexpectedly amazing, people
will want to talk about it and recommend
the hotel to their friends and colleagues.
Joachim Schulz is another international
franchisee who shared an example of ex-
74
Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue IV, 2012
traordinary customer service that one of his
friends experienced when he picked up his
new Lexus RX. As the Lexus sales person
was explaining all the wonderful features of
the new car, he opened the boot (or trunk,
as we say in the U.S.) and there was a small
ladder in it. The sales person said he could
not help but notice that the customer had
Worldwide
competition makes
it clear that the
United States does
not have a lock on
excellence.
an elderly dog that was not strong enough
to jump up into the owner’s car any more.
The Lexus dealer provided a dog ladder
to aid the dog getting in the car!
Another Crestcom franchisee, Gunter
Lonnemann, described a remarkable company that remodels kitchens. The company is well-regarded and, as expected, it
did a good job installing the new kitc hen
equipment.
But the family having their kitchen remodeled was very surprised toward the end
of the day when two ladies arrived carrying
huge baskets of food, dishes, glasses, cutlery,
pots, and pans. They explained that they
were there to cook dinner for the whole
family. Now the family understood why,
when ordering the new equipment, the
sales person had asked them what kind of
foods the family really liked.
After the construction engineers finished their work, the ladies started working and cooked a wonderful meal for the
whole family. They served it and cleaned
the kitchen, taking all the dirty dishes away
with them. As it turns out, the kitchen retailer spoils his clients this way and always
sends this professional cooking staff for
the initiation of a new kitchen. In other
words, the normal operating procedure
is deliberately designed to include more
than the customer expected!
Finally, in conversations with my international friends, I also learned about AirAsia,
headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. AirAsia
was named the World’s Best Low-Cost
Airline for Product and Service Quality
at the 2012 World Airline Awards. Voted
on by more than 18.8 million airline passengers from 100 different nationalities,
this was the third AirAsia win in a row.
AirAsia creates a superior customer
experience in a number of ways. Besides
low fares and on-time departures, the company operates state-of-the-art aircraft with
the latest in-flight entertainment systems,
and they have the best web-based travel
information system.
When you need to book a flight or ask
questions, AirAsia’s web-based customer
service approach is very user-friendly.
You can chat live online with an avatar—
her English name is Little Red—and you
can talk to her in half a dozen languages.
She gives the AskAirAsia web page a personality in the customer’s native tongue.
This multilingual live chat service exceeds
customer expectations of budget airlines
because flyers often associate cheap fares
with minimal service.
I loved watching the Olympics and
cheering for our American athletes. But
worldwide competition makes it clear that
the United States does not have a lock on
excellence. Likewise, there is much to be
admired, and learned, from customerfocused companies outside the U.S. If you
would like to receive a copy of SMG’s White
Paper, Cultural Differences in Customer Satisfaction Ratings, email me.
SMG Vice President Jack
Mackey helps multi-unit operators improve customer loyalty and drive growth. Contact
him at 816-448-4556 or
[email protected].