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Lesson Info

The Blueprint of Service

The Blueprint of Service. I call it the blueprint because it really does enunciate and list how it works for you. When you picture a blueprint, what comes to mind? What do you think of when you think of a blueprint? Around customer service, specifically, like what does that map look like. You know what touch-points do you have with your customers and how to build, you know. I love that. I love that you said "map", because that's exactly what it is. We're gonna map out all those moments with your customers. So that's exactly right. So it's an outline, and the steps of service from that, I'd also call the moments of service for your business. But there's a number that you might have. There's actually a lot. So we're gonna detail each moment of interaction. That's when service happens, when you're connecting to your clients, when you're connecting to your customers. It could be in person. It could be on the phone. It could be even on your website. Could be when they receive a piece of...

information or a product from you. So all of these we will detail. I need you to think about what you want each moment to achieve. So this is really important. It's goal oriented, the steps of service. What do you want to achieve and how do you want to do it? That's what the steps of service are for. And it's important for giving examples of language for each moment. So it's not enough to say "greet your customer," "make a sale," "say good-bye," right. We need an example of how you want your staff to talk to your clients, and what can they expect from this interaction. Now this is something that is internal. This is not something that's external. You're not gonna share this with your clients and customers and say this is how you should expect to be treated. This is something that's internal and that it's for your staff to understand what happens with each guest and who's involved in that moment. So it really is a map, as you said a moment ago. So some moments that we're gonna talk about you might need. Answering the phone. Does every business have an answering the phone moment? Maybe not. I know I've been confounded more than once trying to reach Google by phone. They don't do phone, they only do Internet, darn it. But a lot of businesses do have phones. And even if it's not your first point of contact, you need to be very clear on how the phone is answered, what information is relayed via the phone, versus what information you need to do in person or via some sort of portal. So answering the phone is a key moment of service. Greeting in person. In our first course we talked about "Hello" and that there might be a number of greetings for your client when they enter your business or when they come in contact with your business. So it's important to identify those greetings and when they happen. Taking an order. So asking questions. What's the verbiage you want to use around making a sale or taking an order? What are some little tiny steps that need to be included that show that you're client-centric in that moment? So we're gonna enunciate that moment. Placing an order. So placing an order is different than taking an order, right? So in restaurants, taking the orders, going to the table, finding out what people need, how do they want their food served. And then placing the order is literally putting it into the computer and enunciating that so the kitchen can get it right, or the bar can get it right. So it would be the same thing for you. How do you place that order? How does that happen? And if it's not you doing it, making sure your website does it correctly. Suggestive selling. What is suggestive selling? Any ideas, insights? Well, you're making suggestions to your client. Okay. An order. Based on what you perceive they need. Okay, that's right. So we might ask them questions to find out what they need. But suggestive selling would be you know do you want a tie with that shirt? If you go to a store, you know, oh, that would look great on you. Oh, this color would be great, I think we have it in your size. So suggestive selling is thinking about your end-user, that client, and what they're telling you, what they're showing you, so you can make them happy with all the things your business can do. So suggestive selling. Waiting and handling problems. Waiting is a really big deal. People will wait for your business actively, and you will ask them to wait for your business, you feel passively, but anybody who is waiting knows that that's an active experience. So we'll talk about all the ways people wait. And then handling problems in your business. And lastly, saying "Good-bye." This is something that I have referred to in other classes. It's the tether between you and your client. It's the tether between your customer and your business. And saying "Good-bye" puts a little halo of goodness around your business. When they think back on that time spent with you, they're gonna think positive things. So saying "Good-bye" is really, really important. It's a nice bookend to "Hello." So, enunciating, enunciating. Really detailing the steps of service is incredibly important. And then upholding them builds consistency for your clients. It's incredibly important, not that you write them, but that you live them, that you make sure they happen every single day. The SOS, the steps of service. It's also a training guide for your team, and it makes accountability clear for your team members. When people don't do things in the steps of service, and they're acting outside of it, they might be against what you're looking for. It might mess with the consistent experience that you're seeking for your clients. So it offers accountability for the experience that you're giving. So it's really important that you use the steps of service, not just write them. It can be a great tool for you as you build your customer service experience. So building and upholding the steps of service creates consistency for your customers. And this is incredibly important. The steps of service is a training tool for your team, and an accountability tool for you and your managers. Now, as a manager, as a leader, it's important that you hold people accountable for what they're doing. It's not enough to say here's the rules and let them do what they want to do. It's very important that you actually uphold the rules. What we talked about in our previous class was the idea of managing the experience because it's in public. So when you are a leader, leadership happens in public for people and with people. And this is the same thing here. So when you write out the steps of service and you ask people to follow the steps of service, you must then uphold the steps of service, and ensure that people are following them. So if we talk about the steps of service as a training tool, what are some of the things, what are some of those steps, that we might pay attention to if we're leading service? If we were talking about the greeting, what might be a moment that we might have to uphold with our employees? What do you think that might be? Things that he wants at the door? That's right. So how would we uphold the moment of customer service by upholding "Hello" or upholding the greeting? What are we looking for in our team? The body language, so like that you're open towards somebody, that you're smiling or just looking friendly? That's right. And like that you're present in that moment? That's right. Your present in that moment. I love that, the way of expressing that. In one of the previous courses we talked about really that moment of service and then of the moments that go along with it. So the idea of not just the words, but that your body language is upholding what the words are saying. And so it's important, especially as a leader, that you're walking that walk and talking that talk. So in every single moment you have an opportunity to interact, not only with your guest, but with your staff member to ensure they're doing what they need to do. Now as a training tool, I think it's really important to give examples for each of the steps. So I'm just going to go back to them. So if we go to the moment of "Hello", if we go to the moment of answering the phone, or taking an order, any of these things, it's a really helpful thing because we can ensure that a) these actions are happening, but b) that people know who does what action. So for instance, if the phone is ringing, we could say that the receptionist answers the phone, but in truth we don't want the phone to just ring in perpetuity. We want someone to answer the phone. So we might train everybody in answering the phone. How do you answer the phone? So yes, the eventual duties for the receptionist, or for whoever's phone is ringing, but we're gonna make sure that everybody understands how that moment of service works, so no one's caught off guard. So you can always represent your business properly. Taking an order. That might be very specifically for sales people. So we're gonna focus on those sales people. We're gonna give examples of moments that happen. We're gonna have examples of things that can go wrong, or common pitfalls, and how to correct those, in this moment of service document. So that people know what they're doing and have ways to deal with situations that might frequently occur. It's always helpful to do something like frequently ask questions, because this is something that you in your business might know, that when people are talking an order, they always want to know how long, they always want to know what happens if. So give them answers for that. When you're writing these out, as well, give specific verbiage for how to do it. So for instance with answering the phone, you want to be specific. Hi, thank you for calling XYZ company, my name is Kate, how can I help you, might be the way you write it out. And we'll talk more about that in scripting service, which is a little bit later. But the reality is, you have to give people examples, because this is what I see a lot, is owners or managers saying, they should know. People should know how to answer the phone. They don't know how to answer the phone? How old are they? They should know how to answer the phone. No, unless you've told them, they won't know. So it's really important that you give examples and give true guidelines so that people know what to do when they're working and when they're representing your brand. And that's the thing to keep in mind. People are going to represent you. So you need to ensure that they are representing you properly through all of these actions, and that you have walked through all of them so they're clear on what they're saying and how they're saying it. Back to actions and words in our last course, actions and words here are incredibly important. And this is what we're talking about. Now, the look and feel is incredibly important because service is an experience. So we're going to communicate that experience. We're gonna do it online, we're gonna do it digitally. We're also gonna do it tacitly. So what is tacit? What does that refer to? Touch. Touch, that's right. So literally how something feels. Have you ever gone to a business and touched something and been like, ooh, this is nice. Right? When you go to a nice hotel, things feel really good, right? When you go to a dive bar, things feel different. Coarse. Yeah, coarse or sticky, right? There's a definite feel in a dive bar, right. But you have to be aware of all of these things. What are the things that people are, you're asking people to come in contact with. And they're gonna come in contact with it all sorts of different ways. So we have to make sure, because we're communicating something very specific. So, what are they coming into contact with? We've got to consider all of these things. So on your website, is it inviting? Is it easy to navigate? Is it friendly? It could be an enunciation of your personality, so it might not even be friendly. It could be very knowledgeable. It could be we know tons, right? So what is that brand personality? You've got to make sure that is clear, because on your website people are gonna feel that or not feel that. Your studio, your shop, your office. So first of all, is it easy to find? Is it confusing to find? You've got to be clear on that. Is it clean, is it organized? Is it comfortable? When people come in, do they come to a counter, or are you gonna invite them to sit down? These are all moments of contact with your business. Even if you give somebody a pen, what is that pen like? Have you ever gone to a restaurant and they give you a pen where the end has been chewed, right? Creepy, very creepy. We don't like that, right? Or this was the thing when I was a waitress, people would always get these, as a waiter, people give you free stuff. And a lot of pharmaceutical companies would give you a pen with pharmaceutical brand name on it. You should not put a pharmaceutical brand name on a restaurant table. That doesn't make any sense, right? So what's all the stuff that people are coming into contact with in your office. Those are all definitely things to think about. And then your collateral. So your materials, what are you giving them to show off your business? Is it your business card? Is it a piece of paper? Is it a brochure? Is it professional? Is it up to date? Is it an extension of your price point and a visual representation of your brand? So extension of your price point. What does that really mean? What am I talking about an extension of your price point? If you're in a high-end business, it should reflect that. That's right. So the look and feel should feel high-end. That's right. Anybody here buy business cards recently? I have. Yeah, you can spend a lot of money on business cards, right, yeah? You can get them cute and easy, right? Cheap and easy. You can also get them very, very expensive. I looked into business cards at one point, they were two dollars apiece. I was like, okay, that's nice. But two dollars apiece is pretty expensive. Yeah, does it match, right? What is the experience you're giving and does that match. It might be that you have a very comfortable brand. You might have something that's down to earth or sort of has an honest, ah shucks feeling, and if you have a crazy, high-end business card it actually might not compute, right? On the flip side, if you have a very luxe company, if you're known for fine, fine, fine details and the highest level of everything, you're gonna have to have a very high-level business card. When I worked at this three-Michelin star restaurant, everything was about the paper. We spent so much money on paper, because people would touch it. The menus were printed out daily. The guest check was handwritten on beautiful card stock. And only a few people could do it, because they had nice handwriting. But all these little details make a difference, and express your brand. So this is a very, very high-level restaurant. Everything has to be high, high level. So every little detail counts. But it's also true in any business. It's not just high-level businesses. Every time you're contact with your guests, it's a chance to enunciate your brand and share what your brand promises. And it's through all of these things. So the look and feel is incredibly important. You must seek out feedback from your customers. They'll tell you what falls short and what they love about your brand expression. And this is very, very true. Some people will just give it, right? Sometimes you'll just get that Yelp review that'll say, that place, right? Or that place. Either way, you're gonna feel whether they liked it or not. But it's also really important to ask them what their experience was, to do a survey after the fact, or to call them even, a little bit more personally and say, I'd like to hear about your experience with our brand, or with our products. And that can be very, very impactful because people like to talk. They like to share the experience that they had. So sometimes it's a really nice thing to reach out and find out from them. Has anybody here had a survey after using a brand and like it happens immediately? Anybody have a story from that? Brands that you buy, you mean? Uh-huh. Oh, yeah, all the time. Yeah, do you have an example of one offhand? My business cards. Okay. I immediately got a response asking if I received them and if I was happy with them. Okay, and did you respond? Sure. Okay, good. Yeah, most brand named stores or operations will send you some sort of survey. Now there are lots of surveys. What do we like about surveys? What do we don't, let's say what do we dislike about surveys, is that sometimes they're really, really long. Pages and pages and pages of questions. Huge turn-off. So if you are gonna ask, be succinct and be clear and make sure it's easy for them to give you feedback. I know of a hotel brand in New York City that they send out a 32-point questionnaire. And it's way too many questions. And I know of another hotel brand that asks I think one or two questions. How was it and what can we do better. And that invites people to give you real, true feedback, which is very, very helpful. But find out what the feedback is, because that can really help you improve your brand. And make sure that what you're doing is resonating the way you intend it to.