One of my favourite business books is ‘Moments of Truth’ by Jan Carlzon, a Swedish executive who, 30 years ago, changed the fortunes of Scandinavian Airlines with some fundamental customer service principles.
According to Carlzon, ‘moments of truth’ occur at every point where there is customer contact, no matter where it is in the sequence of service or the chain of command.
Each moment of truth decides whether a customer looks favourably on the company or not, and it only takes one poor moment of truth to unravel any previous excellent customer contacts.
Carlzon helped transformed SAS by embracing these moments of truth and actually empowering staff to handle incidents without referring to supervisors or managers up the line. In short, he gave frontline service staff the authority and capability to handle customer issues that arose on a day-to-day basis.
Everyone in the organisation who has contact with a customer – whether it be a buyer or a supplier, internal or external – was delegated the responsibility to deliver excellent customer service.
Sadly, many service-oriented companies miss out on maximising moments of truth, especially in areas such as HR, Accounts and Marketing, but that’s for another column.
The empowerment approach has many benefits. It provides opportunities to deliver outstanding customer service, nullifies potentially explosive situations, and gives employees a real sense of responsibility.
For example, the Starwood hotel chain practises this concept through a programme called Starwood Cares. When I was a shift manager for a busy Sheraton restaurant, I was allowed to use my initiative to responsibly solve customer complaints. This didn’t necessarily mean writing off the cost of the whole meal; it could have been a free dessert or drink, or even something as simple as offering the best table in the house or an upgraded beverage.
Complaining customers don’t always want something for nothing, despite perceptions to the contrary. They often just want a little attention, and their complaint should be fully encouraged as it allows the company to provide outstanding customer service.
Starwood Cares inspired responsibility and initiative from frontline staff, safe in the knowledge of support by senior management.
In general, I find that ‘moments of truth’ are not always handled well in the UAE, mainly because managers do not empower their staff to solve issues immediately and effectively. I can’t tell you how many times a simple request is met with a response like “I’ll have to ask my supervisor”. This is incredibly frustrating and a waste of time from a customer’s perspective. For me, it’s usually a ‘don’t come back’ moment.
Providing excellent customer service typically means throwing out the customer service manual and acting on instinct – doing what is right for the customer, not the company.
I became exasperated during my customer service training workshops when attendee after attendee said they would get into trouble if they make unauthorised decisions, even if it meant doing something extra special to delight the customer. I completely disagree with this management style. If you have hired the right frontline staff, let them do their job. Give them authority to handle small issues on-the-spot, so the complaint letters never reach your desk. Sure, set a monetary limit and give authority boundaries, but offer your staff some room to shine by allowing them to act with initiative and responsibility.
A ‘moment of truth’ is an absolutely critical point in your customer service culture. Managers, your moment of truth is now – how will you handle it?
By Ian Mason
