The former owner of an automobile dealership told me recently that he initiated a $750 “customer spend” for his organization. When I expressed curiosity, he went on to explain that he authorized everyone in the firm to spend as much as $750 to make sure a customer was happy if an issue arose. This could range from the receptionist buying coffee for a couple delayed because of a service mistake to a salesperson throwing in a new set of floor and trunk mats because he thought it would close the deal. All of this could be done without checking with a manager.
When I expressed a bit of surprise, he said, “Look at the big picture. It empowered everyone to act on the customer’s behalf. It impressed the customers that we trusted the employees and it instilled a belief in the employees that we trusted them. Besides, it was rare that anyone spent more than $50. In fact,” he continued, “we had to encourage them to use this resource when it made sense. Our customer service ratings, by the way, went through the roof.”
This strategy is not new. You’ve probably heard about it before. Maybe you’ve experienced it as a customer. But too often it fails because those encouraged to use it are fearful that they’ll get into trouble for really doing so. Its effective implementation has to come from a place of trust – your trust in your people. That means the authorized spend needs to be large enough to be meaningful. You have to embrace its use and you have to demonstrate that it has an impact on customers. So how do you implement this idea successfully?
Introduce it in a meaningful way. Begin with the big picture. Why $750 in a dealership? Because the customer is spending tens of thousands of dollars over time. Adjust for your customer’s average spend. In a restaurant, it might be $100 for instance. Provide examples such as why one situation warrants a bit of spending when something similar does not. But don’t get too specific with the examples or your people will stop using their reasoning and try to follow the “rules.” It’s better that they make an attempt and spend too much than not try out of fear.
Reinforce its use. Make it a regular topic at meetings. Celebrate the employees who use this strategy to save a customer relationship. Process with those who seem hesitant to execute. Their hesitation may be costing you customers.
Hire people who understand the perspective. Make this strategy a part of your interview process. Provide applicants with a tough customer service scenario and the opportunity spend some money to make it right. If they are apprehensive about using it, they may lack the confidence to thrive in your workplace. Comments like, “That’s a lot of money,” or Wow, how can you do that?” are signals that they probably have too limited a perspective.
Daily decisions on the job require reason. Reason requires trust – trust in yourself and trust in those supervising you. Implement this strategy in your firm and watch this trust skyrocket.