Recently our design firm ordered a few light fixtures for a project from Unilight out of Montreal, Canada.  The project was under renovation so the fixtures needed to arrive before the contractor left to avoid extra charges.  Two bathroom sconces shipped, one lacked a back plate.

After contacting Unilight to get a back plate shipped, it took them ONE WEEK to ship us a plate that probably cost 50 cents.  The reason?  Our contact said that they had to meet about why a piece was not shipped (to figure out what went wrong in THEIR process) and she had to get a replacement plate approved.  From a business perspective, this does not fly.

In your business, you should empower your people to make something right for your clients.  What this requires from you is

1.  Trust in your team’s decision-making,

2.  The ability to not get mad if your people do something that you would not have done,

3.  Becoming comfortable enough to let your people solve a problem from start to finish without necessarily involving you.

In order to empower people to make things right, you have to trust their good judgment.  By punishing people for

making a decision, you are sending mixed messages.  If you feel more comfortable, set a limit of $100 or $200 cost before they have to check in with you or the team about the decision.  If it’s going to make a happier client to overnight the pillows that are already late so they will be there in time for a party, and it will cost you an extra $50, your team should feel like they can fulfill that without asking.  Furthermore, if you can get your team to a place where they do this without the client asking, you are exceeding expectations (but that’s for another post).

The last thing a client wants when she calls with a grievance that can be easily and quickly solved (such as a back plate shipped) is to hear that it will have to go before committee to make a decision.

Once the error on your part is made, and your client is made happy, then it is time to study your process and fix what went wrong.  That should never be your client’s problem or concern, and should never be a reason for delay on fixing her problem.

This is the BARE MINIMUM that your company should be doing.  We’ll talk more later about how further empowering your team can bring the WOW factor…think Zappos WOW.

We can all learn a thing or two from the Zappos model.  They are one of the most talked about companies today because they do things right.  What do I mean by right?  I mean that they take care of their customers and they take care of their employees.  As a result, people talk about them…lots of people.  Just a couple of examples:

- A woman called Zappos because her mother died and had a few unopened Zappos shoes boxes.  The daughter called Zappos and they immediately said that they would be happy to take the shoes back and would arrange for the pick up.  At this point, we are all thinking that this is standard, good customer service.  However, a week later the daughter received a bouquet of flowers with a note that read “We’re so sorry for your loss – the Zappos team”.  The daughter turned out to be an influential blogger and this story was widely circulated (as I’m circulating it here).

Lesson:  Let your employees go above and beyond to do what is right.  Don’t just provide client service, provide exceptional client service and people will talk about it.

- Zappos now pays its employees $2500 to quit.  If, after an extensive training program, anyone feels that they cannot provide the level of service expected, they are offered $2500 in addition to the time worked to quit.  The company used to pay $250, then $1000, and now $2500.  I would surmise that Zappos easily makes back this money several times over by not only having employees that really want to be there but by also showing their customers that they have policies that put the customers first.

Lesson: Follow the word of mouth marketing mantra: Make your company remarkable and people were remark on it.  Stories like these make people even more likely to become clients because they like what you stand for.

Read more about Zappos in a recent AdWeek interview with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh.