For those of us who reside in the customer experience universe and are committed to service excellence, the mantra, “no ball dropping,” is our beacon that guides the execution of every task, particularly when those tasks have a direct link to customer success.
So, what exactly is ball dropping? A business would have dropped the ball when a customer’s expectations are not met, when a promise to him or her is not kept, if a complaint is not managed skillfully, when a transaction is not completed properly, or when there are instances of rude or inept experiences with employees.
A business would have dropped the ball when a customer’s expectations are not met, when a promise to him or her is not kept, if a complaint is not managed skillfully, when a transaction is not completed properly, or when there are instances of rude or inept experiences with employees.
We are in the season when halls are not only decked with holly, but are overflowing with merchandise for sale. It’s easy for businesses to get so preoccupied with selling and meeting seasonal sales targets, that one of the important reasons for the season, “to spread joy,” including customer joy, gets lost in translation of the mix of activities.
This season is not a time to be obsessed only with moving merchandise. Why? Because there’s life after the season and customers have memories like elephants. They will not forget poor service. Under pressure to purchase the many gifts that they need, customers may surrender to brusque interactions, but the psychological bruising may be deeply imprinted. The less than enjoyable impressions will linger beyond the season and influence future purchasing decisions, spelling trouble for those businesses guilty of self-inflicted service failures.
This is a time for businesses to shine like the season and to ensure that all employees understand the strategy for the moment to be, “no ball dropping.”
This is a time for businesses to shine like the season and to ensure that all employees understand the strategy for the moment to be, “no ball dropping.”
Now, ball dropping is not a phenomenon that magically appears during this season, it’s ever present. However, it’s amplified during this time when shopping volumes expand exponentially, and businesses are stretched to cope with customers who are emotionally stretched themselves.
While the mix of ingredients creates a customer experience cocktail that is combustible and fraught with collateral damage to the service delivery footprint of a business, the season and the potentially explosive situations that arise, don’t have to turn into a battleground of balancing flaring tempers, thin patience and tense human interactions, with the blind pursuit of sales. With proper planning, the right mindset and a strategy that says, “nothing is too much trouble when serving our customers,” both businesses and their customers, can emerge victorious.
One strategy that a business can take to ensure great seasonal outcomes, is a pause and prepare strategy. Pause to determine what mindset the staff should adopt for the season as things heat up, prepare everyone to deliver great outcomes and initiate infrastructure preparedness. Once the seasonal mindset has been determined, it has to be communicated to all staff, along with clear instructions on how it should be translated into customer friendly behaviours.
Now, ball dropping is not a phenomenon that magically appears during this season, it’s ever present. However, it’s amplified during this time when shopping volumes expand exponentially, and businesses are stretched to cope with customers who are emotionally stretched themselves.
The business preparedness piece of the strategy has to do with the processes that will be tweaked to create more agile workflows and the new arrangements that will either reduce or eliminate customer frustration. During this season of excessive shopping, more than ever, solutions that relieve customer distress, boost convenience and accelerate ease of doing business would be the biggest winners.
These solutions can include the use of hand-held bill payment devices to forestall the build-up of long lines, an efficient chat (electronic and mobile) channel that provides real-time customer resolutions and the setting up of a contact centre for quick service support. Let’s put an end to the unanswered phones, shall we?
The “no ball dropping” rule applies to the internal customer experience as well. Given all of the frenzy associated with meeting seasonal sales targets, it’s easy to develop blindness to keeping the internal customer happy. The low hanging fruit that offers an opportunity to sidestep this pitfall, is the celebration of staff as they put in the effort to serve and solve, without dropping the ball.
One strategy that a business can take to ensure great seasonal outcomes, is a pause and prepare strategy. Pause to determine what mindset the staff should adopt for the season as things heat up, prepare everyone to deliver great outcomes and initiate infrastructure preparedness.
No good deed should go unnoticed, when it comes to celebrating staff effort. Managers and supervisors should set daily staff recognition and celebration goals, (as a rule, but doubly so, during this season). I believe that one of the greatest sources of fuel for staff motivation and productivity scaling, is positive affirmation.
When “no ball dropping” is used as a vehicle for affirming customer value to the business and affirming employee commitment to service excellence, customers show appreciation through sales and employees show appreciation through productivity.
Revenue becomes a consequence of successful effort and secession never enters the mind of the customer.