FROM THE BOARD 



A Passion for Customer Satisfaction 



KEN GOSSELIN 



Most of the resolutions we make 

 are meant to change our ways in 

 order to improve ourselves personally or 

 professionally. And a new year always 

 seems the perfect time for a new start. 

 With these in mind, I'd like to suggest 

 that you consider a resolution to be 

 passionate about customer satisfaction. 

 And 1 mean passionate — not "I'll do it if 

 it's convenient" or touted as advertising. 

 No — I mean having a passion to satisfy 

 your customers that is so strong that it 

 drives all your decisions: that you put 

 the customer first in every department 

 of your business. 



Horticulture is my third career of 

 choice. I've had careers in the food ser- 

 vice and technology fields — and these 

 three fields are about as diverse as you 

 can get. Between them, I've spent nearly 

 25 years in positions that demanded 

 customer interaction. In all, I've noticed 

 that the most successful people were 

 those who put customer satisfaction 

 ahead of everything else — not quality; 

 not profitability, not whatever business 

 improvement tool was the new hot cure. 

 Nope — they remained true to their con- 

 viction that customer service was the 

 key to success. 



Take a moment and think back to a 

 time or two when you were a customer 

 and you were pleased with the product 

 or service you purchased. Why were you 

 pleased? Odds are that the people you 

 dealt with were courteous — they lis- 

 tened; you probably felt that you were 

 treated as someone special and that 

 you got a deal great enough to brag 

 about to friends. Overall, a transaction 

 takes place on both material and emo- 

 tional levels. And satisfying on both 

 these levels is what creates customer 

 satisfaction. Simple, huh? Why, anybody 

 can do it — but in reality, few do. In fact, 

 the reason you could quickly recall the 

 times you were satisfied is that this has 

 become the exception, not the rule. 



While customer satisfaction is rela- 

 tively easy to explain, achieving it may 

 be one of the hardest change you'll ever 

 make. Fortunately, it becomes easier as 

 you embrace it as the way you do busi- 

 ness. There are a couple of theorems to 



accept though, before we get to the 

 nuts and bolts. First, everyone in the 

 business has a customer. The person 

 purchasing seed has the seeder for a 

 customer; the seeder has the trans- 

 planters, and so on. Don't define "cus- 

 tomer" as only those who purchase 

 your product, but as anybody in your 

 process who supports another. It's an 

 important mindset to develop. In most 

 small businesses, employers and em- 

 ployees will be customers almost as of- 

 ten as they serve them. 



Secondly, the passion for customer 

 satisfaction starts with owners and 

 management. The staff expects what 

 the boss expects. Owners and manag- 

 ers must demonstrate the customer 

 satisfaction skills they want. The first 

 time management backslides, the staff 

 will take it as a sign that customer sat- 

 isfaction is okay as long as customers 

 don't get in the way. Let staff members 

 know what is expected of them, why 

 customer satisfaction is so vital, and 

 then stick with it — no exceptions. 



How do you implement a customer 

 satisfaction plan? Well, the first place 

 to start is with your customers them- 

 selves. Talk with them. A lot. Make it 

 your goal to talk with ten customers 

 every week. Ask them, "How are we 

 doing for you?" Believe me — they'll tell 

 you. Resist the temptation to mail a 

 written survey — the return rate is abys- 

 mal, and customers rarely put a lot of 

 energy into it. On the phone or in per- 

 son, they'll be a lot more candid. Ask 

 quantitative questions ("Were you 

 greeted within two minutes of walking 

 in the door?") and qualitative ones 

 ("Do we do anything that annoys 

 you?"). These types of questions lead 

 to ways to measure customer satisfac- 

 tion in the customer's terms, not your 

 own. After this, it's relatively easy to 

 set up measurement systems. 



Share the comments with your staff. 

 Again, face-to-face, not tacked up on 

 some bulletin board. Don't let the dis- 

 cussion turn into a finger-pointing orgy. 

 Keep it focused: "The fact is that cus- 

 tomers think we're deficient in these 

 areas, so let's decide the best way to 



fix them." 



Encourage staff to talk with custom- 

 ers and share the data at weekly cus- 

 tomer satisfaction meetings (which do 

 not have to be lengthy). Empower staff 

 to be problem solvers — it sends a firm 

 message to the customer that his satis- 

 faction is important to everyone in 

 your business. 



That's a start. But there's more. Take 

 a hard look at industry leaders (those 

 who've been satisfying customers for 

 awhile — Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Mc- 

 Donald's) and learn from them. (And 

 check out your own industry too.) De- 

 velop a special way that you and your 

 staff refer to your customers, as well as 

 how to greet and talk with them — and 

 allow no discourteous or contemptuous 

 talk. Make sure promises to customers 

 are kept. Provide those in direct con- 

 tact with customers (salespeople, bill- 

 ing, etc.) with the support they need to 

 satisfy customers promptly. Respond to 

 complaints immediately — in fact, try to 

 be better than anybody else in this 

 area, so that the customer is over- 

 whelmed and has no doubt as to your 

 desire to make things right. Put your 

 customer satisfaction philosophy on the 

 wall where everyone can see it. Mea- 

 sure customer satisfaction often (no 

 less than monthly), using the metrics 

 your customers give you. Have an oc- 

 casional anonymous observer visit your 

 business and measure how well you're 

 meeting your goals. Sweat the de- 

 tails — once the major issues are re- 

 solved, plan to make smaller, but con- 

 tinuous, customer-related improve- 

 ments. 



Customer satisfaction is the most 

 potent weapon you can have in your 

 competitive arsenal, it's inexpensive 

 too — 90% of the changes won't cost you 

 a dime. So make that resolution to get 

 passionate about customer satisfac- 

 tion — the only thing you have to lose 

 are those empty parking spaces out 

 front. 



Ken is at Chakarian Farm Creenkouses. 1 1 4 

 Island Pond Road, Derry, NH 03038. W/ie« not 

 with a customer, he can be reached at 603-432- 

 9103. His home number is 603-627-6599. 



THE PLANTSMAN 



