Beyond "Good" is "GREAT"

"Remember, no matter how good your feedback is, you always start all over with the next customer."
Shep Hyken

by Skip Cohen

I found the quote above using Google, searching under Customer Service and shared it on Twitter six years ago. Shep Hyken retweeted my post. It's rare that the author of any quote I share retweets what I write, and here comes one of the amazing attributes of the Internet. I looked up Shep Hyken to find out more about him. Then, I called him to say thanks and learn about his role as a leader in the business community and his focus on Customer Service. He couldn't have been more accessible and immediately took my call.

A few months later, Shep joined Chamira Young and me on our podcast, and then I was a guest on his. A year or so later, we stepped out of cyberspace and grabbed breakfast together in St. Louis. That's how the friendship got started. But my respect for him, along with thousands of his fans is about his never-ending focus on customer service. Following him is fun, as he's always sharing concepts that can help build/strengthen so many different aspects of a successful business.

"Fun" is one of those words too often lost in business today. It gets buried under the stress of marketing, delivery, and follow-up. But when you're having fun, it becomes a work-hard-play-hard scenario. The more fun you're having the more room there is for your creative juices to flow.

Wandering through Shep Hyken's archives yesterday, this post caught my eye. It ties in so well to the role Customer Service plays in building your business. It's a perfect example of photographers who are recognized as "GREAT" in their communities rather than just being good. Being a great photographer, as opposed to just a good one, also opens the door to more fun in building your brand!

Years ago, I sat in on a Tim and Beverly Walden presentation. They talked about the fact that they sell the experience, NOT just finished prints. So many of you have worked your entire career to perfect your skill set. You've never slowed down in your quest to capture the ultimate image. That's admirable, but to Shep's point in his post below...your ability to be considered great goes beyond just creating beautiful images.

Shep's website is loaded with great material. He needs to be on your radar and is only a click away.

The Difference Between Great and Good

by Shep Hyken

​If you had to have surgery, would you rather go to the most skilled surgeon or the nicest surgeon?   
I was at a party the other night and someone I met shared his opinion of the difference between a good doctor and a great doctor. A good doctor makes you well. A great doctor makes you well and calls you the next day to see how you’re doing. 

I thought about that all weekend. My new friend was saying that good is doing what you are expected to do. If you’re a surgeon, you make people well. However, great is the addition of a better customer experience. In the case of the surgeon, it’s skill plus bedside manner.  

Here’s a “less critical” example. If you go to a restaurant that has the most delicious food, but the service is outright terrible, you wouldn’t refer to that as a great experience. The food could be the best, but if what surrounds it – the experience – is tainted with rude and angry employees, you would be reluctant to go back.  
So, back to my friend’s example. The doctor’s bedside manner, which included a phone call to check on the patient, is a metaphor for a good customer experience – or in this case, a patient experience.  

Sweetwater, an online retailer that sells music and audio equipment, is another excellent example of this. I bought a new microphone and mixing board from them last year, and they assigned a salesperson to my account. A week after I received the items, “my” salesperson called me to make sure they were working and confirm that I was happy with my purchase. A good experience would have been talking to a salesperson, ordering the equipment, and having it show up as expected in a day or two. What elevated it to a great experience was the less-than-one-minute phone call I received from “my guy.” 

Creating a great customer experience doesn’t mean going over the top. Occasionally, you have opportunities to do so, but if your typical experience includes a little something extra, like a phone call to check on a customer, you move beyond just being good. Our customer service research found that the top reason customers are most likely to come back is because employees are helpful and friendly.  

It is expected that a doctor has skill. If the doctor is also helpful and friendly, another way of saying the doctor has a good bedside manner, then by my friend’s definition, he or she is a great doctor.  

So, what’s your version of bedside manner? What little something can you add to the experience so that people will refer to you as great? Don’t answer me. Sit down with your team and answer these questions for yourself and your organization. Define your version of what would make you a great doctor, communicate it to your people, train them to deliver on it, and watch your customers’ reactions. They will reward you by saying, “I’ll be back!” 

Copyright © MMXXII, Shep Hyken – Used with Permission​

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