Sponsors Notes WCCS
Blue Technologies Inc.
How does your organization make customer service a competitive advantage and price less relevant?
The ‘Commitment to Excellence,’ our five-point pledge of accountability and reliability, is backed by the mechanisms and resources established to provide Blue Technologies’ world-class service throughout Northeast and Central Ohio. The fact that your organization can run your business while Blue Technologies handles your office technologies provides a peace of mind that is absolutely priceless when presented to the client.
How have you created a culture of customer service in your organization?
From day one, each employee is indoctrinated with the core concept of the ‘Commitment to Excellence’ and his or her individual role. This is for every employee — delivery person, service technician, dispatcher, receptionist, order processor or salesperson.
How do you attract and retain employees who embody your organization’s belief of customer service?
The ‘Commitment to Excellence’ is advertised in our corporate literature, on our website and in every job posting. Our management team does not look at it as a warranty or guarantee program — the ‘Commitment to Excellence’ is a way of life at Blue Technologies. Each employee’s performance is compared to standards, which embody his or her role within the organization.
How do you go above and beyond?
You have to slow down, spend time face to face with the client and ask lots of questions. When executed properly, the client will tell you exactly how it wants to do business with you.
How to reach: Blue Technologies, www.bluetechnologiesinc.com
Cleveland Clinic
What is your organization’s philosophy of customer service?
Patients first. This is one of the fundamental principles guiding Cleveland Clinic. Patients are our reason for being and the focus of all Cleveland Clinic’s plans and activities. We exist to provide the best possible outcomes for every patient. The culture of the clinic is focused entirely on clinical success, boundless compassion and care for the special needs of the sick and their families.
A culture centered on ‘patients first’ acknowledges that the technical aspects of what we do are not enough. It takes the integration of clinical treatment, empathy and the best physical, emotional and spiritual experiences to positively impact a patient’s perception of care and the outcomes of his or her treatment.
How does your organization make customer service a competitive advantage and price less relevant?
Cleveland Clinic’s management is based upon the responsible use of resources for the improvement of patient care. This means that medical waste is minimized and operational efficiency is rewarded. Clinic physicians work together in multidisciplinary teams to assure that every patient gets a correct diagnosis and the most effective treatment. The key is to provide seamless, coordinated care.
The embodiment of ‘patients first’ is an essential component of Cleveland Clinic’s customer service and competitive edge. The clinic competes on the basis of how well it diagnoses and treats patients, prevents disease, reduces mortality and provides state-of-the-art practices — all areas that can vary significantly among hospitals and physicians and where competition can drive efficiency and innovation.
How to reach: Cleveland Clinic, www.clevelandclinic.org
SummaCare
How have you created a culture of customer service in your organization?
A culture of service and quality permeates our organization. Our president speaks at every new employee orientation, emphasizing the importance of service and employees’ contribution to our success. We focus on the ‘Moments of Truth,’ which are those interactions between a customer and a product, service or employee that results in the customer forming or changing an impression about our company. In addition, every employee is trained in MAGIC, which stands for ‘Make a Great Impression on the Customer.’ MAGIC is a philosophy and training tool. It creates a culture of service and provides a positive and memorable customer experience.
In addition, SummaCare has really differentiated ourselves through our focus not only on service but on the quality of service and overall customer experience. We have adopted customer experience characteristics that are applied to our day-to-day operations and interactions with our customers. These characteristics are the adjectives used to define the optimal customer experience, such as hassle-free, timely, accurate, consistent, personalized, etc.
Furthermore, the Service Quality Committee, a multidisciplinary corporate committee, drives the service culture throughout the company. Each area within SummaCare is accountable to measurable service indicators and process improvements to facilitate excellent customer service. In an effort to recognize stellar service performance, the SummaCare Service Excellence Award is presented biannually to honor the department that makes the single most outstanding contribution to the quality of service provided to either internal or external customers in the previous quarter.
How to reach: SummaCare, www.summacare.com
John Robert’s Spa
The better the experience, the less price becomes an issue.
We have always made our purpose crystal clear to our employees, starting in the interview process. Our purpose statement has been the same since day one in February 1993. Stacy DiJulius, founder of John Robert’s Spa, was passionate about bringing something more to the beauty industry than just good hair. Her vision was, as a team, to ‘enhance the quality of lives around us.’ Whose lives? Team members, guests and the community. How? Through providing the ‘JRX’ or The John Robert’s Xperience.
The JRX is delivered through providing three critical elements that when we provide one or more of them, we become more of a nonnegotiable entity in our customers’ lives and make price significantly less relevant. The three critical elements of the John Robert’s Xperience are fashion, escape and confidence.
Fashion — Our guests trust us with the most sacred thing they have, their looks. They depend on us to have cutting-edge skills and expertise that will guide them to look their absolute best. They should not be able to find a higher technically trained service provider anywhere in the industry.
Escape — It is a stressful world out there, and everyone is trying to balance so much between work and home life. We are that one place where they can get away for a 60-minute vacation, unwind and be replenished.
Confidence — Self-esteem cannot be measured. But we put the bounce back in people’s step — the one they get when they know they look their best and the confidence that gives them a huge advantage in their daily lives.
When we get our team members to focus on selling fashion, an escape and confidence, we become an incredible value. When we sell a 5:30 haircut or manicure, we sell an expensive haircut or manicure, which is why we focus on marketing the JRX 365 days a year to our team members, in countless ways.
I know this has been a key reason why last year, 2011, was our best year ever in revenue and profit. If you make a commitment to the experience, growth will naturally follow.
How to reach: John Roberts Spa, www.johnrobertsspa.com
Executive Caterers at Landerhaven
How have you created a culture of customer service in your organization?
Executive Caterers believes that customer service is not a part of our business; it is our business. We have two buzzwords in our company. One is ‘urgent’ and the other is ‘hospitality.’ These words can be found in every meeting we have. To Executive Caterers, urgent is the manner in which we respond to our clients’ requests. Hospitality is our creed. Every person that enters Landerhaven is treated like a guest in our home. Guests’ comfort is how we judge ourselves.
How do you attract and retain employees who embody your organization’s belief of customer service?
Many of our employees have been guests prior to being hired by Executive Caterers. They have told us many times that the way they were treated as guests motivated them to seek employment with our company. Retaining employees who live our customer service goals are very important to us. We have the pleasure of working with some staff members for longer than 40 years. Our ‘Super Star’ program is a great example of rewarding our customer service super stars. The Super Star program is based upon peer-submitted examples of great customer service that they have witnessed take place. A winner is chosen and rewarded monthly.
How does your organization make customer service a competitive advantage and price less relevant?
Every event we are involved with includes a long list of value-added benefits to our clients. These benefits all add additional levels of customer service that separate us from our competition.
How to reach: Executive Caterers at Landerhaven, www.executivecaterers.com
The Brewer-Garrett Co.
What is your customer service philosophy?
We have established long-term partnerships and an ongoing commitment to our customers through a firm dedication to customer service. Many of our customers do multiple projects with us. Price is less important than proven performance. Three of our public sector clients have won the prestigious Governor’s Award for Excellent in Energy Efficiency, further exemplifying our customer service competitive advantage.
We firmly believe in the ongoing commitment to our customers. Our success hinges upon keeping relationships with our customers strong and is validated by the many, very long-term, repeat customers on The Brewer-Garrett client list.
How do you recognize and reward your VIP customers?
Our best customers get the opportunity to do business with us throughout the life of their building. Through multiple phases of energy conservation programs and ongoing operations and maintenance services, our customers are rewarded with lower operating costs for their facility, while the indoor environment is improved, providing the most productive environment for their employees and clients.
We further recognize our VIP customers through on-site visits from our senior management team and owner. Our CASE program (Customer Assurance Review and Evaluation) gives our customers the opportunity to rate our performance and have dialogue with management. Any immediate needs are addressed, but more importantly, it gives senior management an opportunity to prepare our organization for the needs and challenges our clients will be experiencing in the future.
Lastly, in addition to traditional business and entertainment options, we also host an annual customer appreciation day for our VIP customers, where a day of golfing is concluded with a steak dinner and awards ceremony.
How to reach: The Brewer-Garrett Co., www.brewer-garrett.com
Colortone Staging & Rentals
What is your customer service philosophy?
At Colortone Staging & Rentals, everything we do is customer-focused because we recognize that what we do for our customer reflects upon their customer. CSR is a premier audiovisual and staging company with expertise in event design and production. We stage a multitude of events, including corporate meetings, awards banquets, special events, trade shows, concerts, webcasts and videoconferences. CSR also manages audiovisual equipment for hotel properties and operates a full-service equipment rental division. The solutions we provide, combined with our highly trained technical staff, ensure the success of every event. Our quality is unmatched and our attention to detail is unsurpassed.
How do you approach teaching your team to be service-oriented?
The staff at CSR consists of the best in the business. Our technicians have an average of five years in the audiovisual and event management business. Their diverse backgrounds allow us to think on our feet, act quickly and provide flexibility and creative problem solving to every situation we find.
The company is also an active member of the community, consistently finding ways to give back where it can.
How to reach: Colortone Staging & Rentals, www.colortone.com
