Stellar customer service: using the 'flashpoint effect'.

Don't complain to me about this place, the unmotivated, cynical employee says; "I just work here."

That kind of statement is the target of a new book by a North Bay native that has made a name for himself as an expert in customer service.

Paul Levesque has over 20 years of experience as an international customer focus consultant, has published three books on customer service and has several videos out based on his keynote addresses.

He says his new book, Customer Service From the Outside In Made Easy, focuses on the missing link of the philosophy he has been espousing for decades.

The core of the missing link is all about a "chain reaction of contagious enthusiasm," something he calls the flashpoint effect, that sets "flashpoint" businesses apart from their competition.

For example, Levesque talks a lot about an exceptional burger joint on Highway 11 called Webers. For the past 40 years, the restaurant has been attracting crowds so large they stretch out into the parking lot. In fact, Webers is the owner of the only 100 per cent private bridge spanning a national highway. The company had a 117-foot bridge erected over the highway to allow travellers from both directions easy access to what Levesque calls the best customer experience for miles.

The employees, for the most part teenagers on summer break from school, have become addicted to applause, which rings out from the lineup on a regular basis. They sing, they dance, and they perform scenes from plays, all in a bid to wow the crowd into that next burst of applause. When they are preparing the food, aiming to keep the Webers promise that you will be eating within two minutes of joining the huge line, they move as if in fast-forward. Their effort is appreciated by the crowd, which cheers. The cheers spur the staff to work even harder, sing even louder, and come up with even more ways to impress them.

This is the cycle of contagious enthusiasm Levesque talks about. He says the concept came to him as he was working with a volunteer group aiming to improve the waterfront in North Bay. These people all had full-time jobs that conceivably gave them things to complain about, such as their work hours, their pay, their superiors or even co-workers. So why, Levesque wondered, are these volunteers, who are no different from any volunteer anywhere, taking of their own time to do work that is often difficult or unpleasant for no pay whatsoever?

He says most people volunteer because it gives them a sense of purpose. Most people, once the necessities of life have been taken care of, want to feel like they are doing some good and contributing to their community. He says that he saw the same kind of energy and drive in the employees at Webers, and that is what makes the restaurant a flashpoint business. His book aims to help leadership teams at companies bring that same spirit of volunteerism into the workplace.

It outlines:

* How to "operationalize" customer delight in a way that inspires a spirit of volunteerism in employees;

* How to facilitate an interactive process in which employees generate their own innovative ideas for building delight into the customer experience;

* How to make positive customer feedback a powerful antidote to employee apathy and cynicism;

* How to reinforce a "sense of higher purpose" that helps employees find meaning and personal fulfillment in their work; and

* How to use "time-release motivators" to keep the drive-to-thrive in high gear over the long haul.

A field-tested, step-by-step process for making customer delight a daily operational reality in any business is the heart of the book, according to its introduction.

"This book is different because it attacks the core culture of the business," Levesque says. "The statement 'Don't complain to me, I just work here,' captures the sense of helplessness and frustration workers feel when they discover there's no way around their organization's infuriating policies, regulations and procedures. The book focuses on 'deblocking' employees and getting them to devise new ways to delight customers."

He says there are two questions that tend to make managers flinch when he is asked to consult with an organization on employee motivation and customer satisfaction.

The first is a response to complaints of employees being cynical, the other a response to complaints of employees being unmotivated on the job. To the first complaint, he asks if the manager thinks the employee was cynical before they started work there, in which case he wonders why they didn't pick that up during the interview process. To the second, he asks whether they think the worker is unmotivated 24 hours a day, or just for the eight they spend at work.

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"I've found over the years it's a good way to distinguish between managers that are genuinely interested in making changes and those that have been mandated to take part in the process of having me as a consultant come in, and have no intention of making any changes whatsoever."

He can gauge by the level of the flinch how serious they are about change. The bigger the reaction, the more engaged the manager is.

Levesque says it is generally easier to establish a flashpoint culture in a smaller business where there are fewer forces (values, perspectives, employees) at work diverting energy from the core culture of the company.

"But very few actually do it!"

Some managers say his system doesn't apply to their company because there is no stated culture to speak of. To that, he responds that there most definitely is a culture in place. The employees will tell you, and it probably won't be pretty. A positive culture has to be nurtured.

"It'll grow on its own, but not into a form you'll like," he says.

www.customerfocusbreakthroughs.com

By CRAIG GILBERT

Northern Ontario Business