Working Wounded Blog: Extreme Customer Service
What your business can learn from bank robberies.
May 16, 2007 — -- Have you ever felt like you were an imposition on the staff of a retail chain? That somehow you were getting in the way of what they were meant to do -- namely, talk on the phone to their friends or discuss the social goings on of their fellow employees? You're not alone (and yes, I'm a bit jaded on the current state of customer service).
Customer service seems on track to become the biggest oxymoronic statement this side of jumbo shrimp and military intelligence. But there is suddenly hope on the horizon, and the lessons come from Safecatch, a Washington state program to thwart bank robberies.
First, some background. Washington was at the top of the bank robbery charts in the United States. Who knew that the rain drove a percentage of the population indoors for this kind of activity?
But please note the use of the past tense in describing the state's bank robbery status. Suddenly robberies are down by almost half in Seattle, thanks to the Safecatch program. And it's now being rolled out in cities across the state and country.
So what is the Safecatch secret? Armed security guards in every branch? Better alarms to signal the police? Better exploding dye packs? Better profiling to spot potential bank robbers as soon as they enter the bank?
No. Safecatch has been called "customer service on steroids." It's a program where bank employees greet every person who enters the bank, look 'em right in the eye and give a big "Hello" and "How are you doing?"
In this high tech age, it seems almost laughable that such a low-tech strategy would impact someone carrying a gun with an intent to relieve the bank of a pile of its cash. "Hello" and "How are you doing?" evoke quaint memories of a bygone era, not a cutting-edge crime-fighting strategy.
But it turns out that bank robbers often crave anonymity. They want to slink in and slink out -- all the while hardly making an impression on anyone. So many are unnerved when they are acknowledged and clearly recognized.
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