I met Micah Chase, the founder of eInvite and President and CEO of Checkerboard, through my Creative Good council (see this previous post for more info on Creative Good). Checkerboard is a designer and manufacturer of invitations and announcements. Its handmade products are featured in high-end retailers and online stores. Micah's other company, eInvite, is one of Checkerboard's customers and serves as its online portal for selling custom-made invitations and greeting cards. I've found Micah to be a great leader as well as an innovator. He comes from a techie background (his bachelor's degree is in artificial intelligence) and he owns the patent for an online ordering system that lets customers view a real-time proof of their card designs.
In the business world, he's focused on providing customers with the best possible experience and he's been very creative in his efforts to boost customer service. Micah's innovations led eInvite to achieve the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) of all members of Creative Good—that's something to be proud of.
I invited him to Care.com this fall to talk about serving the customer and now I'm sharing his comments with you.
Building small, segmented teams
We took people from our customer service, typesetting, and billing departments and put them together into one group. That way, when people called with questions, they had them answered right away, no matter which department they applied to. Our processing time went way down and our orders shipped quicker. And we were more efficient because when customers wanted something, they spoke directly to the person who had the answer. In turn, there was less confusion and back-and-forth iteration for each project.
Changing the pattern
We saw the realignment was working. So, we blew it up.
We changed the pattern again and set up cross-functional groups. We kept the same inter-departmental model, but segmented it by our different customer groups. We serve chain stores—they tend to have a high employee turnover rate, so they're looking for a vendor that's easy to understand and quick to respond. We also supply boutiques—people there have been in the business for years, know the ins and outs, and don't need someone holding their hand. And we also sell to individual customers who are completely new to the process.
So we gave targeted help to each base. Our long-term service people took care of the boutiques and stores and we had our most effervescent people to handle the excited newlyweds looking for custom-made invitations. The teams split into groups that specialized in specific, simple help for experienced clients and others that offered comprehensive services.
That right there shot our NPR score up 15 points, which is quite a jump.
Picking the right people
Getting the right staff is really hard—I don't know if we've gotten it right, yet. During this whole reshuffling process, we changed management. That was a hard thing to do, but it was a step in the right direction. Making sure everyone's onboard is an ongoing process (one that initially caused conflict), but we're seeing the benefits. People in separate departments now understand what everyone does, team loyalty has improved and there's connection between employees that wasn't there before.
Above and beyond
We posted pictures of brides around the office to improve service—it puts a face to the customer. We have testimonials everywhere. We've also implemented a new technology in our sales system. When someone pulls up a specific store in the computer, they see a picture of that store or the employees. It's a way to maintain focus on the customer, which is right where we want it to be.
Mistake? Fix it!
When it comes to the customer, it doesn't matter who's mistake it is (ours, theirs, another department's, whatever)—just fix it. In the long term, it ultimately costs you less to fix it right away than to drag out the process, even if you're losing money on that particular sale. We're a supplier to big retailers like Costco and BabiesRUs—the last thing we want is an angry customer going past us to them. Those companies would drop us and we'd lose a big chunk of our business.
So, our policy is to always offer options and an explanation. I also try, in any conflict, to send a personalized note. In an age where there's not much face-to-face interaction, it lets the customer see you as a person and not someone looking to make a bottom line.
For more information on Micah's companies, check out their websites: eInvite and Checkerboard.
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