How May I Help You?

You already know that the customer is always right, right? But these days -- given the speed and interactivity of the Internet, the explosion of customer choice, the emergence of new competitive pressures, and the constant expansion of customers' expectations for service -- just giving customers what they want isn't enough. You also have to anticipate needs, to solve problems before they start, to provide service that wows, and to offer responses to mistakes that more than make up for the original error. To find out what it takes to deliver great customer service, Fast Company asked 15 experts for their insights. Here are their answers to the question:

Elizabeth Spaulding

Vice President of Customer Satisfaction
L.L. Bean Inc.
Freeport, Maine

Our premise is simple: If any product doesn't meet a customer's expectations -- whatever they may be -- we will replace it, repair it, or refund the customer's money. This policy goes back to 1912, when Leon Leonwood sent out his first 100 pairs of the Maine Hunting Shoe, promising to refund customers' money if they weren't satisfied. Ninety pairs of those shoes came back because the quality was insufficient -- and he sent refunds for all of them. It almost broke him; he had to borrow money from his family to recover. But he improved the product.

Today, if a customer calls and wants to return a Maine Hunting Shoe, the first thing we do is find out what that customer's expectations were when buying the shoe. Did she expect it to last 10 years? If the answer is yes, then there's no question: We'll replace the shoe. If it turns out that she expected it to last only one year, then we'll repair the shoe. The point is that the customer determines the expectation. Not us.

How can we afford to back up that kind of guarantee? It goes back to L.L.'s golden rule, which we have posted in every office: "Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit. Treat your customers like human beings, and they will always come back for more."

And 99.9% of our customers are totally honest. They're just like your neighbors. And when you realize that your customers are just like you, the whole dynamic of your interaction with them changes.

Elizabeth Spaulding (espaulding@llbean.com) joined L.L. Bean 10 years ago as a senior manager of product sourcing. She became vice president of customer satisfaction in 1996. The $1 billion retail company conducts more than 20 million interactions with customers each year, with telephone orders accounting for 70% to 80% of its business. L.L. Bean's flagship store in Freeport, Maine occupies the site of Leon Leonwood Bean's first store, which opened in 1917.

Mark A.Wallace

President and CEO
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, Texas

Finding ways to help sick children and their families feel better goes far beyond being a mere 'service': It's part of the children's recovery. After all, if children can feel the same level of nurturing and security that they feel at home, then they're going to get better a whole lot faster.

We've learned two important things about serving sick children: They need the opportunity to play -- to have a distraction from their illness -- and they need easy access to their parents.

We take kids to our playground, which has swings and sandboxes that are accessible to wheelchairs and gurneys. And we operate Radio Lollipop, a hospital radio station that receives volunteer support from local disc jockeys. Children come to the studio and play their favorite CDs, tell stories and jokes on the air, and take part in all kinds of contests to win prizes. Kids who aren't well enough to come to the studio can listen in their rooms and participate in the contests.

Besides play, close contact with parents and families is critical for our patients. And often the children are so sick that their families don't want to leave the hospital anyway -- not even to sleep in a nearby hotel. So we've created sleeping areas at the hospital where families can stay free of charge, and we're expanding those areas now.

Mark A. Wallace has served as president and CEO of Texas Children's Hospital since 1989. The 456-bed hospital is a regional, national, and international referral center whose patients come from all 50 states and from roughly 40 countries. It cares for one of the largest pediatric HIV populations of any hospital, and it has been recognized for its breakthroughs in the treatment of HIV, cancer, diabetes, and cardiogenic disorders, among other conditions.