Empowering Customer Service

Bill Hogg tells how Home Depot recently impressed him because an employee was empowered. An employee offered to discount an item to match a sale price. When asked why he did this, the employee responded, “I am empowered to make our customers happy”.

This may seem like a simple thing, and in many ways it is. But are your employees empowered to make customers happy? Certainly, we don’t want them arbitrarily giving away work or discounting prices, but there are many other ways to make a customer happy.

A simple example recently occurred with my company. When I originally met with the customer, they did not want their garage door painted. I went through my normal explanation as to why I thought it best to paint the door, but the customer persisted. However, on the first day of the job my supervisor raised the issue, pointing out that the door was going to look dull and worn after everything else was painted.

He did this without prompting from me. He recognized that the customer would be more satisfied with the door painted, and the customer quickly agreed. Because he was empowered, the supervisor created a situation that is beneficial to everyone.