Paul Springer: Customer Service Hero

Great work Paul!

"I just purchased a Herman Miller Cognita bench from you guys, and I wanted to commend Paul's fantastic customer service. I chatted and emailed back and forth with him all afternoon -- it was a pleasant and very useful surprise that he was actually in your showroom. His advice was practical and informed and he was extremely helpful. I would not have made the purchase without his service -- it was a deal-maker for me. Furthermore, Paul has made a loyal customer of me, and I will make my next furniture purchase from you guys, and I will seek out Paul specifically for help."

--Jacob in NY

Flaunting It: Chat Now with Real People in Chattanooga, TN

From Jacob in NY:
"Since the 'chat with a salesperson' button goes to actual guys in your sales-room, flaunt it!

I was so surprised! I expected to get someone in India who was going to be nothing more than a human interface to your inventory system.

Worry Free 365 Day Returns

Like you, we shop online, sometimes we like what we buy--sometimes we don't. When we don't like what we buy, we want to return it.  And--we do not want to go through some major ordeal to get our money back.

Many of us have been fans of Zappos.com for some time.  Not only do they have every shoe you could imagine, they also are great to work with.  They make it really easy for you to return stuff if you don't want.  

As we started thinking about how to provide the best service we  can--we realized that buying  furniture is a big deal, and our customers could be a little reluctant to buy online because they are concerned that it may be difficult to return stuff if they don't like it. It is real important to us that our customers feel safe  when buying online and do not worry about return shipping, restocking fees and HASSLE.

We have decided that our customers should not have to worry about these things when buying from SmartFurniture.com. So, what Zappos.com has done for shoes, we can do for furniture.  The result is our Worry Free 365 Day Return Policy:   

You can always feel confident in your purchase from Smart Furniture. If, for any reason, you aren't completely satisfied with any products in your order, you may simply return it within 365 days from the original date of purchase.

Smart Furniture will refund the entire amount of any products returned (including any original shipping costs) and will also cover the shipping costs incurred to ship the product back, ensuring that your experience is as hassle-free as possible.

With our 365 day return policy, there are no special catches or exceptions. All we ask is that you send the items back to us in the original packaging, and make sure that the merchandise is in the same condition as you received it.

• You can return your purchase for up to 365 days from the purchase date.
  
• Products must be in the condition you received them and in the boxes or packaging.
  
• Return shipping is absolutely FREE.
  
• We will arrange pick-up via Fed Ex or the appropriate freight carrier for larger items
  
• Call or email us at customerservice@smartfurniture.com if you have any questions about our return policies.
  
• Once your return is received and inspected by our warehouse staff (usually within 72 hours of receipt), we will process your refund and automatically apply a credit to your credit card or original method of payment within 7 days. Please note that depending on your credit card company, it may take an additional 2-10 business days after your credit is applied for it to post to your account.
  

*Please note that this policy excludes products shipped outside the continental United States.

Let us know what you think--email us at customerservice@smartfurniture.com. 

Star Trek Meets Kiss

What are the Core Behaviors that Customer Service Personnel Exemplify?

1. Eager to solve customer's concerns with a positive attitude.
2. They take a long term view of customer relations.
3. They try to do at least one extra thing that customers don't expect but nonetheless appreciate.
4. They value their customer's time, knowing it has cash value as well as recreational value.They always apply the essentials of service. Customers should feel they are being treated with respect and their business is appreciated. So when a customer enters a business, in person or via the telephone, they should be greeted in an upbeat manner that tells them they are truly welcome. As they leave, they should be thanked for their business.
5. Customers should emerge from service encounters with the perception they have been treated exceptionally well.

World-Class Customer Service

Originally published at http://www.smartfurniture.com/whitepapers/customerservice.html

Our Mission is to treat every customer in every situation the way we would want to be treated if our roles were reversed. We recognize that this is the highest possible standard of service, and it can only be achieved if every single one of us governs ourselves according to this principle while always striving to do the right thing. (read testimonials) 

Need to get in touch with us? Call 888-467-6278 to speak with a representative or make a request to be contacted. 

The Golden Rule of Customer Service

Simply stated, the Golden Rule of Customer Service requires that everyone at Smart Furniture treat every customer the way they want to be treated when they are customers.

• We should strive to show the kind of courtesy, competence, integrity, responsiveness and respect that each of us would like to be shown.
• This policy should affect virtually every aspect of our business. It began with the founder putting a business phone by his bed every night to answer anytime a customer called, because he would want (though maybe not expect) the same.
• Another example of the Golden Rule is our Lifetime Warranty on the quality of Smart Furniture manufactured products. Rather than qualifying this warranty with pages and pages of fine print, we simply state that if any Smart Furniture manufactured product gets damaged, we will replace it for free (that's really it).
• There are countless other examples of how this policy impacts our relationship with our customers. From having a human being actually answering the phone when a customer calls to developing packaging that makes it simple for anyone to carry and unpack, the Golden Rule of Customer Service should be a source of pride for our team and hopefully will encourage our customers to think of us a little different than our competition.

Everyone at Smart Furniture, regardless of job title, is responsible for providing customer service, and customer service is inherent in all that we do. 

• From the first prototypes of the Signature Smart Furniture product which were designed to be tool-free and customizable to fit the customers' needs, our company is built around providing customers with solutions that satisfy their needs and make their lives easier.
• Whether it is reconfiguring products that our customers have designed themselves so that the customers will save money or spending hours on the phone with multiple freight companies to ensure that we fulfill our commitment to deliver our products in time for an important tradeshow or store opening, we will go beyond ordinary customer service to provide service that is truly extraordinary.
• Such a customer service ethic applies internally too. Each of us is here to help our other team members do their jobs. We should provide the same level of service to team members as we do customers.

We will always strive to do the right thing in every situation. 

• Our young company can't claim to have any particular expertise in ''doing the right thing.'' Sometimes we don't even know what the ''right'' thing is. And sometimes, even when we do, it requires such sacrifice that an easier or more instantly ''rewarding'' choice is tempting.
• ''Doing the right thing'' is certainly not about ''rewards.'' With that said, trying our best to do the right thing has yielded a potent long-term benefit to our culture. It comes down to one word: Trust. Obviously, earning the trust of customers and vendors is important. But first, we realize that the members of our team must trust each other, up and down and across the organization, from the office, to the showroom to the warehouse.
• That may sound like a small thing, but its effects have been powerful here at Smart Furniture. Trust has opened the door to a kind of diversity, freedom, and candor that none of us has experienced before in other workplaces. People volunteer when they don't understand something or make a mistake, or have an idea that may sound silly, because they trust each other, and they trust that we're all trying to improve, all the time, all together.
• It gives a greater meaning to our professional and personal pursuits. Professionally, of course, we want to help our customers and our fellow team members. Those customers and that team must trust that the folks at Smart Furniture will do their able best to do the right thing. That trust has a tendency to remove barriers - barriers to discussion, to self-improvement, and even, frankly, to sales.
• On a more personal and ultimately more important level, we can't control every aspect of our company's success; we cancontrol how we conduct ourselves individually, and as a team, toward others, because it matters.
• Even if Smart Furniture is around for 100 years, even though our business mission is very important to us, most of us will not spend our whole lives working here. But however long we are here, and whatever we accomplish, when we're done, the more meaningful measure of our legacy - of our effect on the people we worked with and served - will not be what we did, but how we did it.