Death Zone and Member Service

Doug Nielsen
April 28, 2010 | COMMENTS

A friend of mine recently went on a climbing adventure to K2. Unfortunately, he did not reach the summit due to bad weather and some equipment failure. K2 is one of the largest and most renowned climbing mountains in the world. It is for excellent climbers only, and is not just unsafe for the novice, but it is also treacherous for mediocre-to-average climbers.

Many accidents that occur on the mountain with experienced, reasonably good climbers are mostly due to the following critical weak zones:

1. Their inadequate physical conditioning prior to climbing.
2. Their underestimating the importance of being prepared for unexpected situations.
3. In a moment of crisis, their lack of highly-honed, split-second problem-solving skills required to avert a disaster.

The smallest choices on the mountain can become a matter of life and death. This phenomenon is often referred to as the “death zone” because climbers are only one decision away from life or death.

The “death zone” is a metaphor that holds true for member service as well. (OK, maybe not literal death, but death of the member relationship and credit union growth.)

If customer service were ranked on a 10-point scale, it might look something like this:

• 1-3: Repulsive member service
• 4-7: Average to mediocre member service
• 8-10: Dazzling member service

Here is the scary reality. Just as in climbing K2 , where mediocrity can be just as dangerous as inexperience, any ranking from 1-7 is considered the “death zone.” Average member service simply does not cut it.

Outstanding member service on the other hand is your best business strategy. Research has shown that the number one reason people stop doing business with an organization is not due to “repulsive service,” but simply due to “perceived indifference.” The good news is you can decide to do something about this.

When mistakes are made on the mountain, it is often too late to do anything about it. Fortunately, mistakes with members can be turned around, if identified quickly. Decide quickly to dazzle your members.

Research shows that if you resolve a member's challenge quickly, the odds are 19:1 that he/she will be loyal to you. Conversely, research shows that if you do not resolve a member's problem quickly, the odds are he/she will tell 8-10 people about his/her negative experience with your organization.

So, how do you make dazzling decisions a habit?  Here are just a few ideas:

• Hire people who care about providing dazzling service and fire those who don't.
• Spend more time teaching your people how to connect with members than on teaching them policy and procedures.
• Engage your employees in order to engage members. Employees who are emotionally connected to your team/organization are much more likely to emotionally connect with members.
• Remember member service is nothing more than an “emotional connection” with your member.
• Become brilliant at the basics. Help employees understand and apply the critical keys of connection: greeting, smiling, using member's names, tone of voice, genuine listening, and focusing on meeting the member's needs.
• Create an exciting work environment. A fun and focused culture attracts and keeps the best employees.

Doug Nielsen helps credit unions with employee engagement, team building and member service. Reprinted with permission from the Texas Credit Union League.