John Tschohl
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"John Tschohl" is an author and president of Service Quality Institute. He is an American business consultant and Customer Service Strategist.

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What we're talking about is improving customer service. Virtually any company can benefit from this.

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Making empowered decisions means taking risks. Many employees fear being reprimanded, or even fired, for making what management might view as a bad decision.

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Advertising will get a customer through the door to your business once, but it is service that will keep them coming back. Advertising is aimed at the masses; customer service is aimed at the individual. Service recovery creates word-of-mouth advertising that is 100 times cheaper and more powerful than traditional advertising.

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It 's solving a customer's problem or complaint and sending him out the door feeling like he has just done business with the greatest company on earth. It's taking an unhappy customer from hell to heaven in 60 seconds or less.

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Recognition is another important element of empowerment. Employees who make empowered decisions should be recognized and rewarded. Celebrate them. Feature them in the company publication. Give them a prime parking spot near the front door for a week. Throw a pizza party. By doing so, you are sending a message to the rest of the workforce that empowerment is important.

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They fear that, if employees are empowered to make decisions, their roles in the organization will be diminished or eliminated.

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You can't tie employees' hands with cumbersome policies and procedures and expect them to provide exceptional service. It's also important to let employees know that it is OK to make a mistake in the process of working to win customer satisfaction.

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I've discovered four dirty little secrets of empowerment. And those little secrets are preventing 99.9 percent of companies around the world from providing the superior service customers want. As a result, they are driving many of those customers away.

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They think customers are liars and cheats and, if given the chance, will rip off the company. To prevent that from happening, they develop ridiculous rules, policies, and procedures.

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