Red Tape: How Customer-Service Minded Employees' Hands Are Tied By Policy

Anyone who's read my books or followed this blog knows that I have a big problem with policies getting in the way of companies giving great customer service. Red tape is the bane of so many customer service policies. I understand that rules help keep employees from going rogue with no consequences. But I also think that when an employee can do something reasonable for the customer that may make that customer a raving fan, or a repeat customer, even if it is "against company policy," why shouldn't they have that option? It's something that I've covered in my leadership speeches and presentations because it is a win/win/win for the customer, leader, and employee. The customer wins because their reasonable request is met, the leader wins because a customer leaves happy and not upset, and the employee wins because they are saved the anger of a customer being denied something sensible.

I see examples of these red tape customer-service policies everywhere. Great and poor customer service is all around us and we only need to pay attention to realize it. A recent example occurred when I was at the airport in Las Vegas.

As I waited for my flight, I passed the time as anyone would in Las Vegas—playing casino games. I sat at the craps machine about two hours and ended up winning some money. When I’d had enough, I went to the cashier to collect my winnings. As I handed my ticket to the lady she handed me back a bunch of $5 bills instead of $20s. My wallet was already full with quite a few $10s and $20s, so I asked her if she could trade me some larger bills. I received the old “we are not allowed to do that because it is against our policy” reply. But it was clear she could use these bills, since she had to give me so many $5s. It seemed like a win/win situation.

I was a little bit frustrated at running into this red tape considering the circumstances. In a very nice way, I told her I really did not expect a good customer service policy at an airport. I could tell my statement bothered her and I suddenly felt guilty and said, "I'm sorry, it's not your fault this is your company policy. Have a nice night." Then I walked away.

A minute later, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and saw it was the same lady who refused to change out my bills. This time she said, “I have a way around our policy.” She proceeded to tell me that if I fed my money into one of the game machines then simply cashed out, she could give me a few $100s.

Leadership must not only look to hire these out of the box thinkers but they should also train individuals to always look for ways to say yes to customers. I will go a step further and say these employees should also be praised for trying to help customers. So many times workers have leaders who never see any gray areas and might actually discipline employees for not strictly following company policy. Bad, insecure leaders generally do not like it when employees look for alternative solutions. But it's exactly this type of worker that can turn a simple request, like changing a few bills, into a satisfied, happy customer.