Moxie fireside chat with AskNicely: 5 keys to customer service success

AskNicely recently hosted a fireside chat with Adam Whitmore, Moxie Pest Control District Manager and two-time winner of the CSAT Branch of the Year award. He sat down with Reagan Nickl, AskNicely's VP of Customer Success, to share what has helped Moxie find such success using the platform. 

“To us, AskNicely is not just a review tool. It’s a culture tool,” Adam said during the event. To learn more about the five keys to customer service success Adam talked about during the fireside chat, keep reading. 

5 keys to customer service success 

1. Encourage extreme ownership

Adam emphasizes “extreme ownership” with his team. The principle comes from the book of the same name written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. The Moxie team all read the book to help apply the concept that anything to do with the customer experience is everyone’s responsibility. 

“Sometimes a field expert would get a bad review that initially they wouldn't think was under their direct control. Maybe scheduling messed up,” Adam said. But this mentality of extreme ownership combined with feedback from AskNicely gave field experts “a sense of ownership,” he said. 

Instead of looking to the same department that messed up to fix a problem, the team started thinking about what they could control and how they could turn the experience around for the customer.

2. Use direct feedback to set the agenda 

To make sure they’re focusing their efforts on the right things to improve the experiences they offer their customers, Adam and his team look at the feedback coming in from customers multiple times a day, every day.

“CSAT doesn't pay the bills, but our customers do, and CSAT is how satisfied they are with us. This is the most direct tool we have,” Adam said. The feedback he gets directly from customers is what he uses to plan which direction the team should go in. “The reviews from my customers tell me exactly what I need to train on,” he said.

In order to get this feedback and use it to its full potential, he advises getting rid of any fear around negative feedback. “There is negative feedback. There are customers who are unsatisfied, and you don't want to just bury that with the good reviews. You want to actually address the root problem. Every time we'd get those one stars, we didn't hide from them,” he said. 

Instead, his team would elevate those reviews, and tally up any others they got about the same problem or highlighting the same complaint. Then the team could see exactly what was frustrating their customers and make a plan to address it and prevent it in the future. This made them a little bit better every single day until they were the branch providing the best service of all Moxie locations. 

3. Catch the negative experiences before they turn into reviews

“So many people leave bad reviews, and they think that's the end of it. They think, ‘Well, hopefully, this gets somewhere,’” Adam said. But when this happens and a team member reaches out right away, it becomes an opportunity to build loyalty.

Adam likes to look at the negative feedback that comes in through AskNiely as a second chance. His customers are now accustomed to his team responding to any issues and immediately resolving them, so they never get to the point of leaving a negative review elsewhere. “It's not hurting my overall business. I'm fixing it with the customer directly, so it doesn't impact us in that way at all,” he said. They’re able to resolve problems before they ever become a negative review. So what’s left online are the glowing reviews from happy customers and those who they were able to provide excellent experiences to. 

4. Connect with customers

No matter your industry, you’re familiar with facing competition and looking for a way to stand out. Moxie has done this by treating their customers like friends. “Lots of people do pest control. We want to come off as more than pest control to people,” he said. 

Every day during team meetings, each team member has to share a “golden moment.” These moments can range from bringing in the trash cans for an elderly customer, or chatting to a customer about their favorite sports team. “Connecting person to person to build a connection makes it more than pest control,” Adam said. 

5. Incentivize your team

Overall, Moxie offers some pretty significant incentives for team members who rank as the top service providers each year. But it’s equally important to incentivize them on a small, more frequent scale too, Adam explained. In his branch, he uses candy bars, the chance at winning a gift card, and energy drinks, and it works. His team is motivated by the competition and by the comparatively small prizes. 

If you missed it

If you’re interested in learning more about how Adam and his team at Moxie have found such success with AskNicely, you can watch the recap of the fireside chat here.