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Avoiding Organizational Sins By Practicing S E R V I C E
We've all been told that "satisfied" customers make for successful companies. Since promoting customer satisfaction appears to be the "holy grail" for businesses, you begin your crusade to easy street. In your quest, you find millions of management consultants out there and volumes of books on the subject. Each is trying to "sell" you their particular spin on delivering exceptional service.
So you "buy" into a service program (literally), create the vision, objectives, etc., and train the front line staff. Everything is in place and all seems right with the world-that is, until you learn your customers are still dissatisfied, disgruntled and displeased. You then realize that implementing a true customer service process is not as simple as you were led to believe.
What makes satisfied customers such an elusive goal? It has been our experience that organizations commit a number of sins when they attempt to institute a customer service program.
- Companies rush to implementation without knowing what the customer wants or needs.
- No emphasis is placed on promoting customer loyalty-delivering tangible services that are considered valuable by the customers.
- Customer service is considered peripheral to the company's core business-there is no real link between service and the rest of the company.
- Systems and procedures that impact customers are never addressed. Companies suffer from an unconscious tendency to evolve structures and systems that serve the internal convenience of those who work with them, rather than the convenience of the customers affected by them.
- Service training is provided only to front line staff. The rest of the organization is rarely given the tools to understand and service customer needs, even though that's their job.
If your organization committed any of these transgressions, redemption is close at hand! Just remember S E R V I C E !
- Study your customers. Develop processes to identify what the customers really want and need.
- Educate everyone to understand and accept where the customers fit-customers drive the business. The work each employee performs impacts customers in tangible ways.
- Respond to customers by providing the tools and information to all employees to make it easy for them to practice exceptional service.
- Value, as defined by customers, is key. Realign strategic direction to introduce products and services that provide tangible value to customers.
- Integrate service into all functional area business plans and "wrap" service around.
- Champion the cause by identifying key influencers to advocate service that transforms the company into an exceptional service provider.
- Externally focus systems and procedures on customers and eliminate internal procedures and systems that do not create value.
In essence, look at your business through your customers' eyes. Business people often comment, in a half-hearted manner that, without customers there is no business. If you really take a moment to let the words sink-in, there is no truer phrase in business.