Tag Archives: Goals

With Customers, Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing

Posted on 6 December 2010 by | Leave a comment

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had it right!  For value to customers, nothing beats personal relationships (Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing).

I got your picture hangin’ on the wall
It can’t see or come to me when I call your name
I realize it’s just a picture in a frame

I read your letters when you’re not near
But they don’t move me
And they don’t groove me like when I hear
Your sweet voice whispering in my ear

We’ve all heard the preamble, “get on top of this… the customer knows the CEO.” That same level of urgency is rare when the relationship is only through email exchanges.  That’s because when we have a personal relationship we take a vested interest in actions taken, commitments made, and commitments kept.  Once we establish relationships with our clients several positive things happen.  We:

  • Own the account in a different way because our personal reputation is at stake
  • Empathize and see things through the customer’s eyes
  • Become part of the customer’s team (even while we represent company interests)

Just like other interpersonal relationships, those with our customers require constant attention.  The pivot point is that our visible presence demonstrates we (1) care, (2) are continually engaged, and (3) are available to assist customers achieve their goals.

What can you do today (within ethics/budget guidelines of course) to ensure you’re movin’ and groovin’ your customers?

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Posted in Customer Service, How to Deliver Customer Service

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3 Ways to Higher Employee Engagement

Posted on 8 November 2010 by | 8 Comments

(This is the third of three posts where I will focus on employee engagement.  Subscribe to be notified of new posts!)

In recent weeks I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on employee engagement.  Engagement drives profitability.  Leaders impact engagement, especially in tough economic times.  But what actually drives employee engagement?  One explanation suggests we need 3 ingredients to maximize our personal satisfaction: purpose, autonomy, and mastery.

Unfortunately corporate structures are set up to stifle these natural motivators so leaders must work relentlessly to break down barriers to allow our people the freedom to thrive.

1.  Purpose – Link the task to the outcome or the benefit. Some employees naturally see the linkage while others require leaders to communicate the purpose of the work.  A common story summarizes the power of purpose.

Three bricklayers were working side by side.  When asked, “What are you doing?” the first bricklayer replied, “I’m laying bricks.”  The second bricklayer was asked and he answered, ”Feeding my family.”  The third bricklayer when asked the question, “What are you doing?” responded, ”I’m building a cathedral.”

2.  Autonomy – Give people a goal, not a prescriptive set of rules. Military leaders require latitude to deal with changing situations so they are given goals and boundaries.  By engaging a person’s creativity and spirit we provide the freedom to choose new paths, find new solutions, and accomplish the impossible.

3.  Mastery – Ask more from your team and permit failure. In some cases leaders must demand more from their people and stretch them in ways they didn’t think possible.  In other cases our role is to allow people to make mistakes in order to reach their potential.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison

One interesting way to think of the challenge is to consider what we ask our leaders to do.  We say to our business leaders “make money, but do it ethically.”  We ask our government leaders to “keep us safe and help us prosper.”  The pivot point is to get the best from our employees, we need to set goals in front of them just as broadly, with just as much latitude, and even more support.

Which environment have you created for your people?

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Posted in Customer Service, Employee Engagement

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I Want It NOW!

Posted on 23 August 2010 by | 1 Comment

What comes to mind when you think about world class customer service?  For me the list includes attributes like this:

  • Easy to Use
  • Professional
  • Responsive
  • Timely
  • Fair
  • Knowledgeable

While these aspects are all true, the reality is much different.  Customers want what customers want.  (Sounds a little Zen, doesn’t it?)

And just like Willy Wonka’s Veruca Salt, they want it now!  The stark simplicity of this fact makes customer service such a challenging profession.

Customer Service Differs Between Companies – Dell customers expect a much different experience than Starbucks customers for example.

  • Over the course of several weeks you may come to know your local barista, but you may never meet the support engineer who fields your technical questions.
  • Product integration at Starbucks is whether you want a scone or a muffin with your latte.
  • Product integration at Dell may involve whether a firmware driver enables Wi-Fi communications.

Customer Service Differs Between Customers – As another example, consider that different customers of the same company have different benchmarks of world class.

  • Starbuck’s repeat customers may expect the server to remember their name and details of their lives.
  • A mother of young children may want the servers to be sensitive that little Johnny may not need a mid-morning sugar rush.
  • A business person new to the location may want the order to be filled fast.

Each of these customers holds different ideas of what world class is and the same holds true for our customers.  After all, customers want what customers want.

The pivot point is that because customers have different needs/goals our role in the customer service industry is to help our parent companies identify what those needs are and to provide for them in the best way possible.  Note that “best” doesn’t necessarily mean satisfying everyone all of the time.  But the further we are from that ideal, the closer we’ll be to Veruca Salt’s ultimatum which sounds a lot less Zen in your call center.

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Posted in Customer Service, How to Deliver Customer Service, Influential Factors - Helpful

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