The best customer service organizations have many things in common. I believe the most important is that leadership focuses on customer service and the customer experience. Check yourself and your leadership against these 4 strategies.
1. Leaders dedicate dollars, time and creativity to training. They know employees must have “state of the art” skills as well as a desire and motivation to serve. How creative is your training? Is it “just in time” for customer initiatives and needs? Is enough time spent in the new hire employee orientation?
2. Leaders have a focus on people and processes. They realize the best employees can’t adequately serve if the processes are not customer friendly. Customer needs and company processes are often in conflict. What bureaucracy issues can you deal with and eliminate? Ask your employees what processes need to be fixed. Look across departments and determine how to create a seamless experience for the customer. I know most of you have done this already. It is time to do it again.
3. Leaders keep the customer focus upfront in team meetings. The agenda includes the latest customer data, the voice of the customer, create opportunities to discuss improvement, ideas and recognition of great service efforts. Keep the meetings short and relevant. What needs to be changed about your team meetings? How much time is spent talking about real customer issues?
4. Leaders at the best organizations are visible, great cheerleaders and story tellers. Employees need to be inspired and included. Do you spend enough time with the customer facing team? What stories do you need to tell when in front of the employees? How are you inspiring the team to deliver a great experience?
Customer focus is an everyday activity. Leaders make certain that their time and actions are consistent with the expectations of great service and experience delivery.
What must you do today to make a difference?
Lisa Ford is a speaker with over 20 years of experience presenting to businesses, associations and government. She speaks throughout the United States and internationally on topics of customer service, leadership, team issues and change. Her recent book is Exceptional Customer Service – Exceed Customer Expectations to Build Loyalty and Boost Profits.
