Do you ever have ‘Eureka!’ moments? Those experiences when something that’s been on your mind and perhaps troubling you for some time suddenly becomes clear and the answer or solution is obvious. I have them regularly. Unfortunately for me they usually occur in the early hours of the morning. Sometimes I am woken up at a ridiculous hour with a brainstorm of an idea that I then realise is the answer to something I’ve been thinking about for ages. And often the answer I get is something that been in front of me all the time, but I just didn’t see it. I guess that’s why Tom Peters calls them ‘blinding flashes of the obvious’. I had one the other day. I was in Cannes, working with a team of managers from one of my customers. At 3.30 a.m. I woke up and then had to spend an hour or so writing down the things in my head before I could get back off to sleep again.
What burst into my brain was an answer to something that I had been thinking about and puzzling over for ages. I’m regularly asked “If we decide to make service the (or one of the) thing(s) that differentiates us from our competitors, and helps us to create sustainable competitive advantage, is there ONE THING that we should focus on above all others?” Up until that morning my answers were never what people wanted. I admit to using ‘consultant speak’ and waffling on with answers like “it all depends upon your current position” or “it’s different for every organisation”. But I guess what I was really saying, but wasn’t prepared to admit, was that I didn’t have the answer they wanted.
But now I have! I am absolutely clear what the focus should be. I am convinced that for almost every business nothing else will make more of a difference. It’s something that if you have or do it, everything else will be quick and/or easy to do. But if you don’t they will become hard or impossible. The good news is that it’s easy to understand. And when I tell people about it they always agree that it must be the key thing. But the bad news is that it’s not easy to do. In fact it’s really hard. So although everyone agrees, very few of them actually do what they should do about it. So it remains the domain of just a few, rare organisations. I guess this must be the reason, or at least one of them, that so few organisations earn the reputation of being ‘famous for service’.
And what is it? It is populating your organisation with people who have a ‘flair’ for service, people that don’t need to be taught or shown how to be good at service because they do it naturally, and people that would feel uncomfortable working in an organisation that did it any other way. On the front line you should have 100% of these people. As you go deeper into the organisation the percentage can reduce, but I think you still need to keep the percentage high if you want everyone to work together with the right focus.
So, now you know why it’s easy to understand, but hard to do. It’s easy to understand because it’s obviously right. It’s hard to do because it means only recruiting people that have this natural ability, and never taking whoever you can get because you must have someone, or anyone, or at least the best of a bad bunch. It also means finding practical, ethical (it wasn’t their fault you hired them) ways to deal with the wrong people that have been hired in the past.
Changing all this usually causes some unsettlement and turmoil for a period. But my experience is it’s really worth going through it because the difference it makes is astounding. For example it makes the implementation of any new programmes or initiatives to improve customer service go with ease. It even makes the not so well thought out ones work well too. It also enables managers to concentrate their efforts in the right places, on the people that are doing a great job, instead of in the wrong places, on those that aren’t (which is where they often spend most of time if you’ve hired the wrong people). And above all, it makes being at work a pleasure, with everyone helping each other and doing their best to deliver great service.
So if you’re serious about service, get to it! If you do you’ll discover what a remarkable difference it can make. You also be one of the few that have done it, so you’ll automatically be different to almost all your competitors. You’ll have advantages over them they will not understand and will find almost impossible to copy. And you’ll enjoy coming to work more than you’ve ever done before.
So what are you waiting for?
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Chris Daffy in his blog said make someone’s day and today mine was made by a very nice lady in M&S in Bracknell who insisted that she closed her till and went to get me the free drink that went with my salad even though there was a queue behind me and I wasn’t bothered about the drink anyway and in fact it is still sitting winking at me on my desk. But she meant well didn’t she?! I cringed at the ‘tut tut’ behind me and wished the floor would open up but that’s because I work in customer service too and am aware of other people and their feelings. And then I considered this experience on the walk back and wondered how many people really are aware of other people all the time and the simple fact that no matter what you do or say, it is the way you make people feel that is remembered by them. Well it’s remembered by the sensitive of us out there – and maybe the others don’t notice anyway?
And I totally agreed with the comment made that you treat customers the way they want to be treated and not the way you want to be treated. How true that is especially in the international market where I know statistically for our industry anyway, how the inflection in voices/the wrong word used in another language translation which is misunderstood/the different body language/facial expressions can cause all sorts of confusion which is then translated into a complaint when really its just a misunderstanding between human beings. We have many examples – the agent didn’t smile at me and was aggressive. It is common in some cultures to be factual and pleasant but not Disney style and perfectly normal to each other in the same country but some of us really do want the effusive energetic welcoming smile or it is perceived that the service is delivered with the wrong attitude. So simple to put right with the education and training needed so that the local agent who might never have been outside their home town in their life, then understands the differences.
Taking it to extreme, in Greece the answer yes is delivered with a word which sounds remarkably like no and often with a nod of the head. Hmm which one do they mean? And so on – I could take up pages here…. But simply speaking, the customer is a human being and thank goodness we are all different and the challenge is to identify the clues given by the customer which usually indicate the service style they are looking for and are comfortable with.
Many of us shop in supermarkets late in the evening on the way home from work, pretty tired and just getting what is needed and going through the motions. The check out agent is now tasked with saying something nice no mater how relevant or trivial to each customer. A good effort which mustn’t be balked at – but come on trainers – please help the agent how to identify when a customer actually wants a conversation or doesn’t – there are pretty good clues given off on the face of the customer. Don’t put the customer in the difficult position of sounding rude to the agent with a one word reply and then feeling guilty about it. Here a pleasant but factual greeting is good enough – I don’t want to be asked what I am doing tonight or whether I saw Eastenders on TV last night for them and the whole queue to hear my answer. ‘Sleeping and no I didn’t’ can sound offensive and unfriendly and I have probably made the poor thing feel awful and hate customers for ever. Which really isn’t my intention. However, slowing down the whizzing through of the items (are they target timed or something??) so they don’t all heap up before I have had chance to pack them and then be asked for payment at the same time and getting tuts by the customers behind me, would be better use of a trainers time in my view.
This is where the basics should be right before we add the ‘personality service on top’. And that probably counts for all of us in all industries for customer service.
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Any of you that have seen the video or read the book FISH (if you haven’t; you should!), about the fellows working at a fish stall in an indoor market in Seattle, will know that one of their principles is to ‘make their day’. I often refer to this in the work I do and then hope to inspire people to do the same - to do those little things that can make such big differences for customers. People are always asking me for examples, so here’s one that I observed a few weeks ago.
I was passing through Passport Control in Romania. As the officer handed the passport back to the fellow in front of me, she also wished him a ‘Happy Birthday’. She had noticed from his passport that day was his birthday, so she took the opportunity to offer her best wishes. He, and most of us in the queue behind him, were surprised and delighted by this and many of us made a point of commenting and/or congratulating her as we passed through. Her simple, thoughtful, emotional action had made a noticeable and worthwhile difference and turned what is usually a routine experience into a pleasant and memorable one.
Events like this are sadly rare, but they can make a really worthwhile difference. So think of what you and/or your colleagues could do that’s similar. Create lots of things that are different, unexpected, simple, thoughtful, emotional and inexpensive but which set you apart from your competitors in lots of little ways. Your competitors will probably not notice or understand what you’re doing but your customers will notice and really value it. And every one of these experiences builds your customer’s loyalty and puts you further in front of your competitors.
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This is the time of year when health-club memberships soar. During the post-Christmas and New Year holidays unfit, over-weight business executives determine that they are going to shed those pounds and get in shape for the coming year. But what about the companies they run? How often do executives stand back and take a critical look at how they are running their business? This is our guide to setting some new-years resolutions and getting your business in shape for 2008.
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Start with the big picture
Many companies synchronise their business year with the calendar year. Annual plans always include goals and objectives for the year but how often do they start with a review or restatement of the company purpose? Increasing market share may be desirable but will it make a difference? Opening up operations in a new geography may be an important objective but without answering the basic question “Why are we in business?” it is simply a tactic. The best organisations set their sights higher and determine a business purpose or brand promise that encapsulates the difference they want to make. Krispy Kreme the US doughnut retailer promises, ‘To create Magic Moments’. Harley-Davidson’s purpose is to ‘Fulfil dreams’. Microsoft recently updated its mission thus; ‘To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential’. Goals may articulate the work that your people need do but it is meaning that motivates them to do it. Tim Waterstone, founder of Waterstone’s bookstores and the Daisy and Tom Department stores says, “People follow a dream not a business plan”.
So if your company has a purpose or promise start the year by restating its importance to your people. Insist that your managers set their goals and objectives by showing how these will impact the achievement of your company purpose. If your company does not have one, start worrying!
2. Engage with your most profitable customers
This is also the season for sending gifts and cards to our best customers. Yet for many organisations for ‘best’ read ‘biggest’. These large accounts, whilst important, are often less profitable due to discounts, marketing support and the like. Few organisations focus on those customers who are truly most profitable; those who buy across multiple channels without the company realising their worth, those who pay the full sticker price or maybe even a premium, those who keep coming back and, most importantly, refer others just like themselves. For most businesses 80% of the profits come from 20% of the customer base and yet these customers are often ignored. In fact in some cases these loyal customers receive worse treatment than new customers. Many banks, insurance companies and mobile phone companies have a policy of offering better deals to prospective customers in an attempt to woo them than they do to existing customers in the naïve belief that these customers are ‘locked in’.
So find out who these most profitable customers are and speak to them. (And no, I don’t mean ask your research company to run a focus group!) Find out what they think of you, how they feel about your brand. Identify how the experience you create for your customers can be enhanced and set out to implement it.
Joe Tucci, CEO of EMC² the information storage company, did just this when sales declined in the first quarter of 2001. As a result of what he learnt he swiftly restructured the company and avoided the worst effects of the dot.bomb crash that sank so many high-tech companies.
3. Engage with your people
Margaret Thatcher was one of the U.K’s greatest prime ministers. Yet in her third term she was thrown out. Why? - Because she surrounded herself with ‘yes’ men and refused to listen to dissent. In fact she coined the pejorative term ‘wets’ to describe her critics and banished them from her government. As a result she lost touch with reality, the mood of the people and, finally, her job. Executives do this too. The more powerful and successful the CEO or President the more vulnerable they are to being fed good news. As time goes by the senior person surrounds him or herself with their own hires who are often just like them. Eventually the senior team starts thinking and acting as one even in the face of data to the contrary.
So analyse your diary, you will probably find that you spend most of your time with the people you like-your most trusted lieutenants, and least with those whom you find challenging or disagreeable, talented though they may be. Resolve to spend more time with your critics and the front-line employees. Ask them to tell you their opinions without pulling any punches. You don’t have to agree with them but you do need to hear them. Gordon Ramsay, the award winning chef, told the European Customer Management Conference a couple of years ago that he gathered 35 of his managers and sommeliers and asked them this question; “What pisses you off when you come to work?” He told us that the results were extraordinary and he found our exactly what he needed to do to improve the business.
4. Think the unthinkable
Ten years ago the major retail banks worried about losing a few points of market share to one another. Today supermarkets and the internet are the fastest growing channels for retail financial services. Five years ago mighty carriers like British Airways, TWA and Swissair ruled the skies. Today some famous brands have disappeared; others like BA are going through major transformations in order to compete against the highly profitable new carriers that have sprung up. Airlines like Jet Blue, Virgin and Ryan Air are rewriting the rules and economics of the airline business. Who will rewrite the rules in your industry? For sure it won’t be a current competitor. It is much more likely to be a brand that hasn’t even been thought of yet.
So think the unthinkable. What would Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos do if he entered your industry? Resolve to reinvent your business before someone else does. Lou Gerstner did exactly that at IBM transforming the company from a hardware manufacturer to an IT services provider and in the process made ‘Big Blue’ even more successful.
5. Get your organisation fit for the future
It will not have escaped your notice that the fastest growing economies are China and India. They are each recording GNP growth rates of 7% or 8% and are likely to continue doing so. In fact their economies are predicted to overtake the US by 2050. Part of this growth is being fuelled by the migration of manufacturing to China, and outsourcing of white-collar jobs to call centres and software houses in Bangalore. Even some basic accountancy and legal services are being outsourced to lower cost countries. So what is the answer? Trade embargoes? Protests? Strikes? None of these is likely to work. In fact the migration of lower skilled jobs need not be a problem if companies focus on building their brands, developing new products and increasing value for customers. Companies like Nike are now producing win-win outcomes by creating lower skilled jobs in developing countries whilst keeping the higher-value management, marketing and product design jobs in their home markets. There will always be a role for organisations that can spot gaps in the market, develop new products to fill them and train and develop their people to increase the value they create. Upgrading the skills and talents of your people and increasing value for customers is the only true way to sustain your company. By doing this it is estimated that the US imports twice or three times as many jobs as it exports and these are the more skilled, higher-paying jobs.
So resolve to identify how the needs of your customers are changing and determine how you can improve your competitive offer through innovation. Upgrade the skills of your people and focus them on increasing value for your customers whilst outsourcing back-of-house, lower skilled jobs to stay cost-competitive. Treat training as a R&D expense and place the training and development of your people high on your agenda in 2008.
I started by talking about health-club memberships. Fitness centres earn most of their profits from the 80% of members who join, attend two or three times and then lose interest. If any of the points I have made in this article have resonated with you do something about it. Schedule a meeting with your team to discuss these issues and build them into your plans for the year. Then, and most importantly, review progress regularly, not just in the first quarter.
If you would like to know more about these ideas order a copy of our book, See, Feel, Think, Do-the power of instinct in business from
www.Amazon.co.uk or our web site www.seefeelthinkdo.com.Happy New Year!
Shaun Smith
Copyright Shaun Smith + Co. 2008 See, Feel, Think, Do-the power of instinct in business
Shaun Smith and Andy Milligan.
Cyan books January 2006.
ISBN 1904879551
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 OK, they’ve got a more complicated real organizational chart. But, this is the one they use symbolically to remind everyone at all levels that their job is to relate to the customer first (even if they are in a backroom job like accounting, they are expected to constantly think of the impact on the customer of everything they do).
Do you have something similar? Steal theirs: It’s not proprietary. Copy the image, above, and email it around to everyone in your organization as a New Year reminder of what you are all here for. Just don’t forget to credit the ECMW blog by including this URL as the source, please: http://blogs.informa.com/ecmw . Thanks.Phil Dourado
http://www.PhilDourado.com
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With the New Year looming, it’s time to think of what we’ll do differently and better in 2008 compared with 2007. Here’s one thing you can do: adopt ‘The New Golden Rule’.Every great religion has The Golden Rule at its heart – ‘Do as you would be done by’, or ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. It’s never been questioned. But question it in 2008. I learnt The New Golden Rule from Ken Pasternak, President, Inter Associates Ltd, who told me this:
“We’re always told to treat customers as we would want to be treated. That’s not right. Treat customers as THEY want to be treated. Find out. Don’t assume. The golden rule isn’t ‘Do as you would be done by.’ It’s ‘Do unto others as they would like to be done unto’. ”
And you find that out by asking them. AND by putting yourself in their position and using your intuition to work out what they might want next, because they won’t tell you honestly if you ask them (because they don’t know). But, that’s the subject of another blog post.
Phil Dourado
http://www.PhilDourado.com
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There are two people responsible for bad service. The business leader. And the customer.
If bad customer service is received, it can only be the fault of one of these people.
The business leader is responsible for creating a vision, employing the right people, systems, training, coaching, goal setting, resources, motivation and rewards.
The customer must take responsibility for their share of building rapport, engaging with the people on the front line and providing appropriate feedback.
Unless the employee is determined to lose their job, they cannot fail to give good service if the business leader and the customer have played their part.
What do you think?
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Time is a constant. Time doesn’t start and stop. It’s continuous. Yet great events have beginnings and endings. We all love going to great events to listen to great ideas from great people, network with like minded people and recharge our intellectual batteries. You look forward to the start and you regret when it ended. You may wish you could be at a conference everyday.
So why don’t you? Leaders do. They think all the time. Learn all the time. You can. Blogs are socialism for leadership ideas. They are great for accessing great ideas continually. Not just at events. You can access the thoughts and suggestions of great people every day. A problem shared, an answer posted. Intellectual batteries charged daily! So that’s what this blog’s for. To stretch time. To bring great ideas every day up to the ECMW event. And after it too ! Enjoy As the the famous Mr Shakespeare would have put it:
To blog or not to blog, that is the question
Whether tis nobler in the mind to struggle alone
Or to share ideas and suffer the slings and arrows
Of outrageous unfortunates who take arms against your sea of troubles
And by opposing them together, end them?
So get posting your comments, questions and problems and start chatting with all the wonderful gurus you can tap into.
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