Author: JoAnna Brandi
Do we know who are customers really are? Do we know why they really buy from us? Do we know what their needs and desires are? Do we know what keeps them up at night? Do we have Customer Care standards that everyone -- including the customer -- understand? Do we have a way of measuring our success in the areas that count? In this follow up article to "Setting the Stage for Customer Care," JoAnna provides some specifics on how to implement a strategy for outstanding customer service.
What is it that forward-thinking companies want these days? Customers that are loyal advocates and employees that are excited, enthusiastic, energetic, and empowered to make decisions that benefit both the customer and the company. They want commitment, they want people who love and take pride in their work and will represent the organization in the best possible light.
Companies that will move skillfully, successfully and gracefully into the next century want people who CARE, people who care about who they are, what they do and what kind of contribution they are making to the world. These companies - like Starbucks, Rosenbluth Travel and L.L. Bean, know that people who care will deliver a quality level of service in a heart-felt and even effortless manner, and require very little "managing" from the organization.
Every organization has a few of these people. But we all need more of them. What percentage of your workforce is made up of people who resemble that description? Three percent, ten percent, maybe fifty percent? Can you increase the numbers of people who care? What can a manager or supervisor do to create an environment where caring is the culture, where caring is the norm, where caring is the driving force of a high quality service effort that flows with seamless agility?
The answer is no secret - create an environment where people feel cared about, where people feel valued, where their personal growth is encouraged and nourished and where there is every effort made to build self-esteem and self-worth, and customer caring will abound.
How ludicrous has it been to believe that we can deprive people of those basic human needs and then expect that they will care for customers? And, caring is what customers are looking for. Study after study tells us that of the customers that quit doing business with us the majority (68%) quit because they perceive we don’t care about them. Customers buy with their heads and their hearts and all things being equal (price, quality, availability) a customer prefers to buy from people they like and trust.
Every customer is seeking value. Some find it in the lowest price and shop at a warehouse clubs, some find it in the most convenient access and like me, phone catalog companies at 1 AM. Some find value in a particular combination of features/benefits like breadth of product line, availability, product quality, security, reliability, courtesy, money back guarantee and potentially dozens of other reasons, both logical and emotional. Value is an equation. We weigh the price we pay against things and feelings we get. Make no mistake about it: there is a high emotional content to value. And while many customers would have difficult time enumerating precisely what the factors are in making a buying decision what they do know is how they feel. Good , bad or indifferent, they have an emotional opinion about the exchange. In studies done on customer loyalty, when customers are asked why they’ve stayed loyal to a particular company they state simply "Because they cared about me."
How is it we can give our customers this experience of caring that will keep them happy and keep them coming back? Two ways: by creating an environment where it naturally happens - where employees (internal customers) are treated as well as we want them to treat external customers. And by re-framing the notion of what it is we are here to do.
Companies keep telling their people they are here to do customer service. But most companies don’t take the time to specifically understand what service means in terms of both belief and behavior. Many companies don’t take the time to think about the specific "brand" of service they want to be known for and can’t define for their people what the service should look like. So, the service delivered is the service defined in the mind of the service-giver. And much of the service delivered today is mediocre at best.
I don’t believe we can get past the mediocre service partly because of the number of negative definitions of service that reside in the minds of those who deliver it.
Language structures our experience, it forms our reality. It is how we define ourselves and our jobs that determine how we will perform in them. Disney was brilliant in his use of the word "Guest" to describe a customer, and "Cast Member" to describe an employee. Today the words "associates" and "partners" are often terms used to describe the workers new role in an organization. So let’s look at the term "service" and see what that conjures up.
We bring our cars in for service, we often have strong opinion of those who work in public service, many people were drafted into the service - getting my point? It is related to the words servant and servitude and if you had to learn Latin as I did you know it’s root word, "servus" means "slave." In my opinion these are pretty "loaded" words, loaded with previous associations and beliefs. It is entirely possible the definitions we carry of service are not conducive to the type of performance we really need to deliver.
I believe by and large, "service" is defined in such a way that actually prevents people from delivering the customer caring experience.
For the past 5 years I have been asking my audiences this question, "When do you go to the customer service department?" The answers are always the same, "When I have a problem" or "When I have a complaint." My next question is. "Where do you find that customer service department?" Again, consistent answers, "In the basement or in the back."
My next challenge to the audience is this, "How many of you have children getting ready to go to college next year?" Invariably a few raise their hands. "How many of you are counseling them to go into the venerable career of customer service?" My points then are easily made. Firstly, we define service as reactive, something that happens after something else goes wrong. There is a distinct possibility that there is a negative connection in the mind with the word service. And secondly, we don’t think of the delivery of that service as a career worth even mentioning to our kids. There is food for thought there.
If in fact, we define service as associated with negative events and as a reactive response, we will never be able to provide the "proactive customer service" managers are clamoring for. So, our first attempt to change old, negative associations with the word service is to reframe what it is we are here to do. Will "servicing" the customer get us where we want to go? Will it engender the kind of emotional bonding that will keep the customer coming back and bringing friends? I think not.
Imagine this scenario - you’ve just accepted a position with a "customer-caring" company. During your extensive orientation process, learning about the company’s vision, mission, values you hear something you have never heard before. "Here at the C-C company we don’t have a customer service department - in fact here at the C-C company we don’t do customer service! We see the customer as the reason for our existence - our one and only focus is to create happy customers. In order to do that we don’t want you to do customer service - we would like you to see your job as customer CARE3 sm - let’s look at that as an acronym - and you will know what you are here to do. Create A Relationship Enthusiastically, Energetically with Everyone with whom we do business!
Do you think this introduction to a company might set the stage differently for delivering a high quality of customer caring - I do. And so do companies that experiencing the distinction of those with high rates of customer retention and loyalty. They are deeply committed to relationship building with workers, customers and community. They don’t "close sales" they "open relationships." They have moved from being transaction-based businesses to being relationship-based businesses.
They have found the secret to Thriving: nourishing relationships, honing interpersonal as well as technical skills, slowing down long enough to listen to what customers and staff members are saying. And, honoring their contributions by putting many of them into practice.
If I may engage your imagination once again, I will share with you my view of business. Imagine, if you will, that business sits atop a tripod. Each of the three legs of the tripod represents a different set of relationships. One represents the External relationships a company has, one the Internal relationships, and the third, the Inner relationship of the individual. I call this the Working Relationship Tripod.sm
Company leaders must be at all times aware of and working to improve all the relationships in the tripod. The External relationships are those you have with your customers, your suppliers, your community, your stockholders, the families of those who work for you and yes, even your competitors. The Internal relationships those inside the company among staff members and their management, and the Inner relationship - the one companies have been denying existed for so long - that all important relationship an individual has with her/himself.
It is in the care and feeding of the interaction of these three relationships that we have the opportunity to create an environment that breeds success in all measures - Physically through providing an ample living and good working conditions. Emotionally and Intellectually by providing challenge and opportunity and Spiritually by providing the means to make a significant contribution.
It is a considerable leadership feat to balance all these relationships, delicately yet powerfully at the same time. It takes the commitment on the part of the leader to dig down deep and examine their own personal feelings about relating to other human beings.
Any management role at all in today’s world - team leader, supervisor, vice president - requires a higher level of human insight then ever before.
The world is becoming more competitive - We now compete with the sophisticated and unsophisticated and unconventional at the same time. Our range of available responses to a rapidly changing marketplace is directly related to the amount of intelligence and creativity we unleash in the hearts and minds of those we work with. Caring is the seed of the passion needed to move us forward in the quantum leaps that become increasingly necessary in today’s fast forward world.
Managers can play a transformational role in the "Culture-crafting"sm of an organization if they choose to play in the emotional soup of relationships. While there are parts of the business community that have openly embraced the new thinking regarding leadership and management, most companies are stuck on a fence straddling between old deeply ingrained management beliefs and suspicion of many of the "new age" approaches.
Without a doubt we are living in a time of deep transition, and no one has "the" answers.
As the nature of work continues to change - the knowledge worker will increasingly insist on environments that suit their particular lifestyle. While many in the young workforce are driven by the traditional pursuit of upward mobility, many are also driven by the values of a more balanced, more honest life. They will be the ones who whole-heartedly support a company and its customers when the company provides them the opportunity for their physical, emotional/intellectual and spiritual needs to be met.
In the quid-pro-quo balance many of the maturing baby boom generation as well as the young knowledge workers are looking for, companies will have to examine their fundamental beliefs about people. It’s no longer acceptable to just say "people are our most important assets" If you are not living it you will not get back in return the energy produced by both the hearts and minds of those that work for you. And one without the other will not get you the maximum effectiveness of each person you are paying to help you grow your business.
Even if you manage a department of 3 people you are in control of how much the emotional energy gets focused and on what. To meet the challenges of the future, leadership is required in every individual. As the structure of work changes what will remain the same is the need for inspiration, motivation and management skills that view the "whole" Working Relationships Tripod.sm
Looking briefly at the relationships we can begin to ask ourselves insightful questions to get an honest view of our current state of reality.
External: Do we know who are customers really are? Do we know why they really buy from us? Do we know what their needs and desires are? Do we know what keeps them up at night? Do we have Customer Care standards that everyone - including the customer understand? Do we have a way of measuring our success in the areas that count?
As you can see the questions could go on and on - and these are the kinds of questions a consultant will ask and you will pay money to discuss. And that’s great - I am an external consultant and make part of my living by asking these very questions - but my big question is "Why won’t companies go through the process - the discipline of asking these kinds of questions of themselves?" Many claim that they don’t know what questions to ask - I always suggest they find a way to ask, "What questions should we be asking ourselves in order to continuously improve?" to the people that work there. You should get lots of answers if people know you are sincere in your request for their help and participation.
Other relationships to be examined here include that relationships you have with your suppliers. Are you working together with them towards a common, win/win goal? Are you using them as part of your consulting team - as they should be doing with you? Do you learn things from them - if not, why not? Have you considered that your key suppliers are really your business partners? How does that consideration alter your thinking?
I’m sure you are getting my "gist" of questioning and you might even think it fun to keep the list of questions going on each of these relationships - and bring the play out to your team for some input. I collect lists of questions I’ve come up with -- I am learning to ask empowering questions that build my know-how and self-confidence at the same time.
If you are working with a team it is crucial for you to look at the interactions in the Internal Relationship leg - how we work together as a team. Everyone in an organization has the responsibility to serve and care about customers. Even when those customers are each other.
All together internal suppliers and internal customers form a chain of value that reaches out to the external customer. Importantly, we all deal with each other with trust and respect and strive to communicate clearly and honestly with each other because we all have the same goals. Each supporting the other to provide an exquisite level of customer care.
While all teams inside a company support an overall vision, it is critical to the success of the team to create its own vision and live its own purpose in alignment with the company’s. A vision provides focus. What links your team to each other and to the customers? Do people know what they can expect from each other? Do they trust each other? Do we all tell the truth ? Do we really pay attention to each other, do we listen with empathy and concern? Do we have common goals? Do we celebrate? Are we, as a team, dedicated to providing a high quality of experience for ourselves and the customer?
Are we committing to learning from each other’s ideas and creating new possibilities together? Co-create a vision that can be personalized so it has meaning to each and every one of the people in your system.
Third leg of the Tripod is the one I label "Inner" It is the personal relationship each individual has with themselves and with the company. I believe it is the health and nourishment of this relationship that is the real secret to creating an enthusiastic, energetic and motivated work force.
The questions in this area should first be asked and answered personally before asking them of another. In the ideal, each and every person will take personal responsibility for monitoring and adjusting their own relationships. Questions in this area might include: How do I feel when I get up to go to work in the morning? Do I want to be there? Do I like what I do? How is my sense of self-worth, is it growing ? Do I feel like I make a difference? How is my sense of self-esteem, am I supporting it and is the company supporting it? Does what I do count? Is this a place I can learn something? Is this a place I can feel important? In this a place where I can do good work?
How long has it been in business that we’ve been told, taught, to tell people to leave their emotions at home - to park them at the door.? We are still dealing with the consequences of a business model that encouraged people to leave their heads and hearts at home and just bring their bodies to work. While many managers may have the training necessary to manage tasks, fewer have the skills necessary to lead people.
When we tell people to keep their emotions at home we are asking them to detach from their Passion. Passion is exactly the emotion we need to fuel the change efforts that will keep us globally competitive in the future. In the end it is human emotion that drives success in business. We are just recently acknowledging with data what intuitive managers have known all along. There is a direct correlation between employee happiness and loyalty, customer happiness and loyalty, and investor happiness and loyalty. Score one for common sense.
Good managers have always known that they influence more by modeling their values then by just mouthing them. They will ask themselves "What am I doing (saying, training, being) on a daily basis that provides a model for people on how to build healthy relationships?" How can I build on what’s already working? Do I embody what I ask of others? Am I positive and optimistic about the future? Do I like what I do? Do I bring all on myself to work every day? Do I walk the walk, not just talk the talk?
The real energy in the tripod of relationships comes from the individual. The inner relationship is what drives the dynamic of all the other relationships. A positive, knowledgeable, optimistic worker that clearly knows what they are there to do and is motivated by the caring they feel from the organization - it’s culture and its people - will take it upon themselves to take good care of the customer and even go out of their way to delight them! In companies where nourishment and growth of the individual are integral to the culture, where strong values are articulated in word and deed, and where people are truly valued as assets we regularly see extraordinary innovation and accomplishment along with higher levels of customer loyalty.
In the end, in the interaction with the customer, in the "delivery" of the service and care, it is the commitment on the part of the individual to use each moment of truth to create and add value. It is a conscious decision to make a choice - in the moment - to build and affirm the relationship or to treat it with indifference and negate it.
There are millions of moments of opportunity every day in business and it is up to our manager/leaders to inspire the individual to make the choice to make a difference.
The process of shifting a business built on transactions to one built on relationships is a challenging process for all those involved. It takes patience and persistence and passion on the part of the manager/leader.
To create a customer-caring culture, it’s your job and the job of your management to create an environment where people gravitate in the direction of caring. Where people participate because they know they will be heard. Where people are rewarded for their positive changes and not punished for their learning experiences.
In order to create a truly customer-focused company, one where people are encouraged and rewarded for pleasing the customer before pleasing the boss, for doing the "right" thing (even if it means occasionally they misjudge what that thing is while they are learning) we need to create a safe emotional environment where people can feel free to share, to learn and to experiment. Remember, "Responsive to the customer" means having a wide range of responses to their needs, and that means drawing on the individuality and creativity of all those smart people working for you.
We need the courage to look at things differently. We need to move out of our own comfort zones before we can ask people to move out of theirs. We need the willingness to be vulnerable as we learn. And we need to sacrifice our old ideas about customer service and whole-heartedly embrace the idea of Customer Caring.
Copyright 2001 by JoAnna Brandi. Used with permission.