November 8, 2009

BE DiFFERENT or be dead: Customer Service or Serving Customers?

Most businesses that I know talk about ‘customer service’ as being a critical plank in their market strategy. I have always had difficulty with this expression from a BE DiFFERENT perspective because it perpetuates the notion that the organization decides what to supply its customers which is influenced by internal considerations such as operating costs, employee capabilities, Union contract agreements and operating procedures. In other words customer service becomes the outcome or product of a number of internal company constraints and is wrapped up by the smiling faces and voices of its people. A classic example is the fact that most organizations are unable to provide specific appointment times when it comes to installing and repairing their service. They simply can’t commit to being at your house at 3pm (or even promising to be there in the afternoon) to do the work you require.

In the Customer Service world, the company is in the control position.
In the BE DiFFERENT world of serving customers the customer drives the company. It’s a world where ‘How can I help?’ is the common theme that drives all business activity not ‘Here’s what we provide.’ Serving customers literally defines everyone in your organization (it applies to not-for-profits as well as they also have customers) as a servant whose role is to respond to the moment-by-moment changing needs and expectations of people who touch your business.

Serving customers requires a different operating model for companies. Rather than the operating procedures dictating what service looks like, operations is created in the image of the flexibility required to serve customers day-in and day-out.

Serving customers demands a customer obsessed culture where leaders coach and serve rather than command and control. Frontline people have a tough job in a servant role and they need their leaders to be supporting them not telling them what to do.

Serving customers means that we need to start hiring people that like humans. To be able to flex to the often volatile behaviour of customers starts with an innate love for people. You can’t train people to love people. You need to go out and find them, bring them in to your organization and allow them to infect their fellow employees.

Serving customers creates rules, procedures and policies from the customer’s perspective, enabling frontliners to ‘say yes’ to what customers want rather than enforcing internal rules and having to ‘say no’.

BE DiFFERENT and start the journey to serve customers. There is much more to come on this. Questions? Ask Roy on my home page.
Cheers, Roy Osing

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Related Blogs
The Four Steps to Dazzle Customers
Hire Human Being Lovers
Recover from Your Blunders
Kill Dumb Rules
Bend the Rules
Westjet gets Service Recovery

Serving Customers | Permalink
Posted 11.8.09 at 08:14 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment