BE DiFFERENT or be dead Blog

December 16, 2010

DEAD or ALIVE ... How Would You Rate Your Customer Service?

The Customer Charter of Rights, The Things They Don’t Teach Business Students, Competencies to Covet: The Full Meal Deal

Lets describe DEAD Service first since it unfortunately applies to more organizations than it should. If you recognize a significant number of these attributes you had better take a step back and re-invent yourself. The consequences of not doing so will be disastrous…
DEAD Service....
> Rules, policies and procedures are created to serve the organization’s purposes. They are put in place as control mechanisms to satisfy the auditors. They have the intended impact of keeping the customer at a distance. An arms-length relationship with the customer is the result.
> Frontline responsibilities center around enforcing the rules of the organization in terms of customer engagement.
> Leadership is in the “command and control” mode. Frontline empowerment is restricted.
> There is little or no flexibility for people to deviate from established procedures. Those who do so are punished in some way or another.
> Short term results are stressed. There is little time to build sustaining relationships with customers.
> Efficiency is the focus in customer contact operations. Call Centers are measured on the length of time they are on the phone with a customer. Emphasis is on dealing with as many customers as you can within a given time-frame. Quantity trumps quality.
> Call Centers are outsourced based on economics. Service is driven by the need to reduce costs to the lowest possible level.
> No loyalty programs are contained in the marketing strategy.
> Customers are viewed as transactions where the only thing that is important is the money exchanged.
> Customers don’t have personal identity. The organization considers mass markets to drive their activity.
> Telemarketing is used extensively and products are flogged to people without regard for the interruptions and inconvenience caused them.
> Customer Moments are impersonal. The “Machine” doesn’t recognize them as individuals. They are account numbers who are expected to pay their bills on time or else.

ALIVE Service, on the other hand, is characterized by words like responsive, caring, happiness, open, respectful, trust, relationships, remarkable, dazzling and seving. Lets take a closer look…
ALIVE Service...
> The organization has a culture of caring for it’s people and this transcends to how customers are dealt with.
> Leadership believes that their primary role is to serve their employees; to make it easy for them to do their job. They believe that if the Frontline is served well from within the customer will be served in the same manner.
> Internal rules, policies and procedures are created in the image of creating memorable service experiences for the customer. Good business practices are of course applied but the organization is flexible enough to restrict the mandatory controls to the necessary minimum.
> Frontline employees are empowered to bend the rules in order to say yes to a customer. The service strategy in play is to find a way to do what the customer wants and not enforce rigid rules.
> Service Heroes are recognized constantly, reinforcing the importance of the serving ethic.
> Humanity is built in to service operations. Leadership understands that mind-blowing service is delivered by people not machines. Hi-Touch rallies over Hi-Tech.
> Call centers are not outsourced; they are considered a core competency of providing dazzling service.
> The quality of the customer contact is considered the primary objective. Each Moment of Truth is engineered to produce an emotion-rich experience for the customer.
> Quality of service measurement is based on the customer’s perception of how they were served. Internal operational statistics are used only to diagnose a customer perceived problem.
> The organization gives Gifts to their loyal customers as a “thank You” for their continued patronage.
> The recruitment process is geared to finding people who love humans. The belief is that they can learn the business but are borne with the Gift of Serving.
> The organization heavily invests in service believing in long term results rather than emphasis on the short term.
> Social media tools are extensively used to connect with and learn from their tribe.
> The organization is open to feedback and criticism; they use it to improve how they serve customers.
> Marketing is focussed on the individual and creates VALUE-EXPERIENCE based Offers for them. They don’t flog products.