Is customer service the weakest link of your business?
July 24, 2008
SPEAKING OF SERVICE - by Jeff Kasper || You’ve probably heard the phrase, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” and “The Devil’s in the details” or “Leave nothing to chance.” So many businesses plan for the major, expected interactions with customers. They plan for advertising, capacity, distribution systems, logistics and more. It’s important to plan. However, your success depends on the implementation. More importantly, it depends on everyone in your chain to be as strong as the others.
This includes everyone — from the CEO to the newest hire. Your employees who will never see a customer must be just as committed to building loyalty as those who work with customers all day long. If you don’t believe me, think of this – if you work on providing a professional image for your company and the janitorial staff doesn’t clean up very well, what impression will it leave with your customers?
Don’t just look at the obvious. Identify situations where your customers routinely experience a problem or become upset. If you have a department that deals with “problem” customers, look there, too. Are you treating people who are dealing with these key areas of your business as problems or customers? Are you assuming that they have done something wrong, just because they are using a particular department or area of your business? One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to pre-judge a book by its cover. Never assume anything when dealing with your customers.
Once you’ve identified your “weakest links,” you need to dispatch with them quickly. Set up a system that will allow you to identify what the real issue is and deal with it. I was observing a call center one time when the “collection” line started ringing…and, ringing…and, ringing. This organization prided itself on offering exceptional customer service. However, because it was the designated “collection phone,” there wasn’t any real urgency to answer it. The representatives assumed that it was just a “deadbeat” trying to pawn off another excuse of why they wouldn’t be paying. You know what? They were wrong. As it turned out, a CUSTOMER had erroneously dialed the number and wanted to place an order. A large order to be exact. I noted a marked level of enthusiasm on the part of the phone representatives for the remainder of the day to pick up that line as quickly as the others. I hope they learned a valuable lesson.
How can you find out where your “weakest links” are? Ask. Ask your employees, customers, former customers and anyone who will talk to you. Don’t be shy. Ask the hard questions, “What would you do differently if you ran this operation?” Finally, take notes and take action.
You may think your chain is strong and that you don’t have a weakest link. Only by asking your customers and employees will you find out. Otherwise, they will tell you “goodbye.”
Jeff Kasper is the president & chief innovation officer of ServiceQuality.US, a customer loyalty, measurement, training and consulting firm, based in Concord, CA. Questions and comments can be sent to jk@servicequality.us or visit ©2008 Customer Loyalty Builders, Inc.
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