This morning I searched for websites and news articles about “serving customers.” And I had a stark reminder of what is at stake.
I try to post two articles a week, one employee-oriented, the other customer-oriented. (And, of course, we post our podcast every Saturday, plus a song for #HornSectionsMakeRockBetter, just because I can.) It was time for this week’s customer article, and I didn’t have any great ideas. So I looked online for one.
Every single search result covered ZERO new ground.
This reminded me of three things that recently happened to me.
First:
An influential scholar that I follow on social media posted an incredibly polite rant about the poor service he received at the hands of the American Airlines email, website and phone systems. (The phones trapped him in a loop: “Press 1 … you have pressed an incorrect key–please press 1 … you have pressed an incorrect key. ..”)
The influencer warned that technology was getting in the way of human connection–something we talk about at Hip Socket. And then he suggested we all avoid air travel, especially American.
Second:
I joined an incredibly successful project that trains salespeople. It involves using artists in the training (wish I could say more, but you know how nondisclosure agreements are).
One of the artists who has been involved in the project longterm declared that what excited him about the project was that “this is not teaching manipulative techniques. It’s really about serving people!”
Third:
A Toyota car dealer bragged to me about how customer-friendly the company is toward its dealers. He told me about touring a Toyota plant. He noticed that another manufacturer was on the list to take a later tour.
He asked, “Why would you let competitors see how you run your business, especially since you’re so good at it?” The answer given: There is no secret here. It’s a matter of if you can execute the plan.
I don’t think these stories are surprising. There is nothing new under the sun. You don’t need a groundbreaking research or the latest expert’s top 10 tips to understand customer experience.
Three questions:
- If your system prevents employees from connecting with customers, what is your plan to ensure good service? Identify dissatisfaction? Recover customers?
- What is your plan to ensure all employees know how and why to connect with customers?
- Whatever plans you have for the first two questions … how will you ensure you execute the plans (click on this link)?