We just had to share the article below from John Tschohl. Enjoy!
Proven Process for Driving a Service Culture
There are a number of reasons most organizations are content with their level of service. Most feel they already deliver great service. Some feel their competition is not very good at customer service, so it does not matter. Others feel their employee turnover is so high that it is cost-prohibitive to train employees on customer service. Very few understand the Service Strategy.
Service Strategy is how to use the stealth approach and go under the radar with a formula that is almost impossible to copy, gives you a 10-20 year lead over your competition, and allows you to dominate the market and increase the market value of your business by over 100 percent. All role models achieve this, like Amazon, Costco, Mayo Clinic, Chewy.com, Apple, and Northeast Delta Dental.
Most firms have unlimited money for marketing, capital to expand, add new locations, and unlimited money for inventory. Few firms are willing to invest in developing high-performing, customer-driven employees.
Awesome customer service is built around Strategy, Leadership, and Tools.
The Nine Proven Steps for Creating a Service Culture
1. Relentless Strategy
Focus on strategy. You must be Relentless, and it has to be a way of life. This is where most CEO’s lose sight.
2. Reduce Friction
Remove stupid rules, policies, and procedures. Make it easy for customers to do business with you.
3. Empowerment
Empowerment is the backbone of great service. Everyone must be empowered. It usually takes two miracles at the same time to get an employee to spend $5 on a customer. We have unlimited money to acquire a new customer, but we are afraid to spend money on keeping the customer.
4. Speed
People today expect and want speed. You must drastically reduce the time for everything you do. If it normally takes 24 hours, reduce the time to 1 hour. Most employees have a slow mindset, and company policies and rules kill speed.
5. Training
All employees must be trained on customer service with something new and fresh every few months. 99 percent of customer interactions are with your front-line employees. They are the least trained, least valued, least paid, and the face of your organization, and also the easiest to change. We have 19 programs to choose from if you want to train your workforce with high-impact learning tools.
6. Remember Your Name
The most precious thing to a customer is their name. Remember it and use it. It is very rare to hear an employee remember you and use your name. It is so simple and very powerful.
7. Service Recovery
When you screw up, you must keep the customer, and all employees must master the 4 skills of service recovery. It took 70 minutes in Oregon to have our lunch served at a beautiful place called Lake of the Woods Resort. When asked why the food was taking so long, the employee lied. The cook said she was backed up because it was so busy upstairs. I went upstairs to check it out. There was only one couple in the entire upstairs area. I think in the US, about 80% of the time employees lie and run for cover. Neither she nor the restaurant practiced Service Recovery.
8. Reduce Costs
Price is critical with all customers. Service leaders are frugal and always looking for ways to reduce costs. All my research shows service leaders are aggressive at eliminating waste and costs. In developing countries, most organizations have 25% more employees than they need. Employee performance and labor costs are not important.
9. Measure Results
You must measure the results of creating a service culture to keep top management passionate about this process, the financial investment, and the time required. In the US, firms have unlimited money for customer service surveys that few people respond to, and no one does anything with the results.
If you want to significantly increase sales, market share, and the value of your company, creating a Service Culture is the least expensive way to make it happen. It just takes more work and commitment.
John Tschohl, the internationally recognized service strategist, is founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Described by USA Today, Time, and Entrepreneur as a “customer service guru,” he has written several books on customer service and has developed more than 26 customer-service training programs that have been distributed throughout the world. John’s monthly strategic newsletter is available online.
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