Two Words That Mean The World
Not “Here’s money!” or
“Take holiday!” but something much simpler: “Thank you” and “Well done!”
In the day-to-day bustle and rush of office life, we can
forget that people are making an effort to keep things moving. From our point of view, it may not be the
amount of effort we think they could put in, or the amount we ourselves could,
but for them it may be more than that.
People like to feel
valued
(this is one of Abraham Maslow’s “
Hierarchy of
Needs“); thanking or praising them are cost-free ways of doing this
(although they shouldn’t be seen as substitutes for financial rewards or other
rewards in kind).
I’m not advocating that we should thank or praise people for
just coming to work every morning (although a simple “Good morning” works
wonders). When they do do something that involves putting in extra effort or going
slightly out of their way (for them personally), then no harm done. They see that their efforts are acknowledged
and appreciated. They’ll repeat that
behaviour.
If we can do it in public, in front of other staff and
colleagues, so much the better.
Different people see “extra effort” in different ways. Don't try to adopt the same standard with
everyone. As Einstein is supposed to
have said, “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to
climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
These two words can bring about performance or behavioural
improvements if we catch people doing the right things or behaving the right
way. This is to be encouraged. At times, it may involve praising the smaller
things to encourage progress to larger ones and we will have to explain this to
other colleagues who may not understand what’s going on. It all starts somewhere…
In short: a person who feels appreciated tends to do more
than is expected.
Now what’s that worth?
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running
different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to
offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk
management. I work with individuals,
small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across
the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be
contacted by email
. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be
asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Apologise... Then Act
We’ve all been in this
situation: we call a “Customer Service Hotline” and are handled by a nice
person full of apologies and assurances that the problem will be solved. Then we wait…
And wait… And wait…
The point is that nothing
actually gets done. Whether it’s
because of a disconnect between the Customer Service Representative who takes
our call and the function, department, or section that actually has to fix the
problem, or because the “fixers” are already overwhelmed with fix-it requests,
or because of other causes we don't know.
Frankly, we don’t want to know either.
We just want our problem solved.
Part of customer retention is actually sorting out customers’
problems quickly and completely. We all
know that things go wrong; we don't like it when they do, but bad things
happen. What sets the leaders above the
“also rans” is how they sort things out. “We’re no worse than the rest” is not
an excuse…
This can range from a “no questions” returns/refund policy
to a visit by the appropriate technician to a personal call from someone with
the knowledge and authority to get
things done. The fact that anyone calls
back is enough to set that business apart from the competition.
If you want to stand above the competition, make sure that
your organisation is set up to act on
hearing that customers have a problem.
There must be a clear line of communication between:
- Customer Service Reps;
- “Fixers”;
- Product/service design teams.
Why the last? So that
if too many calls come in because of a
flaw in the product or service, the design team can fix it straight away and
reduce the chances of unhappy customers.
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running different
operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer
solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses,
charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An
international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling, Strategy, Teamwork
Human Or Robot
“When someone phones, they get a human. It’s not rocket
science is it?”. So says Andy Page,
Founder of “Brilliant Bikes”.
“Customer Service Hotlines” are common, but what
differentiates the “winners” is that, when a customer calls the number, a human
being answers the call. All-too often
we’ve experienced something like:
Welcome to the [name
of company]’s Customer Service Hotline.
To, hear your balance, press 1…”
After listening to several options, which may or may not
include the option of speaking to a real-live person, you find that you’ve
spent two minutes of the your time (with attendant call costs) not getting
anywhere.
The arguments for automated service run along the lines of:
- It’s cheaper to have an automated service;
- It’s more efficient for directing customer calls to the
right department/person.
What people tend to forget is that what’s more important is
what the customer wants. For smaller businesses, a personal touch
isn’t an issue, but for larger ones handling hundreds, if not thousands, of calls
a day, it’s statistically more likely that their Customer Service Hotline will
see more action.
Ideally, your hotline should be in the same country as the
caller. For some, cost considerations
have meant “offshoring” to other (read “cheaper”) countries. The result has been complaints that Customer
Hotline Staff in the country receiving the calls are not fit for purpose. Indeed, some UK businesses now boast that their
hotline staff are UK-based.
One way of minimising calls to the hotline is to make sure
that people get the right product/service at the right time and price. You can never guarantee that service will
always be perfect, but ask your customer service staff what the main issues are
that they have to deal with and they’ll tell you where the main problems
lie.
Otherwise, what’s so hard about having a person to re-route
calls? Train them well enough, and they
may even be able to field some opf the questions themselves…
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. After more than 20 years in the global financial services
industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I
started my own Performance Management Consultancy to offer solutions for
improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses,
charities, quoted companies and academic institutions. An international
speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy
Save When Times Are Good; Spend When Times Are Bad
Many would react by
saying that we should do the exact opposite: spend when times are good and save
when they’re bad. Why might this not be
the best advice?
I’m not advocating that one shouldn't cut costs during a
downturn - quite the contrary. What I am asking people to do is consider this:
when is the time to buy? Surely it’s during sales? Leaving aside the usual jokes that you buy
something that you don't need at 50% off in a sale, there’s a reason to look at
this.
Let’s start, though, with saving during good times. This can be hard; when times are good, we
want to enjoy them. The problem is that
we start to believe that the good times will last forever, we want them to last forever and everyone else
is acting as if they will. There’s often
pressure on us to spend as well from all the different “stakeholders” in a
business…
I’m not advocating no spending, just that we should continue
to put something (preferably more, if we’re seeing increased income) aside for
the proverbial rainy day.
As for spending when times are bad, it’s
straightforward. First, if people see
you spending, it may give them heart.
Second, when times are hard, people may be more willing to negotiate. You may be able to clinch purchases or deals
at a price that you wouldn’t get during the good times.
Third, if you’re buying from other suppliers, you're helping
them to stay in business. Hopefully
they’ll remember that when things get better…
Two other expenses worth considering are training and investing in new equipment.
Every good organisation should look to “upskill” its people and if you
have “downtime” and spare funds, it’s a way of preparing people for when things
improve (as they eventually will). You
may also be able to obtain new equipment at lower prices.
Imagine if you’ve invested in more training and equipment
whilst others have “marked time”. You’ll
be in a better position to take advantage of the upturn as the business that’s
ready to go whilst others play “catch up”.
This is long-term thinking and will be opposed by
short-termists who can only see the now.
It takes a brave CEO to go against this.
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running
different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to
offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses,
charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An
international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Strategy
