Do Job Titles Matter?
I’ve just read a question-provoking article in which the author exhorted people not to get “hung up on titles”.
After working in different global markets where titles literally mean everything, one can see that, where the title “vice president” is used, people may not understand how to “place” the holder. In the US or Philippines, a “Vice President” is understandable. In the UK, it isn’t. In another country that shall remain nameless, it certainly used to be considered a “demotion” if a job tile was changed and considered to be “lower” than the previous one.
As business markets develop, we’re seeing new titles such as “Chief Wellness Officer”. What does one make of this? To me it conjures up visions of the job title of “Chief Morale Officer” granted to the character Neelix in Star Trek Voyager. For me, the fact that an organisation even needs a “wellness officer” suggests management aren’t doing their job…
The title dilemma will continue to plague us for the foreseeable future. Every culture has its own frame of reference as I discovered during my many and varied international postings during my career. In some countries, people will not even speak to you if you aren’t a “Senior Manager” or a “Director” of some sort.
To put it into context, I’m a “Director” of a business of which the total number of staff is six. How should I be compared with a “Director” of a multi-million (if not billion) global organisation? Given the small size of our company, I perform different rolls such as sales, financial control, training and development and HR and advisory. Compare this with our previous example of a global organisation director who may have one single function only. Am I “better” than them due to the number of roles I have?
What do titles mean in your market, culture and organisation? How do they impact your ability to do business and sell?
This is a fascinating topic which will continue to demand our attention as global, national and cultural boundaries become ever more blurred.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide 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.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Regulation, Teamwork
"Satisfied" or "Loyal" Customers?
Just okay, is not okay. Good enough is not good enough.
In Shep Hyken’s words, there’s a huge difference between a satisfied customer and a loyal customer. The problem is that too many businesses focus on customer satisfaction and not on customer loyalty.
Mediocrity rules (if we’re lucky).
Think about it: what is a satisfied customer and what is a loyal customer? The latter:
- Makes repeat purchases.
- Recommends their friends to deal with you.
- Forgives you mistakes (as long as you fix them fast)
- Becomes a lifelong customer
How often have we been asked to participate in “customer satisfaction surveys”? Has anyone ever been asked to participate in a “loyal custom survey”?
How would we even begin to design a “loyal customer survey”? Is this something that can be identified by asking questions or is it rather something that comes through observing the behaviour of an organisation towards its customers? I've had the privilege of working with business owners who just “get” customer loyalty. The commonalities I notice about them are:
- Deep rooted values by which they live and by which they require their team to live.
- A constant willingness to go “the extra mile” in looking after their customers.
The results I’ve seen are not only repeat business from one customer but from their relatives, friends and children.
This lifelong relationship is profitable. Not just to the business but also to its customers. Of course, the business sees income over a long period of time, but the customer also has the comfort and assurance of knowing that they will be well treated, listened to and taken seriously. In other words, they are made to feel important – the key to any relationship.
I once saw a quote in which an employee was reported to have said “when I speak to managers, I feel they are important. When I speak to leaders, I feel I am important.” When you speak to your bank, do you feel important?
For me, this is where much of customer loyalty lies - in making them feel important. Not as though they were an inconvenience, not that they must comply with countless rules and regulations, not that to get the simplest thing done they need to fill in a mass of complex forms, where the slightest mistake means starting over again. Being important means being taken seriously.
Unfortunately, our world is in certain cases going the way of bureaucracy. If we as customers don’t comply with the rules, regulations and “policies” of whichever organisation we’re interacting with, we become a burden, an inconvenience, an irritation dare I say.
How can we as business leaders encourage loyalty through making our customers (the life blood of our business) feel important?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide 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.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Selling, Strategy, Teamwork
