Customer Service - Activate Group Inc

7 Ways to Serve Your Internal Customer “The Employee” Better

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Howard Shore

In my previous article, Are You Failing the Most Important Customer: “The Employee?” we addressed the question, “If you considered the people that worked for you as your largest and most important customers, would you behave toward them or see them any differently than you do today?” I addressed two issues I think all organizations face to some degree. In this post I want you to consider 7 ways to serve your internal customer better.

Are You In Denial?

You may be thinking, we treat our employees well. However, according to Gallup, Inc. and their well-known State of the American Workplace Report., essentially 70% of today’s workforce is being paid to be “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.” A staggering 52 percent of employees are “not engaged”, meaning they essentially do just enough so they won’t get fired, but not more. The remaining 18% who are “actively disengaged” employees aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.

What is clear by findings, leadership is causing the 70% who are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.” The evidence is supported by the fact that the 70% was not spread equally across companies and there also were differences within the companies. The primary difference was to whom those employees reported. This is important because when employees you have invested in are not engaged, you get less return on your investment.

How Can You Improve Internal Customer Service?

Consider your internal organization as your best and most important customer and ask yourself the following questions:

What is my strategy for employee retention?
How well do we communicate “with” employees rather than “at” employees?
What is our interdepartmental strategy?
Does it take an act of Congress to get something done around here or are we fast on our feet?
How are we going to identify and nurture talent?
How do we create career opportunity even though we are a small business?
What types of leadership and management development do you offer your people on an ongoing basis?

The decision is up to you! Find and polish your gems today, or spend lots of your organization’s valuable time and money salvaging and finding new internal and external customers. Review our website to understand how an executive coach or business coach can help you increase the success of your career and business, or contact Howard Shore at (305) 722-7213.

Employees Are Your Most Important Customer, Part 2

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Howard Shore

I wrote an article about the many reasons why your employees are your most important customers. I wrote about how keeping your employees happy is one of the easiest ways to keep your customers happy. Happy employees give great customer service and create great word-of-mouth for the company.

When I read an editorial in the New York Times written by an ex-employee of Goldman Sachs on his last day of work, I was reminded again about the value of keeping employees engaged. This is a real-life example of how unhappy employees can cause considerable damage to reputation and potential threats to customer retention.

The Goldman employee, Greg Smith, spent his entire career at the company, rising up in the ranks and maintaining a great amount of pride in the company and its values. He says in the wake of a recent leadership change, the company lost sight of its values to focus on blind profits. He decided to exit the company in dramatic fashion by writing this lengthy editorial detailing his first-hand experiences and resulting disgust. He exposed degrading language used within the company and the practice of selling worthless assets to unsuspecting buyers.

Was his account accurate? We don’t know for sure. Regardless, what he did (besides commit career suicide) was create a great amount of doubt in Goldman’s trustworthiness. Plenty of Goldman customers read that editorial and some probably considered whether it was worth remaining customers.

Remember, your employees are the eyes, ears and voice of your company. They can be your biggest cheerleaders or your worst nightmares. It is crucial you keep them engaged and satisfied. Training, coaching and communication are keys to their engagement. And if they become disengaged for too long they will tell you…or anyone who will listen.

Howard Shore is a business coach who works with companies that need leadership development and strategic business coaching. Based in Miami, Florida, Howard’s firm, Activate Group, Inc. provides strategic planning and management coaching to businesses across the country. To learn more about management coaching through AGI, please contact Howard at (305) 722-7216 or email him.

Customer Service Points You Have to Get Right

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Howard Shore

A few weeks ago, JD Power released its list of 2012 Customer Service Champions. I found it interesting that there were three airlines on the list. You don’t usually think of the airline industry as customer-focused. Yet three airline companies managed to impress JD Power with their fanatical attention to customer service—so much so that they made it onto this list of just 50 companies that are “champions” of service.

I am not surprised that the three companies are Southwest, Virgin America and JetBlue. These airlines have used customer service as differentiators for some time, each in their own unique way. Their customer service is finely honed and crafted especially for their core customer, which is why they all have such impressive brand loyalty.

The important thing to note is that great customer service is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. The customer service experience is drastically different between all three airlines, and that is by design. The loyal Southwest customer is drastically different from the loyal Virgin America customer. These customers expect different things and demand different experiences, and you could never interchange them. In all likelihood, a loyal Virgin customer would hate the experience of flying with Southwest.

Think like these customer service champions and design your customer service experience around the preferences and demands of your core customer.

Define Customer Service “Moments of Truths”

When I work with a company as a strategic planning consultant, one of the most important company functions we examine is customer service. When we evaluate their service processes, we identify their “Moments of Truths”. These are essentially their most crucial customer touch points—the times and places in their new business acquisition, servicing and retention processes that are so impactful to the customer that if they don’t get them all right, it could cost them that piece of business.

Every company and industry has three to five service “Moments of Truth.” How you touch your customer at these points defines your service experience. Let’s look at the restaurant industry as an example. Every restaurant must meet a certain standard in four key areas: Service, Price, Food Quality and Cleanliness. These are the four Moments of Truths for a 5-star restaurant or a fast food joint. However, how these two very different businesses deliver on these touch points is highly important for their core customers.

The 5-star restaurant customer expects extremely attentive and formal service, gourmet food and impeccable cleanliness, and for that they are willing to pay a premium price. The fast food customer still expects cleanliness, but service should be quick and casual at a low price. Both restaurants can be customer service superstars, but they must understand their core customers and design the service experience around them.

What are the Moments of Truth in your customer service experience? Define them and define the ways that you will use them to differentiate your company in the marketplace.

Howard Shore is a strategic planning consultant and business coach who works with companies that need customer service strategy and coaching. Based in Miami, Florida, Howard’s firm, Activate Group, Inc. provides strategic planning and management coaching to businesses across the country. To learn more about strategic planning consulting through AGI, please visit activategroupinc.com, contact Howard at (305) 722-7216 or email him.