Make customers your top priority
Most organisations expect managers to make customers their No1 priority. In fact, when it comes to decisions about promotion, an individual's customer focus or orientation is now viewed as one of the main criteria. The reason is clear: customers drive a business and, therefore, success ultimately depends on providing what the client wants.
In this respect, all managers, regardless of whether they hold a frontline or back-office position, have a part to play in ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction.
The IT department, accounts section or warehouse team may not meet clients every day, but their efforts still have a direct bearing on how the company is perceived and whether it has a customer-focused culture.
When new to his or her role, a manager should begin by examining how the work of the team affects the customer and where the main points of contact are. For sales and customer service teams, that should be straightforward. Even so, it pays to look beyond the obvious and examine factors such as speed of follow-up, handling complaints and flexibility on price. These can have a significant impact on sales and the company's brand image.
In back-office operations, the link to the customer may be less direct, but it still exists. Take the case of a purchasing team. Its decisions will determine the choice, price and availability of products in a retail store. If the office assistant has forgotten to confirm orders with a factory, goods may be manufactured late and not arrive in time for a special promotion.
Therefore, you should map out the service supply chain for your area of responsibility and clarify any uncertainties. Start by defining who your customers are. This is a matter of knowing who relies on you and vice versa. If necessary, sketch out a full supply chain map and put it on your department notice board, so that no one is in any doubt that their work has an impact on the end user.
Subsequently, you must look for opportunities to improve service levels. This could be anything from strengthening relationships to upgrading systems or simplifying procedures. Whatever you do, though, the essential thing is to keep the needs of the customer in mind.
When implementing improvements, far too many managers make a fundamental error. They make a plan and forge ahead without first spending sufficient time finding out what the customer really wants. As a result, new products and redesigned websites are launched to a lukewarm or negative response. This can be avoided by arranging regular briefings by staff from different departments and by inviting customers to spell out their expectations or what they would like to see. In this way, you eliminate the guesswork, and can instead gather relevant and detailed data from a range of sources.
Your marketing department should have information about customer preferences and competitor strategies. The telesales unit should be able to report on the most common inquiries and complaints. The IT team should know about the latest software applications introduced in your industry. By drawing on such sources, a manager should be able to connect the dots and come up with ways to improve service for the customers. If short of ideas, it is always possible to benchmark against competitors, conduct a formal customer survey, or obtain data with the help of a market research organisation.
Nowadays, external customers increasingly expect to have services tailored to meet their individual needs and preferences.
Even so, they still fall into broad market segments. Therefore, general strategies can be used, provided that they are adapted to the differing requirements of, say, a multinational and a local enterprise. Sometimes, it is easy to overlook the needs of an immediate internal customer. For instance, an accounts team may let deadlines slip because they are only preparing profit reports for the sales division on the floor below. However, a two-day delay may mean that the sales team won't know the top 10 accounts to invite for a special promotional event.
For such reasons, there should be regular communication with internal customers and an established mechanism for receiving and acting on feedback.
Ongoing success in any business depends on being committed to customer satisfaction. So, if your team falls short in this respect, organise training and engineer a change in culture. Also, include customer-related goals in each person's annual objectives and discuss them in performance reviews.
The best form of training is to show by example that every customer is valued. This extends to dealing promptly and effectively with any complaints, and solving problems without creating resistance or assigning blame.
Article sponsored by Drake International, Hong Kong, a leading supplier of permanent and contract recruitment, human capital management and leadership consulting services
Solving problems
Listen Letting the customer talk is the best way of exploring a problem.
Acknowledge Show you understand the client's problem and want to solve it.
Probe Ask questions to establish the facts; don't jump to conclusions.
Offer solutions Give alternatives, so the client feels involved and is able to decide.
Confirm Check that the proposed solutions meet the customer's needs.
Express gratitude Thank the customer for bringing the matter to your attention.
Add customer value by
Personalising service to meet individual needs
Offering extra choices
Helping the customer to learn
Anticipating and averting potential problems
Offering value-added benefits
Keeping the customer informed about changes
Delivering before a deadline
Saving the customer time
Simplifying processes
