Are your customers really #1 for your company?

Every business will tell you that the customer is #1, but only a small percentage acts that way. Jeff Toister, author of “Service Failure: The Real Reasons Employees Struggle with Customer Service and What You can Do About It”, shares three strategic tweaks that will improve your service. Today we look at Toister’s tweaks.

Tweak #1: Share the Vision: Every company has a vision statement that describes the quality of product/service it promises to provide. For some companies, that statement is on a wall in a corridor or reception area, out of the sight and the minds of employees. Customer-focused companies on the other hand make sure that every employee understands the definition of their vision statement and lives by it.

Tweak #2: Align Your Employees With Outstanding Service: Customer-focused companies create a deliberate alignment between their customers service vision and their employees. They consistently hire employees who are passionate about their brand of products/services. They train their employees on the customer service vision so that they can use it as a guide. They write policies and procedures to reflect the customer service vision. They regularly discuss the customer service vision with their team.

Tweak #3: Connect the Survey to Business Results. Many companies have some form of customer feedback, in most cases a survey. Customer-focused companies create a strong connection between their survey and business results. Here’s how it’s done: At a strategic level, the results are used to help to increase revenue, referrals and customer retention. At a tactical level, it is used to identify the top problems plaguing their customers so those problems can be solved. At an individual level, they follow-up with disgruntled customers to try to win back their business.

Customer-focused companies have the same information other companies have, it’s the execution of it that sets them apart. They are obsessed with customer feedback and committed to customer satisfaction. So, tell me, based on Toister’s strategic tweaks, can you honestly say that the customer is #1 in your company?

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