Welcome to the 7th episode of the WBSPodcast.com brought to you from beautiful Franklin Tennessee and hosted by Craig A. Stevens.

Go here for a link to the audio: http://www.podcasts.com/wbspodcast.com-4f6424e62/episode/Protected-E7-WBSPodcast.com-The-3-Phases-of-Building-Excellent-Customer-Focus-21cc

This episode is sponsored by:

• Westbrook Stevens, LLC – www.e-WBS.com – At Westbrook Stevens we are here to help you with all things change and continuous improvement.
• The University of Tennessee’s (UT) Industrial and Systems Engineering (I&SE) Department’s Center for Advanced Systems Research and Education (CASRE).
• Also by www.CraigAStevens.com.
• Checkout Craig’s book at www.GeronimoStone.com, his art at www.CraigAStevens.com, and his other podcasts (the www.FranklinPodcast.com and the www.BrentwoodPodcast.com).

During this Episode, we talk about the Three Life Cycle Phases of Building Excellent Customer Focus.

Go here for a link to the audio: http://www.podcasts.com/wbspodcast.com-4f6424e62/episode/Protected-E7-WBSPodcast.com-The-3-Phases-of-Building-Excellent-Customer-Focus-21cc 

Building Excellent Customer Focus

Often leaders with all kinds of experience say, “Customers are those people who pay us!”

“There is only one boss: The customer. And, he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” Sam Walton

Although that is true – from a “systems thinking” perspective the definition gets more complicated. For example, internal customer and cultural issues are so tangled with a customer’s experience, that it becomes extremely important to understand those knots. One of the biggest impacts we can make on all of the external customers’ experiences is to master the internal customers’ harmony.

There are all kinds of arguments related to the values and differences between internal and external customers, stakeholders and customers, customers vs. clients, and on and on and on. You can see this in information searches, where a variety of groups are often mentioned when talking about customers:

• the public
• suppliers and vendors
• clients
• partnerships, stakeholders, and stockholders
• employees and management
• external and Internal customer

 

To simplify a complicated subject, the point is, most of us are support people to front line workers. Therefore, the questions related to, “Who are our customers?” could be addressed as:

• Who are the people we are trying to attract, satisfy, serve, or communicate with?
• Who is next in line to receive our efforts or who will we hand our products, services, or work to?
• Who pays us or empowers us to be paid?
• Who are the stakeholders?
• Who is our boss?
• Who are the people we depend on, to make us look good?

 

In each case the message should be, “Do your job to help everyone in the value chain, make the ones who pay us, happy… or….Find a Job You Can Do!”

This is so important, let me say it another way… “Since the customer is the only reason we have a job, if we don’t know who the customer is, and are not willing to satisfy them…then we might as well go home; because we are not needed.”

However, with that said, this is a skill we all can learn and teach to our employees.

Whenever, I help organizations build “Excellent Continuous Improvement” programs (which includes both Productivity and Quality), I always include Excellent Customer Focus. Building excellent customer/patient service can be done in three phases that start long before the customer arrives and continues long after the customer/patient leaves. Furthermore, sustaining Excellent Customer Service requires the nurturing of five customer centric attitudes. You can not beat these attitudes into people, you have to plant the seeds of Excellent Attitudes and incubate them. Although the attitudes overlap and are used throughout the customer service lifecycles, I usually introduce them one phase at a time.

Phase One – Before the Visit:

“Raving Fans,” by Ken Blanchard is a good place to start. It is a short story full of insight into customer focus. The bottom line of this book is this, “satisfying customers” is not the goal. We want “Raving Fans” as Ken Blanchard calls them. I see this as building customers who market for us, which starts long before a customer arrives.

Before the patient/customer’s visit, we must develop a Professional Attitude. We displayed a professional attitude through professional systems, processes, infrastructure, environment, and professional actions. Professionals show Grace and Mercy to their customers (internal or external). Grace is going above and beyond, giving the customer positive responses that they did not earn and may not deserve. Whereas, mercy is withholding the negative reactions that they may have earned and likely do deserve. A professional attitude should permeate the entire customer’s experience.

(1) Professional Attitude: We start highlighting our professionalism through several preparatory actions and reoccurring cycles. A professional attitude will be important throughout each of the three phases of Excellent Customer Focus.

1.1 – Strategic Cycle (From the book Raving Fans)

Step 1 – Decide on what you want to provide in the way of Products and Services. You can’t be all things to all people, so focus on what is your business.

Step 2 – Decide on how you would want those products and services provided to you, if you were the customer.

Step 3 – Ask the customers how they want those products and services provided to them. Then “Do That” and Continuously Improve.

1.2 – Building Processes and Systems Cycle – Excellent systematic and repeatable processes and systems means making your products and services as effective and efficient as possible.

Systematic means, smart people have created the best ways to serve the customer.

Repeatable means, anyone who uses the processes and systems should be able to provide the same high quality and highly productive products and services.

1.3 – Building Knowledge Cycle

Step 1 – Decide on the appropriate core competences and build those.

Step 2 – Train and keep critical skills in front of everyone. Don’t forget the customer service training is also one of the critical skills. Treat customer service training the same way you might for safety or quality. It is that important. Without “Excellent Customer Service” your revenues erode and your business disintegrates. Therefore, “Customer Focus” should be talked about during every meeting and presented in ongoing training. As an example, I developed a 12 month cycle of training so that the basics are addressed in short ongoing vignettes. The subjects include topics such as attitudes, eye contact, first impressions, tone of voice, our environment, presentation, etc.

1.4 – Visit Preparation Cycle – Prepare for the visit by making everything ready for when the customer or patient arrives.

Phase Two – During the Visit

This is where the patients or customers are present and the frontline workers are involved. (But then, we are all frontline workers.) As mentioned, all the Five Customer Focus Attitudes are important in each phase of the Customer Service Lifecycle. During the visit is where all the attitudes touch the hearts of external customers.

(2) Welcoming Attitude: Welcoming customers can be a weak spot. A “Professional Attitude” is still important as we add to it a “Welcoming Attitude,” Here are some welcoming activities.

2.1 – Acknowledgement – This is our opportunity to make a great first impression. When you read customer surveys or social media, you might find the lack of acknowledgement to be a major complaint. As an example, a customer writes, “The whole time I was there, I was standing just three feet away from three employees, and not one of them looked at me.”

2.2 – Introducing and Listening Cycle – Once acknowledged, the customer should be introduced. You might introduce the customer to yourself, to other employees, to the processes that the customer is going to use, and anyone next in line to work with the customer/patient. In each case this should be a positive interaction. The introductions should be upbeat and highlight the positives with lots of interactive listening. (“You are lucky, you going to be seeing Dr. Great Lady and Nurse Nice Person is going to escort you. Ask her about her son who just graduated for High School.”)

(3) Serving Attitude and a (4) Helpful Attitude: Next a “Serving Attitude” and a “Helpful Attitude” empowers the excellent delivery of products and services.

2.3 – Services, Explaining, Resolution, and Feedback Cycle – This is where we provide the value.

Explaining becomes important especially when disruptions are expected. The patient wants to know if delays are expected. Knowing what is happening lowers stress and opens door to other options. When explaining, address the problems, explain the durations required, explain the procedures, acknowledge the complaints, find resolutions, and show empathy. Let you face reflect the situation. Feedback and listening is important to minimize conflicts and future problems. This is your opportunity to manage future social media post.

2.4 – Negotiation, and Buy-in Cycle – Everything isn’t black and white or true or false. For a better overall experience, it becomes important to be as flexible as reasonable. Leave room for negotiation, communication, and facilitate buy-in. Together with the customer, find solutions and point out benefits. This could help to lower stress and lead to a happier end result.

2.5 – Closing – This is our opportunity to leave an excellent lasting impression. In some cases a different employee (a new face) is involved, therefore even in checkout you may be making a first impression.

(5) Grateful Attitude – A “Grateful Attitude” is the key to happiness. The happiest people in the world have an attitude of gratitude. Showing gratitude is an inexpensive way to enrich the customer’s experiences. Show appreciation openly and extravagantly.

2.6 – Thank You – Thank you’s are always important. Thank people every chance you get. Show them you appreciate them.
Phase Three – After the Visit

Now is your chance to solve systemic issues and make improvements in your skills or processes and systems.

 

Phase Three – After the Visit

3.1 – Follow Up – Always follow up quickly. Now is a good time to build that repeat customer.

3.2 – Continuous Improvement Cycle – A good Continuous Improvement Cycle has three phases (Assessment Phase, Problem Solving Phase, and an Implementation Phase). These phases help to improve in a systematic and repeatable way. I wrote about the best way to do this in several earlier posts.

 

Craig’s Customer Service Story:

We all have customer service stories. So why as an engineer have I focused so much on customer focus. My story begins at an early age. I was born into customer service. I actually have memories, while still in a highchair, of being in a professional kitchen in my family’s restaurant. Later my father and mother became Holiday Inn innkeepers and trouble shooters for the parent owned (corporate) organization. During that time we moved from one Holiday Inn to another, while my parents worked to improve operations.

Each time we lived on site. I could not even leave my room without possibly bumping into a customer. By the time I graduated from high school I had been to 14 different schools throughout the south.

At age 11, I actually helped at the front desk answering the phone by using a “plug-in-a-cable-to-make-the-connection” type switchboard. Also, during that time I would go around the hotel and restaurant looking for people to help. I folded napkins, washed dishes, delivered room service, cleaned rooms and sidewalks, helped with inventory, and anything else I could do. Although I didn’t get paid (except for tips) until I was 15, I kept doing the Holiday Inn jobs (along with many others) until I graduated with my masters in Engineering Management/Industrial Engineering. I worked every job from groundskeeper and maintenance, housekeeping, front desk, restaurant and bar, to night audit and security. I became the 24/7 customer service trouble shooter. The customers loved me. (Yes I have a bunch of stories.)
During every family meal, our conversation revolved around quality and productivity. Subjects ranged from, how we might improve the food quality, service, infrastructure, engagement, atmosphere, or to prevent employee theft and robbery? To this day, I can’t go anywhere without mentally solving business problems.

Possibly the biggest lessons I learned during my early years, centers on these concepts. The customers are the reason for and the driving force behind an organization’s mission. They are the foundation for every organizational goal and the reason for every operational activity.
And…as my mother use to say, “Your attitude is the Biggest Asset you have related to your success.”