Upending Service

“Customer service shouldn't just be a department; it should be the entire company."

- Tony Hsieh, Entrepreneur and venture capitalist

In one form or another almost every company makes a claim along the lines of; “Our Customers are King!” Which leads to a question. As a customer, when was the last time a company made you feel like royalty? With some fortunate exceptions, I’d be willing to wager you have many more stories about being treated poorly than being a king or queen, right?

We spend a lot of time in our business looking at market niches, economic trends, how to implement the latest technologies etc. But how much time do we typically spend on making customer service a top priority? I’d argue that great customer service is by far the most important thing you can do.

Think about those few times you have been treated to great service. How does it make you feel? After the usual shock of being treated so well what do you do? You become a customer for life! You tell your family and friends. You say great things about them on social media. The company may not be the cheapest or biggest but you don’t care. The feeling you get for truly being respected as an individual and customer outweighs all of that. They make you feel like they care about you.

When you experience this kind of service just know it’s no accident. Take a closer look and you’ll find a company that lives and breathes customer service. They hire for it and they train for it. They know what a competitive advantage it is. Putting their employees in a position to help others is much more fun and rewarding than having to state over and over; “I’m sorry, but that’s not our company policy.”

There are many ways to approach this. One I particularly like is the inverted management pyramid. I’d like to take credit for it but that honor goes to one of the students of my Applied Leadership Program.

On the left side of the picture below you see the typical management hierarchy. A board of directors if the company is big enough for one, the CEO or owner, management and then the people that actually interact daily with customers. Where things get off the rails is when upper management creates processes and rules that are at odds with serving their customers. It’s not done intentionally. There are often well thought out reasons for creating such rules. However, the customer experience is rarely taken into account when making them.

Now, look at the right side of the picture. Can you begin to see the advantages? Here are a few that jump out to me.

• Everyone in the organization is focused on the customer experience.

• Issues that customers have flow down to management and the CEO.

• Customer facing employees feel more empowered to do what’s best for the customer knowing they’ll be supported. Less burnout, more fun.

• Non-customer facing employees are there to support internal employees who are. They’re their customers.

• Management and the CEO/Owner are getting constant feedback on how their customers are using their product or service and how it can get better.

• Employees in the company are happier and more fulfilled because they can see the positive affect they’re having on their customers and on the business.

I’m sure you can think of many more if you give it some thought.

I understand that in a way this is just semantics. The direction of the triangle is really irrelevant. But pictures can be powerful things. By making the triangle on the right the picture everyone sees inside the company; our minds tend to adjust to how we approach our job. When it’s reinforced within the company daily it becomes the culture.

The companies that get this right are few, but they are also typically wildly successful. Tony Hsieh from our quote above was the CEO of Zappos for over 20 years. Sell shoes online? The naysayers had a field day with him when he started it. They’re not laughing anymore. Fanatical customer service grew them into a juggernaut.

How can the Ritz Carlton charge on average $1,000 a night for a room? The hotel industry is supposed to be one of the most competitive in the world. Why? Because they treat their customers like they’re the reason they exist. HubSpot CTO and founder Dharmesh Shah says; "The more advocates you have, the fewer ads you have to buy." When’s the last time your saw a commercial for the Ritz Carlton?

To wrap this up consider the statement by Sally Gronow. Sally is the head of customer service for LinkedIn. She says; “Good customer service costs less than bad customer service."

Outrageously happy customers should be the norm. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Are you looking for a defensible competitive advantage for your business?