When it comes to good customer service there is nothing more important than hiring the right person. A favorite colleague reminds me all the time about how and why Nordstrom’s is so successful with creating the ideal customer experience; they hire the smile and train the skill.
So how do you hire the smile? First and foremost look for individuals who have a positive attitude and are genuinely excited about the prospect of working for your company. When interviewing a candidate I appreciate it when the prospective employee has taken the time to research and understand what we do as a company and demonstrate knowledge about our clients, culture and our business in general.
Being a customer service specialist is not for everyone. While we would like to believe we get everything right, part of the reason you have someone answering your calls is because you are sometimes dealing with unhappy customers. I believe in trying to do as realistic job preview as possible. I have interviewed candidates for various positions and there have been times that I intentionally try to scare them away so that I can see firsthand how committed they are to the opportunity versus just looking for a job.
Hiring the right candidates is not the responsibility of Human Resources. The entire team has the responsibility for hiring the right candidates. Coworkers, fellow team members as well as managers should participate in the interview process. Listen closely in particular to what the fellow team members have to say about the candidates ability and passion to do the job. They are the ones, who do the job on a daily basis and know better than anyone what it takes to be successful.
Everything I have talked about here is not just geared towards your customer service associates but should apply for every position you hire for within your organization. Every employee acts and serves as a face to your brand.
Stay tuned for my next entry which will be all about what to do once you hire the right person and to treat them the way you want your customers to be treated.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Aligning Your Mission & Core Values
What does Southwest Airlines, Zappos, Chick Fil A, Nordstrom and Starbucks all have in common? All of these companies have a strong brand and culture that is built around the customer experience. If you review their mission statements, core values and most of their PR you will find references to the employee and customer experience and how it aligns to their product offering. Examples include:
Southwest Airlines - Follow "The Golden Rule," meaning that we treat each other the way we want to be treated, which is why doing the right thing by our Employees and Customers is so inherent to who we are as a Company. We believe in Living the Southwest Way, which is to have a Warrior Spirit, a Servant's Heart, and a Fun-LUVing Attitude.
Zappos - Their 1st core value is "deliver WOW through service". Straight from their website "Customer Service Isn't Just A Department! We've been asked by a lot of people how we've grown so quickly, and the answer is actually really simple... We've aligned the entire organization around one mission: to provide the best customer service possible. Internally, we call this our WOW philosophy."
Chick Fil A - Mission statement "Be America's best quick-service restaurant." Their published purpose is "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
Nordstrom "At Nordstrom, our goal is to provide outstanding service every day, one customer at a time." Further focus is provided to Nordstrom employees at all levels with this Nordstrom goal, which is also a management mission... "We Work hard to make decisions in the best interest of our customers and those serving them."
Starbucks - "Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time." To accomplish its mission, Starbucks has principles that guide all of its employees as they go about their daily business including •Our Customers – When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers – even if just for a few moments.
Over the past few weeks I have been working with a company to help them evaluate and define their core values and overall company mission. Many companies when creating core values and a company mission statement tend to get wrapped up in the wordsmithing and getting overly creative and fluffy in the language they use versus being straight forward about what is important to them and to their company's culture and brand. Many times the focus is all on the product or service and what is forgotten is the culture and how you define the employee and the customer experience. When developing core values and your company's mission statement you really want to be able to answer the how and why your company does the things that it does.
When developing core values and mission statement one suggestion that I found to be very helpful is to identify the attributes and values of people and companies that you really admire, what makes them different? Why do they stand out from everyone else? Next think about the companies and individuals that do not align with your core beliefs, why do they stand out? What examples can you think of that bring them to the forefront of your mind for the wrong reasons?
If your customer experience is core to your brand then it needs to be expressed somewhere in your company's core values and or your mission statement. You need to insure that everyone who comes in contact with your company, especially your employees, understands the importance of the customer experience to your overall brand. This simple first step will help you and your company begin to lay the foundation for making the customer experience a differentiator for your brand.
Southwest Airlines - Follow "The Golden Rule," meaning that we treat each other the way we want to be treated, which is why doing the right thing by our Employees and Customers is so inherent to who we are as a Company. We believe in Living the Southwest Way, which is to have a Warrior Spirit, a Servant's Heart, and a Fun-LUVing Attitude.
Zappos - Their 1st core value is "deliver WOW through service". Straight from their website "Customer Service Isn't Just A Department! We've been asked by a lot of people how we've grown so quickly, and the answer is actually really simple... We've aligned the entire organization around one mission: to provide the best customer service possible. Internally, we call this our WOW philosophy."
Chick Fil A - Mission statement "Be America's best quick-service restaurant." Their published purpose is "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
Nordstrom "At Nordstrom, our goal is to provide outstanding service every day, one customer at a time." Further focus is provided to Nordstrom employees at all levels with this Nordstrom goal, which is also a management mission... "We Work hard to make decisions in the best interest of our customers and those serving them."
Starbucks - "Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time." To accomplish its mission, Starbucks has principles that guide all of its employees as they go about their daily business including •Our Customers – When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers – even if just for a few moments.
Over the past few weeks I have been working with a company to help them evaluate and define their core values and overall company mission. Many companies when creating core values and a company mission statement tend to get wrapped up in the wordsmithing and getting overly creative and fluffy in the language they use versus being straight forward about what is important to them and to their company's culture and brand. Many times the focus is all on the product or service and what is forgotten is the culture and how you define the employee and the customer experience. When developing core values and your company's mission statement you really want to be able to answer the how and why your company does the things that it does.
When developing core values and mission statement one suggestion that I found to be very helpful is to identify the attributes and values of people and companies that you really admire, what makes them different? Why do they stand out from everyone else? Next think about the companies and individuals that do not align with your core beliefs, why do they stand out? What examples can you think of that bring them to the forefront of your mind for the wrong reasons?
If your customer experience is core to your brand then it needs to be expressed somewhere in your company's core values and or your mission statement. You need to insure that everyone who comes in contact with your company, especially your employees, understands the importance of the customer experience to your overall brand. This simple first step will help you and your company begin to lay the foundation for making the customer experience a differentiator for your brand.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Customer Care as a Differentiator
The subject of customer care ROI seems to becoming even more relevant than ever before. It is very rare that you open a business magazine where there is not an article written about how important the customer exerpience is in building the brand of any company. The question is, are companies really ready to make the shift in their entire business to make this a key differentiator?
To truly make a customer experience a differrentiator all strategies need to align to that core objective. This means that everything from who you hire, to how you train them, what they are incentivized to do and how you measure their success needs to be aligned to the customer experience. Over the next few weeks I will produce a series of articles related to to this topic. I will examine everything from how you align your company's core values and objectives all the way down to the types of interview questions you should ask when hiring any new employee into your organization.
Stay tuned...
To truly make a customer experience a differrentiator all strategies need to align to that core objective. This means that everything from who you hire, to how you train them, what they are incentivized to do and how you measure their success needs to be aligned to the customer experience. Over the next few weeks I will produce a series of articles related to to this topic. I will examine everything from how you align your company's core values and objectives all the way down to the types of interview questions you should ask when hiring any new employee into your organization.
Stay tuned...
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