Bruce is at it again, rubbing elbows at the spiffy-dressed gala event, promoting his ego and bragging about how great he, err, the company is. Speaking in public, sharing his genius for making satisfied customers, to applause.
Next day back in the office, late, waltzing past people in reception, flinging his cape over a chair, plops down for another day of strategizing how to get his sales people to satisfy customers.
Cloak-check that attitude Mr. Wayne, it’s Robin who should be in the spotlight and your greasy hands should be filling up that bat-mobile.
Your powerpoint slides on customer satisfaction strategy = a waste of time.
It’s not about strategy, your ideas, it’s about your tactics that create a LOYAL client league who will aid you in the fight against those villainous competitors.
Ask yourself:
How often in the last month have I gone to 1st presentations, deliveries, implementations or yuck, client apology meetings?
If you go, what’s the % you spend talking? At your next sales meeting, ask your staff to write down that number , I bet 10 scooby-snacks they’re different.
How often do I personally: make cold calls, answer client requests, handle defect reports, take on accounts, ride along on deliveries or hit the streets?
Yellow utility-belt too tight now, or is that cape still at the cleaners?
Loyal customers are created by your great products, your sales teams and anyone who has any connection to the fulfillment process. Your role is not to just oversee and delegate, but to be personally, continually, versed in those “moments of truth” that occur at any point of client contact.
Am I saying switch from running the company to grabbing a headset?
No, I’m challenging you to stop hiding behind your desk internally and stop jumping in front of the podium externally. You are the sidekick to the selling & customer loyalty team, THEY are the heroes, give them the limelight, you melt into the shadows.
But don’t look to the sky for the bat-signal before getting involved, work through various stages of your fulfillment/production process as a regular habit, this makes your team feel safe to try new things and yikes, make mistakes.
When doing however, pull that mask down to your mouth, listen and let them work!
Mistakes, client complaints and compliments form the basis of every process, technology upgrade or training item your company should have. Are you collecting these, or just considering them problems to be “dealt with”?
Give all employees a chance to participate in any strategy, service, operational change that will impact customers, anonymous online surveys are a great way to do this.
Survey monkey has easy to set up surveys that can be written in Japanese. Also good for customer feedback!
One client of mine sends out a link with EVERY client engagement, they have dozens per day, the amount of data they have collected has changed their customer service model.
Robin’s at his desk Mr. Wayne, it’s not too late.
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