Contact Shep (314) 692-2200

Customer Service – Start with the End in Mind

Become Customer Focused I recently posted one of my articles in a great online publication, Customer Think, one of the top repositories for customer service articles on the Net.  Bob Thompson, the editor-in-chief at Customer Think, and Michael Lowenstein, a fellow author, and I embarked on some interesting dialogue around the article, which was about […]

focus-on-customer-serviceBecome Customer Focused

I recently posted one of my articles in a great online publication, Customer Think, one of the top repositories for customer service articles on the Net.  Bob Thompson, the editor-in-chief at Customer Think, and Michael Lowenstein, a fellow author, and I embarked on some interesting dialogue around the article, which was about being employee-focused before you are customer-focused.

If you have been following my articles and social media posts, you know that I believe that before you can become customer-focused, you must be employee-focused.  Customer service starts with the employees of an organization.  And that means all employees from leadership to the most recently hired to the entry-level positions.  To become customer-focused, you must practice internally what you want the customer to experience externally.  All employees must treat each other the way the customer should be treated.  That is where it starts.

Well, Bob Thompson seemed to disagree.  He believes you become customer-focused first.  He had some very valid comments, and I think the concept is up for interpretation.  Yes, some companies have great customer service and an incredible employee experience that has failed.  The reason is that it also takes a great product, which is a very customer-focused concept.  After all, without a product that customers are willing to buy, you won’t have a business, regardless of how good the customer service is.  Bob referenced the dot.com era, where employees were in the most incredible, almost lavish, work environments, but in the end, some of the companies still failed.  In most cases, it wasn’t because of the lack of customer or employee focus.  It was because the product didn’t make enough money for the company.

Here is the bottom line.

There is proof that top customer service companies are also employee focused.  Look at the surveys that indicate the best companies to work for and you’ll find many of those companies on the lists that provide the best customer service.  Yet, Bob Thompson’s point is valid and here’s my spin on it:

Yes, you must first decide to be customer-focused.  The decision becomes your goal.  The decision does not guarantee your outcome.  And to achieve this outcome, you must create a process that is put into place by the leadership of the organization.  And while part of the process is about having the right systems and procedures in place, you still need people to act upon them.  The right people must be hired, trained and empowered to support the vision of the customer experience.  And this vision, or outcome, will never happen unless the employees support it.

So, you start with the end in mind.  And begin with first focusing on your employees.

This post is part of the Customer Experience Professionals Association’s Blog Carnival “Celebrating Customer Experience.” It is part of a broader celebration of Customer Experience Day.  

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)

Want to receive Shep’s latest customer service and CX research?

Sign up for instant access to Shep’s research report on customer service and customer experience.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

© 2024 Shepard Presentations, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.

Legal Information | Sitemap Legap

Site by: digitalONDA