Leadership Lessons: Company Culture

Organizational Challenge

Below are some commonly quoted customer service statistics. Maybe you have seen them before:

• A typical business hears from about 4 percent of its dissatisfied customers, while 96 percent just go away ... and 91 percent will never come back.
  
• It costs five to six times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep a current one.
  
• It takes 12 positive service interactions to make up for one negative interaction.

Whether or not these can be substantiated is another story, but it is safe to say that your organization's customer service culture is critically important to growth and profits. According to a study by The Wharton School, stakes are high as reducing customer attrition by 5 to 10 percent can increase annual profits as much as 75 percent. Author Jerry Fritz is quoted as saying, "You'll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can't be copied." More focus is being placed on the power of customer service lately. One of the huge drivers of renewed attention is the impact of technology and the demand from consumers for instant access to goods and services. This carries over directly to the delivery of customer service in meeting those demands, especially in responding to e-mail. Technology can't, and never will, replace the human touch. Does your customer service culture touch your customers in the right way?

Slowing Economy ... Growing Customer Service

A study released by the Jupiter Research Corporation in August of 2007 entitled, "Experience-Driven Service Expectations," indicates that customer service must consider the impact as online marketing matures. And, a 2008 Contact Center Satisfaction Index released by Claes Fornell International indicates that as consumer spending weakens and the economy slows, organizations should focus more on retention and less on the more expensive customer acquisition. Contact centers, being on the frontline of the customer relationship, carry the bulk of the load in keeping customers. Jupiter Research, in its US Customer Forecast, 2007 to 2012, shows that spending on customer service will continue to rise with companies dealing with consistent increases in the number of customer service contacts.

A national employment projection report from the Department of Labor backs this up: Employment of customer service representatives is expected to increase 25 percent from 2006 to 2016. This is much faster, the report stated, than the average for all occupations. This same report echoes the call for customer service people who can, "build sales, visibility, and loyalty as companies try to distinguish themselves from competitors." Retention will become more important, especially in industries that already employ large numbers of customer service representatives, including those in the industries of financial services, communications and utilities. OK, so let's examine these ramifications. Word of mouth is powerful and it is causing change. The speed of technology increases the viability and impact of sharing customer service experiences. The spiraling economy sends organizations scrambling to retain customers, save dwindling profits and strive for growth. In the next 10 years, and probably beyond, customer service will be the differentiator as organizations staff up to meet the demand.

A Solution

My vote would be to train and re-train. And then do it again. Take a look at your culture: What is it demonstrating to your customers? Training customer service representatives should be seen as a must-do in any organization. It is possible to create a program that fits into busy schedules. Your training representative can help make this work. Two products fit into this scenario: STAR Service and Winning Through Customer Service, both from Vital Learning Corporation.

What I like about STAR Service is that it is a solid half-day program that isn't fluffy. It teaches a clear, practical, four-step process to transform negative and neutral customer experiences to positive and memorable ones. That is right on the mark for retention of customers and the increase of customer referrals. That ties us back to the power of word of mouth.

What I like about Winning Through Customer Service is the flexibility of the program for delivery, either online or in the classroom. Your training representative can additionally help you with some blended learning ideas. There are four modules that can help turn on your representatives to problem-solving, successful communicating, adapting to different behavioral styles and more. I leave you with this thought. Having a customer service culture will lead to long-term customers who are generally more profitable. In a Whitepaper published by CISCO, the headline reads: "Are you providing your customers with the satisfying experiences that will keep them coming back?"

For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org