I recently did a session on Exceptional Customer Service in Whistler, Canada during an organization’s annual retreat. One of the questions often asked is ‘whose job is it to deliver exceptional customer service’. This group was sharp and immediately emphatically stated, ‘all of us’. In the room were staff people from finance, operations, and administration along with executive leadership members.
Earlier in my career I reported to a gentleman who drove into my head that to lead people you needed to clarify roles, goals, and objectives for all people in the organization. This is not to create silos (lack of communication across functional teams in an organization) but to create accountability. However, when it comes to exceptional customer service, all hands are on deck.
The customer service metric in your organization should be a company wide metric that all share. How a phone gets answered, how a quality concern is dealt with, how pricing is established, how accounts receivables conflict is raised, and how deliverables to a customer are provided are all factors in exceptional customer service.
Great companies go to great lengths to ensure that all employees know who there customers are.
Do you know how you are able to make your customer’s happy or unhappy?
Do you know the sound of your customer’s voices?
What is the one metric you measure and collectively fight for every day on behalf of your customers?