Hi [firstname|there], I have been writing and talking about Customer Service longer than anyone else in the world. I am... “Relentlessâ€. I have seen service leaders come and go and realize very few are “relentlessâ€. It's actually the most important trait or goal for the CEO of every company. The only thing to work on...relentlessly, is Customer Service. When you look at the marketplace, customer experience has definitely overtaken price in the consumer's mind. How do you get there? Be relentless about creating a Service Culture! Take a look at a couple of the business greats. In May 2003 I invested $9,000 in 9 Service Leaders. On April 8, 2019 it is worth $91,113. Sam Walton at Walmart built a very successful business all around customer service and price. When Lee Scott took over he changed the focus to price. Customer Service is not a part of their strategy. The stock is only worth $2,478. Jeff Bezos started Amazon in 1995 in his garage. He has been relentless with his focus on Customer Service. Sales last year increased $55 billion. His net worth is over $131 billion. (With his divorce it has been reduced to about $100 billion and he is still the richest man in the world.) The stock is now worth $59,045 The CEO's of Metro Bank London, Costco, Home Depot and Southwest Airlines have been relentlessly focused on...Creating a Service Culture while at Walmart, Dell, Jet Blue and General Electric the CEO's have let Customer Service disappear. Stock at service leaders like Costco is worth $9,640, Home Depot $9,800 and Southwest Airlines $3,465. Metro Bank London opened July 29, 2010. Dell the stock is worth $488, Jet Blu $1,197 and General Electric $548. Customer Service is not something you can focus on for 2 or 3 years. Each year your customers demand more speed, better prices, improved customer service. Your customers are coming in through various doors and you have to be able to service them on the internet, on the telephone, and in person. Times are changing and your customers are too....so should your strategy. Most companies in the world have introduced some type of service program over the last 30 years. They fail to realize that employee turnover averages about 25% and in some organizations it's much higher. This means in 4 years almost all employees you trained have not kept up with great customer service and you are either suffering from bad customer service or increased turnover. Does anyone really expect that a 4 hour or one day customer service program changes the life of a 26 year old employee? Not going to happen if you only offer a basic training once every 5 – 10 years. In reality, every employee in every country already knows customer service is important and they believe they deliver good customer service. They have missed the critical part of great customer service....changing attitudes and behavior. Creating habits and teaching the art of Customer Service. Our relentless focus at SQI has been 4 things: • Change attitudes and behaviors...create habits. • Teach leading edge customer service skills • Build employee morale and teamwork • Increase sales through word of mouth advertising Remember, employees who love their job are more productive, turnover is reduced and morale is higher. If you have 45, 450 or 2,500 employees you need to mix participants in groups of 10-20 employees with SQI Customer Service Programs to build employee morale and teamwork. All our programs are designed to be implemented on site with employees who have 3 skills: 1. Enthusiasm 2. Peer Respect 3. Customer Service role models. Title is not important click here. We also have an online learning program click here. If you want to learn how SQI drives a Service Culture, click here |