How to organize sales

The mission for many of today's organizations is, improved customer satisfaction and retention through better after sales service.

There are many companies that have put real teeth and accountability into their employee training to insure they get the consistent results they say they desire. Unfortunately there are many more companies who have only given this customer driven philosophy or approach lip service.

I would like to share with you what I feel are some of the reasons that words do not often become deeds, in the area of customer service.

At the end of this article I will share what I believe are the Twelve Laws of Effective Customer Service. These concepts must be integrated into any customer service attitude, philosophy or program to insure integrity between policy and procedure and customer perceptions.

Let's begin with some of the reasons or causes that contribute to a lack of accountability in the employee customer service area. Before we begin, however, it is essential that we get a working definition of, Effective Customer Service.

Effective customer service is not a slogan, advertising program, button that everyone wears or a banner touting a, "We Care attitude". It is a consciousness or attitude that penetrates every nook and cranny of the organization. It is a philosophy that is understood and embraced by every employee, that's every employee, regardless of position, length of service or vocation. It is consistent regardless of the period in the week or month, market pressures, department or branch, current sales results, current cash flow, management philosophy of the day or market position. It is not a program that is funded for the short term, but a corporate lifestyle that is on-going regardless of the whims of management, the fickleness of customers or the dynamics of the marketplace. Long definition I know, but necessary.

What prevents an organizations from building this consciousness into the fabric of its management team and employees?

One. If the corporate culture has been traditionally profit and/or earnings driven, then it will be difficult to shift gears to a customer driven philosophy. Two. If communication is heavily weighted in a top down direction, you can bet that it will take lots of time and follow-through to re-focus to a bottom up style. Three. If the management style is closed, authoritative and or hierarchical, upper management will, unless they are totally and completely committed to changing the attitudes of the organization as a whole, generally sooner or later abandon this new and challenging change in philosophy. Four. If the attitude exists among middle management and employees is, "here we go again", few members of the organization will be able to fight the internal tide of apathy. Five. If employees have too much on there plate, because your business style is to run "lean and mean', it will be difficult to consistently enforce the policies and procedures necessary to maintain the integrity of actions consistent with your stated objective.

An effective customer service philosophy requires constant vigilance and dedication to see it through regardless of how it may hurt to maintain the integrity of your customer commitments.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. Lets say that you have a no questions asked, money back guarantee. A customer, who has purchased a high ticket item from you, for
whatever reason, changes his or her mind and returns the product. You tell them that you will take the product back but you have a restocking fee. Hmm. So you penalize the customer for their return. I purchase a product from you and write a check. The check clears and I decide to return the product. You tell me I will have to wait fourteen days for my refund because the refund has to come from corporate headquarters. Hmm. Customer driven or company convenience driven, you decide. And here is my favorite. I purchase a piece of equipment from you for several thousand dollars. It has a 30 day warranty, so you recommend I purchase a service contract for several hundred dollars a year, to insure that when the equipment breaks I will be able to get it serviced without additional cost. Hmm. Customer driven or organization driven? You decide.

These examples do not reflect a customer focused philosophy. And yet your corporate mission statement says, Our customers are number one. Hmm. I don't think so.

Have you ever had this experience. You are at a restaurant and the food is less than average but you don't have time to send your meal back. When paying your check. the cashier asks, how was your meal. You tell them you were dissatisfied and they say they are sorry. I am sorry to. I will never return to that establishment again and you can bet I will tell a number of my friends, clients and peers.

Effective customer service requires consistent behavior from every employee I encounter
in every situation when I do business with your firm. There are no excuses for: "I didn't know that was on sale, I am new, this is my last week in this joint, we close in ten minutes could you please hurry, I don't know when your order will ship, its been on back order for several weeks