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Best Practices in Customer Service Part Three. Practical Methods for Leading Customer Service
In customer service, your only competitive advantage may be your people. And the most formidable task faced by customer service managers may be to help their workers make the most of their potential. Research shows that most managers are incompetent when it comes to organizing, leading, and supporting the people they supervise. This article shows how managers can be more effective through coaching. Anne Bruce is a principal and senior consultant for AddVantage Learning, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas. She is a nationally recognized keynote presenter, conducting her programs for major organizations, such as Baylor University Medical Center, Continental Airlines, the Georgia Power Company, and the American Management Association. Between 1995 and 1997, Anne served as lead designer, writer, and developer of more than 40 leadership, customer care, communications, and train-the-trainer programs, launching the curriculum nationwide for Southwest Airlines' University for People, which now serves more than 27,000 Southwest Airlines employees and is considered an industry benchmark. E-mail: abruceal@aol.com James S. Pepitone is a 20-year veteran management consultant often praised as "the architect of high-performance work." In addition to client engagements, Jim is chair and CEO of Pepitone Worldwide, and a pioneer in the field of human performance improvement. In recent years, he has developed breakthrough strategies for reducing the time and cost of corporate training programs by one-half while increasing the results, and has counseled numerous companies on the launch or re-launch of corporate universities. He is the author of Future Training: A Roadmap for Restructuring the Training Function (AddVantage Learning Press, 1996) and Humaneering: Technology for Improving Human Performance at Work (AddVantage Learning Press, 1998). E-mail: ceo@pepitone.com Web site: http://www.pepitone.com What do you need to have more excited customers and more committed, enthusiastic employees? The secret to that competitive edge is as basic as human nature: you need to foster an environment that promotes caring and healthy relationships. That's natural—but certainly not easy! How can a manager create an environment where caring is the culture, the force behind a high-quality service effort? This article offers ideas, questions, and suggestions that provide a great start. JoAnna Brandi is the founder of Working Relationships, Inc., a Customer Care company committed to helping companies build better relationships with their customers through the strategic use of marketing, research, and training. JoAnna has developed seminars on customer care, teamwork, and customer-focused vision and culture. She publishes a semi-annual newsletter, Dare to Care, and a newsbrief, the Customer Care Bulletin. She is author of Winning at Customer Retention: 101 Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal, and Keep 'em Coming Back (Lakewood Publications, 1995) and 54 Ways to Stay Positive in a Changing, Challenging and Sometimes Negative World (Lakewood Publications, 1998). E-mail: jbrandi@customerretention.com Web site: http://www.customerretention.com When your customers tell you a product or service is not worth it, that means that their value proposition is out of alignment with their perceptions of value. So, how do you fix those problems? This article recommends value mapping—a process measure designed to improve value delivery by identifying opportunities to enhance benefits to the customer while reducing the price the customer pays for those benefits. R. Eric Reidenbach, Ph.D., is a founding principal of the VALTec Group, Inc., Morgantown, West Virginia. He has consulted with the Pentagon, the Naval Research Laboratories, Walt Disney World, Benetton Spa (Italy), and McDonald's. Work for these clients ran the gamut from the development of values-based instrumentation to the deployment of value-driven systems to improve organizational productivity. He is the author or co-author of 12 books on marketing and marketing research techniques. E-mail: 102331.3303@compuserve.com Gordon W. McClung, Ph.D., another founding principal of the VALTec Group, Inc., served as marketing manager and marketing director at Investors Mortgage Insurance and AT&T Long Lines. As a consultant, Gordon worked with such companies as Holiday Inns of America, Silver Springs Sportwear, Caterpillar, Dow Chemical, and Kmart. He has pioneered work in value analysis and value management. He has contributed more than 100 articles to professional and academic publications. E-mail: VALTec@VALTec-Group.com Reginald W. Goeke, Ph.D, is also a founding principal of the VALTec Group, Inc., with a background in marketing research and data analysis. He has been involved in the development of unique and proprietary instrumentation for such companies as Caterpillar, Caterpillar of Australia, Gough, Gough & Hamer (New Zealand), Westrac Equipment (Australia), and Elphinstone Underground Mining Equipment (Tasmania). E-mail: VALTec@VALTec-Group.com Web site: http://www.valtec-group.com Return to Best Practices in Customer Service page |