Paul Cooper

1
Paul Cooper
ICS
IM THE CUSTOMER GET ME OUT OF HERE!
2
Whats Going On Out There?

• Customers
• Rising expectations, less tolerance
• Greater sense of importance and power
• Growing affluence
• Market
• More choice of products, services and delivery
  routes
• Increasingly service economy only 20 make
  things
• Severe skills shortages in both applicants AND
  existing staff see Employment Skills Survey
  2004 (DfES)
• Realisation that these ARE skills think
  laterally
• Strong desire for qualifications/professionalism
• CULTURE CHANGE ISSUE MANY
  ORGANISATIONS
• AND INDIVIDUALS NEED HELP GETTING THERE

3
Acting on the Same Stage

• Old borderlines are evaporating, old
  categories are merging. The divisions between
  commercial, public-sector and non-profit
  organisations are becoming blurred. All
  organisations now act on the same stage, and need
  to justify their place on that stage. - The Big
  Idea Robert Jones

4
The Complacency Gap

• Survey of 400 US Organisations
• 8 described their experience of others as
  excellent
• 80 thought they were excellent

5
So.

• Its who UNDERSTANDS the customer who wins

6
What do customers really want

• Efficient service
• To be treated as a human being, not a problem
• To be listened to, not talked at
• To get clear and accurate information when they
  want it, and how they want it
• To speak to a human being when needed
• To communicate with someone who knows what they
  are talking about, with authority
• Reassurance of the buying decision - VFM
• Kept promises
• Easy access to all of the above
• SAME ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

7
Yes.. But...

• These have to be a GIVEN nowadays!
• To impress customers in the future
• Innovation
• Excitement
• Access to YOU and your team
• GREAT Customer Service
• GREAT recovery when you screw up
• Empowerment of your people
• Understanding and Caring about ME

8
What dont they want?

• Being hassled
• Scripts
• Staff with poor knowledge/no authority
• Unfulfilled promises/lies
• Being treated all alike/non-personalised
• Being talked down to/patronised (women!)
• A bad aftertaste
• Feeling ripped off
• Musak
• Automated answering systems/0845-0875
• On-hold music/your call is important to us
• ABA Research 2002

9
A few truisms about customers

• They can be unreasonable and unfair, often
• It isnt acceptable to be abusive but they will
  be
• They are different from one another
• They are often scared and disoriented
• Best advocate or worst nightmare
• They spend x in a lifetime on products from
  someone y people in the family z friends
  is it you?
• They may have a problem real or perceived
• Fixing the problem is the job
• Learning from the fix is the secret

10
Reputations Research Overall Conclusions

• Four characteristics of Service Excellence
• (by frequency of mention)
• 13 - They go the extra mile
• 14 - They make it personal
• 25 - They deliver the promise
• 48 - They deal with complaints and queries
  brilliantly

11
Reputations Research Conclusions
12
It all makes business sense.
A Complaint
is a Gift
13
Quote

• If you wonder what getting and keeping the right
• employees has to do with getting and keeping the
• right customers, the answer is everything.
• Fred Reichheld

14
The Service Value Profit Chain

• Organisations who fairly treat, value, respect
  and
• support their staff -
• Staff satisfied with pay, recognition,
  involvement
• Staff with high commitment to the organisation
• High Employee satisfaction (low turnover)
• High quality customer service
• High customer satisfaction (loyalty)
• Reputation
• Profit

15
The Real Measure Its Hard to Take!

• If the pupils arent better than the teacher,
• the teacher has failed Confucius
• If the people that follow you into the job
• arent better than you are, the organisation
• is going backwards Henry Ford

16
Leaders Quote

• Customers are the most important visitors on our
  premises.
• They are not dependent on us, we are dependent on
  them.
• They are not an interruption of our work, they
  are the
• purpose of it.
• They are not outsiders to our business, they are
  part of it.
• We are not doing them a favour by serving them,
  they are
• doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to
  do so.
• Gandhi/McDonalds
• Customer Service IS the job

17
Quotes

• The first impression I get when I walk into a
• hotel room is they think Im a thief Gary
  Hamel
• Too often people get ahead by saying smart
• things rather than doing smart things Bob
  Sutton
• To go the extra mile often means youve just got
  to
• go a couple of inches Prof Bob Johnston

18
What REALLY gets the results?

• Long term commitment from the top
• Great recruitment practices/induction
• Strong Customer Focussed/Loyalty culture
• Great supporting technology
• Formal recognition/accreditation
• Integrated Sales/Marketing/CS stance
• Measuring right things/feedback
• Empowerment
• Welcoming complaints/handling well
• Fair rewards and recognition EQUALS

19
The real reason for doing all this!!!

• MOTIVATION
• REPUTATION/PROFIT

20
Other Benefits to All Organisations

• Improved customer satisfaction/retention
• Increased word-of mouth recommendations
• Improvement in organisations prestige
• Universally recognised for high quality service
• Life-long Learning for all staff
• High quality, happier workforce/lower
  turnover/easier recruitment
• Support to quality programmes
• Better basis for recognition/appraisal systems

21
Ten Things to Achieve Service Excellence

• Recruit and train the right people
• Keep your staff happy
• Recognise the importance of customer loyalty
• Lead from the top
• Welcome complaints
• Utilise tools with caution
• Tell the world (once you ARE good!)
• Build a Reputation
• Measure your performance
• Communications

22
You wouldnt believe it!

• Airline loyalty card
• Credit card
• Car Insurance
• Mortgage
• House Insurance
• Private Medical
• Mobile Phone
• Internet Server
• Closed TESSA
• Bank Account
• Car Dealer
• Magazine Subscription
• Utility supplier
• Contact lenses

23

24
The Role of the ICS

• Service Leadership
• - Breakthrough Committee Research Projects
• - Publications, Seminars and Conferences
• - Interface networking between all members
• - Study Tours, benchmarking opportunities, etc
• Setting standards for Customer Service
• Accreditation of Organisational Programmes
• Qualifications and Membership Framework for
  Individuals
• UK CSI
• National Customer Service Week