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business success’s key component? 

By  bem_admin

Customers are king and customers are always right; we couldn’t survive without them! Yes we know all of that and recognize that it is all indeed true! So why is that that business still feels that customers ‘get in our way’?

business success’s key component?

introduction

Customers are king and customers are always right; we couldn’t survive without them! Yes we know all of that and recognize that it is all indeed true! So why is that that business still feels that customers ‘get in our way’?

Separation is an emotive state of mind, one that prioritizes difference…..and herein lies the problem! Difference implies degrees of influence and levels of importance or priority.

Complaints – what is?

A complaint is an interaction where one party is sharing a negative and the other party must respond positively (preferably). Clearly there are different perspectives on the situation, different emotions and exposure to the incident itself and different measurement templates that each considers. Whether a positive or a negative is referred to, imbalance exists for both parties with separation reigning. There is no equality.

Questions – what is? Questions are an opportunity for an interaction where one party has the information and the other does not. One wants what the other has, in this case knowledge, and with one question also comes a myriad of levels of possible response – the ‘must know’, ‘should know’, ‘could know’ and ‘nice to know’. How much knowledge can and will be released in relation to how much enquirer wants or needs? Imbalance is a likelihood.

Service – what is? The attendant often has work to do that is ‘all about service’ yet embedded into a life of administration eg balance the books, do the stock report, answer the phone, complete the time sheets. The customer simply needs to be serviced! On the basis of time, priorities, pace and consistency, once again the distribution is inequitable, which results in separation.

In all of these situations, there’s potential for one party being ‘outnumbered, outweighed or even outspoken’ by the other. Imbalance reigns and hence so too exists a possibility that one can ‘get in the way’ of the other. Using the examples above, a dispute may get in the way of a solution, a lack of interest may get in the way of a complete answer whilst priorities and opinions may get in the way of facts.

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What could happen if we all lived in a different land called ‘responsibility’, which is firmly rooted in a space of ‘service to all equally’. It’s a different space where what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine. My knowledge, my care, my interest, my processes are yours, and ‘our experience’ is one experience forging togetherness and mutual partnerships in business. If so, what would need to change?

Responsibility with Complaints – what can be?

To do so, why not process the company complaint situation against a template of quality experience for both, thereby being led by a process that will focus on milestones, the right questions at the right time and positive outcomes rather than a ‘he said, she said’ focus on content and situation.

Responsibility with Questions – what can be?

To do so, and combined with the age-old Ghandi quote of a customer not being an interruption to our work but rather the purpose of it, is there an opportunity to link this with recruitment? Are we prioritizing the natural behaviours of persistence, support, sensitivity to feelings of others, high intuitive levels and team player characteristics for those recruited in face-to-face service roles?

Responsibility with Service – what can be?

To do so, systems could benefit from change. Currently rewarding that which supports difference eg, your KPI is to have all reports done on time, and not to ensure a system that measure how quickly the customer is served and the level of content he has after the connection.

Perhaps it’s never going to be this simple, yet the other option of getting in each others’ way is hardly going to serve a harmonious customer-supplier relationship either. What could happen if we finally find a tipping point towards co-dependency, win-win and genuine care!

bem_admin


Debbie Nicol

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