The Service Pro

1
The Service Pro

• Service Leadership

2
The Leaders Role

• To Enable!

• Define reality
• Align the system
• Define the playing field

3
Module 1 Define Reality

• Customer Information
• Listening Strategies
• Measurement

4
Customer Information

• An individual without information cannot take
  responsibility an individual who is given
  information cannot help but take responsibility.

Jan Carlzon, SAS
5
In the Know!

• Secrecy cloaks the infectious madness that
  causes people to participate in their own
  destruction.

Earl Shorris, Scenes from Corporate Life
6
Change information from a

• Need to Know

to a
Right to Know
7
Enemies ofBusiness Success

• Putting a spin on customer information
• False happy talk
• Ambiguous information
• Numbers without meaning

8
Listen,
Listen,
Listen!
The ability to listen . . the single most
important skill for being truly customer focused
9
Listen and Learn!

• The real value in listening comes from
  discovering what

• Hasnt worked
• Needs to be changed
• Someone else is doing better

That is
Hearing all the things you dont want to hear.
10
Sources ofCustomer Information

• Letters, focus groups, complaints, one-on-ones,
  survey cards, market research, loyalty and
  defection rates, panel groups, CSI

• Use a minimum of three on a continual basis
• Find out the why behind numbers
• Routinely disseminate information not just facts
  and data

11
Measurement

• People will rarely give you everything you
  expect.
• However, they will work very hard to give you
  everything you inspect!

12
Service Measurements

• Use to

• Set service performance goals that employees
  strive to achieve
• Let all employees know how well they are doing
• Supplement existing performance accountability
  areas

13
The Red Bead Experiment
14
Module 2 Align the System

• Influences on Performance

15
Remove the Barriers toSuperior Service

• All too often, individual efforts to improve
  service are thwarted by systemic
• practices, procedures, and programs
• in direct or indirect conflict with the
  sought-for goal of delivering better value.

16
Module 3 Define the Playing Field

• Performance Boundaries
• Accountability
• Recognition

17
One Size Doesnt Fit All!

• Rigid, one size fits all policies make fast,
  flexible, personal, responsive customer care
  impossible.
• A narrow playing field ensures that nobody will
  be served exceptionally and everyone will receive
  average, mundane service!

18
Product
Performance

• Tangible, stackable, weighable
• Inventoried in anticipation of need
• Samples sent out
• Depreciated over time
• Produced in customers absence
• Can follow a standard template
• Producers specs prevail

19
Service
Performance

• Intangible in many aspects
• Cant make it in anticipation of customer
• Produced with customer present
• Customer involvement is main reason for variance
• Receivers quality standards prevail
• Dynamic no specific blueprint! No standard
  template!

20
The Playing Field

• A leader must define a performance playing
  field that allows employees to handle routine
  deviations from normal customer transactions or
  interactions.

21
The Playing Field(continued)

• Make sure its

• Wide enough to allow employees to handle all
  routine transactions and predictable and routine
  deviations
• Narrow enough to protect the financial integrity
  of the business

22
From Rigid to Flexible

• When decisions are rubber stamps
• When there is no value added by having someone
  else involved
• When the individual can access necessary
  information
• When the individual can learn the criteria to
  deal with the issue

23
Accountability andMotivation

• Bad case for employees Working with
  someone who doesnt care and wont try.
• Worst case for employees Leadership that
  wont do something about it!!!

24
Recognition andAppreciation

• Dont take good service performance for granted!
• Caring for customers is not easy. Make consistent
  customer service worth the effort of employees.
• If you neglect their efforts, employees will
  neglect customers!

25
EncouragingBetter, Faster, and DifferentService
Experiences

• Dont overlook contributions or just
  point out errors
• Focus on catching people doing things

Different
Better,
Faster,
26
Recognition

• Communicates management appreciation for service
  efforts
• Respects the hard, emotional labor involved in
  service performance
• Keeps the focus on what winning looks like and
  reinforces a winning attitude throughout an
  organization

27
Recognition(continued)

• Fosters a supportive work environment that
  maximizes superior customer care
• Keeps employees focused on the customer

28
The Business of Service

• Service is a management responsibility!
• The frontline will march to whatever drumbeat you
  play.

So what will it be?
29
Creating a Service Culture

• Your culture is represented in the stories
  employees tell.
• Do these stories reflect an organization that is
  truly focusedon customers and on
  providingexceptional service?