Blinding ignorance does mislead us. Oh wretched mortals, open your eyes! ~ Leonardo Da Vinci
1. Walk in Your Customers’ Shoes
It is excellent to carry out customer surveys. They will tell you lots of valuable things, but, by their nature, information gets distilled down. The insights get summarised, so they lose granularity and context.
It is better to talk to your customers directly. They are usually honest, though they may be too polite and not tell you the whole story.
But, if you really want to know what your service is like, try it!
A neighbour of mine opened a sandwich shop. She is a great cook; the sandwiches were fabulous, but I had to wait 20 minutes for them, and one of them had a hair in it. I didn’t tell her. I didn’t fill in her satisfaction survey. And I didn’t fancy going back.
When was the last time you tried out the service you provide? I bet it will be an eye-opener.
2. And Your Employees’
Once you know what the service you offer is like, try to deliver it. Do it yourself. Answer some calls, use the IT system, follow the policies and procedures, and talk to your staff. Take the time to find out what it is like on the shop floor.
Have you seen the TV program “Back to the Floor”? Company executives disguise themselves and work at the coal face for a week or two. They always come back looking a little shell-shocked and with a mission to change things.
Try it; open your eyes to what is happening around you.
3. Stop Doing Stupid Things
It is powerful and shocking to know what it is like to be a customer and an employee. It becomes frighteningly apparent how dumb your organisation can be.
Improving the product or service you offer is as easy as stopping doing those dumb things.
- Stop asking customers for the same information over and over again
- Stop the multiple authorisations
- Stop sending two people when one would do
- Stop double keying data
You can’t help but look good.
4. Make Things Easy to Get Right and Difficult to Get Wrong
A few years ago I bought a Dell PC; with speakers, monitor, camera and a microphone. It had more wires than you could shake a stick at. Fortunately, it also came with a nice clear diagram and only fitted together one way. All the leads were colour coordinated so it was obvious where they went. All the plugs and sockets were different shapes and sizes, so I couldn’t get things wrong.
Good business processes are a little like that Dell PC. If your employees and staff can’t get it wrong, they won’t get it wrong. Your service will be better and your costs lower.
Ask yourself:
- Are my forms easy to fill in or ambiguous?
- Do I use drop-down menus or allow free text entry?
- If a customer phones back, do my staff know what they are talking about?
Is it easy to do business with you?
5. There Isn’t a Finish Line
The best organisations improve their operations. Then they improve their operations, and then they improve their operations again.
Companies like McDonald’s, Amazon, John Lewis and Toyota didn’t get to be so slick by having a go and then forgetting about it. Toyota is so good at this that they will let you walk around their factory and see all their trade secrets. They don’t believe you can catch them, not because what they do is particularly clever, but because of the relentless focus they put into it. If you think improving your service is a one-off task, then I am afraid you will always be second-rate.
But you can’t start all over again until you have started. As Nike say, “Just do it.”
Post Script
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