A company's overall customer service performance is the product of the composite experience of all our customers buying and using all of our offerings, and all their interactions with our people and processes. This involves many possible customer 'touch' points, aptly described as "moments of truth."

Having great people serving our customers is foundational to great customer service.  The reality is that great people can make up for poor systems, but great systems won't make up for poor people. Capable and motivated people are essential for achieving service excellence. In light of this truth, we've put together a self-assessment test, based on seven key factors involved in developing and leading a superb customer-driven team, to help us compare our current practices versus what's possible.

1. Talk about it, a lot! The beginning of great customer service starts in the leader's mind. When you become convinced of the advantages in being customer-driven, and begin making superb customer service a priority, it will begin to happen. As Steven Covey says, "Every idea is born twice, first in the mind, then in the practice." The first step toward the goal is making topnotch service real to your team. Talk about it, brainstorm with them, recount stories to sensitize them to the possibilities, and benchmark top-performing companies. All-in-all, help your team by creating a vivid mental picture of superior customer service. You'll be sharing a vision - a desirable future state or worthy result. Superb customer service requires clear long-term vision. Build customer service excellence into your company's core principles and be sure to review them during the hiring and new employee orientation process. This formative time is greatly beneficial for inculcating high standards before unhealthy habits form. Consider requiring new team members to recite these core company principles from memory and don't be afraid of beating the service drum often. Chances are far greater that you'll under-communicate rather than over-communicate! People must know what's really most important to you. If you don't tell them clearly and often, they'll adopt other practices by default. Write it, speak it, post it on bulletin boards, feature customer service heroes in your newsletter, and reward it. Have fun with it, but do it! Where do you stand? Is customer service something that you wink at, but really aren't excited about? If so, you're probably a 1 and part of the problem. If your people are saying, "Alright, we know, serving our customers better than anyone else is numero uno!"...
you might be a 10. Rate yourself.
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2. Recruit people who actually enjoy interacting with other people. People who like other people have attitudes that demonstrate it and relationships that show it. Therefore, our hiring process should focus on attitude and demonstrated character at least as much as technical qualifications. Most employees who fail to perform well are 'qualified' based on education or experience, but fall short due to poor attitude. In fact, nothing determines an employee's long-term success in serving others well more than attitude.  Think about the five people that you most recently terminated.  How many failed due to technical shortcomings  and how many left due to some form of attitudinal or relational issue?
Rate your hiring process. If you make an effort to uncover character and attitude traits, especially related to serving to others, with as much emphasis as you place on technical abilities, you're a 9 or a 10. If you focus primarily on technical expertise, and treat attitude as an afterthought, you're a 3 or below.
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3. Refine your recruiting, screening, and hiring system to emphasize key competencies and critical skills that differentiate excellent service providers from those less likely to perform well in serving the needs of others. Company environments can vary, so be sure to think critically about key success levers in your situation. For example, your environment might require clarity of speech, perceptive listening and investigative fact-finding, resilience, persistence, stress tolerance, empathy, mental alertness, focus in a noisy environment, a desire to build long-term loyalty through cultivating relationships, etc. Be sure to ask for relevant references and use questions designed to reveal relational success and positive attitude. Ask applicants about prior positions or relationships where serving or sharing were important. Scan their resumes for previous "other-centered" activities (e.g., being a 'Big Brother' vs. solo pursuits like kayaking or reading).
Have you established the criteria, questions and techniques necessary to uncover these critical personal characteristics, or do you 'wing' it? If you have a working system that routinely produces successful new hires and are improving your customer service because of it, take a 10. If your mantra is "Hurry up and fill the position... we can clean it up later!"... you
might be a very frustrated 1.
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4. Profile what it takes to succeed in all of your 'customer- facing' positions. The positions
that regularly interface with customers are where the daily service game is played out. Identify how these positions interact with clients and the key metrics involved. Study the best performers among your customer-facing positions and determine what defines and sets them apart.  Find an approach that works for you and take personal responsibility for the fit of all new hires. If your firm is too big to allow you to interview each new recruit, make sure that you're holding those with this delegated responsibility to a high standard. Do you have a profile established for each position in your business? Do you have a clue as to the ideal combination of character qualities, personality, training, and metrics for each position? If so, you can measure prospects against this standard and assess operating performance as well. If your 'profile' is a warm body, fast, you're like a blind man playing darts; take a 1. If you're better than that, take what you deserve.
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5. Use training to produce the best team in the business. Studies show that the initial weeks are critical in the development of a new employee. There's no second chance to get off to a strong start. Provide a good mentor to introduce the new associate to the business. Teach them constantly while always asking them how to do it better. Send them to classes, provide books and tapes, and bring in expert guests to share new ideas. In today's digital age, information and training is so accessible. It's sinful not to use it! Things change so fast. Don't fall behind. Stay ahead of the curve. Rate your process to introduce new team members to your business and culture. If you sign'em up, check their pulse, and toss them to the wolves - hoping they'll 'get it' on their own - just take your 1 without a whimper. If you consistently follow a thoughtful process in inducting hires, you're one in a million. Take a 10 and go to Disney World!
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6. Provide an empowering environment that breeds a sense of ownership for continuously
improving customer service. Help your team feel excited and proud about their role by constantly helping them see how they support the company's vision and purpose. Let them become spokespeople for key company initiatives. Regularly celebrate performance and based on service goals and share customer testimonials and 'hero' stories. Every big success is built by doing lots of little things well. Is your work environment conducive to creating the performance culture you seek?
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7. Treat your team like customers. Develop a workplace culture that focuses on internal customer service as well. When we meet or exceed employee desires to grow and excel with the company, they'll respond in kind. It's a symbiotic situation. When we genuinely care for them, it feeds their ability to care for others and enables us to provide great customer service.  Think of employees as your first-line customers. If they 'buy' your vision, you're off to a great start in becoming a customer-driven company. If you can't sell them, you're beat. So, how do you think you're treating them?
If we asked them, based on the above criteria, how would you rate?
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Total your ratings and divide by 7 to compute your average score. Average Rating ____
If you've averaged below seven, or are under six on any item, there is plenty to consider!

 Helping your company thrive and provide superior customer service is just one of the many areas of business we focus on each month. Learn more about the C12 Group and how we are Building Greater Businesses for a Greater Purpose.

Contact C12 Dallas today.