ARE YOU
SERIOUS?
Are
you serious about providing superior value to your customers? I mean
really serious, not just paying lip service to the idea.
Well, if you are, why not go public? You could create a written customer promise
which you would then publish to all and sundry both within your company and
without. This would be a formal pledge from you, the business owner or manager,
to your customers telling them about the value they can expect to receive if
they deal with you. To put some teeth into it, you could give a no-questions-asked,
100% money-back guarantee if your customers believe that you have failed to
deliver on your promise.
If you also published your customer promise internally, it would have the added
benefit of telling your staff what you expect of them. It would give them both
the authority and the responsibility to deliver the value you promised to your
customers. The customer promise could become part of your performance management
system too. You could measure people's value to your business according to
their contribution to creating customer value and you could base your remuneration
plan around it.
I once came across a customer promise in a taxi in New York. Through the published
promise, the management of the taxi company assured me that I would get a courteous
English-speaking driver who knew his way around the city and would take me
to my destination by the most direct route. Now that would be a real challenge
for many New Zealand taxis! I was also promised air conditioning on demand,
a silent (radio-free) trip, smoke and incense free air, and a clean passenger
seat area. By this simple tool, the management of the company reduced any anxiety
I might have had about the level of service I would receive. They also managed
my expectations and set a standard of service for the driver to meet. Everyone
knew where they stood and that increased the likelihood that I would be satisfied.
A customer promise is not difficult to develop. And, as you can see by the
taxi example, it does not have to be complicated. Simply write down a list
of the benefits you intend to provide your customers in easy to understand
words. No corporate-speak, please. No jargon, no glib promises or marketing
jive either. Just write the promise as if you were explaining all of this to
the customer face to face.
But there are two things you must do before releasing your customer promise
to the public. First, make sure you have the ability to deliver on your promise
- not just once, but every time. This means ensuring your businesses processes
are reliable, effective and robust. Secondly, make sure your staff are brought
up to speed. This obviously means letting them see the promise before it goes
out - which would be a first for many companies since staff are usually the
last to know - but it also means that they must understand what a customer
promise is, why a company should have one and what yours really means. Most
importantly, they must understand what they will be required to do to comply
with the promise.
Like everything else in business, this idea could work wonders or it could
cause you a lot of heart-ache. It all depends on how well you manage the process.
But, then again, managing people and processes is your job.
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