John Caddell of PennLive.com, has a theory. He thinks that in order to do a proper business, everyone involved in an organization should participate in customer service.
Caddell writes, "EVERYBODY works in customer service. Think of it. Rather than a group of ground-down reps fielding all the complaints and questions, everybody takes a turn. It could be perhaps 10-15% of everyone's job--4-6 hours a week. Computer-aided telephony systems & CRM systems easily support flexible staffs of work-from-home agents and could manage the shift of calls from agent to agent."
Would it "fly" in the American corporate business structure? If everyone is working for the same goal--wouldn't the business succeed?
Customer service is such an important job, perhaps we should spread it around
You are absolutely correct. In fact I don't believe any organization will thrive in the 21st Century unless they take this idea to heart and start living it. But for this to happen, the leaders of the company (especially the CEO) need to make it a priority.
ReplyDeleteKevin Stirtz
http://amazingserviceguy.com
I also completely agree. There are too many companies simply focused on the bottom line rather than the customer experience and gaining customer loyalty. However, customer loyalty certainly does affect the bottom line, and with loss of customers comes loss of business. It would do everyone good to participate in what the contact center reps do.
ReplyDeleteActually, though, if you think about it, everyone at a company, whether it be the janitor or CEO, does participate in customer service in one way or another, though they may not even realize it. Personally, I believe that great customer service should be provided both externally AND internally. One should remember that co-workers, vendors, suppliers, etc. are also customers. For example, if one treats their co-workers with the same great attitute and respect as they do the customers they speak to everyday, assuming this is someone that is actually utilizing a great attitute, this air of pleasantness will spread around the office. The same goes for workers with bad attitudes. I am sure many of you have seen how one bad attitude can spread around the office like wild fire, bringing everyone down and causing all sorts of problems, not to mention loss of productivity and probably loss of business.
My personal thinking is that everyone involved in any sort of business should think about how their attitudes and actions might affect the bottom line in any way possible, and everyone should always keep in mind what got you there in the first place.