Speaking of Business: Focus on internal customers yields external results

Q: We?ve been in business successfully for 10 years. However, in the last few years we?ve started to lose our customers to our competition. We haven?t changed what we?re doing or how it?s done, yet we are losing market share. People are still buying our product at our price, but not from us. I think the source of our problem lies in our service, but how do we change the level of service we offer after 10 years?
A: This is a real problem for most business today. It?s key to get all managers and the teams to take ownership in providing customer service to both their external and internal customers. In an increasingly competitive and service-focused market, customers expect and demand increased levels of service. You need to utilize useful strategies and techniques for identifying customer needs, analyzing those needs in terms of the capability of what you can deliver, and designing the best solution to meet the customers? needs. This will move you beyond the mantra of excellent customer service.
To get to the next level of service, you must have a clear, solid plan. You and your team must agree on who your customers are. Most marketing plans define the customer in demographic, psychographic and/or geographic terms referring primarily to those individuals who eventually pony up to the c ash register.
While this defines the obvious customer, the internal customers ? the marketing, sales, service and support personnel who help capture and retain cash paying external customers ? are virtually ignored.
This becomes a fatal flaw with most companies. Internal customers need to have sufficient knowledge in order for the organization to sell effectively. It?s only when the internal customers, including marketing partners, are completely in sync that they can effectively maximize selling opportunities against the external customer.
Next it?s important to translate customers? expectations of benefits and costs into usable data. Organizations must implement organized systems to capture customers? expectations of product and service quality and reasonable price. The customer expectations will change, usually upward. The rate of change is determined largely by competitive performance.
You?ll find holding onto your current customer base, let alone growing it, difficult without help. Maximizing value to your customers requires that the whole organization be involved. Top management working alone will have little effect, as will delegating responsibility to functional departments such as marketing. To maximize customer value through product and service quality, all members of the organization must assume responsibility. Your product and service quality must extend throughout the value chain. Upstream suppliers must continually improve quality and service. Having the whole team on board will more easily enable you to make your customers loyal.
Remember that excellent customer service can give you a big advantage over your competition. Consider some of the following suggestions for top-notch service:

? Get Customer Feedback.
Positive feedback is helpful and makes you feel good, but it won’t help you improve your service. It’s the negative feedback that counts. Unfortunately, you rarely get to hear what the average dissatisfied customer has to say. They usually just take their business to one of your competitors, and tell others about their bad experience with your company.
Feedback creates two business opportunities: First, you get a second chance to make it right with an unsatisfied customer. Second, you can use the feedback to identify potential product flaws, faulty or outdated policies, or shoddy customer service that caused this customer?s dissatisfaction.
Be willing to improve.
There’s no point in gathering feedback if you’re not prepared to take action.
? Empower your team.
We’ve all been frustrated by situations in which a customer service representative doesn’t have the authority or the proper information to help solve our problem. Give your employees as much latitude as possible to solve certain customer problems on their own.
? Reward excellent service.
Praise outstanding customer service early and often. Informal recognition can be a stronger motivator than many formal rewards.
Recognize employees’ contributions immediately instead of waiting for the next company meeting. Formal acknowledgment should also have a place in your company service strategy.
The customer of today is smarter, more knowledgeable, more price-conscious, more demanding, less forgiving, and approached by more competitors with equal or better offers. The challenge is not to produce satisfied customers ? several competitors can do this. The challenge is to produce loyal customers.

Windsor resident Russell Disberger is a founding member of Aspen Business Group, a Northern Colorado-based specialty consulting and venture capital firm. He can be reached by e-mail at russell@aspenbusinessgroup.com, or at (970) 396-7009.

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