Your Staff Are Your Clients

Why do we always cringe when we’re told, “I’m going to transfer you to Customer Service?” Because we know in most instances they’re not going to solve our problem and even if they gave us the impression they wanted to, that kind of decision making capability is rare among customer service departments. But whose fault is that?

Do you really think most of the customer service people we deal with want to be obstructive? Don’t you think they would love to be able to have more responsibility and power to solve people’s problems? Of course they would.

However, too many companies don’t see it this way. They treat their customer service departments as an afterthought. Customer service reps are usually the lowest paid and least trained employees. Every day the non-verbal message to these people is: “We don’t care about you.” So, in turn, the customer service reps message to the customer is: “We don’t care about you.” Not a very pretty picture.

Your staff, the people who report to you; they’re your customers. Your attitude toward them will be their attitude toward the customers and clients that buy from your company. What are you doing to develop this internal client base and instill in them the kind of attitude and spirit that customers want to deal with? Whether they work in customer service, sales, secretarial support, installation or the shipping department, each one of these people has the ability to make an impact on your company in either a positive or negative way: the choice is yours.

First thing you could do is find out what their needs are. You would do that if they were a potential client, who wanted to buy from your company, wouldn’t you? So why not do that for your internal clients? If you could help them create a focus, direction and sense of purpose along with some goals for their lives or careers, you could then show them how to use the job as vehicle that could help them achieve what they want.

Now you have people coming to work every day knowing that if they do their jobs well they’re getting that much closer to what THEY want, which means they’re working for themselves. People always work harder and with more motivation when they’re working to benefit themselves rather than the company. The problem is: most people don’t know what they want. Part of your job is to help them figure that out.

How about giving your people some decision making capability ? I bought my son a laptop from Gateway as he was entering his freshman year at college. The customer service experience was awful. I was on the phone with a Customer Service Rep and said to her, in no uncertain terms, “You’ve screwed this up royally and wasted so much of my time, I’d like to know what you’re going to do for me?” After telling me there was nothing she could do, she said, “All I could do for you is give you $100 toward your next Gateway purchase.” Just what I wanted, another Gateway purchase.

I asked to speak to a supervisor, who after a short conversation, agreed to give me back $250 (which I received in the mail). Very nice, except for one thing: I said to that supervisor, “Thank you, but why did I have to get all the way to you to get this? Why couldn’t the Customer Service Rep do it for me?” He said, “You’re right.”

Big deal: the point is by not letting people on the front lines make decisions, you de-motivate them and you frustrate the client. Not a good combination.

People buy from people; they don’t buy from companies or buildings. The attitudes and perceptions that others will form of your organization will only come from the people they deal with. If you don’t treat the people who report to you as clients, what kind of attitude do you think they’re going to show to the outside world?