Creating Magic

As I’ve gotten back into blogging, I’ve been looking back at my favorite book reviews and realized I never wrote an actual review on my, probably all-time, favorite, Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney, by Lee Cockerell. I’ve mentioned it more than a few times but it deserves more.

Creating Magic probably took me twice as long to read, just because I did so much highlighting throughout. I have a good size personal library of leadership and customer service books and it is, by far, my most loaned out book.

This is the perfect book for any leader working in, or interested in, the service industry, and for that matter, any industry. After starting out his career as a much more hard-nosed manager, Lee has become the model of great leadership building immediate rapport with employees. He holds nothing back in this book, describing each job along his path and what he had to change about himself to become a successful leader.

One of my favorite quotes is actually the very first line of the book, “It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.” Following the 10 strategies of the book, Lee was able to become a highly-skilled, efficient, and admired leader as Executive Vice-President, Operations of Walt Disney World Resort. Those 10 Strategies are:

#1 - Remember, everyone is important

#2 - Break the mold

#3 - Make your people your brand

#4 - Create magic through training

#5 - Eliminate hassles

#6 - Learn the truth

#7 - Burn the free fuel

#8 - Stay ahead of the pack

#9 - Be careful what you say and do

#10 - Develop character.

These strategies can easily be implemented by the smallest business owner all the way to the Fortune 500 CEO. It’s the way that people are treated that makes any business, and Lee Cockerell gives you the common sense approach and inspiration to make it a reality.

And So It Begins Again!

Soooo, I'm baaaack. It's great to be getting back in the saddle again. I've been away from reading and blogging for too long. With a little inspiration from the right person, here I am, diving back in. I've had a great time in the past connecting with everyone and hope to be able to continue.

For my first entry I'm going back . . . a number of years, to one of my first book reviews. This in honor of Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, who gave me the opportunity and who also passed away this past week. What a big loss for the business/customer service industry.

This week I’m breaking with “tradition” a bit in order to write a review of a new book. Like I’ve mentioned before, I received an advance copy of Tony Hsieh’s (CEO of

Zappos.com) upcoming book – it’s actually released today – Delivering Happiness: A Path To Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Let me just tell you this – it’s a must read. Many books on business jump right into the business at hand without a lot of early background. Tony takes us on a journey from his early childhood entrepreneur beginnings to the billion dollar success of Zappos.com. He tells us about his money making ideas as a child, including making buttons (which he advertised in Boys Life) and selling greeting cards. He manages to take us “mid-agers” right down Memory Lane. We get an inside look at how Zappos grew, following Tony’s sale of LinkExchange (to Microsoft) in 1989 for $275 million dollars. Eventually all of the money would be gone as a bunch of friends tried (and succeeded) to keep afloat a company they dearly believed in. During that time, Tony would grow a relationship with a friend that may be seen accompanying him, to this day, to “breakfast, lunch, and dinner”. That friend being a little drink called Red Bull. The ups and downs that the Zappos team went through prior to becoming a real success story would have been enough to cause most mere mortals to give up. Not so here. Zappos has a close, family-like, relationship that embraces every employee. They work together, play together, drink together, and basically have fun together. Zappos’ main focus has always been on customers. The customer experience is literally number one on their list. I challenge you to find another company that allows returns, with free shipping - for an entire year. Do any of the internet companies you work with automatically upgrade to next day shipping? Free of charge? Sure Tony and friends have made mistakes along the way. But they learned valuable lessons with each one of them. Most notably was that you “never outsource your core competencies”. If you want the best warehouse – run it yourself. If you want the best customer service – take the calls yourself. Probably the best example of all of how important and transparent the customer experience is, is the Zappos Culture Book (I have one). They put together a hardbound culture book that includes comments from employees, customers, partners and even vendors. Included are the good AND bad comments. Again – how many companies do you know that would do that? Needless to say, most comments ARE good. The book is described as a short-term expense for a long term investment. Get one for free at www.zapposinsights.com/main/culture-book. Now I could go into so many more examples and stories, like the 10 Core Values, or the leadership training available to everyone, but I don’t want to take anything away from your reading experience. If you’re interested in employee motivation, leadership development, corporate culture, or just Zappos in general, do yourself a favor and head out to your local bookstore (or go to www.amazon.com/deliveringhappiness) and pick up a copy. Then grab a Red Bull, sit back, and enjoy.

Goals of KPIs? Why Your Culture Needs Both

I think this may be my most anticipated book of the year so far. Culture Works: How to

Create Happiness in the Workplace, by Kris Boesch, is for every CEO and HR Director out there. You CANNOT have ultimate success without a great culture. I know. I've worked at places that don't have it. I'm sure you have also. Kris gives you concepts, tools, and real examples to put into motion, a culture that help your employees and business grow. All of the usual barriers, and more, are discussed and planned out. Even one of the most missed opportunities - continued learning - is addressed. So if you want to take it a step further, there's a workbook and book club available also. This book launches today, and is available on her website, but will be available on Amazon on May 15th. I suggest you pre-order. To wet your whistle a bit, Kris Boesch is my guest blogger today. Enjoy.

Goals or KPIs? Why Your Culture Needs Both.

I’ve seen many organizations make the cultural mistake of either collapsing goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), or focusing on just one.

You need both.  If you just have goals, you’re missing daily motivating momentum and focus.  If you have only key performance indicators, you’re missing inspiring strategic progress. Goals are aspirational, strategically taking on inspiring opportunities or problem solving breakout challenges.  KPIs measure the health and success of each position through weekly, and in same cases daily, metrics.

• For example, in a bakery goals could include:
• Purchase a new oven by March 31st
• Add cinnamon raisin bread to our line by October 1st
• Open a new location by July 4, 2018

While KPIs could include:

•          Ratio of number of loaves baked to number sold
•           Scrap ratio – number of loaves burned or rejected
•           Batch cycle time

Hopefully you’re well on your way to making progress on your second quarter 2017 goals – having funneled clarity from big picture organizational goals to team goals to individual goals. If you’re not well on your way, don’t despair, make a goal to get it done!

This culture tip focuses on developing KPIs for each position in your organization.  KPIs are one of the many tools that support an extraordinary workplace culture.  Think about it–as an employee it’s incredibly empowering to know both where to focus my efforts and where I stand in relationship to expectations.  Similar to goals, KPIs should funnel from the organization to the team to each position.

How to Create Meaningful KPIs:

•          Should answer – how do we know this position (vs person) is accomplishing the mission critical work and is being successful?
•          Set weekly measurable expectations for each performance indicator. What reasonable number or range would indicate success and healthy on pace progress?  Sometimes the KPI is measured by a simple yes or no.
•          Employees have to have (almost) complete control over the number being measured – in some cases you may need to focus on LEAD indicators (actions, efforts, number of calls) rather than LAG indicators (results).
•          The KPI has to be KEY. There should be no more than three KPIs for each position.  When you find yourself wanting to create four, ask which of these is truly the END measurement?

Have employees self-report their numbers each week in a shared spreadsheet. This simple dashboard should quickly reflect the health of the organization.  You may even want to color code measurements red/yellow/green.  High-five greens.  Seek to understand and address the challenges behind yellow or red.  It’s not enough to measure, you have to witness and care about what you measure and then align next steps.

This is an ongoing process. If you find your dashboard is primarily green, but the organization is struggling, reevaluate what you’re measuring.  Uncover more pertinent key indicators and replace the prior ones.

***

Kris Boesch is the CEO and founder of Choose People, a company that transforms company cultures, increases employee happiness and boosts the bottom line. Her new book, Culture Works, and accompanying workbook are available now on her website and will be available on Amazon around May 15.

Surprise Me!

Chip Bell has done it again! I so anticipate getting his newest book releases in the mail

and his newest, Kaleidoscope: Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles, was worth waiting for. Chip's writing style of giving us inspiring stories of actual people and organizations getting customer service right makes reading interesting and thought-provoking. Even if you're not in the customer service industry, you'll find this book worth a good read.

Today, I have the privilege of hosting a Chip Bell blog post.

Surprise Me! by: Chip R. Bell

How would you like receiving a birthday present without any wrapping or colorful bow...just a Post-it note on the present with handwritten: “Happy Birthday?”  What would an Easter egg hunt be like if the location of all the eggs were clearly marked with a red flag?  How exciting would a treasure hunt be if some else did if for you and just brought you the bounty?

Customers today live in an over-stimulated, highly entertained world and love surprise. Unfortunately, we have so automated, programmed and managed surprise that it is now assumed when it was once upon a time enchanting.  Remember a time when a front desk clerk, rental car agent, airline gate attendant, merchant or waiter enchanted us with an unanticipated value-added something.  It had a neighborly, old-fashioned feeling when we got an extra.  The mechanic fixed something broken while servicing our vehicle and wrote “no charge” on the invoice.  We heard words like, “It’s on the house” or “we’ll comp it!”

Then, the world of unexpected extras pretty much came to an end.  Easily blamed on the tough economy, the shift was more subtle.  Extras were not actually taken away, they were managed away.  The extremes of a “no variance” philosophy from TQM and Six Sigma got pushed way beyond its rank and pay grade requiring the frontline to hand over their spontaneous generosity to the computer.  Now, the computer, not the gate agent, decides if you get that first class seat upgrade based on your frequent flyer status and seat availability.  Getting upgraded to the concierge level at a hotel is a  computer-driven decision based solely on availability and affinity program status and not the judgment call of the desk clerk.

And, the customer, robbed of that Jack-in-the-box feeling of surprise, has simply built the expectation of an extra into their criteria for satisfaction much like the cleanliness of a hospital or the security of a bank.  Value-added has become value-assumed and no longer a loyalty-creating value at all.  Proof that it has become a given not an extra is how easily the customer is disappointed when he or she fails to get what was once presented as a true surprise.

It is time to bring back the trust and authority the frontline needs to be both generous and ingenious.  If the Ritz-Carlton can trust a housekeeper to responsibly spend up to $2000 to make sure a guest leaves happy, the waiter can be trusted with the decision to comp a dessert for a loyal customer. Employees who can successfully manage a family budget, juggle soccer, tutoring and baseball practice schedules, and shop for groceries can figure out ways to surprise customers without jeopardizing the unit standards or the bottom line. 

Turning ho-hum service into a compelling story customers are eager to share requires bringing back a setting lined in trust; a place filled with joyful innovation.  It takes leaders who are as courageous as they want their employees to be creative. It calls for leaders in search of invention, not obedience.

Chip R. Bell is a renowned keynote speaker and the author of several national best-selling books. His newest book is the just-released Kaleidoscope:  Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles. He can be reached at chipbell.com. 

The Missing Dab

Well, I'm sure you've seen it by now. I'm talking, of course, about Carolina Panthers QB,

Cam Newton's post-game press conference. It was the perfect example of an inexperienced leader. It's all fun and games while he's winning, but talk about a 180 when he loses.

Keep in mind that Newton was drafted just five years ago and although he's had some great success on the field, he still has much experience to gain in the off-field leadership arena. He's the face of not only his own brand but of the Panthers. What he displayed, no matter how painful, was the wrong picture. I've seen high school state championship losers act better.

A leader can't dab and dance while things are going well and then turn over when things don't go your way. That sets the tone for the rest of the team. The people that look up to you and respond off of your cue's. A leader is a role model, which can go either way, positively or negatively.

So hopefully Newton learns a lot from this experience - his first of multiple Super Bowls - and takes some cue's from QB's that "aren't like him, such as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and even rookie Jameis Winston (I've been totally impressed with his attitude during his first year). The Super Bowl is a HUGE stage and no matter what happens, sometimes, as a leader, we just have to suck-it-up.

BTW. Congratulations to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

The Serving Leader

The newly updated edition of The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform

Your Team, Business, and Community, by Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert is one for your bookshelf.  Better yet, keep it on your desk.  It’s a small (154 pages) read with a big message.

The authors take you through their leadership model via parable, stopping throughout to discuss in more detail the five actions of transformation,

• Upend the Pyramid - You qualify to be first by putting other people first.
• Raise the Bar - To serve the many, you first serve the few.
• Blaze the Trail - To protect your value, you must give it all away.
• Build on Strength - To address your weaknesses, focus on your strengths.
• Run to Great Purpose - Arrange each person in the team to contribute what he/she is best at.

This all adds up to becoming the serving leader.  It’s time to step away for self-centeredness.  The book provides the traits and actions that are needed.  All that needs to be done is take it all to heart (there’s a lot of heart in this book) and put it into play.  This is a caring and sharing book for your team, family, and colleagues.

The NEW One Minute Manager

The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is a book for all of

today’s leaders.  It doesn’t matter if you read the original or not, you’re going to want to catch up with the new updated edition.  The underlying principles remain the same, however the book describes how effective leadership is now based more on side-by-side relationships instead of the dying top-down interpretation.

The One Minute Manager has been a staple on any leadership book list since 1982, and the revised edition is going to ensure that it stays there.  A lot has changed, technologically and professionally, since the ‘80’s, so it just makes sense that “One Minute” changes.

The three “secrets” of,

• One Minute Goals - keep them front and center
• One Minute Praisings - be honest
• One Minute Re-Directs (formerly Reprimand) - for the learner (which we all should be)

have been updated, to make huge differences for a new generation of leaders.

There are so many quotes in this book that will become classic all over again.  “Never punish a learner - re-direct their behavior.”  “The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people.”

The book is still an easy 100 page read, so take advantage of an afternoon to make a difference for yourself and for those you lead.  One minute really CAN make a difference.

Wind In Your Sails

I like reading good books about leadership, business, and entrepreneurialism.  I also like sailing.

 Wind In Your Sails, by David Greer is right up my alley.  The thing is, the book doesn’t just have things I like, David puts them all together in an interesting and extremely informative manner.  It’s a new favorite.

Wind In Your Sails takes you through ten strategies for entrepreneurial success.  This includes vision, goals, innovation, sales, products, and people.  Did you catch that last one?  People.  There’s a common thread throughout the book.  Like David said, “People buy products and services. People deliver them. People create products.”  In order to be successful, you must know how to “attract, retain, and motivate the people in your business”.

This book doesn’t rely on a bunch of theories someone threw together in order to get their name on the cover of a book.  David Greer shares his 35 years of experience along with case studies of a number of other successful entrepreneurs.

Each of the chapters include said case study, lessons learned, and action challenges.  So it’s not a book you’re going to just read and put down to attract dust.  If you really want to be successful, you’ve got a great big helping hand right here.  Action - produces success.

Dare to Serve . . . I Dare You

As soon as I read the table of contents I could tell I was going to like this book.  Part 1 -Whom will we serve? What is the daring destination?  Why do we do this work?  How will we work together?

I’m talking about Cheryl Bachelder’s new book, Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others.  You may know her as the CEO of Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen.  A CEO with a new way to lead that, in seven years, increased profits by 40%.  Leadership style.  No fancy gimmicks.  Just Dare to Serve leadership.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the Starship exercise that "revealed some remarkably simple lessons in leading high-performance teams." These are five things that make me stop and shake my head, thinking, why don't more leaders do this? Focus on team member strengths, determine skill gaps, respect different talents. This is why Popeyes Franchise Owner Survey results changed so dramatically in five years.

With reflection questions throughout to keep you engaged and thinking, this is a book that any leader will gain insight from.  Some people just don’t grasp the idea of servant leadership, thinking they have to roll over and become submissive.  If this is you, pick up Dare to Serve and see what it’s really about.  Learn to serve others with humility, courage, and passion.  All while increasing productivity and profits.

As Cheryl says in the book, “avoid the spotlight”.  “A leader without personal responsibility remains stuck in the spotlight and fails to serve others well.”  Look at yourself in the mirror, and Dare to Serve others.

Sprinkles - It's What They Want

What an absolute joy to read.  Chip Bell’s new book, Sprinkles: Creating Awesome Experiences Through Innovative Service, kept a smile on my face the whole way through.

As a customer service program/training developer, I’m always looking for new ideas and twists.  Looking at it from the perspective of a fun food that (most) everyone likes is brilliant.  It’s so easy to identify with.  Customers aren’t so brand loyal anymore.  They don’t want just everyday service.  They want it “a la mode”.  They want crushed graham crackers (my favorite), cherry’s, chocolate, candy, . . . they want sprinkles.

Walt Disney once said, “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends”.  People will talk about your great service.  They won’t talk about you if you’re just, meh.  You have to add that extra sprinkle.

There are so many wonderfully entertaining stories, examples, and inspirations in this book that you’ll want to share it with others.  You won’t just want to share the book but actually start implementing some of the ideas Chip speaks about.  This is the type of book that reignites.  Reignites thinking, reignites desire, reignites the spirit of why you’re in business in the first place.

Leaders Need Change

If you think back a number of years you may recall that there used to be a VERY distinguishable difference between leaders and staff.  ALL work was done by the staff and the leaders oversaw that work.  The leaders’ thought was, “I don’t care how you get it done, just do it.  Now!”  There was a very clear line in the sand.

Today’s leaders are finding out that they can’t command staff’s best work.  An environment must be created to promote the desire to do their best.  It’s actually become more of a partnership between leader and staff.

Think of all the things that have gone on over the years, like:

• more competition,
• new technology,
• restructuring/mergers,
• changing values and needs of today’s staff,
• increased demand for better customer service.

This is all reflected in the way we lead.

Three basic things can help you out on your road to a new partnership.

• Energize: It’s not possible to be effective while just trying to infuse energy in your team.  Use their energy, channel into it, and leave them with more than what they started out with.
• Support: You’ll need to be there for them to pick up the pieces if they fall.  That doesn’t mean to be there to stop them from falling.  This is how people learn.  Encourage staff to question.  Even if it’s the dumbest question you’ve ever heard, it’s a learning time for them.
• Communicate: You’ve heard the old saying, “knowledge is power”, I’m sure.  True statement.  But the only way that it can be good is to spread some of that knowledge around.  The constant changes that we live with requires you to communicate more and more.  Don’t always rely on training, memos, etc.  Get out there and do it yourself.

For goodness sakes, don’t be afraid of change.  Change is good.  Most people just make it bad.

Don't Forget the Thanks

As Christmas quickly approaches don't forget to thank the people that have supported you all year. If you think about it for a minute you'll probably come up with a much bigger list than you thought you would. Thank your:

• supervisor/manager,
• team members,
• assistants,
• customers,
• confidant,
• mentors,
• spouse,
• family members,
• friends,
• business associates,
• students/learners,
• office mates,
• Military,
• first responders,
• financier,
• lawyer,
• dry cleaner,
• insurance agent,
• the kid that cuts your grass,
• dog walker,
• mail delivery/newspaper delivery, and
• God.

A pretty long list, right? You're probably starting to get the picture now. You have a pretty extensive "supporting cast". I bet you can think of more.

You didn't get where you are, all by yourself. You can't do what you do, all by yourself. You can't live the way you do, all by yourself. Skip to the end of the Scrooge movie and go right to the thanks!

Follow Your Conscience

I was going to start out with, “a breath of fresh air”, but someone already did.  So I was going to start out with, “inspiring” . . . already done.  How about “enlightening”?  Nope, taken.

So what the heck, Frank Sonnenberg’s new book, Follow YourConscience, is an enlightening and inspiring, breath of fresh air.  It just is.

There are a lot of people in business who believe that they’re a great leader and they are there to support others.  There are people who believe the same of their leaders.  Have you ever heard the saying, “it’s not personal, it’s business”?  People seem to use that as an excuse to do less than they really could for people.  I (h/she) could do better - but it’s just business.  Just begin reading Frank’s book and you’ll see that you - or your leaders - are missing out on some things.

Think about what type of role model you believe you are.  Then read this book.  Now, what type of role model do you believe you are?  What kind of role model will you become?

Conscience - attitude, authenticity, integrity, humility, passion, fairness, faith.  These are just a few of the things Frank discusses, and in a way that’s easily understood and painless to put yourself in the middle of.

My suggestion?  Read the book.  Share the book.  Use it for a leadership book club.  It all makes so much sense that you’re not going to want to keep it to yourself.

Perception and Pulling the Weeds

Perception . . . it's what ultimately may make or break you.

What customers see, hear, touch, and smell may be the things that put your organization over the top of another.

A good example.  Have you ever noticed the hitching posts on Main Street of Walt Disney World?  Probably not.  That's because they paint them every night if needed.  They're nicely painted, no scratches, no gouges.  Do you think you'd notice them if they were all beat up?  Most likely.  Disney wants to be known as a clean and well kept destination.  And they are.

How many times have you walked into a barbershop, Doctor's office, restaurant, or other business and the first thing you see before even entering are weeds in the planters - that are supposed to hold flowers?  You may also see signs falling down, cigarette butts on the ground, filthy windows, portions of lighted signs that are burned out, hand-written paper signs on the doors and windows, employee vehicles parked where customers should be . . . the list goes on.

The point is, that this is part of the businesses Brand (good or bad), and all of these things form your perception of the service and leadership of the establishment before you even enter!  But it doesn't stop there.  The interior is just as important, if not more.  You may have the better service or the better food, but the guy across the street with the more cared for appearance may have more customers.

Put yourself in a customer's shoes.  Make a weekly walk through with a clipboard and make a list of everything that needs attention.  Better yet, create a checklist of things to look for so you don't miss any.  Just remember that none of this does any good unless you actually tend to the difficiencies.

Ask For It - Use It

A little bit of soapbox this morning.  I was reminded yesterday of one of my pet peeves - taking surveys or asking for input and not using it.

This is one of the best ways to get people to shut up and shut down.  If you continue to ask and not act you'll completely stop getting meaningful usable information to improve your leadership, customer service, employee engagement, and revenue.

At one of the organizations I used to work for, we were given employee surveys three times while I was there.  Nothing was ever meaningfully acted on with the information that was collected.  While the first survey was completed by a very high percentage of employee's, can you guess what the percentage was completed for the third one?  It was below 50%.

Why should people take time to share their opinions and ideas if they know there will be no action taken?  It's a waste of their time and intelligence.  And it doesn't look well on you either.

Rebuild Yourself

How many of you have ever been in the military? What’s the basic premise of boot camp? They break you down and build you back up “properly”. It doesn’t matter who you are or

where you came from, the best way - and quickest - to build you into a military leader is to knock you back and send you on a different path which will make you “all that you can be”. The next time you Google ‘leaders’, count how many military people - and not just officers - are included.

Sometimes you don’t realize it but you might just need a reality check - kind of like boot camp. Check out the tough love, tell it like it is books by Larry Winget. In his book, People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It!, Winget lays out a list for change for you:

• Decide to change,
• Know why it is important for you to change,
• Be willing to do whatever it takes to change,
• Do whatever it takes to change,
• When you fail, dust yourself off and start again,
• When you get there, celebrate!,
• Move on, and
• Become totally committed.

Make the decision, do what it takes, celebrate (don’t forget that one), and commit. Like the old Nike slogan says, “Just Do It”.

Remember - in whatever you’re doing, or will do, you just may fail or not live up to your own expectations - you’re a leader, not a robot. A true leader will be prepared for this and will be able to “dust yourself off and start again”.

Sprint Empowers "Social Media Ninjas" to Help in Turnaround

Today I'm happy and privileged to host a blog post by Bob Thompson, author of Hooked on Customers.

In 2007, Sprint’s customer satisfaction rating was 61, worst in the wireless telecom industry by a wide margin. Fast forward five years and CEO Dan Hesse had accomplished an amazing turnaround. Sprint’s ACSI score climbed ten points to an industry-leading 71—the biggest improvement of any company in any industry—and was ranked number one in call center satisfaction.

How did Hesse do it? Given the bleak situation, he could have continued to slash costs, hunker down, and hope for a buyer to rescue the company. Instead, taking a customer-centric approach, he directed the organization to fix its customer service problems and innovate to increase value to customers.

No doubt low morale was a factor in poor customer experiences. In the commentary surrounding the "Sprint 1000" debacle (the company fired customers due to excessive support requests), many said that the calls were the result of dealing with Sprint employees who could not take care of a problem, getting transferred around, and even being dropped and having to call back. In short, customers wanted more “one and done” calls.

I’ve written previously that authority, insights, and motivation are key to empowering call center agents to improve first call resolution (FCR) and delight customers. Sprint has invested in an array of call center technologies and software applications to help agents resolve service requests more effectively. However, it’s not clear that any specific solution had a transformative impact. Rather, it was Hesse’s decision to make customer experience a corporate goal, and the use of analytics to focus on the right problems, that made the biggest difference, in my view.

I do think Sprint made innovative use of social media to empower its employees to serve as “ambassadors” for the company. An offshoot of its “Employees Helping Customers” initiative, Social Media Ninjas was launched in 2010 to help improve Sprint’s reputation using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Jennifer Sniderman, Sprint’s group manager of employee communications, said the program was inspired by discussions about “how to leverage outreach to customers as a competitive advantage.” Customers were taking to social media to vent about problems, so why not equip Sprint employees to engage and help? Sniderman said Ninjas were asked to “have an authentic conversation, talk about what you know, be friendly, help when you can, and answer questions.”

All too often, support issues are dumped on the contact center, including problems created in product development, marketing, or elsewhere. Sprint’s Social Media Ninjas program is a brilliant use of social media to unleash the influence of thousands of employees to rebuild its brand. As of December 2012, 2,700 Ninjas were helping to improve Sprint’s reputation using their personal networks to engage with customers. Inviting all employees to lend a hand helping customers also sends a message that delivering a great customer experience is everyone’s responsibility.

By 2013 employee morale had noticeably improved. On Glassdoor, one account executive employed for eight years called his experience a “wild, awesome ride” and gives Sprint management good marks for innovation, cleaning out poor performers, and listening to employees. Hesse has earned a 79 percent approval rating, significantly better than his peers at major wireless carriers.

About Bob

Bob Thompson is an international authority on customer-centric business management who has researched and shaped leading industry trends since 1998. He is founder and CEO of CustomerThink Corporation, an independent research and publishing firm, and founder and editor-in-chief of CustomerThink.com, the world's largest online community dedicated to helping business leaders develop and implement customer-centric business strategies. His book Hooked on Customers (April 2014) reveals the five habits of leading customer-centric firms.

For more information visit http://hookedoncustomers.com

Hooked On Customers

Listen – Think – Empower – Create – Delight.  There ya go, the 5 key organizational habits of customer-centric companies.  Some of you will say, “got it” . . . and fail.  Others will become curious and read Robert Thompson’s new book, HookedOn Customers: The Five Habits of Legendary Customer-Centric Companies . . . and succeed.  Bob gives us an abundance of research, interviews, and examples to help you outline your path to customer-centric success.

Contrary to what it should be, customer service is quite often just a department in many organizations.  It’s handled in one area by a few employees.  Customer-centric organizations, on the other hand, embrace the customer throughout the organization.  Bob takes a look at how various organizations do it right . . . and wrong – Home Depot, Apple, Best Western, JC Penny, Ryanair, Wells Fargo, Zappos (you’ll have to read the book to find out who’s good or not).

So many organizations focus too much just on the “hello’s” and “thank you’s”.  Those are all great – and needed, but Bob sums it up well when he says, “driving consumer loyalty is not as simple as providing great service.  Providing “the right stuff” at a fair price is still critical”.  What’s also critical are employee efforts in creating a desirable brand.  Keep in mind that your employees ARE part of your brand.

There’s no “best method” for driving loyalty but along with his years of research, Bob provides some very important questions to ask in order to know what to measure in your own research and development.

Bob Thompson is founder and CEO of research and publishing firm CustomerThink Corporation and editor-in-chief of CustomerThink.com, the world’s largest online community dedicated to helping business leaders develop and execute customer-centric business strategies. An author, keynote speaker and international authority on business management trends, he has been a thought leader in customer-centricity since 1998. Bob’s new book, Hooked on Customers, is now available on Amazon. Follow Bob on Twitter: @Bob_Thompson, and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Bad Management=Bad Service

Don’t wait for customer service to get bad before you do anything about it. By then it’s too

late. The damage has been done. Now you’re into damage-control mode – which takes a lot more effort.

Monkey see, monkey do, here’s an easy activity to do (didn’t mean for that to rhyme, but I’ll take it). Go to a few local retail stores or restaurants. Spend just a few minutes in each one, just observing the employees. You’ll be able to tell what the management is like within just a couple of minutes because the employees walk the leader’s talk.

No matter how good the stores’ customer service “program” is, it won’t be successful unless the leaders walk the talk.

You can’t just focus on the everyday business stuff – products, marketing, sales. In his book, The Customer Rules, Lee Cockerell goes on to say that, “Managers have to recognize that sustained profits depend on their ability to generate consistent, ongoing, excellent service”.

 

You have to keep good service in the forefront of everyone’s mind if you want it to be consistent.

The Age of the Customer

One of my favorite quotes in Jim Blasingame’s new book, The Age of the Customer, comes from Blasingame’s Law of Business Love, which reads, “It’s okay to fall in love with what you do, but it’s not okay to fall in love with how you do it”.

This IS the age of the customer and businesses cannot rest on the “normal”, or “what’s always worked”.  You have to start looking at what the customer wants and even knowing what they want before they do.

Cases in point:

Restaurants – posting daily menus and specials online.

Tire stores – creating a customer contact system to remind them when tires need to be checked, rotated and balanced.

Wholesale suppliers – figure out how to get more customers IN the door to get closer to the end user instead of just dropping merchandise off at their door.

One of my favorite quotes in the book . . . okay, I have more than one . . . is, “Remember, face-to-face is the original social media”.  You can, and should, demonstrate values and provide added resources online.  Build a community.  But face-to-face customer networking is still a very powerful tool.  Relationship building starts immediately.  Depending on the situation or business, when it comes to relationships, it may be lasting or even just long enough for that one interaction.

Jim shows us how customer relationships have been shifting and changing and we need to start thinking of our customers as partners.  The power has shifted from the seller to the customer.  He sets us up for continued change and success well into the future.  If you think you have a handle on customer expectations, you really need to read this book to set your ideas straight.