How Do I Make it Happen?

Whether you are just launching your career or would like to reposition yourself, think of your company as your customer. Your company is imbedded with many different levels of customers, all are extremely important. A measure of success with customers is customer service. Many employees make the mistake of focusing on outside customers or only one level of in-house customers. The employee may manage up well, but not with their direct reports. By focusing on one level, many individuals may not be positioned well within their corporation because of relationships with other levels. For example, their peers may not perceive them as good team players. Keep in mind, your personal customer service strategy must encompass the executives, your boss, your co-workers, direct reports, employees a step below not reporting to you, administrative assistants and vendors that work directly with your corporation. You will be amazed of the minute “degrees of separation” within an organization. Perception is reality! You may be talented in your profession, if your in-house customers have a negative impression of you, nothing else really matters. Your organization’s perception of you is created in many ways: nn * First impressionsn * Voice mail, emails and traditional memos (tone, voice inflection, grammar etc.)
* Employee/outside customer opinions of youn * Last impressionsn * Non-verbal communicationsn * Reliability and responsivenessn * Promises made and fulfilledn * Accuracy and quality level

Moreover, in a world of technology, (email, voice mail, text messaging, instant message pinging), if a co-worker reaches out—how responsive are you? Do you acknowledge and handle requests quickly? Do you then take the initiative to help solve the situation? For example, there was an organization that needed to recreate their image. In this organization, multiple “sales support departments had been established. In essence, they were created to assist the field sales representatives when issues occurred in the field. After years of representatives complaining about never hearing a “live” voice on the telephone, the “buck being passed”, lack of follow-up, apathy and arrogance by the home office personnel the problems finally came to a head. A Vice President trying to reach the marketing department let the phone ring twenty times without getting an answer. The executive proceeded tonnwalk to the department only to find the marketing personnel discussing weekend family activities, etc. The CEO, a former sales representative, created a solution to the communication problems. A customer response center strictly for the field sales representatives was initiated and streamlined.

Consequently, when the sales representatives called in to a central response center, their issues were documented and tracked by a trained response center representative. Before directing a sales representative to the proper department, they would verify that there was a “live” voice answering before transferring the call. If you want to “make it happen” in your company, create a system for follow-up. In doing so, you may need to review messages on Saturday morning or Sunday night to verify your follow up skills. Following up is one part of the formula. You must be results-oriented when it comes to customer service within your organization. Consider a time when you had a great customer service situation vs. a bad experience. As a reminder, sometimes it is not what you say, write or do, it is the tone that you are using.

For further examples on what and what not to do on the job; visit www.YouHaveGotToBeKidding.com