Going the extra mile? Get yourself a road map…

In a previous blog, I talked about there being no traffic on the extra mile and how ‘going the extra mile’ relates to customer service in your business; i.e. setting customer services standards to deliver more than you’re expected to do.

Following on from that I’d like to share a simple plan, or ‘roadmap’, that could help you travel the ‘extra mile’ with your customers. For this particular plan, we can thank Susan and Derek Nash and their excellent book; Delivering Outstanding Customer Service. Although I’ve not read this book cover to cover, I still found it an excellent customer service resource. It is most helpful for considering the challenging questions we all need to ask ourselves when we want to improve our customer service offerings.

The Service Management Model

I’ve edited their description of the Service Management Model a tad, but effectively, your customer service plan should consist of the following:

1. A clear customer service strategy detailing your customer service mission, vision, direction, values and standards.
2. People. Ensure the correct people are in place, with the correct skills to deliver outstanding personal service. Personal service consists of all the intangible interpersonal aspects of a customer service experience. For example, a waiter’s professionalism in a restaurant can have a big impact on your customer satisfaction and loyalty; or how the receptionist greets you in an office can set the tone for your overall customer service experience.
3. Clear material service delivery processes. Material services relate to the physical resources, policies and procedures and all the processes and systems you have in place which contribute to a customer service experience. For example, if you’re still in the restaurant it could be anything from the state of the toilets to how quickly your meal arrives.
4. A commitment to the Japanese Kaizen philosophy. This means practicing making never-ending improvements in processes, quality monitoring and the ‘recovery’ rate for keeping dissatisfied customers.
5. Management that play a key daily part in acting as role models for the delivery of the above principles and all aspects of the plan.

There you have it; a road map for ‘going the extra mile’. Look after this map and follow it’s directions as much as possible. If you do, I can pretty much guarantee both you and your customers will enjoy your journey together a whole lot more!

To success and significance. Give. Take. Invest. Enjoy.

Colin