Leaders are Responsible for Customer Service
Someone sent this link out via Twitter a few days ago and unfortunately, I don’t remember who. No matter who it was, thank you!
This post is a must read for anyone involved in customer service or experience efforts but even more importantly for the leaders of the organisation.
Doing it wrong. Leaders need to be leading by example, not from above.
Customer Service is a Leaders Responsibility – John Slimp Training & Development.
I’m tempted to quote the whole article (I’ll let you click on the link), instead, I think this paragraph will give you a pretty good idea of the content:
In almost every case, when customers feel they received substandard customer service, they automatically blame the person across the counter or on the other end of the phone. However, the culpability ultimately rests on the leaders of the organization. What happens at the customer point of contact is the responsibility of upper management. If they want to keep customers the Leaders , being the Owners, District Managers or Managers need to have a better handle on what is actually happening on the front lines and they need to lead the efforts to elevate customer service.
Emphasis is by the author.
Leaders Need to Take Responsibility
Customer service advocates, trainers, consultants, “experts”, etc. usually deal with the leaders of an organisation and often discuss the importance of training and hiring the right people. We then talk about how to get front-line staff to be good at customer service. But how often do we remind leaders and managers of their responsibility?
Management needs to lead by example and that includes delivering excellent service internally. They need to personally take action and demonstrate how important customer service is to them.
So, go read John’s article and tell me what you think.
Cheers!
Eric
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Comments
Thanks for sharing Eric. So many times I think leaders just want to look at reports, surveys and pretty charts for customer service statistics, which is only part of the picture. Leaders need to step into the front line once in awhile and witness for themselves how employees are interacting with customers they maybe surprised at what they find.
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This is an excellent post, Eric. Thanks for sharing!
I think customer service should be everybody’s issue, from leaders to management to customer service representatives and customers (think JetBlue’s Steven Slater and ‘his’ customer). However, customer service (as a culture) can only be successful with top down support and corresponding incentives. Absolutely true!
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