We often hear organizations talk about their focus for the upcoming period — whether for the year or the quarter. I am always slightly amused when I hear an organizations talking about customer service being a key focus.

This usually a sign that they see Customer Service as a tactic to be employed at various times — much like a new ad campaign or pricing strategy.

These are usually the same organizations that think customer satisfaction is a goal (vs. outcome) and can be impacted by a training program to all their CSR’s.

Customer service is not a tactic. It needs to be a long-term strategy that is embedded into your organizational DNA or culture.

Customer service is not a tactic you employ as part of a plan — instead it should be the foundational theme that links every tactic together to provide differentiation.

My Perspective: If you find yourself talking about customer service using words like focus, initiative or tactic, you need to re-think the role of customer service within your organization. And that starts with reviewing your internal culture and values.

Customer service is not something you put on like a shirt and tie. It is an attitude you live and breathe in everything you do. Make sure it includes the language you use when you communicate it internally and externally.

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Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca

Here in Toronto, our public transit system — the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) is currently the focus of considerable negative attention by the public. The public is lashing out at the union as well as management — pointing fingers and making suggestions about how they should each do things differently.

General discontentment was smouldering because of a fare increase earlier this year, but their outrage escalated when a picture was posted on Twitter which showed a ticket agent sleeping in their ticket booth.

The public was rightly outraged.

The senior union official chastised the public for assuming the person was sleeping and not having medical difficulties (he was sleeping). His focus is on protecting his members — regardless of the issue.

Management is focused on having trains running on time, on budget. Noble objectives — but only part of delivering customer service.

No one seems to be focused on understanding or delivering good, consistent customer service.

The issues here are complex, but one fundamental truth is at work. People within the organization are not aligned with a focus on the customer.

The problem isn’t with either the unions or the management. This organization needs a complete change in culture and no one seems to be willing to work together and make the hard decisions to change the current culture.

They need to start by getting aligned around a common goal — defining and delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Once that happens, the various combative elements can begin to start focusing on the common goal instead of their individual goals.

My Perspective: Regardless of our business, we too often get caught up focusing on our department goals and forgetting the overall organizational goal which is serving customers.

By creating this common focus we break down our silos and start working together towards a common goal.

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Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca

Recently I deposited a cheque from a US client into my US funds account. I then immediately transferred a portion of that deposit into my current account which is in Canadian dollars.

Two interesting things happen.

First, the bank was unable to guarantee an exchange rate from US to Canadian funds. It seems that there is variation over the course of the day based on when “they” transfer the funds. I have learned that this is also the case when transferring funds online. Of interest, if I had withdrawn the funds and then deposited them into the Canadian account, I could have gotten a guaranteed rate posted for that day, although I did not compare the rates (something for another day).

Secondly, I was charged interest for being overdrawn on my US account because the funds I transferred into the US account were not cleared into my US account until 1 business day after the deposit. Although I have no overdraft facility built into the US account and at no time was the total account overdrawn or was any funds removed from any of the accounts.

In both cases I was left feeling the Bank was uninterested in my needs and was simply looking for ways to pad their own revenue.

My Perspective: Banks have a reputation for masking fees and charging fees that don’t make sense. This contributes to the poor customer experience and provides a point of differentiation for those that offer clearer understanding of their fees.

Have you reviewed your own fee and pricing structures lately? Make sure that your fees are based on value delivered and the value clearly communicated to your customers. Too often our fees are arrived at from a cost replacement model focused on our revenue and not viewed from a customer perspective.

When the value is clear, your customers are less likely to comparison price shop.

Sign-up for my Monthly Newsletter to have 1 article with tools & techniques for excelerating high-performance cultures delivered to your inbox each month.

Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator™ because of his uncanny ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results with the most demanding organizations.

For additional information please visit www.billhogg.ca or email: bill [at] billhogg [dot] ca