Phil Lauterjung

Let’s face it, we all say we are “customer focused”.  Or some other such term.  If we were to ask our best customers, would they have a positive response?  All of them?  How about your own front-line employees?

Here are 5 warning signs that you might be heading off a cliff in your customer focus.

1. You’re Not Ready to Jump. Typically we live in the status quo.  When we do, it often means there needs to be a life-threatening event, like a fire maybe, in order for us to act decisively.  Are you waiting for your company to be on fire in order to focus, I mean really focus, on your customers?  Remember that focusing on your customers is a strategy, not a goal.  Stay focused on top-line sales growth, increasing profitability, and improving competitive differences.  But, be sure to include customer focus as well.  After all, aren’t they the ones that got you this far?
2. Can’t Link Customer Focus to Business Metrics. Study after study, and book after book, have touted the results of companies that maintain a fanatical focus on treating the customer right.  Yet, too many business leaders still want to know what the ROI is for spending the time and money getting to legendary customer service.  Consider what will happen if you don’t treat your customers really well.  All of your customers have access to social media and it is a megaphone with the potential for negative word-of-mouth.
3. You Don’t Know What Your Prospects Value. Most likely they are already out there talking on forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other web sites.  Are you listening?  Are you waiting for enough data?  Your customers are already doing a lot of telling.  Find out where, and start listening.  Don’t know where to start?  Ask your existing customers and vendors where they participate and go there and just simply listen.  Now.
4. Keeping Track of the Wrong Behavior. I used to work for a company that kept track of the number of calls each customer service agent handled every day, and posted it on a board.  The message was that they needed to handle a lot of calls.  However that resulted in agents rushing to get off the phone, and many times not really responding to the customer’s needs.  Do you know how that makes the customer feel about your advertised “outstanding customer service”?  Make sure what you measure drives the behavior that your customers want.
5. Don’t Treat Employees Like Customers. Often times you hear it said that we have internal and external customers.  The internal ones being our employees.  But, we need to give them the proper incentives and reasons to find out what customers really want.  We need to encourage them and let them know the value that they can bring to our business.  Whether you know it or not your employees are always listening to WII-FM – What’s In It For Me?  That doesn’t mean you pander to them, but you do need to give them good reasons to provide the level of service for customer growth and retention.

Being aware of these warning signs can help any business succeed in their marketing and sales efforts.  Make sure you regularly survey your customers and employees and compare the results for potential disconnects.  You’ll find that will keep you on track.

What are your thoughts on these warning signs?  Can you think of others?  Do you have any good tips on avoiding them?

Photo Credit: Fotolia.com

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