Call It Customer Service, Customer Satisfaction, or Customer Loyalty. We’ve all just made it too complicated according to Larry Winget.
A while ago, I had the opportunity and privilege to speak with some of the leaders in the field of Customer Service, Satisfaction, and Loyalty. I’d like to share a key point from my discussion with Larry Winget.
I asked Larry, known for his very direct and straight talk on various business aspects, why he felt the state of the customer experience and customer service seems to be in such disarray. His answer is exactly what many of you need to know….
“You asked why I feel we fall short of delivering acceptable customer service. It really comes down to that people don’t seem to understand that when they go into business that they have given over the power and their ability to be successful to their customer. That’s what I said earlier, it all goes back to profitability.
When you go into business, profitability no longer lies in your hands, it lies in the hands of customers.
I heard an old tape many, many years ago by Earl Nightengale that said all of the money you’re ever going to have is currently in the hands of someone else.
In business, that someone else is the customer. They’ve got the money. The only thing in business you’re supposed to do is figure out how to get it from them. The best way to get it from them is to serve them well. It’s not that complicated a process. It just comes down to figuring out what they want.
How do you do that? Well, gee, why don’t we just ask them. They’ll tell you. Ask people what they want and then give it to them.
My philosophy of selling and serving is very simple. Find out what people want and give them a whole lot of it. Find out what they don’t’ want and don’t give them any of that. They don’t want you to be late. They don’t want you to lie. They don’t’ want you to hem-haw around when you say what your product does. They want your product to do what you said it would do.
All that stuff’s really very, very simple. But we’ve complicated it with these weird ideas. Then you add to that we don’t bother to teach our employees, the people who actually deliver the customer service, that it’s all in the hands of the customer. All of it is in the hands of the customer. We don’t teach employees that.
We don’t teach employees that the real boss is the customer. And then we don’t enforce that whole feeling that the customer is in charge and that they are the boss. And so they end up treating the customer like an inconvenience instead of like the boss.”
Larry’s words couldn’t be more true. The Customer is the Boss of your company. The customer ultimately signs the paycheck and pays the bills for everything you do within your organization.
So, while you are focusing on customer service, customer skills training, and customer retention, please pay attention to the very true words of Larry Winget.
Please share your thoughts on Larry’s views below in the comment area. I’d love to know what you think.