Customer Friendly Culture: How to Change Yours for the Better

Here are quotes to illustrate a customer friendly culture:

You aren’t in the coffee business serving people. You’re in the people business serving coffee.

- Howard Schultz, Starbucks

Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced.

- David Freemantle

David Freemantle and Howard Schultz certainly appreciate the value of a customer friendly culture, don’t they? Building a customer-friendly culture is occupying the minds and activities of a lot of companies that we’re talking with lately. This is great because culture is the difference between going through the motions of a script and internalizing a set of values that dictate actions beyond the script.

Here is an example: I recently was on the phone with an incredibly chipper call center rep at a telecommunications company. He didn’t answer either of the two questions that I had, yet remained friendly throughout the call. As the call ended, he said: “We aim not just to meet your expectations, but exceed them. Have I done that for you today?”. A more customer-centric response is: “I’m sorry that I can’t answer your questions. Let me find someone who can. Would you like to hold or can I call you back?”

Don’t get us wrong: Company intentions are important. Before we get into the culture part, we always step back with clients and ask “what kind of culture?” The story about Southwest Airlines, in which the company refused to give customers reserved seats, food, and baggage transfers is a great example. The company’s primary value proposition to customers is low prices (along with on-time service that’s fun). That sets the stage for the kind of culture the company sets out to create. It’s not customer-centric at all costs. It’s focused on what’s valuable to customers.

Think about the last great customer experience you had (maybe on Zappos, maybe in your local convenience store). Now think about the last really bad experience you had with a customer support person. There’s a fair chance that much of the difference between the two exchanges wasn’t about the product or service that the organization provides. Rather it was simply a reflection of how personable, how helpful and, yes, how friendly the customer service person was.

Here are eight fantastic tips for a customer friendly culture where you and your business may see value from your contributions and efforts:

Demonstrate great service value

Show customers examples of your or maybe others that you exemplify. Hopefully, you appreciate that great service is your best marketing tactic.

Total team involvement

Remember in marketing as well as service, everything and everybody is a service provider. Make it a total team effort. Customer service is everyone in the company’s business. Unless every employee assumes responsibility for customer experience and service, you will be missing improvement opportunities.

More reading: Insurance Advertising War … 8 Examples to Learn From

Employee empowerment

Train your employees and then empower them and turn them loose. Minimize rules. Let them know that you want them to do what is right and be the customer’s advocate. The simple thought is that while the customer is not always right, they always have the right to choose.

Active listening

Sometimes the best marketing is being social. Listen actively and remember things for the next engagement. Like names. Don’t be hesitant to ask good questions to learn new insights. And use initiative to take action on those insights.

Invest in talent and training

Regarding hiring, companies like Whole Foods focus on getting the right people in the door to start with, so that their socialization builds on fueling a fire that’s already there. Volution (a software company) infuses job announcements with its customer-centric values, and KeyBank tests applicants for natural approaches to customer issues that align with the company’s values.

Go all in

If you’re going to do something, do it. Go all in. Doing it half it makes no sense at all to us. It’s a like a business that has so many rules and regulations about sales and exchanges that you wonder if they want to be bothered to sell you anything at all.

Focus on details

Always pay attention to the details, as they are the things that matter the most. Declare war on bureaucracy. Focus on making things and as simple and convenient for customers. Ask for and use ideas and collaboration of customers.

Do it, don’t procrastinate

We feel the words of Martin Luther King Junior spoken about a half a lifetime ago, apply well here:

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

Mike Schoultz likes to write about topics that lead to small business success. He also likes to share his many business experiences. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.