Speakers Inc Magazine, Volume 2

A number of years ago, we were drawn to an article in a business journal
from its title, which was ‘How do you create a culture of customer
service’. Because these are the two areas in which we focus (culture and
service), we enthusiastically began to read the article, which was a
collation of interviews with senior Australian business leaders. The more
we read, the more disappointed we became. One leader referenced their
customer feedback strategies – mystery shopping, customer surveys
and the like. Another leader referenced the customer service training
they provided to their staff. And another leader talked about the fact that
customer service was one of their top five corporate priorities. Each of
the leaders interviewed for this article missed the point. What they
outlined was the mix of customer service-related tactics and strategies
they deployed and that they hoped by osmosis would filter through to the
culture. None of these leaders talked about culture directly. And this is a
huge oversight. All of us know that customer service training can be
diminished or made completely obsolete by a culture that doesn’t
support training or customer service. All of us have encountered
companies that go through the process of measuring customer
satisfaction that becomes an end in itself and fails to impact on staff. .
All of us have experienced situations where a company has so called
‘priorities’ which are merely tick-box exercises to placate boards or other
stakeholders. Our point is this: If the culture isn’t ‘right’, then customerrelated
tactics and strategies can count for very little! If you want to
change the way that your people treat your customers,
you first have to create a culture that compels them
to do so.
STEF DU PLESSIS
About the authors
Stef du Plessis and Steve Simpson help
organisations to get their people fully on board
and to ramp up the way they do things.
Organisations in more than 50 countries have
used their one of a kind culture-by-design
Unwritten Ground Rules or UGRs concept to
drive performance, improve safety and to
make theirs a better place to work. Their
clients include organisations like McLaren,
Barclays, and Kmart. They also work with
small and medium organisations.
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