Several years ago I worked with a business that understood and practiced perfectly the concept of fully-empowered, cross-functional teams. (It is an organizational structure and methodology that I strongly believe in.) One of the principles in that business was that whenever the phone rang:
- It was to be answered by someone.
- It was not to go to voice-mail.
- Whoever took that call was responsible for finding out what that person wanted or needed.
- If the person they were looking for was not available, the call was not to go into their voice-mail.
- If that individual was not available, the person taking the call owned the issue.
- That person made a time-bound commitment for looking into the issue and for providing an answer, action, or solution in that committed time frame.
- That person then called the customer back with an action plan, usually within 30 minutes.
My first thoughts were that it would be very disruptive every time a customer called with a problem or an issue. What I discovered was the customers only called when they really had an issue or a problem. There were no “fire drills” or needy customer calls. Their customers knew that this company was totally customer focused and they did not need to call just to get a little attention. When they needed something, their call was the highest priority and it was addressed. Customers only called when they had a problem and they knew it would be handled. That is piece of mind.
Take a look at your business process. Are you sending the message to your customers that whenever they have an issue, problem, question or challenge they can contact your business and you will give it your highest priority? If not, you need to rethink your model. Sometimes customers call just for attention. They usually do that the most when they are concerned you do not care enough. Think about it.
Dave Cooke has recently launched his program the Sustainable Revenue Formula™ (SuRF), which provides businesses a comprehensive formula for effective and sustainable revenue growth. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the white paper, “Revolutionizing the Future for Today’s Business”, please contact me: dave@salescooke.com.