Four Rules of Superlative Service
There are only a few truly outstanding businesses out there, while most others are lost among the mundane average. The ones that really stand out from the flock are invariably the ones that focus on the customer. Every aspect of their business – design, manufacturing and marketing – is carried out with the customer in mind.
The most successful companies follow four rules to achieve world-class service:
- Set “impossible” standards. Highly successful companies set ridiculously high standards and insist that they are met. Federal Express, for example, guarantees that priority packages will be delivered by 10:30 a.m. or your money back. It aims for an impressive 100 percent on-time delivery rate. The company can’t afford 99 percent rate since that would mean 7,500 packages each day would not reach their destination.
- Understand customers. Successful companies constantly poll customers about what they want today, tomorrow and the next day. They want to know their customers inside out and even anticipate their future needs when possible.
- Please the most demanding customer. Smart organizations don’t settle for pleasing the average customer; they want to please the customer with the highest expectations. Maytag, for example, manufactures the same washer and dryers for private use as it does for commercial use. The only difference, said one executive, is that one machine has a coin slot and the other does not.
- Involve everyone in customer satisfaction. At outstanding companies, every employee – from the new trainee to the chairman of the board – is intensely interested in keeping the customer happy. One company abides by the “10-foot rule.” If an associate sees a customer within 10 feet, that person drops whatever they’re doing, smiles, makes eye contact with the shopper and asks if they can help in any way.
Source: Manco Duck Tales
