WHAT YOU ASK DETERMINES WHAT YOU HEAR – Putting Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes, Steve Hewson, Managing Director of Operations, COLT
Colt knows a thing or two about managing IT infrastructure & mission critical systems in a way that creates trust with over 35,000 customers. Colt now plans to leverage its stability and move forward from flat to double-digit growth. So in an industry sector where in recent years customer expectations have grown at a faster rate than the industries ability to deliver, customer trust is a critical. Colt can only be successful if the client CEO’s & CIO’s trust us says Steve
Put the customer at the centre of what you do. Steve posed some great questions.
Have you ever met a company that says it does not listen to its customers and does not act upon customer feedback? And Have you ever met someone who states they are customer centric, yet their business challenges clearly sit with someone who is not?
Some companies say “we do a survey” to demonstrate they are customer centric. If it is not embedded into the orgnisation and it’s just an overlay then 90% of the organization will see it as ‘someone else’s” responsibility. Not theirs! With no consequences, it will be diluted.
So what are the attributes of success?
Steve suggests employees fall into the trap of seeing things largely from their own perspective and not their customers. Why? Their filters are set to internal. Steve advocates a simple remedy. Stand in customers’ shoes. Experience what customers experience and feel the pain as your customers see things. It may feel like trying to run a business marathon in size 12 hobnail boots, but you can turn them into golden slippers.
How does Colt use customer feedback?
- Customer feedback is the primary measure to monitor performance
- It is hardwired into day to day business
- Customer KPI’s are combined with standard operational KPI’s to provide a combined index
- Negative triggers are acted upon
- It affects all employees’ compensation
Finally a few key tips that every NPS programme can benefit from:
- Be brave, do not create a programme that is just an overlay
- Its not someone else responsibility (the insight or market research team
- Don’t ask customers for feedback unless you are going to follow up (at least with detractors or weak scores)
- It must align with core values, the intrinsic DNA of the company
- Measure and link down to account level (loyalty & revenue at an account level)
