Today, New Years Day, has been an interesting day and I want to share with you that which showed up for me. Why? Because it occurs to me that it provides useful pointers to customer experience, customer-centricity, customer service.
After breakfast I got busy painting doors even though the sky was blue and the bright sunshine was calling me to go and spend the day outdoors. What allowed me to transcend my psychology which was pulling me outdoors? Commitment and being a stand for the commitments I make. Put differently, I had made a commitment to my wife that the doors would be painted. And I take it upon myself to play full out to honour my commitments, which is to say that I am a stand for the commitments I make.
What is the lesson for customer experience, customer-centricity, customer service here? As I see it the lesson is that a genuine commitment, a powerful stand, is necessary if organisations are to provide the kind of customer experience that is necessary to cultivate customer loyalty. Who needs to make this commitment? It always starts with the Tops. Why? Because it is the Tops who determine organisational priorities through funding arrangements and resource allocation. What have I noticed to date? Tops do not show genuine commitment to customer service, to customer experience, to customer-centricity. And this lack of commitment is visible to the Middles and Bottoms.
Noticing me busy with the painting my son came over and asked my why I was doing the painting. He suggested that we leave it for his mother to do it. I explained my commitment and carried on painting. To my astonishment I found that, later, he started cleaning his room – thoroughly. Now this was something I had asked him to do earlier and he had refused.
Once I had finished painting the doors I had to leave them to dry. So I got busy cleaning the bathrooms and toilet. I did more than my fair share. Why? Because I had asked my son to clean the bathroom he shares with his siblings. He refused. And I knew that the bathroom needed to be cleaned. So I cleaned it thoroughly. As he was finishing cleaning his room I asked my son for the Dyson to clean my bedroom. To my shock he told me that he would hoover upstairs including my bedroom. And that is what he did. Then he did the stairs and finally the downstairs. Later, he cooked a meal for the both of us. All of this showed up as a miracle! What happened here?
Leadership: influence through being a model. Seeing me do the right thing – paint the doors to make our home better, he chose to thoroughly clean his room. And in the process he found his passport that went missing six months ago. Seeing me do his work – cleaning his bathroom – he felt shame. And he dealt with his shame by doing what he could do to make amends: hoovering upstairs and downstairs. Noticing that I was tired after the work that I had been doing, he chose to cook for us rather than wait for me to cook.
What is the lesson here for customer service, customer experience, customer-centricity? Actions speak louder than words. The most powerful way to influence human beings, and employees are human beings, is to model the right behaviour. Which means that the most powerful way for Tops to show a genuine commitment to customer-centricity is to do the necessary work, to model the desired behaviour on an ongoing basis. This means serving customers in the store, answering calls in the call-centres, making sales calls, walking in the shoes of customers by being the customer and going through what the customer goes through.
Summing up, if Tops are serious about making their organisation customer-centric, excelling in service and the customer experience, then the Tops have to put away their words and lead by being models of customer-centricity through their behaviour and their attitudes. Gandhi said it best when he exhorted us to ‘be the change’ we wish to see in others, in the world that we dwell in. So far Tops have been deaf to this message, I wonder if they will hear/act on this message this year. I am open to being surprised and delighted.
The Customer Blog 
Great words of wisdom here, Maz.
Creating true customer-centricity demands more than lip-service and slogans. It requires a commitment and mindset that permeates the organization. It’s about more than just putting the customer first, but creating and developing an environment top to bottom that fosters an unrelenting focus on building customer engagement and brand loyalty. Exceptional organizations constantly examine the ways they do business with their customers to ensure the outcomes of elite service and a low-effort customer experience. They engage and involve all levels of the organization in that effort.
As you suggest, it all starts with leadership’s commitments, attitudes and behaviors.
Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year, my friend!
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Hello Scott
Many thanks for dropping by and adding your voice to the conversation. And for your kind words. What can I say other than I find myself to be in agreement with you. It occurs to me that some stuff is easy to say and extremely difficult to do. And this some stuff includes customer-centricity.
And I offer you my best wishes for you, your loved ones. Thank you for calling me a friend, I am deeply touched. Please do reach out to me if I can be of service.
At your service and with my love
Maz
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Maz
I’m exhausted just reading about all that hard work, well done!
Surely your observation is the reason why so much is talked, written, done and spent in the name of customer experience – with so little benefit to the customer. It is because the actions of the leadership do not match the words.
Your conclusion accords with my experience completely, as I’ve posted similarly: http://blog.customersure.com/2011/06/19/how-to-get-every-customer-recommending-you/
The solution has to be top down, or it will not succeed.
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Hello Guy
Great to hear your voice and the very best to you for this year, for life.
I have read your post and find myself in agreement with it. In so much agreement that I have liked it!
At your service / with my love
Maz
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Hi Maz,
My father always said to me ‘never ask someone to do something that you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself’. Also, showing people that you are willing to do something by doing it is so much more powerful than any words that you can utter. Leading by example, for me, wins every time.
Adrian
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Hello Adrian
Looks like your father and my father shared a similar philosophy! And looks like this philosophy wriggled inside of you and me. Imagine if everyone in every organisation acted on this ethos. Would we see a revolution in the way that organisations work, families work, the world works? I say yes. And I am not holding my breath. Yet, I strive to practice this philosophy as I see no other way for me that leave me being me.
Maz
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Hi Maz,
Thinking about seeing more of that type of approach brings to mind Louis Armstrong: “And I think to myself …..what a wonderful world”
Adrian
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Maz, I am not a religious man (I got this quote from Google) but sometimes the Bible sums it up nicely
Luke Chapter 6 verse 38:
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
James
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Hello James
I thank you for sharing that. Whilst it may not be literally true, it is a great way to show up in life and live. And as such I find myself in agreement with it.
Funny, how the truths of greatness are there and we do not see them for what they are because for us they have become platitudes.
Maz
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