>> ASIAONE / BUSINESS / OFFICE / LEARN / CAREER BUILDING / ARTICLE

EVERY contact your organisation has with customers either cultivates or corrodes that relationship. That includes every letter you send, every advertisement you run, and every phone call you make.

The same applies to every employee contact, from the chief executive officer to technicians, sales force, support staff, and maintenance crews.

In other words, your business is only as good as your worst employee! It is a sobering thought, isn’t it? How well are you training your employees to cultivate your customers? Is anyone too high or too low to count?

Employees as heroes

At a meeting for the Gap stores, Mr Ed Stair, senior vice-president of Gap Outlets, wanted to make everyone think of ways to serve customers and, at the same time, see how wasted resources could instead be used to benefit customers.

He started his talk by saying: “We are here to talk about heroes. They may be sitting in front of you, or behind you, or they may be you. In the trenches, Gap heroes!”

He went on to describe how one Gap hero in the mailroom noticed seven FedEx packets going to the same Gap location, on the same day, with the same material inside the company newsletter. He repackaged them into one, with directions to distribute at the final location.

Making the same observations every day saved the clothing company $200,000 in one year, which was directed into another jeans size not created, 18 miles of shelves to make it easier for employees to find what they need and a month more to watch the fun Gap commercials.

Customer’s viewpoint

On a visit to New York, my brother and I decided on a whim to see a movie. It was the last show of the evening, and, though we were 10 minutes late, we did not think missing a few scenes would matter.

The cashier refused to sell us tickets because she had closed the cash drawer for the night. We asked her if it were possible to enter the money in the next day’s records. She said no. After speaking to two more employees, including the manager, we left without seeing the film. They could not take our money because the drawer was closed.

Had the theatre’s employees been trained to see situations through the eyes of the customers, we would not have encountered three uncooperative and uncaring individuals. Taking money after the drawer is closed is undoubtedly a nuisance, but it is revenue, after all. Obliging customers brings repeat business, and repeat business is what we all strive for.

Through the boss’ eyes

One of the goals of customer service training is to instil in all your employees the sense that it is their business too. Build this sense of ownership by encouraging them to see situations from the owner’s point of view.

If the theatre employees had had any sense of ownership, they never would have turned down money. Which day the ticket sale is rung up is irrelevant. Taking in money is what keeps the doors open and what business is all about.

Take the case of a manager for a credit card company in Phoenix, Arizona. He visited a local mall to buy 10 boxes of chocolates for his employees as thank-you gifts. There were two candy stores across from each other.

He entered the first store and asked if they accepted the credit card issued by his company. Assured that they did, he selected candy totalling $150.

Then he noticed the store had only posted the signs of rival card companies. Through the window, he saw that the candy store across the street had the logo of his company clearly visible on its door.

The manager explained to the salesman that, as an employee of that card company, he could not, in good conscience, give his business to a store that did not advertise his company’s card. “I hope you’ll understand that I’ll have to take my business to a store that does,” he said.

Just then, a 16-year-old stock boy asked him to wait a moment. The youngster ran to the other candy store, picked up an application, ran back, cut out the logo of the customer’s credit card company, and taped it to the register. “Is that good enough, sir?” he asked. Needless to say, he made the sale.

That employee had no long-term career strategy with the candy store, yet he instinctively knew how to take the initiative, creatively removing the problem, and getting the customer’s business.

If he had not acted as if he owned the business, he would never have made that sale. The best strategies are usually the simplest.

Everyone makes a difference. No one is too important or unimportant to leave out of your positive public relations loop. Seeing your business through the eyes of your customer and boss is a winning combination and a good place to start.

Article contributed by Patricia Fripp, a US-based executive speech coach and award-winning professional speaker. E-mail: PFripp@Fripp.com; website: www.fripp.com.

To send article contributions, comments, views and story ideas, e-mail a1admin@sph.com.sg.

When you contribute to AsiaOne, we take it that you agree, at no charge, to allow us to use, archive, resell or reproduce the letters and contributions in any way and in any medium.