7 Top Trends from 2018 Smarter Services Symposium
By Ron Kaufman
Uplifting Service - Blog
Your employees don’t care about service targets. And here’s why!
Businesses and communities for years have developed countless theories and ‘best practices’ to either Get Employees Who Care (Service Recruitment – Building Block #3) or to Get Employees To Care (Rewards and Recognition – Building Block #5)
Increasingly, compensations and appraisals are now being tied to % improvements in service indexes.
Here’s the problem:
Employees don’t live in the world of index improvements. Many may not even understand it.
Read MoreWhat are the 9 (plus 1) Behaviors of Truly Loyal Customers?
By Ron Kaufman
There is a big difference between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Customer satisfaction is an opinion, assessment, snapshot. It’s the answer to the question, looking back in time, “Are you happy with what we have done for you?” Have we met your expectations? Have we fulfilled the conditions of satisfaction? In fact, the traditional definition of customer satisfaction has been “meeting customer expectations”.
But there is an assumption in organization’s pursuit of customer satisfaction that has been proven false. It is not always true that a satisfied customer will also become a loyal customer. Today many organizations can “meet customer expectations”. Satisfying customers has become the norm, a minimum for staying in business. But satisfaction does not mean the customer will be loyal!
So what is customer loyalty, and how do you earn it and keep it for your organization?
Read MoreLUX* Introduces New "Shining" Service Personality Standards
By Ron Kaufman
How do you turn a passion for “shining service” into measurable, visible, and audible performance standards? How do you translate a vision like “We Make Each Moment Matter” and a purpose like “Helping People Celebrate Life” and turn them into observable, and trainable, commitments?
LUX* Resorts has cracked the code with their newest version of LUX* Shining Personality Standards. Every standard (except the one that specifically cites the Vision and Purpose) is observable – can be clearly seen or heard – and therefore easily taught, coached, managed, maintained, and celebrated.
Read MoreFirst Choose Your Target, Then Fire at the Bull’s-Eye
By Ron Kaufman
One of my clients launched a vigorous service improvement program to create greater value for external customers. Hundreds of classes were conducted for thousands of Service Champions around the world. The business objectives were clear: reclaim market share and rebuild a slipping reputation. Bounce back in recovery situations. Focus on external customer experience, not internal political issues. Demonstrate passion for existing customers. Go all-out to win new business.
But something unusual happened as the program rollout expanded. Rather than focusing on these identified external business targets, earning high internal course evaluations became the course leaders’ primary focus. Being rated highly as a very engaging course leader was viewed as great success. Scoring 9 out of 10 for leading a wonderful class became a cause for celebration. That’s a great score, but a very different bull’s-eye.
Customer success and better business results are why the program was originally conceived. High course leader scores are not the same as valuable business impact. Eventually this lack of alignment
became painfully apparent—the focus had drifted away from the early goals, and the entire program needed to refocus. Don’t let this drifting happen to you.
Learn how to increase the impact of your investment…
Read MoreDon’t Just Collect Data; Create Value
By Ron Kaufman
Service Measures and Metrics are a valuable building block for service improvement. But to build a service culture, the methodology of these metrics must be uplifting for those you query and for the members of your team.
Clarify What You Are Measuring and Why
Just because you can measure many things doesn’t mean that it makes good sense to track them all. What do you really want to know, and what action will you take with what you learn? Review this list and then decide which insights will be most helpful to improve your service now.
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