by Ira S. Miller
Director, Organization Development
CHEMARK
The concept of readiness-to-serve is very simple: have the capability to respond to reasonably unexpected
requirements from customers or external
situations. The bottom line is equally simple: more loyal customers, more revenue,
and higher profits.
So, why is it that so many companies are
happy to frustrate their customers rather
than investing in readiness-to-serve ability?
The Process Conundrum
A cursory reading of Deming’s and/or
Balridge’s work will lead one to the conclusion that having the right processes is
the best way to ensure output quality.
Unfortunately, today’s businesses have
decided that process is the only thing that
matters. The underlying assumption is
that any process that can be flowcharted
can be enacted. Today’s technology allows us to hand off work to other people
on the next shift or another country.
The logical extension of this belief is
that we can resource (mostly people, but
capital as well) based on the assumption
that the actual implementation will run
flawlessly. The result, any hiccup immediately diminishes the intended outcome;
ultimately reducing customer satisfaction.
The Ball Rolls Downhill
The individuals actually running the process are being measured on their results
(as they should be). So, when a hiccup
arises they need to make it up either on
that engagement or ones in the future.
Quality suffers in either case.
We have all experienced the customer
service person that loses patience with us
because we don’t understand what’s being
said or the “planned” response isn’t fixing
the problem. A few years ago the only re-
sponse I could get from Dell Computers
was to wipe out my hard drive and start
again. This “advice” came after 3-4 min-
utes of “diagnosis” of my problem. I did
it once and it took me 32 hours to get
everything back up and running. Calling
in again with the same problem, I got the
same response. I tried one more time to
talk with their experts and got the same
response. If I was going to wipe and re-
load, it was not going to be on a Dell!
The Comparison –
Apple Computer
My wife and I recently visited our local
Apple store to buy new iMacs; her’s to
support her art business and mine for my
photography hobby. We had many, many
questions. The associate was patient,
understanding, and appeared to have
no time constraint. It took us well over
an hour to understand our options. We
probably spent close to double the cost of
comparable PCs. Both iMacs are up and
running and we’re thrilled with the result.
By the way, while setting up mine, I
ran into two problems: (1) connecting
to one on my HP printers, and (2) connecting my extended Logitech keyboard.
I called Apple Care. THEY walked me
though the trouble shooting even though
the problem was on another company’s
product. No pressure at all. Her only goal
was to fix my problem. Conclusion, both
needed a software upgrade.
HP is supposed to do that automatically (the flowcharted process). But it didn’t.
I went to their web site as instructed by
their automated phone system (the flowcharted process). The download won’t
install (the hiccup). After searching their
web site again, I can’t find a way to reach
a human. I used the work around suggested by Apple Care to get the printer to
respond. HP’s competitors will be in consideration when I need my next printer.
Logitech had a human to talk to.
Apparently, I am an idiot since I was un-
able to find the download file as I was
looking at the download page on their
web site instead of the product page. It
was clear that he had to get off my call.
While the solution worked, their flow-
charted process was clearly lacking.
Leadership and Rewards
The leadership issue here is setting the
philosophy that process flowcharts need
to anticipate the hiccups and resource for
dealing with them. Leaders need to fund
the hiccup response.
The reward system also needs to reflect the problem resolution focus. A great
example is Fidelity Investments. They
manage our investments. Before signing
up with them I wanted to know how my
representative was rewarded (bonuses
and career). It turns out that all the customer facing personnel are measured by
the results of carefully crafted customer
surveys focusing on service levels (not
financial returns). The net result is phenomenal responsiveness across the board,
backed up by exceptional advice.
Practical Takeaway
Every Leader needs to establish their personal, business philosophy. I believe readiness-to-serve needs to be one of the philosophy’s
few core principles. The Leader’s role is to
protect the core principles, to find other
ways to meet short-term objectives rather
than sacrifice those principles. I know it’s
not easy, but the benefits to the organization and you, personally, will far outpace
the extra effort to do what’s right.
The reward system also needs to reflect the problem resolution focus. A great
example is Fidelity Investments. They
manage our investments. Before signing
up with them I wanted to know how my
representative was rewarded (bonuses
and career). It turns out that all the customer facing personnel are measured by
the results of carefully crafted customer
surveys focusing on service levels (not
financial returns). The net result is phenomenal responsiveness across the board,
backed up by exceptional advice. CW
Readiness-to-Serve
