Don"t Feed the Ducks (ebook)

Argumento de Don"t Feed the Ducks (ebook)

Through a series of real life stories, observations and innovative ideas, Liam OConnell explains how anybody can create an extraordinary successful business.

People often say to me:
‘Liam, can you help us improve customer services at our
organisation? This month we need to “do” customer care.
Let’s tick all the boxes, print a service standard leaflet and a
strategy and send it out to all our employees.’
And what happens to it?
When I’m giving a talk, with my handily placed rubbish bin
on a table, this is the point at which people will shout out:
‘It’s filed!’
‘It’s put on a shelf!’
Until eventually somebody will call:
‘It’s chucked in the bin!’
Of course, they are all right. Absolutely nothing happens to
it. Nobody bothers to read it – except possibly the policy
officer. Have you ever known anybody who reads these
things, or even remembers them?
No, neither have I.
You see, traditional customer care really is dead! It went out
of fashion somewhere in the early 1980s. People hate
customer care. They despise it with a passion.
How many people do you know who’ve attended a customer
care training course? How many people do you know who
enjoyed it? How many people do you know who’ve booked
their holiday to coincide with a course? How many people do
you know who’ve booked their sick leave to coincide with a
customer care course?
Exactly! I rest my point.
If we are really going to deliver fantastic customer service and
create a successful organisation, we need to go much deeper –
right to the very soul of an organisation.
“…we need to go much deeper –
right to the very soul of an organisation.”
We have to create a vibrant, energetic culture where people
take a pride in their work and in their company:
• Where people, customers and colleagues come first.
Every time
• Where people are inspired to be the best they can be.
Every day
• Where people understand what they are contributing to
and have fun at the same time
And let me tell you a little secret here… because I have good
news for you.
Embracing cultural change at this deeper level is something
not many companies bother with, but those that do are
fantastically successful – Asda, Richer Sounds, WL Gore, to
name but a few.
Many businesses carry out lots of customer satisfaction
surveys – quite rightly, of course. Yours may even be one of
them.
But what about your people? How do they feel about
working for you? Are they proud of their company? Do they
understand what they are there for? Do they really know why
they come to work every morning?
“Do your people really know why they come to
work every morning?”
An essential starting point for any cultural change or
customer service programme is to do an employee morale
survey. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It needs just a few
questions to establish the truth, and to find out what people
feel and whether they are motivated to share your aims. Once
you have the results of a survey like this, you have a clear
benchmark to gauge your progress.
So you can forget all those boring customer care courses! If
you can create a brilliant place to work, with a shared
purpose and direction, you can achieve amazing things.
Happy people = happy customers.
In fact, I’d like to make one simple but vital alteration to that
last statement…
Happy, focused people = happy customers.
You need to have people in your business who understand
what they are contributing to and why they are there.
What is their purpose?
‘No customers’ means ‘no business’. Simple really.
And here’s the best news yet… What all this means is that
you have the opportunity to achieve a competitive advantage
over your opposition. It’s up to you. If you want to do it and
you are willing to relentlessly pursue your aims, you will
realise your ambitions and you will deliver truly outstanding
customer service.
My aim in this book is to give you some ideas to help you
along the way.

Liam O’Connell is a professional motivation and business speaker who has won a prestigious UK Skills National Training Award and is a full member of the Professional Speakers Association.0