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      KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
     ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
                 Volume 35, February 2004
    Publisher: © Key Associates, 2004
              ISSN # 1545-8873
           http://www.mkkey.com

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This Issue: On "Employees as Customers"

View Earlier Issues

Contents:

• What's Hot in Leadership
• Maintaining Yourself as a Leader
• Frequently Asked Questions from Leaders
• Educational Opportunities
• Useful Websites
• Articles/Publications

"Communicate everything you can to your associates.  
The more they know, the more they care.  Once they
care, they're no stopping them."
                                                        - Sam Walton

"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, 
is not an act, but a habit ."
                                                         - Aristotle    

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your time 
here on earth."
                                                          - Muhammad Ali

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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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SEEING EMPLOYEES AS CUSTOMERS 
OF EACH OTHER AND YOU.

HIRING SERVICE-MINDED PEOPLE.

ANALYZING YOUR BUSINESS FROM THE 
EMPLOYEE-CUSTOMER'S PERSPECTIVE.

PROVIDING LATITUDE TO USE GOOD
JUDGMENT AND RESOURCES TO MAKE
EACH INTERNAL CUSTOMER INTERACTION 
A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE.

REINFORCING INTERDEPENDENCE,
SYSTEMS THINKING, AND ALIGNMENT
THROUGH A COMMON AIM.

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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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Before you can ask people to do something,
you have to help them be something.  Provide
people meaningful work, ensuring that service
is everyone's job.  Engage everyone in your
mission--ask them the question: "Why are 
we in business?"  Without customers, there is 
no business.  Can any one of us accomplish this 
alone?  No, everyone counts.  

Hire people who care.  Maintain high standards, 
and create an environment in which people can 
grow.  Train them, give them all the necessary tools, 
provide them feedback and recognition, and 
then get out of their way.

Thanks to Betsy Sanders (Fabled Service).

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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I am appalled at the lack of service thinking in
my company.  Where do I begin?  

Answer these questions:

1. Have you told people you expect it?  Giving
    good service should be in their job description.
2. Have you offered training on it?
3. Do your hiring and evaluation processes address it?
4. Is your organization set up to provide good internal service
    (policies, processes, priorities, bureaucracy,etc.)?
5. Do you truly value your employees and provide them
    the respect you expect them to confer to their customers?

We are very good on external customer service.  
How do we get that same attitude to apply to our
internal customers-- that is, each other?

First, have employees identify their internal 
customers, by answering this question: "If I
stopped doing my job, who would it impact?"
Who gets the messages they forward, the forms
they complete, the reports they write, the
feedback they provide, the materials they
create?  

Then require that they dialogue with those 
internal customers, to gather customer knowledge.
Structure questions, such as:

-What service or product do you depend on me for?
-Am I providing anything you don't need or use?
-How could I improve my service to you?
-What could I do to delight you, not just satisfy you?

Make customer feedback part of their performance
evaluation.

As a leader, how can I serve my employees better?

I think we have done great disservice to our 
employee-customers by creating unnecessary 
complexity and non-value-added activity.  It seems
we always add on, without taking things away.  
Look at the number of meetings and mounds of 
paper.  The administrivia.  One organization 
I studied had a 33-step performance appraisal
process, described in a 23-page policy, with 15 
additional pages of expectations.  Some managers
were required to complete this process on as 
many as 40 direct reports, at the same time 
every year.  And if they weren't done on time, 
everyone's raises were held up.

Take a day and walk in their moccasins.  Or at 
least, ask for their feedback on this matter.

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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Videos:
"But I Don't Have Customers," American Media, Inc. (1997)-21 min.
"The Hidden Customer: Internal Customer Service," Salinger (1989)-19 min.
"We're on the Same Team, Remember?"  CRM Films (1996)-20 min.
(available through LearnCom, 1-800-824-8889)

Customer Service training and products,
http://www.telephonedoctor.com/ 

Training solutions: seminars, DVDs, online materials,
http://www.business-marketing.com/store/customer.html

Key Associates offers one-day, on-site training, 
linking quality to customer service:
http://www.mkkey.com/Key%20Associates/CreatingCustomerMindedness.htm
A specialized version, directed to internal customers,
is available.

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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Newsletters, book and info
http://www.customerservicegroup.com/ 

International Customer Service Association
http://www.icsa.com/ 

Customer Service Network
http://www.customernet.com/120_Home.asp

Find out why good employees walk
http://www.mkkey.com/Key%20Associates/EmployeeAttractionRetention.htm

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
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Anderson, K.  Great Customer Service on the Telephone.  
NYC:  Amacon, 1992.

Anderson K. and Zemke, R.  Delivering Knock Your Socks 
Off Service.  NYC:  Amacon, 1992.

Bell, Ship R.  Customers as Partners: Building Relationships 
That Last.  San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1996.

Bell, Chip and Zemke, R.  Managing Knock Your Socks 
Off Service.  NYC:  Amacon, 1998.

Brinkman, Rick and Rick Kirschner.  Dealing With 
People You Can’t Stand. New York:  McGraw Hill, 1994.

Cannie, J.K. with Caplin, D. Keeping Customers For Life.  
NYC:  Amacon, 1991.

Connellan, T.K. and Zemke, R.  Sustaining Knock Your Socks 
Off Service.  NYC:  Amacon, 1993.

Desatnik, Robert L. & Detzel, Denis H.  Managing to 
Keep the Customer.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Gale, Bradley T.  Managing Customer Value: Creating 
Q uality and Service That Customers Can See.  The Free 
Press, 1994.

Kano, N., Seraku N., Takahashi F. & Tsuji, S.  “Attractive 
Quality and Must-be Quality.” Quality 14:2, 39-48, 1984.

Karr, Ron & Don Blohowiak.  The Complete Idiot’s Guide 
to Great Customer Service.  New York: Alpha Books/
MacMillon, 1997.

Leebov, Wendy, Scott, Gail & Olsen, Lolma.  Achieving 
Impressive Customer Service.  Chicago: AHA Press, 1998.

Sanders, Betsy.  Fabled Service.  San Diego: Pfeiffer. 1995.

Yager, Jan.  Business Protocol: How to Survive & Succeed in 
Business.  Stamford, CT: Hannacroix Creek Books, 2001.

Zeithaml,  V. & Others.  Delivering Quality Service: Balancing 
Customer Perceptions and Expectations. New York: The Free 
Press, 1990.