The History of Customer Service

In the beginning, Management created the product and gave it to the Customer. And the Customer liked the product; and it was good. And the Customer loved Management.

As the Customer used the product they began to have questions, and Management said, “We must give the Customer some help with the product. They need a friendly voice that they can talk to and ask questions.” And Management created the Customer Service Rep. And the Customer liked the Customer Service Rep because they were helpful and responsive and made the experience worthwhile; and it was good. And the Customer loved Management.

Management added new features to the product and made it more complex. And while the Customer liked the product, he had more questions and made more calls to the Customer Service Rep. Management added more Customer Service Reps and the Customer Service Reps did their best to help the Customer. And the Customer appreciated the Customer Service Reps; and it was good.

Into the land came the Efficiency Expert and he proposed to help Management increase their profits. And the Efficiency Expert introduced the Automated Call Distributor (ACD) to Management and told them that it would help the Customer Service Rep assist the Customer even more by responding to them quicker. And Management believed them and was thankful to the Efficiency Expert; and the Customer really did not notice the difference; And Management said it was good.

And the Efficiency Expert introduced Call Metrics to Management. And they told Management that Call Metrics would help them service the Customer even more. The Efficiency Expert used the Call Metrics to measure how long it took the Customer Service Rep to help the Customer. They told Management that the Customer was waiting too long for service and that by reducing the wait time there would be more profits. Management believed them. And the Customer did not notice the difference; and Management said it was good.

Then the Efficiency Expert told Management that they could best serve the Customer by helping them as quickly as possible. This would allow every Customer Service Rep to help more customers and it would create more profits. Management believed them. And Call Metrics were introduced to shorten the time the Customer Service Rep spent with each Customer. And the Customers began to feel unimportant; and profits increased; and Management said it was good.

The Efficiency Expert said that being friendly took too much time and did not service the Customer. By not being friendly the Customer Service Reps would be more efficient and could serve more Customers, and profits would increase. Management believed them. And the Customers noticed and were not happy; and profits increased; and Management said it was good.

The Efficiency Expert said that the Customer Service Reps made too much money and that moving the Customer Service Reps to a foreign country would increase profits and allow them to hire more Customer Service Reps to help the Customers. Management believed them. And the Customers could not understand the Customer Service Reps who did not speak their native language and they were upset; and profits increased; and Management said it was good.

And the Customers began to complain. They did not want short phone calls, they wanted help using the Product. They wanted someone to be helpful and friendly, and they wanted to talk with someone they could understand. And the Efficiency Expert said that this was not important and that it would hurt profits. Management believed them and worked to reduce average call times even more; and profits increased; and Management said it was good.

And the unemployed Customer Service Reps could not find other jobs and began to buy less of the Product. The Efficiency Expert said that costs must be cut even further and that average call times needed to be reduced and Customer Service Reps were told that no call could be longer than 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Call Menu’s were introduced to eliminate the need for the Customer to speak to a real human being. Customer Service Reps then cut off all calls in 2 minutes and 10 seconds regardless of whether or not the Customer was served. The Efficiency Expert said it was good; Management believed them. And the Customers were angry and began to buy products from other companies. Profits began to go down; Management said it was good.

The Efficiency Expert fought hard to cut costs even more by reducing the number of Customer Service Reps, eliminating user manuals and instructions, and implementing self-help tools for the Customers. Management said it was good. And the Customers stopped buying the product; the Company went bankrupt; and Management could not be found.

The End.

What is the history of customer service in your organization? This is always a great time of year to look around your organization and see where you stand.

Are you currently taking the best possible care of your customers? Or, has your organization lost sight of your key customer service goals….in the name of efficiency and cost savings? And, what can you do to continue pleasing your customers or to regain their trust if it, indeed, has been lost.

I hope that you enjoyed this article. At ECI Learning Systems LLC we are dedicated to improving productivity and profitability by creating engaged organizations. Our unique combination of training and personalized coaching, combined with our expertise in assessments allow us to create a development plan tailored for your success.


Until next time….

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ECILearning.com

When SMART Goals are DUMB

According to Wikipedia, the first known use of the term “SMART Goals” occurred in the November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran. There is some discussion over what each letter of the acronym actually stands for, but some commonly accepted terms are:

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A= Achievable
R = Realistic
T = Time Bound

By this definition, a goal qualifies as SMART if it meets these 5 criteria. For example: “We will increase our sales for X product by 200 units in the calendar year 2011” qualifies as a SMART goal because it meets the necessary criteria.

While management training has been cut significantly in the last decade or so, most managers are instructed in how to set SMART goals. In fact, SMART goals are often viewed as the panacea for organizations that lack the proper Vision and Mission. “With SMART Goals”, some people say, “everyone knows exactly what is expected of them.”

And, this is true. With goals that meet the criteria identified above, people do have concrete targets to shoot for. And the management axiom is, “what gets measured gets managed” meaning that the SMART goals will get managed by the organization.

But, it would be a mistake to assume that creating SMART goals puts the organization on concrete footing and guarantees success. As with anything else, SMART goals are only as good as the people that create them. And in my career I’ve been given a number of SMART goals that I knew I should never try and achieve.

Because sometimes SMART goals are DUMB.

D = Distorted
U = Unimportant
M = Mediocre
B = Biased

Once, I was working with my sales organization trying to improve our throughput and support to them. Over the course of the year they had seen changes in the market and were revising some of their products and implementation. We were working together to make sure we were both on the same page. This was a big exercise, and I was glad to be a part of it as I’ve longed believed that Sales and Delivery organizations should be working together closely.

In the middle of this exercise I received a package from my boss containing my goals for the upcoming year. These goals were nothing more than my current year’s goals with increased performance, and they were entirely out of sync with what my sales team needed. They DISTORTED the need for speed in delivery; focused on tasks that were UNIMPORTANT to my customers; would have led to MEDIOCRE results; and were based on the BIAS of my boss and what he believed we needed.

I was told to sign and submit them to HR within 24 hours to qualify for the bonus program for the next year.

When creating your goals, think beyond the concept of SMART and make sure that your goals will result in something meaningful to your department and your company. Find out what is really important and create goals that will serve the organization and your customers.

Just because goals are SMART doesn’t mean that they aren’t DUMB as well.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

The Legacy of Walt Disney

Too many people underestimate the value of a legacy. In fact, too many leaders at all levels of the organization don’t even think about what will happen after they are gone. Oh, sometimes they will have groomed a successor, but even that is hit and miss. For a variety of reasons, leaders have engaged in short term thinking and have equated that with “nimbleness” in the marketplace.

Of course, another way to look at this nimbleness might be directionless.

The validity of thinking long term, creating something bigger than yourself, and leaving a legacy that can be built upon is no further away than Anaheim, CA. or Orlando, FL., or at any one of the other Disney Parks worldwide.

Walt Disney had a vision for something bigger than most people could even grasp. He wanted to build “the happiest place on earth”, where parents could take their children and be able to live in a fantasy world. And he wanted his new “world” to be isolated from surrounding business, and traffic, and congestion in general. To accomplish this new world, Walt Disney purchased over 27,000 acres of land near Orlando. When he announced his plans for his new world people thought he was absolutely crazy. After all, most of that 27,000 acres was swampland and not suitable for building.

I won’t bore you with all of the details but Walt Disney World in Orlando opened for business on October 1, 1971; about 5 years after the death of Walt himself. The fact that his legacy carried on and allowed this park to be built even after his passing is truly extraordinary, but that is just the beginning. Epcot Center was added in 1982, 16 years after his death and the Disney Animal Kingdom was opened in 1998.

Today the tradition continues, and the Magic Kingdom is indeed the “happiest place on earth” just the way Walt envisioned it. If you have visited the Magic Kingdom you are no doubt aware of it’s isolation from surrounding businesses, meaning that you are truly lost in Disney’s world. And, if you are like me, you were stunned by how clean and fresh everything looks all the time. Rides come and rides go, but technology is a key component of the Disney magic, and this company remains in the forefront of their industry and are more nimble than companies 1/3 of their size.

All of this happened because of the dream of Walt Disney and his ability to vest his dream in those around him. He left a clear legacy for his company that guides their decision making even today. Employees at all levels of the organization are introduced to Walt’s legacy, and the culture he created, while morphing over time, remains as strong today as when he first communicated it to his team.

The culture of Disney is not perfect, but it’s an excellent example of what a leader can do if they want to. It’s what they can do if they think big, think broad, and incorporate their vision into the company’s culture. Because the culture you leave behind is the building block for your legacy.

What is the culture that you have built in your organization?


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

A Leader’s Legacy Part 3 - When the Legacy Survives the Leader

We’ve been talking about the importance of a leader leaving a legacy and how that legacy can impact an organization for years to come. Just as you want to build a house on a firm foundation that will last for years, and maybe even generations, the same is true when you build a company. A true leader has a vision for the company and builds a strong foundation through the company’s mission, vision, and values. In fact, the visionary leader creates a culture and embeds it so deeply in the organization that it not only survives that leader’s time as President or CEO but it will actually outlive the leader.

If you’ve ever had the privilege of working in a strong, well run company with a strong, visionary leader then you know what I’m talking about. A visionary leader imparts on an organization something much stronger than the goals and objectives; something much more dynamic than a 5 year plan; and something much longer lasting than just the company’s mission statement. A leader of this type wants to create something bigger than themselves, something that will last more than a lifetime.

When I think of leaders of this type, a few different names come to mind. Henry Ford built a company based on his own values and it stays true to most of those values today. Thomas Jefferson, in writing our Declaration of Independence, created something much bigger than himself. And William (Bill) McGowan founded MCI Communications and built a company in his own image. Unfortunately for Bill McGowan, his legacy could not survive the telecom shakeout of the late 1990’s and was lost in the merger with WorldCom.

But, there is one name that truly stands out. This is a man who created something so much bigger than himself; a man who thought big, dreamed big, and acted even bigger; a man whose vision was so clear and his ability to communicate that vision so compelling that his legacy survives nearly 50 years after his death.

His name is Walt Disney.

Is there a man, woman, or child in the United States over the age of 7 years old who has not heard of Walt Disney?

For that matter, there are not too many adults anywhere in the world who do not know of Walt and what he stood for?

Walt Disney passed away in 1966, yet the legacy he left has survived him even to this day. And, while his company has undergone numerous management changes over the years, they remain steadfast to the values and principles that Walt Disney espoused when he created his company.

We’ll talk a little more about the legacy that Walt Disney left in our next edition.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

What is the legacy of a leader? – Part 2

In last week’s blog we started talking about the legacy of a leader and the intangibles that remain after a leader is gone. Real leaders at every level of an organization need to be thinking about their legacy and what will happen to the organization once they are no longer a part of it. A true leader is always thinking about the long term impact of their actions and not just about what will happen today or tomorrow. But, there are far too many people out there in positions of leadership who think only about the here and now.

Many leaders do think about leaving their imprint on an organization and seek to clearly delineate their time as a leader versus those of a predecessor. And, while this imprint can be positive, too often we see leaders who make change for the sake of change without regard to the implications for the organization as a whole. For example, we’ve all seen leaders assume control of an efficient, functioning organization, only to turn it dysfunctional sooner than anyone thought possible.

When leaders focus only on the short term, or focus on themselves rather than what is best for the organization, they tend to chase away top performers, lose sight of the true goals of the organization, and create top heavy organizational charts which revolve around them. And, while these leaders may occasionally provide short term results, their true legacy is the long term despair of the organization – broken only by the short term elation and joy at the announcement of their departure.

When leaders focus on the long term and create a plan to leave the organization stronger than when they arrived, they build an organization with a vision for the future, instill the values to support that mission, and find talented people to carry the mission and vision forward. Leaders with this focus not only create results for today, but also for the future. You can feel the imprint on the organization years after they have been gone; managers quote them, employees are still empowered with the values they set forth, and decisions are made that are consistent with the long term vision they so clearly communicated.

In our next issue, we will talk about one such leader – a leader who created a legacy with such clear values and such a strong mission that it survives and thrives more than 50 years after his death.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

What is the legacy of a leader?

Although much has been written about leadership and the qualities of a leader, one often overlooked aspect of leadership is the concept of legacy. What kind of legacy does a leader leave once they are gone?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary a legacy is “anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor”. That means that the legacy of a leader is what they hand down when they pass the reigns of leadership to someone else. It’s not a physical thing like a scepter that represents power or wisdom, and it’s not about systems or processes that make the business run. In terms of leadership, a legacy represents the intangible assets of the organization that make it different than their competitors. You might call it the culture, but that may not be broad enough to cover all aspects of what the leader leaves behind.

The problem is that too few leaders give much thought to their legacy beyond the new products offered during their watch or the merger that redefined the company’s place in the market. In some cases, these items may indeed represent the leader’s entire legacy. If so, that leader has fallen far short of the requirements to be a great leader.

Too often, leaders view their role rather selfishly and believe that the success of the company, or even just their individual department, is tied directly to their own brilliance and astute understanding of the technical details of the organization. The organization will surely fail without them, as no one can have the insights into the customers as they can. They have built the entire organization around the strength of their own personality and it’s clear to all that they can never truly be replaced. You can almost see their glee when they look back at the old organization and see that, without their leadership, the organization is struggling to perform or maintain their standards.

Perhaps you are recognizing these traits in some of your prior leaders at all levels of the organization. Leaders who leave a legacy that begins to fade almost as soon as their name is taken off the door. These leaders really don’t care about what happens after they are gone. They don’t care about the people, the products, or the customers. Instead, they think only of themselves.

Now, there is another type of leader who tends to leave a longer lasting legacy, even if it is not a positive one. There are certainly those leaders who leave a legacy of despair, and even brokenness. They come in like a deadly storm and lay waste to the organization without blinking an eye. Soon after their arrival, key members of the organization are suddenly no longer there. They have either been asked to leave or have decided on their own that they are no longer a good fit in the organization.

But, we will talk more about these leaders in our next edition.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors;
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

Red Light/Green Light Hiring – Part 2

Last week I wrote about a fairly common practice among many companies that I call “Red light/Green light” hiring. Fundamentally, this is a process initiated by well intentioned, but unrealistic, executives to control hiring and headcount. This process involves turning off the spigot of hiring completely and then, when the need arises, opening that spigot back up on a short term, temporary basis.

Executives who promote this type of hiring believe that it controls headcount and rewards those managers who are willing to make quick hiring decisions. “If it takes you a month to fill one open position then that position was clearly not very important to you,” lectured one smug executive. “If it is important, you will get it done quickly.”

On the one hand, there is logic in the concept of applying full focus to something as important as filling open headcount. On the other hand, this is not really about filling open headcount but about bringing people and talent into your organization; talent that results in new ideas, improved performance, and long term savings and profitability.

Here in lies the problem.

There is no decision that a manager or leader makes that is more important than the decision of who to put on the team. A good choice gets up to speed quickly, blends in well with the team while supplementing their knowledge and expertise, and contributes ideas as well as sweat into the organization. A bad choice doesn’t just fail to contribute. A bad choice wastes time, disrupts the flow of activity, causes dissension in the organization, and costs you more time and money than having no one in the position at all. A bad choice costs you money and actually reduces the productivity of the rest of the team instead of enhancing it. In many ways, a bad employee is worse than no employee at all.

These are things that executives often overlook when, by looking at the numbers and hearing some grumbling from their teams, decide to turn on the hiring spigot for a few weeks to “relieve the pressure” of being short headcount. They look at the number of employees, the amount of headcount reduction in certain areas, measure the salary impact, and agree to some short term relief. Executives are paid to be strategic thinkers, balancing long term views with short term goals. By reducing the decision to hire new people to a simple discussion of headcount and dollars, they totally overlook the concept of putting the right people on the bus and in the right seats. This means that they are totally missing the strategic aspects of their most important assets (their people) in an attempt to control short term costs.

The solution for “Red light/Green light” hiring is really not that complicated. And here are a couple of options:

1. Good companies are always on the lookout for talent. Don’t let a hiring freeze stop you from identifying talented people.

2. Create a simple “Yellow light” where managers have the opportunity to interview people without making offers.

3. Take a long term view of your organization and reduce headcount without imposing a hiring freeze. If managers believe that removing dead weight from their organization will actually cost them headcount they will often keep bad employees on the team, just to keep their numbers up.

At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/

Red Light/Green Light Hiring Produces No Winners

In many companies, headcount is hard to obtain, difficult to keep, and often impossible to fill with quality people. Many companies are experiencing hiring freezes where “open headcount” is lost and often never recovered and essential tasks go undone; or more likely half done, giving the illusion of progress where none really exists. While first line managers are scrambling to keep their heads above water and are doing the absolute minimum in many areas, top level executives are patting themselves on the back as their efforts at “cost reduction” (i.e. layoffs) are producing the desired results.

While it is true that having less people in the organization reduces costs, it can also reduce effectiveness in both the short and long term. This is not to imply in any way that some organizations have never been over-staffed. Obviously some fat or excess headcount can be cut from an organization’s budget without significant impact, but there comes a point when you are no longer cutting fat and you are cutting muscle and bone. This means that key tasks and projects are no longer being completed or worse, they are completed without the appropriate research and oversight giving the impression that the boat is floating when it is actually taking on water, lots of water.

First line managers have learned that complaining doesn’t work so they “suck it up”, juggle priorities, and allow any work that des not require immediate attention to be put on long term or permanent hold. Knowing that things are not getting done or not getting done correctly adds significantly to their stress level because they know that sooner or later their lack of focus on these future projects will come back to haunt them. So they continue on, hoping that the economy shifts and that they will be allowed to hire new staff before the impact of these future projects are felt. Often this leads to something that I call “Red light/Green light” hiring.

Red light/Green light hiring is a process used by many companies where, when the light is “red,” no hiring of any kind is permitted. No ads are posted, no resume’s reviewed, no consideration is given to the need for new employees because hiring has been “frozen.” This condition often lasts several months with no clear end date in sight. Open personnel requisitions are often forfeited and may or may not be returned. When the light is “red,” hiring is not only restricted, but so is interviewing. After all, what good is interviewing if no jobs are open.

The real problem with “Red light/Green light” hiring is what happens when the light turns green. The green light often happens without any advance notice, with no real clarity as to where the open requisitions are coming from, and results in a flurry of unfocused activity as managers attempt to fill requisitions they didn’t know they had. Green light hiring is often short in duration with an unspecified, but clearly short, window for hiring.

You can only imagine what happens when a manager is suddenly told that the light is green and they now have 2 open personnel requisitions that must be filled quickly. They know that the light will soon be red again, so they pull out all of the stops to bring new people on board.

Often, this has some very bad and long reaching consequences. But we will talk more about that next week.

At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/