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I am Yankees fan and have been my whole life. Not just for the “Jeter” years but through the 70’s and the woeful 80’s as well. I have been able to see many great players but one I wish I saw was the great Joe DiMaggio. The reason was how he supposedly approached each game.
The story goes someone asked him, “Why do you play so hard every single day?” and he replied that, “Because in the stands there may be someone who is seeing me for the first time or for the last time and these expect my best”. Now I am sure this is some paraphrased version but as business owners it is important that our teams are always approaching customers or potential customers that same way.
Great Customer Service means Service
Does your company approach every interaction with the thought that this may be the first or last opportunity we have to make an impression? It seems that in the age of the Internet, many are forgetting this concept just because someone cannot see them. In reality, with the ability to jump from site to site online, it is even more important to have this approach with all of your communication channels.
You need to open your ears to what the customer is asking versus only being focused on getting to your product pitch. A wise friend once said, “You are selling the customer on your product not selling your product to the customer”.
If your goal is to listen, solve problems and be of service, then is your team playing the game correctly and with passion. If the focus is on educating the customer not only on the product but how you will deliver and BE of service then you will stand out from others who are just trying to manipulate customers into buying a product.
Delivering Excellent Customer Service
How can you make sure that your team is delivering excellence every single day
- Create a process for your team to follow on what you want them to do.
Without a process you cannot train your team for excellence. Joe DiMaggio practiced every single day so that when a situation arose all he had to do was focus his energy and passion through that structure. Are you setting up a structure that your team can drive their passion? Do they know what you expect?
- Follow up on results and make adjustments?
Do you have a process to monitor your team and their results? Once you have the results what are you doing to improve performance?
A major flaw with most companies is they have a process for how something should be executed, their team is passionately executing the process but they are not taking time to refine the process through customer and employee feedback. If you’re not refining your processes for customer service based on feedback and results you will lose customers over time.
I am sure that Joe DiMaggio would study pitchers for a hitting advantage and also study hitters so that he knew where he should position himself to have an advantage in the field. DiMaggio would not be the Hall of Fame player without his commitment to process, practice and delivering excellence to all his customers who came to see him.
You goal is to get your team to play hard every single day because every interaction with a customer may be the first time of many that they do business with you or it could be the last. Your call.
If I can be of service or you would like to bounce ideas around feel free to reach out to me. I will be more than willing to help.
Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Management Trainer.
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