by Tom Sight
Tom Sight is CEO of Bob Sight Ford and president of Bob Sight Lincoln Mercury—Ingrams Gold Award winner
3-years running!. He may be reached at 816.524.6550.
Without satisfied customers you don't have
a business, and with happy customers your business growth is unlimited.
Customers are a tremendous source of referrals, but you can't have happy
customers without happy employees. You must employ people that want to
come to work everyday, as opposed to having to come to work.
When you look at the top ten items people want at work, money is around
number three. People want to work for someone who cares about them as
a person. I believe in the management theory of walking around, in letting
your people know who you are and that you're on the same playing field
as they are. The more interest you take in your employees, the better
they work for you. Managers that stay in their offices and don't get to
know their people aren't involved with the operation. Employee situations
will change daily, and the manager must be aware of such changes to be
effective.
Since customer satisfaction starts with your people, here are a few things
you can do to make sure you know your people.
- When you hire new employees, make sure you walk them around and introduce
them to as many coworkers as possible to help them feel at home.
- When making a change in your business
in terms of hours of operation or a change in your business direction,
communication with your employees is a must. Rely on their knowledge
of daily duties and consider their suggestions for a smoother-running
work place. Your decisions will have a stronger, more positive impact
throughout the work place.
- Try to never use the line, "don't
make a mistake." Everyone makes mistakes—the key is to learn
from them. Just don't make the same one twice.
- Sign all payroll checks, adding little
messages about their workweek. Taking the time to pass them out to each
person gives you the chance to look into your employee's eyes to see
how he or she is doing. With this in mind, your employees know that
you're paying attention.
- You also need to make sure your people are honest and straight-up. If you have concerns, go directly to the source. Do not get caught in the middle—this will not only stop the ping-pong effect, it will stop the problem before it gets started.
Now that you have happy employees, you can start working on improving your business with customers. Here are a few ideas:
- Empower your people to be able to make
decisions concerning customer complaints without needing prior manager
authorization. This allows the problem to be solved quicker for a happier
customer.
- Set up a daily planner for your sales
force that lists customers for customer-satisfaction calls. If you are
in the service business, it is imperative to call the customer to make
sure repairs have been made correctly. Unfortunately, some customers
do not openly express dissatisfaction—they just don't return. With
a courtesy call, you have the opportunity to fix the problem and create
trust and loyalty. In the end, you'll have a lifelong returning customer.
- Set up a referral service for your customers.
If they refer someone who purchases your products, reward them in some
way.
- Use your current and former customers as references. In the automobile business, we are in a business with incredibly little creditability. When people do not believe what we say, we suggest speaking with someone who has purchased a car from us. Satisfied customers have creditability.
In the end, it comes down to building loyalty.
If you show loyalty to your employees and to your customers, they will
show loyalty to you and your company. Customers will never become "former"
customers, but will remain "current" customers for life.