Chapter 15
Ensuring Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is undoubtedly one of the top strategic issues for every company. A major topic of discussion in boardrooms, chat rooms, and lunchrooms, the exact formula for ensuring customer satisfaction is still unknown. One thing is clear: The customer function is the "fluid" throughout the whole organization. All departments must work collaboratively with each other as a team in order to serve the customer and fulfill the customer's requirements.^[1]

Given that customer satisfaction is positively related to loyalty, which in turn leads to increased profitability, market share, and growth, the importance of understanding how to achieve and ensure customer satisfaction is critical to the success of any leader.

The following sections discuss the skills, traits, and concentration that those surveyed in our research thought to be most valuable in ensuring customer satisfaction. These include inspiring people to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction, viewing business processes from the ultimate customer perspective, regularly soliciting input from customers, consistently delivering on commitments to customers, and understanding the competitive options available to customers.

Raising the Bar

Successful global leaders are unwilling to settle for mediocrity. As exhibited throughout this book, they inspire people by, among other things, genuinely listening to others, creating a shared vision, providing effective recognition, empowering others, and appreciating diversity. These leaders cultivate a desire to get ahead. By setting bold, challenging, yet attainable, goals they bring the best out in their people and create an environment in which high levels of customer satisfaction are achieved. 3M Worldwide, a $16 billion diversified technology company with leading positions in healthcare, safety, electronics, telecommunications, industrial, consumer and office, and other markets, is an example of a rapidly changing organization. Its success is in large part due to the fact that its leaders know that yesterday's success is only a floor for the greater achievement that will be expected tomorrow. 3M's CEO since January 2002, James McNerney, Jr., is "leading by example" and teaching employees how they can create an environment to ensure ongoing increases in performance.

The bottom line is that the global leader will do what it takes to help employees improve service to the customers,^[2] because if employees are happy, customer service will improve, which will make customers happy. If customers are happy, the organization as a whole will benefit, thus completing the cycle of success from leader to employee to customer to the organization and back again.^[3] Many leaders understand this formula for success. As a result, there are numerous methods for ensuring customer satisfaction, such as asking for customer feedback regarding products and services, gathering employee input on service, products, leadership, and equipment, and so on.

We are now running the business on a profit/loss basis. We are being held more accountable for financial results at a smaller level. Now that we are competing for customers, we must keep the employees, shareholders, and customers happy.^[4]

With fewer layers of middle management and a shorter distance between the CEO and the customer, companies are delegating more responsibility and autonomy to frontline workers, who are often the interface with the customer. For example, as part of its marketing campaign, a large hotel franchise has put into action a strategy in which any employee can compensate dissatisfied customers with a complimentary service, bonus travel points, a free meal, or even a free night at the hotel. This does two things: It relieves the customer of the inconvenience of complaining to more than one party (first the employee and then the manager); it delegates responsibility of the customer and his or her satisfaction and compensation to the frontline employee.

The organization will be less formal, highly networked, customer-driven, and flatter.^[5]

These workers are expected to make decisions and to contribute ideas to the company based on their understanding of customer needs, thereby improving customer service and increasing company profits. In many companies, individuals are encouraged to submit their ideas. For instance, at a large governmental agency, managers gathered employees' input each month. At the end-of-the month meeting, those employees whose ideas had been implemented and had benefited the company, either in cost-saving measures or employee satisfaction strategies, were rewarded with prizes.

Changing With the Customer^[6]

Over the past decade, a major shift in customer behavior has reshaped the nature of many markets, which has led to profound changes in how companies attempt to serve those markets. For example, more and more business customers have stopped buying standalone products and have started buying integrated solutions. This trend means that leaders of successful organizations need to develop different organizational structures, systems, and skills. Many companies are merging and forming alliances and partnerships with organizations that offer complementary products and services, such as Hewlett-Packard's purchase of Compaq. The nature of Compaq was to provide customers with services related to computers. HP, which was more a products than a services company, bought Compaq so as to be able offer its customers more of an integrated computer products and services solution, and thus be more competitive in the industry. EDS is another example of an organization that provides integrated solutions. An organization can hire EDS to manage its entire computer network, from equipment to IT support. This relieves the EDS customer of the IT burden so that the customer can focus on other areas.

Several factors have helped accelerate the move to integrated solutions. Many technologies—computers, copiers, fax machines, and other office equipment—are converging. The Handspring Treo is just one such example: This relatively new gadget combines phone, organizer, email, and Web into one small electronic device. Sprint PCS Vision combines digital camera, instant messaging center, and Web capabilities into a cell phone.

Companies in these industries are responding in surprising ways. A large percentage of IBM's business, for example, now involves customized solutions incorporating non-IBM products and services. For instance, in an attempt to enhance and expand its consulting services, IBM acquired PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

While the idea of IBM selling non-IBM products was almost unheard of in the past, it is now commonplace—to the benefit of customers and, in the long run, IBM itself. Likewise, leading telecommunications and other equipment providers are competing effectively by offering "network solutions" involving many products formerly sold separately.

As the world becomes more complex, customers' need to "keep it simple" increases. Many customers would rather go to a large, one-stop retail store, such as Wal-Mart or Target, that sells a wide range of products and services, from electronic products to gift wrap to home improvement supplies, rather than go to several specialty shops. However, making things simple for customers may not be simple for providers. Integrating processes from autonomous units (or even separate companies) poses political and organizational challenges often greater than the technical challenges. The global leader will need to not only seek out consumer preferences in different cultures and people,^[7] but he or she will also have a global awareness of business practices and customer requirements.^[8] Marriott International has been quite successful in integrating its services with those of other products and service providers frequented by its customers. The organization has ceased to be a call center for receiving hotel reservations. Customers are offered assistance in booking rentals cars, entertainment, and meals. This helps keep travel simple for the customer but makes customer service complicated for representatives of the hotel, who must be far more aware of customer needs and requirements than in the past.

Tough competition for customers is requiring firms to innovate more and more to differentiate from one another. With access to the Internet and technology so readily available, today's consumers can learn more about a company's products and services than ever. MySimon.com, a comparison shopping Web site, helps people make more informed decisions by providing them with product and pricing information across the Web. Travelers can quickly compare airline fares between various destinations by going to travel sites such as Orbitz.com or Travelocity.com. Empowered consumers are using such Web sites to compare companies, prices, and product information and to make informed decisions about their purchases. Consumers will be more demanding and request more information and more involvement.^[9] Quality—of both products and services—provides the company with a huge opportunity to distinguish itself from the competition. As consumers become smarter and more informed, they demand more value for their money, and they expect the companies from which they make their purchases to be responsible and accountable to them—or they will most likely find another place to shop.

Customer Input

An organization's survival depends upon the customers whom it serves. If customers buy the organization's product or service, the company is successful. In order to ensure customer satisfaction, companies must solicit input from their customers to determine whether or not they are satisfied and what it will take to make or keep them satisfied. Statistics show that only a small percentage of dissatisfied customers (1 out of 26) complain of their own accord; therefore, companies need to make it extremely easy for customers to give feedback.^[10]

The effective global leader understands that it is more costly to gain new customers than it is to retain existing customers, and statistics show that the longer a company keeps a customer, the more money it will make. In fact, it can cost five times more to buy new customers than to retain existing ones, and reducing customer defections can boost profits by 25 percent to 85 percent.^[11]

Good service and quality products are the foundation upon which successful companies build a satisfied and loyal customer base. For this reason, many companies have set up toll-free customer service numbers that customers can call if they have a complaint about products or services. Companies that offer online services often follow up with an email to the customer that asks for feedback. Many restaurants, motels, and hotels have feedback forms at the dining tables or in the guest rooms. These are all methods by which companies build a strong customer base of loyal and satisfied customers.

Although first-time consumers may spend slowly, repeated good experiences with the company, its people, and its services or products lead to increased spending and more prompt bill paying—and thus more profits for the company. A 1 percent cut in customer service problems could generate an extra £16 million or $25 million in profits for a medium-sized company over five years.^[12] A survey of 3,000 businessmen by PriceWaterhouse Coopers and the University of Bradford showed the benefits of customer service. The study revealed that where there was high customer satisfaction, bills were paid on average at least 14 days earlier than where there was poor customer satisfaction.^[13]

Firms perceived as having better customer service can charge more for their products and services, and still have higher market shares and returns on sales than their competitors.^[14] An example is the success of the major car rental agency, Hertz. Although Hertz tends to be more expensive, its superior customer service has helped it to expand across the world and make it the world's leading vehicle renting organization.

More and more, cost becomes an issue. So, we have to have an interdependent partnership within the organization as well as an external partnership with customers. One of the success factors has been our ability to work with customers to develop mutual objectives that will support the organization.^[15]

The best way to determine customer satisfaction is to ask the customer. Whether the goal is to launch a new product or to improve an existing service, customer feedback is the best source of information. Author of Moments of Truth and former chairman of Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) Jan Carlson improved SAS with the philosophy that every customer contact, whether by phone, in person, or via email, is a "moment of truth." In the early 1980s, Jan drove the program of customer service at SAS with his notion that moments of truth drive customer retention and satisfaction, and thus lead to organizational success. The company, which was losing $20 million a year when Jan came on board, increased its earnings by $80 million in the first year alone by focusing on the customer. By opening the lines of communication with consumers, the global leader clears the path to launch products more quickly, make changes to existing products, and allocate resources appropriately.

Direct input from consumers can redirect focus to "what really matters" and safeguard against poor business decisions. In return, customers become more committed to the business, because they are satisfied. British Airways found that 69 percent of its unhappy customers do not report their dissatisfaction to anyone at the airline. They estimated that this cost them 423 million pounds of potential lost revenue.^[16]

The global leader understands that follow-up to customer feedback is imperative. Therefore, the company should encourage customers' ongoing participation in feedback processes not only by showing appreciation, but even more importantly, by communicating to the customers what changes have taken place as a result of their input. For this reason, a customer service email to Amazon.com is automatically acknowledged and subsequently followed up by an email from a customer service representative, who responds to the particular issue in his or her own name.

Keeping Commitments

Commitment is an industry buzzword meant to attract customers. Nearly every company in existence professes some type of commitment, whether it is to quality, excellence, customers, or all of the above. However, not every company follows through on its promises. A large international product company gave points to consumers each time they bought one of the company's products. After the consumers collected so many points, they sent them in to get a free prize. One particular prize was so popular that the company's supply ran out before it had filled all the orders. The company told customers that they were out of luck. Compare this response to that of another company in a similar situation. After it ran out of stock, the second company sent a check to its customers for what the prize would have cost at a retail store so that they could go and buy it. As the consumer becomes more and more educated about different companies, products, and services, there will be a different expectation.^[17] The educated and informed consumer will quickly drop companies that do not follow through on their promises.

What is commitment? It is the single most important factor to success, and it begins with a sound set of beliefs and then faithful adherence to those beliefs with action. Many successful people, hailed as visionary leaders, are actually just individuals who follow through on a simple set of commitments. It is the strength of these commitments that leads to business success.

Customer feedback is one method for the global leader of the future to gain insight into how well the organization is keeping its products, services, customer service, and leadership commitments. Another method is to review returns and allowances. If either is high, then customers are sending a strong message of dissatisfaction with the company's products or services. A third indicator is internal reject or yield rates. If rejects are high or yields are low, it is almost certain that a bad product is getting out to the customer.

Understanding the Competition

As part of their function in the organization, global leaders will have the responsibility to truly understand their competition. To appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the competition's products and services, leaders will have to ensure that organizational members spend sufficient time on the continuous learning needed to keep up with rapidly changing customer environments, and rather than learn just the basic skills required to sell and support a product, employees will need to develop the ability to solve complex problems and maintain diverse relationships both domestically and globally.

In all interactions, the global leader keeps in mind that a competitor one day may be a customer the next. AT&T and BellSouth, Netscape and Oracle, Johnson & Johnson and Merck are all examples of companies that deal with one another at various times as customers, competitors, and partners. In a world where today's competitors become tomorrow's partners or customers, simply "beating the other guy" is not always the answer, as this may destroy any chance for a relationship that may be beneficial in the future. For this reason, global leaders will need to ensure that even competitors view the organization as tough but fair and as a good potential partner. Leaders must not underestimate the value of diplomacy, reputation, and goodwill in today's interconnected world.

Conclusion

Ensuring customer satisfaction means ensuring global business success, for without a customer, there can be no business. The global leader understands that this simple formula for success entails excellent customer service, inspired employees, quality products and services, customer feedback, commitment, and understanding the competition. Leaders who can master the skills called for in this new environment stand to reap tremendous advantages for their organizations; those who cling instead to what has worked in the past do so at their own peril.

Resource Section: Ensuring Customer Satisfaction

ITEM 63: Inspires People to Achieve High Levels of Customer Satisfaction

WHAT TO DO

• Constantly remind employees that high quality and good customer service result in business success.
• Involve employees in decisions that affect customer service.
• Identify your internal and external customers.
• Determine customer requirements.
• Work with your group to get their ideas about what customer satisfaction means.
• Find ways to measure customer satisfaction.
• Develop a clear vision and strategy tuned to customers' specific needs and business situations.
• Keep lines of communication open to your customers.
• Treat your customers as individuals, and let them know that you are open to their ideas and suggestions.
• Reinforce the value of customer satisfaction in your work group.
• Reward employees, coworkers, and colleagues who demonstrate commitment to meeting all client needs.

HOW TO DO IT

• Share your views with your group about customer satisfaction as a priority. Ask members for ideas about how to gather information on customers' current and future needs.
• Ask your customers what your group did that served them well and what areas need improvement.
• Avoid talk or behavior that devalues or deprioritizes customer's needs.
• Present customer responses to your work groups. Help members think about ways to deal with customer concerns; support changes that make use of their ideas.
• Provide training for all employees on client service. Explain how their work affects clients; share tips on how to handle difficult clients and how to implement service-related company policies and strategies.
• Meet with your customers on a regular basis. Make it clear that their phone calls are welcome and that you and your employees are prepared to listen and respond to their concerns.
• Examine everything you do, asking yourself, "Does this task contribute to meeting customer needs?"
• Get a better feel for the type of service your work unit provides. Attempt to look at your work unit from the customer's point of view. What is your first impression? How easy is it to get service? What is the tone or atmosphere? What interferes with good service? How good is your service follow-through? Make note of barriers and develop a plan for implementation.
• Work with your group to set up a tracking procedure to log customer concerns, follow-through actions taken, and response time.
• Look for improvements in response time and reliability (i.e., delivering what was promised dependably and accurately).
• Provide management-level information (e.g., customer survey results from corporate marketing) to your work group on a regular basis.
• Keep your work group advised about customer-related issues that are being worked on in your organization.
• Reward people for receiving positive customer feedback.

HOW TO USE THIS SKILL FURTHER

• Think about your own experience as a customer. What company comes to mind as "outstanding" in providing products or services that you have used? What makes the company so outstanding?
• Ask your employees the same two questions.
• Brainstorm with them about ways to use "benchmark companies" as examples to improve customer satisfaction in your work group.

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT

• You may receive positive feedback and fewer complaints from customers.
• As your employees gain skill in handling customer concerns more effectively, the number of complaints that you have to handle personally may decline.
• You may have more repeat customers.

READINGS

• Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know. Jeffrey Gitomer. 1998. Bard Press: Marietta, GA, ISBN 188516730X.
• Customer Winback: How to Recapture Lost Customers—And Keep Them Loyal. Jill Griffin, Michael W. Lowenstein, Don Peppers, & Martha Rogers. 2001. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, ISBN 787946672.
• E-Customer: Customers Just Got Faster and Smarter—Catch Up. Max McKeown. 2000. Financial Times–Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, ISBN 273650203.
• Free, Perfect, and Now: Connecting to the Three Insatiable Customer Demands: A CEO's True Story. Curtis Hartman & Robert Rodin. 1999. Simon & Schuster: New York, ISBN 0684850222.
• Leapfrogging the Competition: Five Giant Steps to Becoming a Market Leader. Oren Harari. 1999. Prima Publishing: Roseville, CA, ISBN 761519734.
• Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. Kevin Freiberg, Jackie Freiberg, & Tom Peters. 1998. Bantam Doubleday Dell: New York, ISBN 767901843.
• The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success. Brian Tracy. 2000. Berrett-Koehler: San Francisco, ISBN 1576751074.
• The Agenda: What Every Business Must Do to Dominate the Decade. Michael Hammer. 2001. Crown: Victoria, BC, ISBN 609609661.
• The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Thomas H. Davenport & John C. Beck. 2001. Harvard Business School Press: Boston, ISBN 157851441X.
• The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch 'Em Kick Butt. Hal F. Rosenbluth & Diane McFerrin. 2002. HarperBusiness: New York, ISBN 0060526564.
• The Ultimate CRM Handbook: Strategies and Concepts for Building Enduring Customer Loyalty and Profitability. John G. Freeland (Ed.). 2002. McGraw-Hill: New York, ISBN 0071409351.

ITEM 64: Views Business Processes from the Ultimate Customer Perspective (Has an "End-to-End" Perspective)

WHAT TO DO

• Talk to your clients often. Ask them questions that ensure you obtain specific information about your ability to satisfy.
• Constantly remind employees that high quality and good customer service result in business success.
• Explain to employees the importance of balancing the needs of internal and external customers.
• Ask employees to put themselves in customers' shoes and strive to understand customers' perspectives.
• Continually monitor client satisfaction and look for ways to improve.
• Reward employees, coworkers, and colleagues who demonstrate commitment to meeting all client needs.
• Think of external and internal customers as part of your team.
• Involve employees in decisions that affect customer service.
• Learn to recognize which decisions about clients' needs can be made alone and which involve others.

HOW TO DO IT

• Develop and publicize a mission statement for your company that includes a commitment to building long-term relationships with customers..
• Meet and communicate with customers often.
• Let your customers know what actions you are taking as a result of their input.
• In meetings and conversation, use the term client or customer for any recipient of your services; frame questions, department objectives, and meeting agendas in terms of meeting customer needs and how to accomplish that.
• Cultivate knowledge about your clients; get to know "their language" and "their business."
• To develop a client orientation, define your success as "meeting customers' needs." Get into the habit of often asking your customers, "How else can I be of help?"
• As appropriate, express empathy for customer's input.
• Avoid talk or behavior that devalues or deprioritizes customer's needs.
• Meet with your employees to discuss how you can be more helpful and supportive of their efforts to satisfy clients.
• Recognize the importance of clients who rely on you for their success. Create a list of ideas that would improve the service that you provide to them, and encourage feedback from clients on your proposals.
• Provide training for all employees on client service. Explain how their work affects clients; share tips on how to handle difficult clients and how to implement service-related company policies and strategies.

HOW TO USE THIS SKILL FURTHER

• Remind yourself daily who your customers are, and check to see if your work group can do anything today to show your commitment to building effective relationships with customers.
• Discuss this topic with coworkers who demonstrate an end-to-end perspective, and ask for feedback.

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT

• People may comment on your demonstrated commitment to customer satisfaction.
• Employees may model your behavior, and you may notice its favorable impact on their work.
• Customers may notice your commitment and express appreciation.

READINGS

• 301 Great Customer Service Ideas: From America's Most Innovative Small Companies. Nancy Artz & Harvey Mackay. 1998. Thomson Learning: Stamford, CT, ISBN 1880394332.
• Achieving Customer Delight in Your Organization: Positioning Your Organization to Stand Out, Field Book: John J. Paul & Sheryl T. Paul. 1999. Association Works: Dallas, TX, ISBN 1893827003.
• Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service. John Tschohl. 1996. Best Sellers: Bloomington, MN, ISBN 0963626841.
• Best Practices in Customer Service. Ron Zemke & John A. Woods. 1999. AMACOM: New York, ISBN 0814470289.
• From the Ground Up: Six Principles for Building the New Logic Corporation. Edward E. Lawler III. 1996. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, ISBN 0787902411.
• Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning and Operations. Sunil Chopra & Peter Meindl. 2000. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, ISBN 0130264652.
• The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value. James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Jr., Leonard A. Schlesinger. 1997. Free Press: London, ISBN 0684832569.
• The Ultimate CRM Handbook: Strategies and Concepts for Building Enduring Customer Loyalty and Profitability. John G. Freeland (Ed.). 2002. McGraw-Hill: ISBN 0071409351.

ITEM 65: Regularly Solicits Input from Customers

WHAT TO DO

• Recognize that the capacity to encourage and stay open to customer feedback is essential to excellent customer service.
• Recognize that the feedback and input you ask for is generally of a higher quality and easier to receive than if unsolicited—so ask your customers often!
• Recognize that when criticism is difficult to accept, there is probably some truth to it.
• Based on customer feedback, present specific and measurable goals and solutions to meet their needs.
• Don't shoot the messenger of bad news.
• Revise goals and approaches based on customer's input.

HOW TO DO IT

• Invite clients and customer service staff to important company meetings and activities. Ask them for input on specific topics to improve customer service.
• Identify which customers and employees you want to invite to important meetings, and send out invitations and reminders in advance.
• Summarize in writing what you think the customer's feedback is, and ask your customer to verify or correct what you have written.
• Schedule meetings with your manager and members of your work group frequently to share customer input.
• Ask for small amounts of feedback on a regular basis so that it doesn't pile up.
• Thank the customer who gave you input.
• Keep a record of the customer input you get, including frequency, nature, and your response.
• Let your customers know what actions you are taking as a result of their input.
• Obtain feedback from a variety of sources to get a more complete picture.
• Use open-ended questions that begin with "Explain..." "Describe...," and "Say more..." to encourage customers for more input.
• Take time to evaluate the input received. Determine whether more information is needed and what, if any, action should be taken.

HOW TO USE THIS SKILL FURTHER

• Practice by asking family and friends for input on various issues.
• Become a participant in team or group activities in which giving and receiving input is highly valued.
• Ask others for feedback on how well you accept constructive criticism and input.
• Look for positive feedback on the improvements you have made.

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT

• Customers may volunteer feedback more often.
• You may become known as a manager who knows how to effectively get input from clients.
• You may improve your skills effectively through continuous learning.

READINGS

• Best Practices in Customer Service. Ron Zemke & John A. Woods. 1999. AMACOM: New York, ISBN 0814470289.
• Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know. Jeffrey Gitomer. 1998. Bard Press: Marietta, GA, ISBN 188516730X.
• Customer Winback: How to Recapture Lost Customers—And Keep Them Loyal. Jill Griffin, Michael W. Lowenstein, Don Peppers, & Martha Rogers. 2001. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, ISBN 787946672.
• Fabled Service. Betsy Sanders. 1995. Pfeiffer & Company: San Diego, CA, ISBN 0893842702.
• High Performance Sales Organizations. Kevin Corcoran, Laura Petersen, Daniel Baitch, & Mark F. Barrett. 1995. Irwin Professional Publishing: Burr Ridge, IL, ISBN 0786303522.
• The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market. Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema. 1997. Perseus: Reading, MA, ISBN 201407191.
• The Ultimate CRM Handbook: Strategies and Concepts for Building Enduring Customer Loyalty and Profitability. John G. Freeland (Ed.). 2002. McGraw-Hill: New York, ISBN 0071409351.

ITEM 66: Consistently Delivers on Commitments to Customers

WHAT TO DO

• Recognize that keeping commitments to customers is doable and desirable.
• Keep customer commitments in front of you daily.
• Create and use a tickler file to serve as a reminder.
• Return calls promptly or when you say you will.
• Be responsive to customers' requests.
• Seek to complete work on schedule. Do not sacrifice the long term by slipping short-term schedules.
• Put commitments to customers in writing.
• Ensure that others involved with meeting commitments understand and agree with those commitments.
• Build contingency plans into goals.
• Before and during projects, ask those with experience to point out potential problems.
• Ask the customer for feedback regularly; schedule periodic meetings.
• Communicate any meaningful changes to those working on meeting customer commitments.
• If deadlines slip, inform customers as soon as you know about it.
• Establish a tracking system to measure your performance in meeting customer commitments.
• Avoid overcommitment.
• Provide the necessary support and resources for customer service staff.

HOW TO DO IT

• Use open-ended questions with the customer to ensure that you and the customer understand the commitments made and to get clarification.
• Create a priority list that helps you track and accomplish customer commitments. Keep the list within sight on your desk
• Review your activities and progress against commitments to keep on track. Stop doing tasks that do not help meet customer requirements.
• Use an outline to capture commitments and to brief others involved with the task.
• Break commitments into small elements; start elements in phases; track progress at each phase; implement recovery plans at the earliest time problems are noticed.
• Use guidelines and progress milestones to help monitor progress and obtain feedback on work in progress.
• Always deliver by or before the agreed-upon date. Follow up if you are unable to make the deadline.
• Give your employees latitude and flexibility to meet each customer's needs in a timely manner.
• Keep a tracking system to determine turnaround time and to identify the obstacles that delay the process. Find effective ways to overcome the roadblocks.
• Ask your support staff to help you keep a tickler file.
• In discussion with the customer, repeat what you have heard to ensure that you are clear about what the commitment is with the customer.

HOW TO USE THIS SKILL FURTHER

• Keep your commitments with family and friends; be open to feedback.
• Keep a log of one week's worth of commitment-keeping activity; analyze the data and eliminate the most frequently occurring cause of broken commitments.

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT

• You and your department may gain a reputation for meeting commitments and being responsive to customers' needs.
• Customers may request that you handle their needs.
• Productivity may rise measurably.

READINGS

• Achieving Customer Delight in Your Organization: Positioning Your Organization to Stand Out, Field Book. John J. Paul & Sheryl T. Paul. 1999. Association Works: Dallas, TX, ISBN 1893827003.
• Best Practices in Customer Service. Ron Zemke & John A. Woods. 1999. AMACOM: New York, ISBN 0814470289.
• Customer Equity: Building and Managing Relationships As Valuable Assets. Robert C. Blattberg, Gary Getz, & Jacquelyn S. Thomas. 2001. Harvard Business School Press: Boston, ISBN 0875847641.
• Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know. Jeffrey Gitomer. 1998. Bard Press: Marietta, GA, ISBN 188516730X.
• Customer Winback: How to Recapture Lost Customers—And Keep Them Loyal. Jill Griffin, Michael W. Lowenstein, Don Peppers, & Martha Rogers. 2001. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, ISBN 787946672.
• Fabled Service. Betsy Sanders. 1995. Pfeiffer & Company: San Diego, CA, ISBN 0893842702.
• The Ultimate CRM Handbook: Strategies and Concepts for Building Enduring Customer Loyalty and Profitability. John G. Freeland (Ed.). 2002. McGraw-Hill: New York, ISBN 0071409351.

ITEM 67: Understands the Competitive Options Available to Her or His Customers

WHAT TO DO

• Develop a thorough understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of other successful competitors in the market.
• Research and obtain comprehensive knowledge of your competitors' products, costs, strategies, and philosophies.
• Frequently discuss and share information about competitors' products, strategies, and philosophies with your work group.

HOW TO DO IT

• Ask your customers for their evaluation of how your company measures up to their expectations and the competition. Share their input with your work group.
• Study other leaders' leadership style, management philosophy, strengths, and weaknesses. Use that information to benchmark against your own style.
• Develop an action plan, including specific milestones, to improve your work group's performance.
• Share your action plan with your manager and coworkers, and ask for their feedback.
• Involve your manager and employees in understanding competitive realities and setting strategic goals for your organization.
• Review your competitors' marketing and promotional materials to learn more about their products or services.
• Communicate the latest development about competitors' business and product at staff meetings.
• Develop a detailed profile of each competitor; include the following factors: (1) quality and price of the products or services, (2) market share, (3) marketing strategies, (4) research and development, (5) recent business development, (6) top leaders and their philosophies, and (7) strengths and weaknesses.
• Request and study the analysts' reports on your competitors.
• Remind yourself to consider the changing competitive realities and think strategically when developing, implementing, and evaluating a business plan.

HOW TO USE THIS SKILL FURTHER

• Learn from managers who excel at this area.
• Volunteer to serve on a planning committee or task force that deals with problems relevant to your company's competitors.

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT

• Your department, division, and company may obtain a bigger market share, become financially stronger, and revenue may increase.
• People may want to discuss with you about competitors and ask you for advice.

READINGS

• E-Customer: Customers Just Got Faster and Smarter—Catch Up. Max McKeown. 2000. Financial Times–Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, ISBN 273650203.
• Leapfrogging the Competition: Five Giant Steps to Becoming a Market Leader. Oren Harari. 1999. Prima Publishing: Roseville, CA, ISBN 761519734.
• Marketing Management and Strategy. Peter Doyle. 1998. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, ISBN 132622394.
• Marketing Strategy: Planning and Implementation. Orville C. Walker Jr., Harper W. Boyd Jr., & Jean-Claude Larreche. 1996. Richard D Irwin: Burr Ridge, IL, ISBN 256222460.
• Marketing Warfare. Al Ries & Jack Trout. 1997. McGraw-Hill: New York, ISBN 70527261.
• Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. Kevin Freiberg, Jackie Freiberg, & Tom Peters. 1998. Bantam Doubleday Dell: New York, ISBN 767901843.
• The Agenda: What Every Business Must Do to Dominate the Decade. Michael Hammer. 2001. Crown: Victoria, BC, ISBN 609609661.
• The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Thomas H. Davenport & John C. Beck. 2001. Harvard Business School Press: Boston, ISBN 157851441X.
• The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market. Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema. 1997. Perseus: Reading, MA, ISBN 201407191.
• The Ultimate CRM Handbook: Strategies and Concepts for Building Enduring Customer Loyalty and Profitability. 2002. John G. Freeland (Ed.). McGraw-Hill: New York, ISBN 0071409351.

Endnotes

1. Products and Services, Brazil, 49.

2. Pharmaceutical, United Kingdom, 30.

3. H. F. Rosenbluth & D. McFerrin. HarperBusiness: August 2002.

4. Telecommunications, United States, 34.

5. Telecommunications United States, 36.

6. Much of this section is taken from "On a Consumer Watershed" by Marshall Goldsmith. Article published in Leader to Leader, No. 5, Summer 1997. Published by The Drucker Foundation and Jossey-Bass. This material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7. Products and services, United States, 36.

8. Technology, United States, 33.

9. Pharmaceuticals, United States, 31.

10. "Consumer Complaint Handling in America: An Update Study." The United States Office of Consumer Affairs. 1986.

11. "Fast Guide: The Business Case for Customer Excellence" Customer Service Network. www.customernet.com. 2002.

12. Ibid.

13. "Fast Guide: The Business Case for Customer Excellence" Customer Service Network. www.customernet.com. 2002.

14. The Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) database (see the Strategic Planning Institute).

15. Healthcare, Australia, 36.

16. W. Earl Sasser Jr., & Norman Klein. "British Airways: Using Information Systems to Better Serve the Customer." Harvard Business School Case Study. Harvard Business Review. October 21, 1994. Rev. November 28, 1994.

17. Healthcare, France, 52.

18. Information taken from Alastair Robertson's interview with Gary Loveman as well as the Harrah's Entertainment "Customer Service Satisfaction Assurance Program." © 2002. Harrah's.