Working in the consulting industry and preparing client’s strategic plans, I have come across numerous strategies and objectives a company wants to fulfill in that given fiscal year. Some clients may have three or four objectives, while others have ten or twelve or even more. But being able to achieve these objectives is the challenge for each company. “You can always tell how important a goal is by how much time and money a company invests in it,” says Kevin McConville and Jeff Durr, writers of Six Ways to Make Customer Programs Work.
This quote sums up the importance of setting objectives for a company, and their want and need to achieve them is based on the company itself and how much they invest – money and/or human resources – into each objective. We have to remember that the goals a company is setting is for the benefit of the company in either the long- or short-term, or both. According to McConville and Durr, there are six factors that play an important role in the success of companies’ objectives – belief, credibility, actionability, accountability, systems, and human capital. In order for a company to be successful in the implementation of the objectives, these six factors MUST be present.
Belief
We all have something that we believe in or have beliefs that we instill in ourselves and others, so how is it any different from the corporate world? Beliefs in the corporate world are instilled in employees from the top-down, and one must follow the company’s beliefs because it is their “golden rule” per se.
For example, if a company has poor customer service, but says “the customer always comes first,” and doesn’t instill this belief into its employees, then nothing will ever change. A company can create objective after objective for its company about its customer service issue, but they have to be willing to put in the effort to accomplish it.
Credibility
Credibility is defined as the quality of being trusted and believed in and the quality of being convincing or believable. These two definitions are extremely important to a company because it is what drives a company to success. If a company isn’t credible in its processes, how does one believe in them to stick to their word?
Actionability
Lights, Camera, ACTION! This is even true in the business sector as well. With every objective or strategy that is put in place, the company needs to have the initial set up (lights), along with a plan in place for how it will work out (camera), and then ultimately make that plan come to life (action).
Accountability
To be held accountable means to accept responsibility or to account for one’s action, something most of us have been instilled with since birth. Imagine a world where people didn’t take responsibility for their actions, especially in the business world. How could businesses thrive? Most businesses thrive on being the number one in something – whether it is customer service, packaging, delivery, etc. – but being accountable for their main goal is something else entirely. In order to make a real change, it requires real change. How can you do this?
Imagine you are playing a basketball game, and each time your team has the ball, they do the same play each time, but without much success. After some time, you begin to realize, “This isn’t working for our team. Something needs to change.” And after some careful thought, the next play is different, and WHAM! a basket is scored. To make a real change, the behaviors or events have to change to create a new, better outcome. Just like in the basketball game, change is beneficial to anything in life, even in business.
Systems
A system, in essence, is what makes the world go round. Everything revolves around some sort of system, so it only makes sense for a program to work that a good, solid system should be in place – no matter what it is. Having a bad organization-wide system can inhibit growth and send a message that customers are everyone’s responsibility except leaderships, according to McConville and Durr. A good balance is needed between the top leadership and the workers. If top leadership doesn’t follow by the rules they mandate, how can they expect the workers to as well? Find a balance, and practice what one preaches.
Human Capital
We all know that a person can’t really change. As hard as we may try to change them, they will always remain the same. The same holds true for those who interact with customers. If the person has an attitude problem, then the customer experience will be bad. No policies, procedures, or rules will change the outcome because, ultimately, it’s how a person is that makes the experience. McConville and Durr stated that based on their experience, companies that focus on natural talents and strengths do better.
Teams with managers who received strengths feedback have 8.9% greater profitability and 12.5% greater productivity compared with teams with managers who received no strengths feedback.
Turnover rates were 14.9% lower among employees who received feedback on their strengths.
These six factors go hand-in-hand. If one is missing, the others will suffer. With the start of the New Year, it’s time to look at your company and see what is and what isn’t working, and to implement these six factors into your everyday, business life. To find out how we can help you achieve this goal and how we can help you KNOW MORE so you can DO MORE, contact Tweed-Weber, Inc. at toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com, and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).
To read the whole article, click here: Six Ways to Make Customer Programs Work
About the author: Gretchen Koch has been with Tweed-Weber, Inc. since 2012 and serves as Operations Manager. She oversees office processes and provides quality control on all market research reports and strategic planning documents
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