WRITE A CUSTOMER FOCUSED PLAN – CUSTOMER SERVICE

WRITING A CUSTOMER FOCUSED PLAN FOR BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

How Writing A Customer Focused Plan Helps In Better Customer Service?

Why is having a plan important? Operating without a plan is the same as leaving for vacation without knowing where you are going. If you do not know your destination, you will never go in the right direction.

Your mission statement is your destination. Your plan is the direction that gets you to that destination. Every plan should be customer focused. Think about this.

Unless you are doing what is important to your customers, you may be headed in the wrong direction without even knowing it. A customer-focused plan keeps you headed in the right direction.

Performance Prompts

• When writing your plan, break down each component of your company or personal mission statement. What do you mean by to satisfy customers on the first try? In your plan, you may decide that it is unrealistic to say you will satisfy 100% of your customers, but you can work toward satisfying 98% of your customers. I will strive to satisfy 98% of my customers on the first try by . . .

• Include other specifics in your plan. How will you satisfy your customers? By finding the best solution, by offering them the products that are right for their needs, by making sure those products are delivered within two days, by learning all I can about my job and company, by observing coworkers and providing specific feedback for improvement, and by asking my customers how our company can improve.

• Include all items that are important to your mission in your plan.

• Detail all major work activities on which you want to concentrate.

• Establish time frames so you can monitor progress.

• If you are a leader writing a plan for your team, review the plan with everyone involved and make sure it is realistic.

• Make sure everything you include in your plan is important to your customers.

When This Happens . . .

You have a customer-focused plan in place for your team and decide to change the company that delivers your products. Contracting with a different carrier will be less expensive for your customers, but it will add two days to the delivery time.

You are getting ready to rewrite your plan to detail this change when your coworker, James, mentions that a couple of his customers told him how much they appreciate the fast delivery you offer.

Try This

Before implementing changes to your plan, make sure it is what your customers want. You never asked your customers if speedy delivery or low rates mattered more. You decide to develop a short talk piece for you and your coworkers to use at the end of every contact that explains you are considering

changing delivery carriers.

Which do customers prefer: lower shipping charges with a four- to five-day delivery or the service

you now provide? After doing this for one week you determine that your customers like things the way they are.

Because you first asked your customers what is important to them, you averted a customer service disaster.

If it ain’t broke, it might not need to be fixed.