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Leadership and Customer Service: An Interview with Elaine Berke
by
Mike Johnson
From: The
Supervisor’s Guide
to Improved Customer Service and Retention
Last
fall, EBI Consulting conducted a research survey
that asked selected Chief Executive Officers to
list the key goals related to customer satisfaction,
growth and market leadership. The CEOs were then
asked how confident they were in their company's
strategic plan to get them there.
On a scale of one to ten, the executives answered
a relatively high 7.4.
But when asked how confident they were in their
employees' ability to execute the strategic plan,
CEOs answered a revealingly low 4.4.
"Ultimately, the issues that keep executives
awake at night are how to break through the traditional
barriers that limit their success with customers,
immerse their company in the issues of the customer
and meet customers' changing needs," says Elaine
Berke, President of EBI Consulting. "By and
large, leadership's rigid environment and rigid employee
procedures create a dependent workplace. Then when
leadership wakes up and wants workers to be innovative,
come up with new ideas, nobody speaks up."
So
Berke and her eight consultants help companies
improve leadership, which improves employee service,
which then directly improves customer service. Founded
in 1981, EBI Consulting is a management consulting
firm providing customized tools, assessments,
and implementations for organizations seeking to
change and improve the success of their business.
Located in Westport, Massachusetts, their process
is uniquely designed to focus on the customer, leadership,
and improved operational effectiveness.
The EBI
approach is based on working in partnership with
their clients to enhance the execution of their
business strategy. They take a practical, real world
view of how to improve the corporate environment
which then contributes to their clients' growth and
profitability. Over the past 18 years, EBI has worked
with over 300 diverse service, manufacturing, finance,
and technology clients. More than 30,000 people have
attended an EBI seminar.
Blazing the Trail
"We believe that customers
have many choices," says
Berke. "Today, more than ever, customer
service is a competitive advantage. Because
of customers having so many choices, we believe
that the people who actually deliver customer
service to the customers are a company's
greatest resource."
Berke's company helps their
customers understand the specific employee behaviors
that turn acceptable service into the exceptional
service that leads to increased loyalty and profits.
These behaviors create the difference between sounding
alive, personal and attentive versus robotic, flat
and dull, something Berke has labeled as "Stepford Service," based
on the robotic women in the movie, "The Stepford
Wives."
"If you don't engage
or interact with the customer on a personal level, "says
Berke, "the
customer perceives that he's had a transaction rather
than an interaction. We help our clients learn interaction
versus transaction." Berke lists the four key
employee behaviors as:
- Provide a personalized,
friendly greeting.
- Get to the customer's problem
very quickly.
- Acknowledge and empathize
with compassion.
- Resolve the problem to
the customer's satisfaction.
To help organizations develop a customer service
mindset, Berke's company utilizes three techniques
that any supervisor can employ to improve results.
Classroom
training. Provide employees the actual tools and
techniques by having them practice the desired
skills in a safe classroom setting while having their
peers and instructor critique their actions. Design
a curriculum that makes employees think like a customer
so workers can understand and recognize the needs
of their own customers.
Measurement. "Some of
our clients use very sophisticated performance
tracking technology," says Berke. "This
technology often enables clients to record
performance snapshots of how phone calls and other
service procedures are handled. We're careful to
help supervisors and managers use that kind of
technology as a tool other than a weapon."
Performance
coaching. After classroom training and measurement,
supervisors should help individuals understand
their own performance. "Supervisors
have to be able to recognize the difference
between being a manger and being a leader," emphasizes
Berke. "All too often people are
managers, and they're moving projects
up and down, but the issue is really
leadership. Leadership means things like
building trust, investing in employee's
success, not only professional success,
but personal success, and being able
to work with them in a way that really
demonstrates mutual trust and respect."
Berke says that too often, when the going gets rough,
employee respect goes out the window or supervisors
become demanding and then favor only those employees
who they consider high performers, leaving 85 percent
of the workforce in a state of neglect.
"Do unto your employees as you would have them
do unto your customers," advises Berke. "How
supervisors impact employees will be directly how
employees impact customers."
Walking the Talk
EBI walks its customer service talk
with its own clients. Because so much of EBI's
work with clients is related to making changes, and
changes are often scary and difficult, the company
frequently has to coach clients on how to best present
those changes to the rest of the company.
"In one case, the success of the work was very
much tied to being able to politically position it
correctly within the environment of the company," explains
Berke. "So, even though our job was to create
customized training and assessment tools, we also
worked very hard coaching executives from behind
the scenes to be able to put forth the right initiatives
to get the results that they were looking for. "
Despite those numerous additional hours outside
the scope of her contract, Berke provided them at
no change because she was committed to getting the
client the results he expected.
"Most of our sales come from word-of-mouth
and repeat business," concludes Berke. "We've
established many long and successful relationships
with customers by exceeding their expectations. We
know that it's an on-going process, so much of our
work is based on doing just that."
Elaine Berke
can be reached by calling (508) 636-5656 or by visiting
the EBI Consulting website at www.ebiconsult.com.
Sidebar
#1
Source: EBI Consulting
Countdown
to Better Communications
Elaine Berke,
President of EBI Consulting, suggests
supervisors improve customer service
by using the following "Communications
Countdown" to help build trust,
appreciation and a more human workplace.
|
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Best six words: |
|
"I admit I made a mistake." |
|
Best five words: |
|
"You do a good job." |
|
Best four words: |
|
"What do you think?" |
|
Best three words: |
|
"I can understand." |
|
Best two words: |
|
"Thank you." |
|
Best one word: |
|
"We." |
Sidebar #2
Source: Interview with Elaine Berke, President, EBI
Consulting
Advice
to Supervisors
Elaine Berke, President of EBI Consulting has helped more than 300 companies
improve their leadership and customer service. She offers supervisors the following
advice.
Lead
like you'd like to be led. "Occasionally, a great employee will work
for Attila-the-Hun, and continue to put forth high quality work regardless of
who they work for. But the average worker is much more impacted by trust, appreciation,
respect, recognition and input. He will become much more mechanical if he doesn't
get the kind of leadership he deserves and he'll pass that on to the customer."
Focus
on the soft stuff. "The soft stuff is the hard stuff. Only the rare companies
are able to focus on quality service to their customers by letting people be
human beings. The companies who create a more human environment for workers
are the ones that you always read about. The longevity of employees is a real
clue as to the kind of leadership that exists in that environment."
Take
an honest look at your department. "I had lunch the other day with an individual
who was a former Vice President of Human Resources. She told me that at her
last meeting where supervisors and managers were making presentations to
the executive team, she was appalled to see the lack of spirit. People actually
looked gray. They looked like they had gained weight and didn't have any
spark or spirit or happiness. Clearly, the demands of the organization and
the quality of leadership were responsible for much of this cascading down."
Take
the long view. "Workers spend their lives at thousands and thousands of
companies of all different sizes. Many leaders of these companies just don't
see that tapping the tremendous potential of their people and directing it
toward the customer would actually give them the customer loyalty, leadership
position and profit they're looking for. Some leadership is very short sighted
because of the nature of short term profit pressure. Many workplace environments
have become so production and volume oriented that they are very much like
sweatshops."
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EBI Consulting, Inc.
Westport, MA 02790
T: 508-636-5656
F: 506-636-4171
info@ebiconsult.com
www.ebiconsult.com
© EBI Consulting, Inc.
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