Create an Above & Beyond Culture
Priming their minds –In my book, What’s the Secret?, Commandment VIII: Creating an Above & Beyond Culture, is about how world-class Customer service companies are constantly making their employees aware of all the simple ways they can surprise and delight their Customers. The following audit questions are critical if your company has what it takes to create an Above & Beyond Culture:
- Are your employees empowered to exceed Customer expectations?
- Are your employees willing to exceed Customer expectations?
- Do you have mechanisms in place to collect and re-distribute Above & Beyond stories to constantly remind your employees to look for similar situations?
- Empower employees with autonomy and confidence so they can aggressively go Above & Beyond without being second-guessed by management.
- Train employees to be able to consistently recognize Above & Beyond opportunities that occur.
- Inspire them to think outside the box and go Above & Beyond for the Customer.
- Acquire and document all Above & Beyond stories that happen in your organization.
- Advertise and recognize those stories and employees throughout your entire organization.
The National WOW Award –The Maids International (TMI)is a professional home cleaning service with locations all over the US. To ensure the Maids Service Vision penetrates throughout the entire company, in 2013, TMI rolled out their National WOW! Award, which was developed to recognize outstanding Customer service provided by a franchisee, manager, team leader or team members. The award is given out quarterly to someone who takes the initiative to seize an opportunity to “WOW!” a Customer, and impact him or her for the better. The stories do not have to be extravagant; instead, these are often relatively simple, easy, actionable service opportunities that show how franchisees or staff recognized opportune moments, foreseeing Customer needs, listening to the Customer and being thoughtful. These considerate moments then turn in to emotional connections with the Customer. These connections show that TMI not only provides cleaning services, but also takes care of Customers and improves lives. The recipient of the National WOW! Award receives a $500 prize and a stunning crystal trophy to display proudly at the franchise office for years to come.
The Winner is…The Customer! I love this story of the first TMI National WOW! award recipient out of their Kansas City location. While cleaning the home of an elderly Customer in April, the team of four maids noticed that the elderly woman’s Christmas tree was still standing, fully decorated, in the living room. Upon asking why the tree was still up, the woman explained she had wanted to take the tree down but it was too overwhelming of a task to do on her own. The team recognized the opportunity, preceded to take the tree down for her, thus “WOWing” the Customer!
Who is allowed? – This week’s negative cue is a sign displayed by a pool in a high-end resort. As you can see, there are a lot of “pool rules.” It would be easier to list what is allowed versus what isn’t, and the sign would be smaller.
The 2013 Secret Service Summit –This November 4 & 5, learn why The Maids and many other top Customer service organizations in the world visit Cleveland to attend the Summit of the Customer Service Revolution. Click Here to Read more…
