Management Tip: Quit Working For Your Boss

by: Daryl Cowie

As a manager do you know who you really work for? I don't mean the person who signs your paycheck or does your annual review. I mean day by day, hour by hour, who are you working for?

If you say it's your customers, that's great you've been paying attention in marketing class. Ultimately everyone is working for the customer, but is that really who you work for on a daily basis? Do you personally take their orders? Do you personally answer the support calls? Do you get in the truck and drive your product over to the customer to help them unload and get it ready to use? If you are a manager I truly hope this is not what you come to work to do. These are the things your team is there to do. You may need to pitch in from time to time, but that's not what managers are primarily there to do.

If you say it's your supervisor, well I'm sure they will be happy to hear that. Your supervisor should be the one to define your purpose in the organization and help give you direction. So you could say the work you do on a daily or hourly basis is work for your supervisor. But is that really who you spend the bulk of your time trying to help? I hope not.

Let's look at the activities good managers spend their time on. Employee development, process optimization, cost control. You make sure your people know what needs to be done and are working on the right things. You make sure your people have the tools they need to get the job done effectively and efficiently. You make sure your people get to work in a safe and respectful environment. You make sure your people get the training they need to be effective and advance. You look for ways to make your team as effective as possible. You help your people become the best they can be. You help your team become the best it can be. The bulk of the work you do (or should be doing) is for your team. You work for your team.

So as a manager forget the idea that everyone is working for you. That thinking leads you down the path to ego and conflict. Your team is working to get things done for the customer. You, as their manager, are working for your team to get them everything they need to be effective in serving your customers. The best, most highly-valued managers alive are the ones out there working for their teams and giving them everything they need to succeed.

The more people you manage, the more people you are working for, not the other way around. A bigger team doesn't take away your work, it increases it.

So the next time you draw your team organization chart, flip it upside down with your CEO at the bottom, you somewhere in the middle, and the people who actually come in contact with the customer on a daily or hourly basis at the top where they belong. The goal of a great manager is to create the best team of people at the top of this upside down pyramid serving the customer.

About The Author

Daryl Cowie has shared management tips with 1000s of people in over 30 countries around the world. His mission is to help you and your company turn business opportunities into business realities. Sign up for his free business management home study course at http://FreeManagementTips.com

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Customer Service Management Tips - Part 2

by: Daryl Cowie

In part 1 we discussed the importance of Post-Sale Customer Support teams in retaining repeat customers, and why this is so important. Now let's look at some practical customer service management tips to help you get the job done.

What Is the Role of Customer Support

The customer support team needs to ensure customers are happy by representing the customer's interests inside the business at time when no one else is motivated to do so.

The customer support team, along with the sales team, represents the customer's interests inside the company. The sales team does it to get new customers. The support team does it to keep existing customers.

The major challenge that customer support teams face within most organizations is that it is hard to tie specific support activity to a specific amount of revenue dollars. There is always a temptation to ignore your existing customers, because they probably won't leave right away. There is always a temptation to ignore any customer that doesn't have an open order because as a business you need to raise enough money to pay your bills and your employees in order to stay in business.

What Can Support Team Managers Do?

As a Customer Support manager, there are a few things you can do to help your cause.

Recognize that fundamentally the Customer Support team is there to ensure repeat orders. Know the repeat order potential of each customer and factor that into the time, money and priority you give any given customer. Very often a small number of customers take up a large percentage of the customer support time and budget. Make sure you are not neglecting the high potential customers because you are busy serving the needs of needy customers with lower potential. I know we like to help everyone, but let's face it you make priority decisions every day on which issues to handle first. Many customer support teams have no idea what the repeat order potential of any given customer is. Make sure you know, and make sure that repeat order potential is at least as big a factor in your decisions as how loud the customer is. Tying action to financials will get the attention and support of upper management.

Get to know the Sales team. In most organizations the sales teams are much more influential than the support teams, it's just a fact of life. The sales teams are also the people inside the company who benefit the most from good customer support. They get the credit and the commission checks for repeat orders. Let the sales team know when their high potential customers are having issues, and when you are not getting the support you need to help them. You can be guaranteed that a commissioned sales rep will not sit idly by and risk losing a repeat customer. Keep the sales team in the loop. When things go well, tell them. It's a great opportunity for them to go in and make their next pitch. When problems are brewing, tell them that too so they can avoid walking into the lion's den with a new sales pitch, and instead make a timely service call to show they care and offer assistance. The sales team is motivated, influential, and has the most to lose from poor customer service. You already have the power to help them; use it to help them help you.

Look for ways to actively help your customers use the products or services they buy from you. Don't just wait for complaints and repair calls to come in. Think of ways that you could help your customer's use your products. Think about this. If you can help a customer use something he or she has already purchased, they will be much more likely to come back a second time. If you can help a customer use up something he or she has already purchased then they will need to come back and replenish their stock. Remember that customer support is there to help the customer use the product or service. Why do you think craft stores sponsor craft fairs? Because it helps people use up their craft supplies, and it also makes them happy. If you can help them use it up, or consume it, then you can rightly claim that you have helped the customer and increased revenue for the business when their frequency of buying increases. Be creative.

Summary

Fundamentally the role of customer support is to ensure repeat sales. Post-sale customer support teams are a critical cog in the business cycle. They should be respected. They should be in constant communication with the sales team. They should be actively looking for ways to help the customer use the products or services they have purchased.

As a customer service manager one of the best things you can do for your team is to learn to tie their actions to the business financials. That's how decisions are made at the top.

About The Author

Daryl Cowie has shared management tips with 1000s of people in over 30 countries around the world. His mission is to help you and your company turn business opportunities into business realities. Sign up for his free business management home study course at http://FreeManagementTips.com

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Customer Service Management Tips - Part 1

by: Daryl Cowie

Customer support teams are perhaps the most misunderstood, and underappreciated teams in the business world. In many businesses the customer support staff talks to the customers more than every other team combined. They play a critical role in ensuring customers are satisfied. Satisfied customers are repeat customers. Everybody knows that a large percentage of business comes from repeat customers. And yet customer support teams are commonly staffed with junior, inexperienced people that don't have the authority to make any decisions, or the training and knowledge to answer difficult questions. What's the deal?

What is Customer Support?

First, let's clarify what I mean by "Customer Support", because different companies use this term in wildly different ways. I am talking about the team that takes care of the customer after the contract has been signed and the initial invoice has been paid. You may work in a company where a customer service team handles the transaction from order to invoice. You may have been taught that customer service starts when the customer walks in the door, and doesn't end until the customer dies or decides not to be a customer any more. These are fine concepts, but what I am talking about here is the role of taking care of the customers' needs after the invoice has been paid, and before they have expressed a specific interest in buying again. I refer to this as Post-Sale Customer Support to differentiate it from other definitions.

What's So Important About Post-Sale Customer Support?

As a customer, up until the time that the invoice is paid you always hold the trump card of being able to withhold payment if you are not satisfied. And everybody understands that money talks. After the invoice has been paid you can often be left feeling powerless. The delivery team has collected their money and been assigned a full load of new customer transactions to look after. The sales team is being pressured to focus on customers who have already expressed a specific interest in making a purchase to meet monthly sales targets. So who takes care of you now?

This is where customer support comes in. There is a general feeling within most companies that they need to provide some sort of post-sale customer support, but there is a poor understanding of why. The sales team brings in the customers – which equals the promise of money. The orders team works out the details – which equals the promise of money. The delivery team provides the solution – which equals the collection of actual money. The customer support team ensures the customer is able to use the solution – which equals what? Happiness and karma? Let's face it; shareholders can't trade in their karma for a retirement home. Companies want money.

Here's what people are missing. In a healthy business between 25 and 75 percent of all revenues should come from repeat customers. 25% to 50% is considered typical for a healthy retail outlet, and 75% repeat business would be the top end for a healthy service business. Retail outlets with less than 25% repeat business are probably not meeting their customer needs or more of them would be coming back. Service businesses with more than 75% repeat sales are probably losing their skills at generating new customers and run the risk of severe financial problems if they lose 1 or 2 major accounts. Any way you look at it, a very large part of your business should be coming from repeat customers.

The other factor you need to look at is that the cost of getting a new customer is much higher than the cost of keeping a customer that you already have. Marketing and advertising are expensive business.

Smart businesses invest in retaining customers. That's what customer support is all about. There is no better time to ensure repeat business than when your customers are feeling that they have no leverage. That is exactly when they appreciate your support the most, and will remember it as something that makes them want to come back.

In part 2 of this series we'll look at some practical management tips for customer service managers to get the business behind your team and your customers.

About The Author

Daryl Cowie has shared management tips with 1000s of people in over 30 countries around the world. His mission is to help you and your company turn business opportunities into business realities. Sign up for his free business management home study course at http://FreeManagementTips.com

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