Leadership sets the standard for your organization to deliver exceptional customer service. The foundation for excellence is to deliver exceptional internal customer service.
Excellent internal customer service enhances morale, retention, productivity and external customer service. It underpins long-term profitability. Caring for everyone around you at work is fundamental to serving your clients, shareholders and key stakeholders. You demonstrate leadership by helping everyone with whom you connect be more successful, treating them as VIP’s…which they are.
What do you need to do?
- Set clear standards and expectations.
- Start by setting your own long-term objectives and short-term goals about how you will work with others. Make them public so people can see how you achieve success and how you correct things when you fall short. Your openness leads the way.
- Articulate service performance measures that outline what external and internal clients can expect. These provide the basis for celebration and highlights opportunities to improve.
- Be the leader in exceeding internal customer expectations. Exceeding expectations generates positive opinions about you. When exceeding expectations becomes normal, front-line personnel will do the same for external customers. People are delighted to work in your organization; loyalty grows; recruitment and retention are enhanced.
- Articulate how each position contributes to your organization’s mission. Help each person to see how they serve clients’ needs. A strong sense of what the work means encourages service to clients, both internal and external.
- Say “Thank you.” Sharing your appreciation helps individuals feel more important and appreciated. Do this frequently and publically. Sincere face-to-face affirmations by the leader can have greater impact.
Research shows a close and consistent link between the treatment of internal customers and external clients’ perception of the quality of an organization’s service. When service to others is a central theme the organization will deliver win/win results. It is essential to build internal client service if you want to build high quality external customer service. Everyone is better off and the organization thrives.