by Bobbi Kahler

We judge ourselves by our intentions; others judge us by our actions. The Disney Institute It’s true. There’s what we know about our business and then there’s what our customers observe. We know that we intended to return our customer’s phone call by the end of the day, but, then we got busy. Our customer observes that their call wasn’t returned. We know that we always intend to answer our e-mail promptly, and, then, somehow it has a way of piling up on us. Our customers observe that their e-mail hasn’t been answered. We know our intention in setting our policies was to help our business run more smoothly. Our customers observe that our policies get in the way of our service. We know that our intention is to build real and meaningful relationships with our customers. Our customers observe that they only hear from us when we are trying to make a sale. And, just for fun, let’s take each one of these one step further. After our customers observe our actions, what, in each of the above examples, do they infer about us? They don’t care about me. They don’t care about me. They don’t care about me. They don’t care about me. And, what’s their next thought? Maybe it’s time I find someone, some business, who does. I was at an event a few weeks ago and I was talking with a gentleman who gave me his business card, and, on the back of his card was his company’s mission statement. And, don’t get me wrong, the mission statement sounded nice. I asked him about it and he said,“Yeah, we like having our mission statement on the card so that our customers know what we are trying to do, even, if sometimes we don’t quite achieve it.” Here’s a challenge: instead of printing your mission statement on the back of your business cards (which most people assume is marketing hype anyway), try demonstrating your mission statement in the way that you answer your phone, return voice mail messages, respond to e-mail, handle special requests from your customers. Here’s an example. In January of last year, the National Speakers Association had their Western Conference Workshop in Portland at the Downtown Hilton. Speakers flew in from all around the country for the event. One speaker, apparently, had a rough flight because by the time he reached the hotel, he was nauseous. As he was checking in, the front desk person said, “How are you today, sir?” He told her that he was feeling pretty queasy. She got him checked in very quickly and he went up to his room. Within minutes, there was a knock on the door. He opened it and there stood room service. The man from room service was carrying a tray that held chicken soup, soda crackers and 7-up. He said,“Sir, the person at the front desk called us and said that you weren’t feeling very well, and, she thought that, perhaps, this might help.” If you were that speaker, how would you feel? Do you think that the next time he’s in Portland , he might return to that hotel? How much do you think that price will drive his decision? Probably, not much. I was intrigued so I called the hotel and I spoke with the manager. Here’s what I learned: The mission of the Hilton is “To be the first choice of the world’s traveler.” I’d say that they were off to a good start with that speaker. The Portland Hilton has their 10-Points of Service that support that mission; one of which is “never tell a guest no; find a way to say yes.” They invest in training so that their team learns to look for clues as to what their guests really want. Their mantra is “we are in the hospitality business and hospitality comes before business.” Like all hotels and businesses they have a CRM system; in most parts of the world CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management; to them CRM means the Customer Really Matters. In the end, it doesn’t matter what we intend. It matters what we do. What do your actions tell others about you? If your business were on trial for delivering on its promise to its customers, what would the jury decide? Would there be enough observable facts to prove your case, to prove that you care about your customers? Could you, in fact, demonstrate that you care about your customer’s success? The bottom-line is that the success of our business is in the hands of our customers – in terms of value and customer service and ongoing sales, they are the judge, the jury, and, if we don’t deliver, the executioner. Copyright © 2001-2008 Bobbi Kahler. All Rights Reserved. Read More Articles To read more articles go to the article list. Reprint Permission To request permission to reprint this article, please contact us for a speedy reply. Reader Feedback If you have a comment (or even a criticism) about this article, we'd love to hear it! Send us a message If you have questions or comments, please contact us. We respond to email within 24 hours and usually the same day.