How to Create a Culture of Excellence for Your Business
“Be Famous for Something!” – Anonymous
If you want to be known for something, you better know what you are good at and then deliver. And if someone is going to refer business to you, that person has to know what you are good at! What is your business excellent at?
If you are craving a great cheeseburger and some fries, you go to McDonald’s, right? But if you want fried chicken served in a bucket to share, you go to KFC! Buy in bulk? Go to Costco. You want a good neighbor to be your friend and take care of your family’s insurance needs – go see a State Farm Agent! You’d like old fashioned service with a smile for your hardware needs? Stop by your friendly neighborhood Ace Hardware Store.
You can see where I’m going with this, and I could go on all day about branding your business and being known for something. But what I’m really referring to is creating a culture for your business: A predictable, dependable, consistent experience that you are known for when a client does business with you and with your team.
What is the customer experience?
When a customer crosses the threshold of your business, what does he experience? And more importantly, is that experience the same experience that you intend for him to have?
What about the next time he comes to your place of business? Is that experience consistent, predictable, the same experience as the first time he arrived? If you can answer “Yes!” to this question, without hesitation, you should take your team out on the town and celebrate the fact that you have achieved what most businesses only dream of achieving one day – a culture of outstanding customer service resulting in exceptional results, consistently.
Who’s #1?
I spent a couple for years working for Hertz Car Rental Agency at the Missoula International Airport in college. I remember the owner telling me that our rental fees would always be competitive, but we were not the “cheapest.” For someone going from counter to counter to check prices, our price could always be beat, even if only by a few dollars.
However, I learned that we had the best quality fleet of vehicles, exceptional service, and the best location for a rental counter at the airport. We prided ourselves upon being #1.
To this day, Hertz positions itself as the #1 Car Rental Agency for corporations. It caters to the busy traveler’s needs, and has more corporate contracts around the globe than any other Car Rental Agency, but it also has prices that its competitors can always beat.
So why is Hertz still #1? Because it is known for having the first point of contact for passengers arriving at the car rental counters, it has consistent high ratings for the quality of its customer service, it is known for having a wide variety of high-quality vehicles in its fleet, and it offers VIP services that are second to none when it comes to the savvy business traveler.
No one has been able to do it better from point A to point B, and Hertz remains “famous” for the product and experience its customers will have no matter where they are traveling throughout the world.
Of course, the occasional misnomer occurs where the customer service is less than fabulous and customer complaints appear, but that is rare. Hertz has done an outstanding job over the years of creating a customer experience that is second to none, and its team works hard to compete for that title.
When was the last time you took an audit on your customers’ experiences with your business? Maybe it’s time you took inventory.
This is the first in a 3-part series of articles on Excellence in your business. In our next 2 articles we’ll discuss the 5 key points of your customer’s experience: Excellence in Customer Service
I can help you build a great customer experience in your business.
Order my book today or contact me at 425-241-4855 to schedule a workshop.