ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996 TAG: 9604270008
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: WORKING IT OUT
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER
Q: It appears my employees cater only to customers who do significant, repeat business. I'm trying to convey the importance of all customers to my staff.
A: Win Bottomley, a consultant, advocates "TCC" a "total customer care approach." He says that "everyone in the organization should be serving the customer. And, if you're not serving the customer, you should be serving someone who is serving the customer."
Bottomley, who founded The Marketing Dept. a Lexington firm providing advice to businesses, visualizes customers as rungs on a ladder. The rungs move from prospective customers to advocates of a company or its products.
The bottom rung, Bottomley says, can be viewed as "prospective customers, ones who know of you, but you don't know about them.
"Next is the customer, those who have made a purchase from you."
Beyond the customer, one has accounts, "those individuals who have made multiple purchases."
The top rung is designated for advocates, "individuals who are "virtually a walking billboard. He thinks so much of you that he broadcasts it to the world. Obviously, you want to develop advocates." Bottomley says that "advocates come from relationships."
Bottomley, who specializes in family businesses, supports management consultant Peter Drucker's belief that "a business exists to create customers. It is to create sales, which comes from your people."
Help your employees analyze the relationships and interactions of those you consider advocates. Ask them to use similar techniques and approaches with current customers and accounts. Ask for feedback on the differences their extra efforts make. And, reward your employees for any customers and accounts who are turned into advocates.
Consider that, in addition to external advocates, you have internal customers (employees and co-workers) as well who need to become advocates. For both the external and the internal, "the key to success is built on relationships."
Q: We're having a friendly difference of opinion that needs to be settled. One of us left a message on voice mail, along with the notation to call back if anything else needed to be done on a certain project. Since there was no additional work to be done, no return call was made. The original caller thinks a phone call of acknowledgment, even without additional requests, was appropriate.
A: Technically, if the caller asks for a return call only under certain circumstances, and that circumstance doesn't occur, a call-back is unnecessary.
However, with long-term working relationships it becomes clear who should receive a follow-up call, if only to assure the other party that everything is under control. In this case, a call is appropriate.
With the occasional glitches in answering machines and voice mail, it's common for callers to add "please call and let me know you've received this message." The return call acknowledges the message was received; it can also imply that everything is under control.
Minor misunderstandings are common in all working relationships. Such miscues are excellent reminders that communication is an art that requires constant attention.
Q: I want to move into management; however, the opportunities here are limited. The preference is always for someone who has management experience. I'd like to learn if I have leadership ability and gain experience, but don't see a way until I'm promoted.
A: There are excellent opportunities for leadership training outside the workplace. Don't wait to develop your skills. Demonstrated leadership ability before moving into management, as you've noted, is sought by those who make promotion decisions.
Join an organization or professional association that interests you. Regularly attend meetings for several months to ensure you support the organization's goals, like the members, and can commit the necessary time to the group's work.
After you understand how the organization works, volunteer to chair a committee or oversee a special event. Follow through. Use this as an opportunity to develop both your skills and a reputation for delivering as promised.
If you have problems, find a mentor within the organization to provide guidance and ensure your success. Look for creative solutions to problems, learn to build consensus within groups, and learn to oversee a budget. These are management skills.
Once you've established credibility and strengthened your abilities, volunteer for more challenging roles.
Tell your supervisor what you're doing and learning.
Make sure your performance within the company stays at a consistently high level. The combination of a strong performance and leadership experience should move you to your goal.
Camille Wright Miller, an organizational behavior sociologist who works in Lexington, answers questions from our readers about workplace issues. Please send them to her in care of The Roanoke Times, Business News Department, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
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