Have you ever called your own Customer Service?

Have you ever really taken the time to call your customer service line?

I rant quite often about experiencing what your customers’ experience.  I mean, really, deeply understand what your customers go through to do business with your organization.  I will wager that, unless you are a leader in the Customer Service department or a sales person, you have little or no idea what your customers go through.

And, I would wager again, that executive leaders are the worst at understanding what a customer goes through as executives typically have all their issues taken care of by a personal assistant or the I.T. department.

Case in point…  Has a leader in a mobile communications network organization ever called their company’s customer service organization about their own personal mobile service?  Have they had to wade through option after option of menu choices?  Waited on hold for an 30 minutes? Had an agent tell them that they cannot solve their problem and they need to transfer them to another department then have to explain the problem to a new agent all over again?   Most likely not.  Most likely the leader would get their assistant to make the call or worse, the call center agent recognizes them as a senior leader and expedites their issue.  The leader probably does not have cumbersome restrictions on their account that a normal customer has which usually are meant for the comfort and convenience of the company and not the customer.

Do you want to have a business that is among the very best in the world or one that languishes with the mediocre majority?

Here’s my challenge to you…  Get totally and completely inside what it is like to be a customer of your business.  Do not hide behind your title or power. I guarantee you will be shocked, frustrated and maybe even pissed off!

Once you get your head wrapped around this rarely practiced art of leadership, you will be able to make changes that will drive customer retention numbers to new heights in your industry and, here’s the cool part…  Your competitors won’t have a clue what happened!

Robert Murray is an Author, Global Speaker and Business Strategist. You can find Robert’s books on heart based leadership here. For further advice, ideas and inspiration on leadership, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.