Every year, we take a page from our own book and set aside a day for learning, training, celebrating and aligning, all toward the goal of delivering exceptional service and thought leadership to our clients.
To help employees better understand how they can bring the brand purpose (help people thrive) to life through service, a guest speaker, Dennis Snow, spoke about the three keys to being a service-driven organization. Dennis is the author of the best-selling book, Lessons from the Mouse, written about his experience working at the Walt Disney Company. He did a fantastic job relating his lessons to our principles, all while cracking the group up with some industry anecdotes. In addition to the lessons, included below is an action item to help you apply these service insights to your organization.
1. See Through the Lens of the Client:
The longer we do something, the more we think other people should know what we know. Don’t make assumptions about other people based on what you know; this will cause ineffective communication and misunderstandings. Also keep in mind that when people get frustrated, they tend to forget common sense and ask silly questions – be sensitive to this. Go out of your way to understand what people are really asking and what they really need. At Creative Group, we dig to understand our clients’ needs – we call this Client Intimacy.
Action item – Use service mapping to identify opportunities to understand what mediocre service looks like to the client, and what great service looks like.
Creative Group Principle – Client Intimacy
2. Everything Speaks:
Pay attention to the smallest details, because any action or decision will either attract or detract from the brand. Perception is reality, and if a single team member is acting in a way that erodes the trust of the customer, trust in the company will also suffer. Your brand is seen as one entity, and when employees play the blame game, it will only be a detriment to the whole. Everyone must take responsibility. At Creative Group, we believe in caring radically, and that means digging deep to build relationships and embracing the uniqueness of each individual.
Action item – Chart out the difference between what would detract from your brand and what would enhance it. Work to ensure everyone is making commitments to put your brand in the best light.
Creative Group Principle: Caring Radically
3. Create Moments of Wow:
According to Gallup, there are four levels of service:
- Accuracy – fundamental expectation
- Availability – easy and helpful
- Partnership – understanding
- Advice – teachable moments
Once you’ve perfected accuracy and availability, you can really create “wow” experiences at the partnership and advice stages. In moments big and small, all of the wows add up. And it is in the consistency of those moments that you start to lock in loyalty. We believe in the spirit of service, which means we go above and beyond and have your goal in mind at all times.
Action item – Think of one simple act of kindness or a different way to respond to a client to create a “wow” experience.
Creative Group Principle: Spirit of Service
Crafting the right messaging that ties your employees to the company purpose will keep them more engaged, which means higher customer satisfaction and thus retention.
Click to learn more about Creative Group’s culture and how it guides our client interactions.
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Let’s Thrive.
