Becoming An Aware Company, continued
Better Intelligence From The Customer Service Reps
Customer Service Reps: These folks also have intimate contact with the company’s customers, day in and day out. They are in a perfect position to gather intelligence. Many companies script these workers to gather information that fits into predefined categories.
However, these same workers can often pick up on other subtleties and nuances in customer conversations, if they have a clear, broad understanding of the company’s business idea, appreciate its brand promises, and understand that doing so is part of their role. To achieve this end, they need to be included on the team, they need to understand their role and have a hand in structuring it to accomplish these added responsibilities, and they need to know what to do with their insights (to whom do they deliver this information? When? How?).
Getting Them Started---Customer Service Reps
Starting A Conversation With The Customer Service Reps:
Pose a question. Sit with the CSR’s, as well as a few of your company’s more savvy thinkers, and ask them to discuss what they hear or what they might gather in their conversations with the customers, that may have importance for the company in how it plans and executes its brand promise . Help these people understand that their sensitivity to the nuances and implicit messages in their conversations with customers is an important and desired contribution. Structure this conversation as a brainstorming session; generate ideas, and think freely.
Provoke conversations. After the brainstorming sessions have been completed, set up a recurring opportunity for conversations about what can be seen and the implications of what is heard. These conversations can ensure that the CSR’s “get” the brand promise and understand their company’s business idea as the foundation for their routine work. (Use these conversations to identify who among these participants would be strong contributors to your scenario planning team.)
Once again, this on-going conversation, with your participation (leadership), continues to keep this sensory node sharp and serves as a running opportunity for training and development. It is the responsibility of the team to keep these conversations robust rather than allowing them to slip into “one more awful meeting.” Of course, if that slip does occur, that becomes diagnostic and indicates still unresolved disconnects within the organization.
Probe for ideas and connections. Have some people involved in those conversations playing the deliberate role of probing for the implications and assumptions buried in the content of the conversation. However, challenge everyone to play that role as constructively as possible. Having these conversations in front of the whole team gives people an opportunity to learn from their peers without having it be obvious. You are also underlining the idea that “nobody is as good as everybody.”
In positions that are closer to the line and further from management, many people do not appreciate the power of what they can notice and deliver. They need to be charged with doing so and given respect by providing a serious audience for their ideas. If the ideas generated are not top notch it becomes an opportunity for development.
Provide a path forward. Charge this team with reporting to the appropriate functions (production, delivery, accounts receivable, etc.) to relay the intelligence gathered in their customer conversations. It isn’t enough to simply notice things; they have to be understood by the organization as a whole and they have to lead to action that turns into competitive advantage. This team should offer insights and feedback that lets others develop ideas about how to make that happen.