"How To Improve Customer Service"
By Doug Howardell

Customer Service Training Programs

(When the Las Vegas Sun decided to do an article on the do's and don'ts of good customer service it turned to Doug Howardell of ACA. Click Here to read what Doug told the leading newspaper in the city where customer service is everything.)

Stop me if you've heard this before. Your CEO or some other top management type addresses the troops in an attempt to rally them to do better.

"Our customers are revolting! They are demanding more for less. They want world class products and services. They want it all and they want it now. If we can't provide what they want, they will find some one who can. Customer loyalty is a myth formed in the mist of our distant past. We must be closer to our customers then ever. We must provide great customer service."

I'd bet some version of this speech has been made at every company in America.

I have one question.
Just what is customer service and how do we improve it?

OK, that's really two questions. You may find yourself facing the same executive pressure to improve customer service, and you may be asking the same questions. What we need is a clear definition of customer service and a plan to improve it based on that definition. I offer the following.

Definition of Customer Service:

According to the ACA Group, www.theacagroup.com, customer service is the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently give the customer what they want and need. The ACA Group is an alliance of highly trained and experienced consultants and instructors providing Consulting Services, Training & Education to a variety of manufacturing and service organizations, in both the public and private sectors ranging from five million dollars in annual sales to Fortune 500 companies. The ACA Group defines excellent customer service as the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer's expectations.

This definition goes beyond the traditional way we think about customer service. It covers areas that do not come in direct contact with the customer at all. Manufacturing, purchasing and quality control may never talk to the end user of our products, yet they are vital in meeting the customer's needs. If we deliver an expensive product that doesn't work and we deliver it late, that affects customer service just as much as a rude salesperson. The entire enterprise must pull together to provide excellent customer service.

To learn the difference between good and excellent customer service, download the full article.

Customer Service Improvement Focus Areas

Given that definition, how then do we go about improving our ability to constantly and consistently give the customer what they want and need?

"In order to compete in a truly customer-driven manner, an enterprise must integrate its entire range of business functions around satisfying the individual needs of individual customers - not just marketing, customer service and sales, but production logistics, and financial measurement and metrics." Enterprise One to One by Don Peters and Martha Rodgers

Organizations exceed customer expectations by focusing improvement efforts in three areas: customer friendly processes, employee commitment to customer service, and customer dialog according to Eberhard Scheuing in his book Creating Customers for Life. You must be excellent in all three areas to achieve excellent customer service.

To learn how to be excellent in all three customer focus areas, download the full article.

Assessment / Needs Analysis

So now we know the definition of customer service and we know where to look to improve customer service. But how do we start a customer service improvement project? The first step in improving customer service is the assessment of each of the critical aspects of the focus areas identified above. Those areas where operational improvements will lead to improved customer service have to be identified. The assessment acts as a strategic customer service improvement plan and training needs analysis that will lead to accomplishment of your customer service goals

To learn how to assess you organization, download the full article.

Improvement Priority

"Good customer service means looking after every whim of the customer but only within the window you have defined as your particular customer service product." Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard

Once you assessed you organizational needs, you have to decide where to start fixing things. Do you start with employee commitment to customer service, with your business processes or with your customer communications?

To learn where to start improving you customer service, download the full article.

Douglas K. Howardell, CPIM
2120 Highland Oaks Drive
Arcadia, CA 91006
800.639.7661
E-mail: DHowardell@aol.com

Doug Howardell is president of Symbiotic Solutions, a boutique consulting company that specializes in helping clients improve their operations by focusing on people and processes. During the past twenty years he has helped many clients optimize their business processes and helped their people reach their highest potential. He has designed new processes and tools, selected and implemented new business systems, and managed a large variety of improvement projects. He has extensive experience and expertise in all aspects of materials management in manufacturing and distribution companies.

While employed in industry, Mr. Howardell held a variety of positions, starting out as an inventory clerk and eventually working his way up to Director of Materials. During this time, he experienced first hand the issues and challenges that materials management personnel face.

In addition to his expertise in materials management and project management, Doug's extensive experience with education and training includes teaching collage courses in the California State University program, in both traditional classroom settings and in distance learning programs. He has developed and delivered numerous custom training programs on a wide variety of topics. He has taught the APICS body of knowledge to hundreds of people both in in-house company settings and in a university environment. Doug has taken the APICS body of knowledge and trained companies to apply that knowledge in their daily tasks. He has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to educate people in the theory and train them in the application.

Doug is the past president of the Los Angeles chapter of APICS and is currently a member of the Complex Industries SIG steering committee. He is one of the principal authors and presenters of the CI SIG's very successful workshop, "Selecting and Implementing ERP Systems, A Common Sense Approach." He is a frequent speaker at APICS conferences and meetings. His current presentation topics include, "Creating A Next Generation Workforce," and "Overcoming People's Fear of Change."

Academically, Mr. Howardell holds a BA in History from California State University. He is Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) by APICS.