The 3 P management in customer service

If you look at a Customer Service organization, it is difficult sometimes to sort through all the dynamics in the act of descending to the areas that you can use to get the best results in the shortest amount of time.

One way to limit the options is to work with the P-3.

Perception, procedures and personnel.

It 's important to make sure that you are working with the trends of an organization, not a one time incident. Once the accident is usually the result of deficiencies in long term somewhere Organization. It bubbles to the surface after cooking for a while 'from a perception, a procedure or a personal problem.
They are usually dramatic, are remembered forever and led to company parties and get togethers. What you are looking for is a trend. A series of events once it becomes a trend.

Trends can be treated. It 'hard to treat once an event.

Think in this way. If you went to the doctor and told him I've had a burning sensation in the chest one day last week, and never came back, it only lasted 10 minutes, and had never happened before in your life, its possibilities to find the root cause is very poor. He / She recommends a battery of tests, interviewed in depth for the foods consumed, fluid intake, family history and generally explore and hit until there was a series of symptoms or test results that would lead to the Doc in the right direction. If those were not present, he / she would have a hard time making a recommendation other than "if you go back again."

However, if you had the same burning sensation for 4 days in a row, you've noticed that occurs immediately after eating the chicken on a stick with extra sauce, lasts 45 minutes and was repeated with increasing frequency, the doctor would something to go on. He / she would be able to focus on the symptoms you describe and recommend a fix in your diet, fluid intake or a drug to treat the condition. Customer service management and diagnosis is true.

So now that we have determined that a timer and trends are different and require different methods, let's look at what we can deal with.

Perceptions are wispy, nebulous, and sometimes hard to get nailed. And 'because it is a "personal experience" with your store, office, department, staff, receptionist, cashier, director, person counter, etc. .. And is influenced by weather conditions, the customer's spouse, children, work, how long the line is, you've had in stock, in which the customer had to park, how much time they had during the lunch break, etc. .. Are you getting the picture here? There are many factors that go into Perception.

This is where having a large sample of personal observations in the house, returned surveys, personal interviews, interactions with customers and company personnel will guide you in the direction of what needs to be addressed in changing the perception. And the material source and the results must be for a period of time so that all the factors are "trimmed" so to speak.

Once you have a firm handle on your customers' perceptions are experiencing you can decide on a course to correct it. It could be a simple solution, like adding Wi-Fi to your store so customers can browse while waiting, or adding an additional cash during peak times, or with a clean shop front. If an object is not obvious you can change, you may need to look elsewhere.

It may be that a procedure is leading to negative perceptions. Perhaps the company manual is outdated and does not reflect the changing market. Maybe 10 years ago, your customer base consisted of 30 Something 2 income families. Now, because of demographics, economics and styles that change will have a new set of customers who are 20 something and married with one income.

Its procedures and training will reflect what you did 10 years ago or if you want to adapt them to the customers you serve today?

This is the trick with the perception. It is a moving target.

And to stay current and in sync with your customer base you have to constantly remember to change and update the procedures and training to meet those whom you serve.

Failure to train lead to failure of the customer.

Which brings us to the last of the big 3 P staff.

Friendly Rent, trainability hire, hire expertise.

Personnel issues are the most difficult to address because we are all human beings. I learned an important lesson from a coach who I worked with once. He had run his shop when I took over, and I had frequent conversations with him about the philosophy and management employees. He told me once that he never had a problem with someone letting go. I was at the point in my career when I was a bit 'altruistic in my management style, and believed everyone could be brought about with the training and motivation. Tom has had a take little 'different on the subject. He said: "I never hesitated to let someone go if I thought I needed to go. If I have to think about this decision, they have done for themselves." And he was right.

If that person is not the right person at the right place, something must change.
And even if you still have some 'altruistic and counsel with the employee and see if additional education aid, the motivation to do well would still need to come to that employee. If you hire with clear rules and skills in place, you just look for the nicest people. And here is also a judgment call. All are on their best behavior in an interview.

You can get an idea of ​​a person, however, it is best to try. And most of the tests are not as expensive than the long period of time and energy saved in finding the right person.

Make changes for the sake of making personal changes demoralize an organization and make everyone feel uncomfortable. If possible, move the staff in a position that is a better fit for their personality and the level of training are at that moment. Ensure that recruitment policies are in place so that you are matching the right person for the position.

Use the 3 P to begin to break down the areas you want to look at your organization. They allow you to concentrate on the elements that have the greatest potential to generate maximum return on your time, energy and investment of resources you and your business.

It 'a great starting point! ......