By William C. Johnston, Ph.D.

Every business must have systems in order to operate. It's likely, however, that the systems serve the company more than they serve the customer. They are probably designed more for internal efficiency than they are for customer delight.

Having systems in place that allow for doing the job right the first time and having a plan in place to deal with things if they go wrong are two of the most important aspects of providing outstanding service.

Several months ago I bought an item at a regional chain store and paid for it by check. When I got home, I realized I already had something very similar. I immediately drove back to the store, presented myself at the very same register and asked if I could return the item and simply have my check back. Apparently, not so simple. I was informed that I could leave the item with the clerk at the register but that I would have to go to the Customer Service Desk to fill out the form that would enable me to receive my check. A customer-friendly system? Hardly, and they had the audacity to call it, "the Customer Service Desk!"

Examples abound of systems that serve the organization first: hospital admission systems that focus on type of insurance rather than discomfort, or the loan systems of banks that certainly don't make one feel like one of the bank's business partners, or a citizen's request of a governmental agency.

The goal of a service delivery system design is to eliminate all that stands between the customer and the company that make it difficult for the customer to conduct business. Is there anyone out there who hasn't been passed from one department to another, or hasn't been asked to complete company forms, or attend to other organizational rigmarole? It is the role of top management to smash these barriers. They need to insist that systems, processes, procedures and policies be aligned with the service vision. They need to see to it that service delivery does not fall through the functional or departmental cracks. They need to create a seamless delivery service. Why should the customer have to care about whether it's sales' or service's responsibility--all they want is to have their need met. Top management also needs to make the company's struggle visible, using an array of techniques to put vital information into visual form for customers and employees alike to see. The chief executive needs to make regular reviews as to how the company is living its service vision by occasionally interacting as a customer and by telephoning daily at least one customer.

The service strategy will dictate how the company should be organized. Service strategy calls for speed and flexibility. Most companies are organized in ways that impede both speed and flexibility. The question that needs to be answered is, "What is the best organizational structure for our service strategy?" No one structure is right for everyone.

At a minimum, a formal executive service quality steering team should be implemented. This team's mission should be to provide strategic direction, construct an overall action plan, establish priorities, create cross-functional improvement teams. Moreover, it should monitor the firm's overall service performance. An excellent example of this is the Ritz-Carlton Hotels. Each Monday the top fourteen executives, with the President, Horst Schulze, meet to review the past week's performance and plan for the future. Another example is Federal Express. Their executive steering team, led by founder and CEO, Fred Smith, meets first thing every day to review the previous day's track record with on-time deliveries, keeping in mind their service vision, "Absolutely, positively overnight." The lesson to be learned from both of these fabled companies is that service excellence is a principal responsibility of the executive team. They are responsible and need to be held accountable.

We live in a time when organizations of all kinds are downsizing, rightsizing, reengineering, or whatever it is now being called. In my mind, it is unconscionable for executives to institute any form of these plans without a corresponding customer delight strategic plan. You simply cannot cut staffing patterns without revising and improving systems and processes. This is what sets the fabled customer service companies apart. Top management must always provide their stakeholders with a service strategy and a plan as to how that strategy will be implemented with seamless customer-friendly systems.

This article first appeared in The Tri-County Business Journal.

Bill Johnston is an educator to organizations. For further information or comments, e-mail: medtran@mind.net or call/fax: (541) 482-6569.