If you have worked in business or management for a certain period of time, you probably understand how important it is to have a positive organizational culture. After all, creating an environment where employees have the opportunity to work effectively and develop their skills is vital for productivity, retention, and ultimately the bottom line.
However, what is your business focused on? Your customers or the bottom line? If all you care about is making sales and not the quality of treatment with your buyers, know that you have a serious problem.
Therefore, it is necessary to consider a second area of importance beyond positive organizational culture: the Service Culture!
What is the Service Culture?
Firstly, it is necessary to define the Service Culture. This term refers not only to what is said by the organization, but also includes what is done in the work environment. The service culture is mainly visible through the interactions between provider and customer/consumer.
So, what is said, what is done, and how the consumer perceives and feels about an interaction with an organization is what matters most!
Saying that an organization has a service culture means that the employees, products, services, and business processes of a company are developed with a focus on the end consumer or customer.
Good service can generate growth, profit, and customer retention.
Therefore, the service culture is the responsibility of everyone within the organization and must be led from the top. The service culture needs to be viable in all aspects of the organization: people, processes, capabilities, technology, structures, and governance.
Obviously, a bad service culture is easier to identify than a good service culture, after all, the word “good” is very subjective, isn’t it? The downside directly affects consumers’ emotions.
Therefore, the focus should be on making a good service culture apparent through behaviors and the actual results of these behaviors.
Why do you need a Service Culture?
In the end, culture is beneficial for the consumer because it makes it easy to interact with the service provider, their feedback is heard, and their needs are met.
Moreover, for the service provider, it also promotes benefits, as it is clear to employees how they should interact with consumers. Additionally, morale improves when employees deal with happier customers.
Satisfied consumers buy again and do marketing on behalf of the company, sharing feedback through their social networks. This is not only advantageous for profit-seeking organizations but also for public and nonprofit sectors.
Of course, the importance of the service culture goes far beyond the experience of your employees or customers! Customer service and company culture need to go hand in hand for the organization to be successful.
And why? First, focusing on ensuring that the customer is satisfied is just an easy way to have a stronger organization.
Not only will your reputation be much more favorable if you are customer-focused, but there is also a good chance that the number of repeated customers you have will increase!
Second, a strong relationship between service and culture of an organization is even more useful than the ability to get more sales and a higher level of customer loyalty.
On the other hand, another benefit of a strong service culture is increased employee motivation and better customer experiences. Think about how many employees can really enjoy their workday if they are not constantly reprimanded by irritated customers.
Third, your reputation means a lot. If your company is widely known for rudeness with customers or useless employees, there is a good chance that customers will choose your competitor instead of you.
For companies in incredibly tight markets, this can mean the difference between making a sale or not.
How to build a strong Service Culture?
Finally, the most important thing is not just to inform the consumer that they are important, but to show it with actions that are truly valued, whether by delivering something extra or working “outside the box”.
That is, using your own initiative to help them is a good example of valuing the customer.
Moreover, developing a service culture requires changes in several areas, including behavior and work practices. This may not be an easy journey, but it is necessary.
Vital tip: use a collaborative approach where lessons are learned, instead of finding blame, as a department or team alone cannot change the entire culture of the organization.
In summary, it is interesting that you clearly define what great customer service means through your mission, vision, or brand promise. Look to hire the best employees who will live that vision.
Set guidelines for your entire customer service team. Engage employees with your service culture through adequate customer service training so that everyone is on the same page.
Finally, establish goals based on your customer service vision and guiding principles.
Finding the right dynamics to bring your company to a service-focused culture does not have to be difficult.
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