Customer-facing employees are at the forefront of delivery for many kinds of companies, yet all but few take a holistic approach that connects employee motivations to customer motivations. The economic outlook is brightening, but pressure on service delivery will continue to be a factor for 2010. With this in mind, we need to rationalise service delivery smartly, focus on what is really important to keep customers loyal and put companies in a strong position to gain and retain valuable customers as spending recovers.

Initiatives that look to improve customer experience began in operations and much of the same language has carried on to this day. Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing management practices have guided much of the process-efficiency focused initiatives in service-oriented companies.

As a result, the emphasis has been on removing problems like long waiting qeues or increasing KPIs like cross-selling. Despite a flotilla of management consultants speaking about joined up experiences, customer-centricity and grass-roots thinking, the ideal has yet to be achieved for many. There are good reasons for this situation, including:

1. Budgets assigned by function form siloed initiatives and act to resist joined up thinking on behalf of the customer.
2. Over-emphasis on process versus relationship that seeks to create an error free transaction versus a loyalty building relationship.
3. Pressure from departmental groups on front-line staff resulting in narrow targets and inwardly-facing front-line employees.

What can be done to shift this situation and create a more holistic customer service model?

1. Begin your planning by understanding what happens at the customer-employee interface and gain the perspective of both. We often try to compartmentalise the customer experience into increasingly discrete channels and journey milestones. While breaking down the detail is important, the character of the employee-customer relationship is often left out of this kind of analysis. Begin by taking a wider look at the kind of relationship being developed between employees and customers.
2. Characterise the kind of relationship that is desired by your customers and that is attainable by your company capability and business plan. The gaps will indicate priority areas and inform the direction across important initiatives that your company is supporting.
3. Listen to new ideas from the people who meet the customer the most often. Good customer experiences are not made by taking out all the errors but by being directed by customer priorities.
4. Balance the priorities of customer against other performance enhancing initiatives.

Taking a view on the kind of relationship that you want to develop with customers will give you a holistic framework to develop and prioritise initiatives that affect customer experience. From here, a channel strategy can be developed and the detail of process changes will have direction, meaning and connection to the customer.

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