Is Everyone On the
Bus?
By David Saxby
Many people remember what it was like riding a
school bus. It was that bright yellow vehicle with the flashing lights and
hard seats that transported them to and from school every day. They knew
where they would end up when they got on the bus in the morning. They knew
when they got on the bus at the end of the day that it would deliver them
home.
Do telecom employees know where their bus – their company – is headed? Are
all the right people on the bus and are they in the right seats? Is everyone
communicating? These questions may seem simplistic, but they are important
to the success of all telecoms. And not every telecom knows how to answer
them.
A good place to start is the concept of knowing where the bus is headed.
It’s difficult to know where the company is going without a direction to
follow. Do telecom employees know the company’s mission and vision for the
future? If a telecom has a mission statement, did all departments play a
role in creating it? Does the mission fit the competitive environment in
which the company operates? Some telecoms have their mission statement
displayed in the lobby or posted on their Web site. But if someone asked a
lineman, field tech or engineering employee to recite the mission, could
they?
Employees who are involved in drafting a company mission have more ownership
and are more committed to accomplishing the goals they helped create. They
perform their jobs more effectively if they know how important their role is
toward making the mission a reality. All employees should know the mission
statement word for word.
It’s also important that all the departments on the company bus communicate
with one another. For example, if the company plans to launch a new product,
is the Information Technology department communicating with the other
departments to update them on where they are on completion? Is marketing,
which must promote the product, clear on the timeline of availability? Has
customer service been trained on how to use and sell the product? Do
technicians know how to install and educate customers on product usage? Send
companywide e-mails weekly to keep everyone current on what’s happening. If
the company has satellite offices, use video conferencing to keep those
employees in the communication loop. Hold monthly companywide meetings and
ask every manager to give a brief update on their department’s progress.
Confirm that managers share information with their various departments.
As everyone goes about their jobs, they also should remember that quality
customer service has a positive impact on the bottom line. So is everyone on
the bus working to exceed customer expectations? Those on the company bus
must be passionate about serving and selling services to customers. Why?
Because competitors may lower prices or take other measures to lure away
another telecom’s clients. Thus, it’s important that all employees
consistently provide excellent service to every customer. Every employee
must be a sales person and be able to sell the value of their company’s
products and services.
Sales and service don’t come naturally to all people but there are things
that can be done to help them along. Identify the customer service and sales
standards that every person should demonstrate when interacting with
customers.
Communicate those standards to everyone. Measure the customer service and
sales experience by calling customers after their interaction with the
company, whether that be signing up for service or receiving an
installation. Telecoms should mystery shop themselves to measure how
consistently employees demonstrate service and sales standards. Use the
results of the surveys and shops to help employees do a better job. Telecoms
that fail to measure service and sales processes cannot manage them.
But all this hard work will be for naught if the telecom doesn’t have the
right people in the right seats on the bus. As mentioned earlier, many
people find sales and service an uncomfortable experience. Some people flat
out lack the ability to sell. That’s why it’s important that telecoms
identify the characteristics of the people they need, no matter what the job
is. Use personality profiling to determine if the people on the bus have the
necessary skills and abilities. A good personality tool will help the
company identify employees who need skills coaching. It also will help the
company place people in the right seats. For example, the person who
completely lacks the ability to deal with customers might be a perfect fit
for accounting, dispatch or another department.
America’s work force is aging and that means telecoms face the challenge of
hiring younger employees. Hiring a new member to the team and finding out 90
days later that he or she lacks the ability to do their job can cause a lot
of headaches. Personality profiling can help identify the working
characteristics of new hires to ensure they are in the right seat on the
bus. One company that can help with profiling is Hiring Solutions. Their Web
site is www.hiringsolutions.net.
In short, when a telecom has the right people doing the right jobs, the bus
runs smoothly on all cylinders.
But that’s no reason to get complacent. Maybe the performance of the bus can
be improved. Every company has a system for getting things done but perhaps
there’s a better way. A technician at one telecom recently asked in a
training session why the company was making two trips to customers’ homes –
one to install the phone and another to install DSL service. He explained
that each trip could be as much as 150 miles one way. IT and senior
management were consulted and the double trips were eliminated by a couple
of simple changes in process. That improved the customer service experience,
eliminated an additional truck roll and saved the labor costs of a second
visit, all because one technician asked why. People on the company bus see
things every day that could be improved or done differently. Managers should
have a 15-minute brainstorm session with their employees every month to
solicit ideas on how to improve processes, cut costs and save time.
Finally, accountability is a critical part of any high-performance team.
Using customer service as an example, management at every level must hold
employees accountable for consistently demonstrating customer service and
sales standards. When standards aren’t met, supervisors should coach
employees to improve their effectiveness.
A lot of things go into creating a successful telecom. Clearly, many of them
fall under one simple yet critical question. “Is everyone on the bus?”
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David Saxby is president of Measure-X, a Phoenix,
Ariz.-based measurement, training and recognition company that specializes in
customer service and sales skill training for utility companies. He can be
reached at 888-644-5499 or via e-mail at
david@measure-x.com. Visit the Measure-X Web site at
www.measure-x.com.
