 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Home > Michelle's Blog > Previous Postings > 5/15/07
 |
Previous Postings |
 |
May 15, 2007:
How to Measure Success?It seems that we have fallen into a time when CEO's and top managers are hired to bring in their "new" philosophy, work on incorporating it to "show a bigger profit", make all the changes that come with that philosophy, and then jump ship so rapidly that the wake of destruction they have left behind is un-repairable.
The best example today is regarding the 28 year old company, Home Depot. In the 1990's, they used to be THE Customer Service Guru of Home Improvements. As a woman, I loved to go there when doing home projects, They caught me at the door, recognized the foggy look in my eye, pounced on me quickly, and soon I was leaving with many items that I had never heard of before - all because they were famous for their knowledgeable people on the floor. It was awesome and they made alot of money with that practice.
Then they hired a CEO who convinced the share holders he could make the stock value worth twice it's value. Basically, he would do that by firing people - the experts that were on the floor helping us. I think if you ask 10 people today, 8 would have a horror story to share regarding their last trip to "HD" - as they are known on the stock market. Understandably, their payroll dropped, and yes, their stock continued to rise for a few years because they were cutting expenses.
But those "expenses" were the reason we all went there. Today, their stock has dropped from $70 a share to $39 a share, and it's still dropping.
By cutting people and short staffing your company, you are "stealing" the time of your customers - and they don't stand for it for very long - especially in a day when time seems to be of the essence.
Our small company - 30 employees - has the opposite feeling. Seven years ago, we realized we were heading for trouble, shown both by the lack of customer "love" and the negligence of profit. This was caused by a lack of leadership, disengaged employees and customers who were beginning to waiver. We needed a change.
This change began with listening. We listened to our customers and they told us what to change. "Take care of us and we'll keep coming back."
As we began incorporating that change, starting with "Defining", then "Demanding" and finally "Delivering Customer Service Excellence", it took 5 years to really see it hit the bottom line. The vision was to grow with the people - and this vision has to start at the top. Happy customers, engaged employees, and the nurtured company has no choice but to grow and prosper.
Many companies fail to figure out that when measuring success, it's not just the bottom line. As quoted in on MSN Magazine, "If you want to know how a company is doing, look at their sales. If you want to know how they are going to do in the future, look at their customer service. You can only tick people off for so long."