This past week I spotted a trend among my clients. You
might call it the 'dash'... everyone is sprinting to prove
they're making changes in their business's productivity as
if that is a badge to earn all by itself.
And too often they are speeding down a track that is taking
them to actions and solutions that will cost a lot of time
and money and not even solve the issue at hand.
You may be caught in the same sense of urgency, starting an
unnecessary race. So I thought I'd share the steps I use
with my clients to get them focused at the right pace so
that they get the full result they're hoping for to grow
their business.
Step 1 - Define The True Issue
One of my largest clients asked me to sit in during the
first presentation by a tech team to address improving the
Customer Services function at their company. Sure enough,
the team 'presented' the issue by quoting back 35
interviewees' concerns and then went straight into the
proposed solution. Fortunately the COO paused the
conversation and identified that he hadn't heard the actual
'need' for which the proposed project was a solution.
Make sure you've defined exactly what is being 'fixed' and
be sure the users of the solution are at the table defining
what is needed.
Step 2 - Research the Options for Solutions
We all fall in love with our area of expertise. And the
tech team members showed it clearly. They were proposing
'web based' technology and mega databases to gather all the
interactions with clients... and they completely neglected
the more familiar automated phone options and even email
exchanges. Not to mention the non-tech solutions that could
be created by realigning customer service personnel roles.
Take the time to flush out at least three options and run
those ideas past the potential users to see if you're
staying on track.
Step 3 - Check that the Solution Matches Your Business Model
For this particular client, the end user will never be the
person contacting Customer Service. Their distributors are
the ones who will report issues and 20% of them are not
computer users. That doesn't mean they might not find
technology solutions useful, but it won't be sitting at
their desk. They need solutions they can use when they are
standing on site at a client, or get a phone call while
driving between appointments.
All the technology in the world won't solve your key
challenge: make it easy for your customers to communicate
with you the way they are ready to today. OR make it even
easier!
Step 4 - Double Check That The Solution Works 'Inside' AND
'Outside'
Not only does my client need to make it easy for their
customers to be heard and responded to... They also need to
capture the information so they can check internally to
identify trends in their products and services and decide
what may need to be redesigned. The tech team will need to
design a system for gathering information easily, and
passing it to those who need to know immediately, and
summarizing it in reports for periodic trends analysis. At
each stage, the information may look very different to each
audience.
Sort out how you'll store information over time so that you
can be sure it serves improving your customer's experience
AND your own organization's performance.
Step 5 - Design How You'll Test And Adjust The Solution
Just like a rubber band springing back into place, changes
in systems and people's behavior can melt away when you
assume it will all come together as needed. Nothing takes
you off track more predictably than designing and
instituting changes and then walking away from the project.
Never assume the 'design' is the solution.
Before you invest time and money in permanently changing
processes, and policies, and roles and responsibilities
test the proposed system with all the users.
Commit to the project's long-term success by assigning
responsibility for testing your chosen solution and
evaluating how it's working... AND commit to adapting it as
you learn what is working well and what needs to be tweaked.
Step 6 - Test And Adjust, Test And Adjust
My client is bringing together a task force of six
disciplines to talk through all of the steps above. They'll
be guiding the tech team's focus to be sure it meets all
the users needs and stays on track with the Issue
identified back in Step 1.
Now it's your turn on the track.
----------------------------------------------------
Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is
"Your High payoff Catalyst." Linda publishes the free
weekly newsletter The Spark! to subscribers world-wide and
delivers targeted solutions, practical skills and simple
ways to build your business. If you're ready to focus on
your High Payoff activities, accelerate your results and
have more fun at it, get your FREE tips like these visit
her site at http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com
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