Greetings!
The Customer Comes Seventh
I heard Art Kleiner speak recently. (He is
the author of the book, Who Really
Matters) He told a true story about
customer service that stuck with me.
A division within a very large company held a
full-day session with the theme -- the
customer comes first. At the end of the day,
the leaders of the division got together to
toast the day and each other.
One executive said, "I propose a toast. The
customer doesn't come first. The CEO comes
first. Then the CFO. Then the COO. Then the
head of North America." And the list went on.
The customer didn't appear until seventh on
his list! The HR Director told Kleiner, "that
was first truthful thing I
heard all day."
Now, I am a big fan of good customer service
and believe it should very high on our lists
(mine included). But, all too often,
organizations lie to themselves when they say
that the customer comes first. I used to buy
computers from a company where customers may
not have even made it on its actual list of
things to pay attention to. Of course the
customer appeared all over their marketing
material, but that's about as far
as it went.
I wish organizations would stop and seriously
look at the things that they say are top of
their lists, and ask themselves: if customers
or quality or stockholders or whatever were
really number one, what would that mean? What
would we have to do to make sure that we
consistently met our number one priority?
What would we have to give up? What would it
cost us? And after answering those tough
questions, are we still willing to make this
number one? Who knows, it could help.
Change without Migraines Formula
I am excited to say that we plan to release
the Change without Migraines Formula next
week. I hate to give an exact date, because
Murphy may be waiting in the wings for me to
make just such an announcement. I am out of
the country this week, so if there is a
technical glitch, it could delay things. But
I am hoping. But for those of you who are
interested, watch for an e-mail from me next
week.
There are some 21 audio tracks. Each is a
five to ten minute lesson on some aspect of
change management. The 70-plus page guidebook
includes 18 worksheets people can use at
every stage of an organizational change. I
really believe this is clearest and most
immediately practical guide I have ever
created. I realize others will be the judge
of that. But, for today, I am quite pleased.
I hope you will be as well.
Sincerely,
Rick Maurer
Maurer & Associates
phone:
703-525-7074
