Ken Blanchard Explains Why “It’s Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company”

Most companies pay lip service to the importance of a customer-centric culture, but how many really succeed at creating one? In his new book, Customer Mania: It’s Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company (Free Press, 2004), management guru Ken Blanchard (author of the mega bestseller The One-Minute Manager) combines his own research on what it takes to build a customer-focused company with the real struggles and successes of Yum! brands. Yum, parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and other brands, is the world’s largest restaurant company. Its goal has been to create employees who are “Customer Maniacs” who will consistently go the extra mile toward customer satisfaction.

In Customer Mania, Blanchard outlines four key steps toward the creation of a “people-first, performance-driven” culture:

Step 1: Set your sights on the right target and vision

Step 2: Treat your customers right

Step 3: Treat your people right

Step 4: Have the right kind of relationship

Following is a brief overview of Blanchard’s four-step system, adapted from Customer Mania: It’s Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company :

Step 1: Set your sights on the right target and vision

A customer-focused company with its sights set on the right target would:

• Be the Provider of Choice and take care of its customers.
• Be the Employer of Choice and create a motivating environment for its people.
• Be the Investment of Choice and have the cash register go ca-ching.
• Have an agreed-upon, compelling vision.

Clear vision is all-important. It tells people—both internally and externally—who you are (purpose), where you're going (picture of the future) and what will guide your journey (values). Once clear vision is set, the established goals are placed in context. Goals tell people what they should focus on right now.

Step 2: Treat your customers right

If you want to create raving fans—customers who want to brag about the way you treat them—you have to:

• Determine what kind of experience you want your customers to have.
• Listen to what your customers want and see if it makes sense to include their suggestions in your vision.
• Implement your customer service vision by inverting the traditional hierarchal pyramid so your customer contact people are at the top, ready to soar like eagles and serve.

“Customer Maniacs” have an intense enthusiasm for serving others. They get joy from making customers happy. Customer Mania starts at the leadership level. However, it turns the traditional pyramid hierarchy upside down so that front-line associates closest to the customer are at the top.

Step 3: Treat your people right

If you treat your people the right way, they will treat your customers the right way so that your cash register goes ca-ching. To make that happen:

• You have to integrate four human systems:
1. Recruiting and hiring
2. Training and development
3. Performance management
4. Career planning
   
• Get the right people on the team through effective recruiting and hiring.
• Performance management done the right way gets the people the right help when they need it so they can accomplish their goals and the organization can win.
• Recognition on a day-to-day basis and celebrations of performance over time keep people inspired and focused on what’s important.
• Career planning must be an ongoing process.
• People are not your organization’s most important resource; they are your organization.

Step 4: Have the right kind of relationship

• There are two aspects of leadership: vision/direction and implementation.
• While top leadership sets the vision and direction, anyone who is in a position to influence others can be a leader.
• Servant leaders take responsibility for developing a compelling vision; they invert the pyramid and move to the bottom as cheerleaders, supporters and encouragers. They learn to let go of false pride and self-doubt.
• Leadership isn't all about you; it’s about serving the vision and the people who will make it come alive.

A lot of people think leadership is about the leader. It’s not. Leadership is really about those who are led. True leadership—the essence of what people long for and want desperately to follow—implies a certain humble sincerity that not only is appropriate but brings the best response from people.

To crack the code of Customer Mania, a company must master three practices:

1. Developing passionate, engaged team members
2. Acting as one system around the world
3. Execute, execute, execute

By following Blanchard’s four steps, any company—large or small—can create employees who are “Customer Maniacs” and customers who will make the company their provider of choice.

Click here for a list of AMA’s Customer Service seminars.

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About the Author: Ken Blanchard is the chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a worldwide human resource development firm. He is the author of several best-selling books, including the blockbuster The One-Minute Manager, Whale Done! and Raving Fans. For more information, go to www.simonsays.com.