Customer service and the customer experience are driven by the culture inside an organization. I’ve seen some very interesting culture defining statements and job titles that include colorful, edgy and even very clever phrases. However, vocabulary and job titles won’t change a company culture, unless you have action to support it.
As an example, the titles in our company (Shepard Presentations, LLC) are CAO – Chief Amazement Officer, Director of Amazement and Client Relations, and Manager of Reputation. These aren’t your typical titles, yet they are descriptive, and they do create a certain reaction when you first hear these somewhat creative titles. The titles have “energy,” which indicates we might be forward thinking, creative and even fun to work with.
While these titles won’t change the company culture, they do describe the mood and feeling we are trying to convey to our employees and our clients. For example, Christine Rankin is our Director of Amazement and Client Relations. The expectation is that she provides an “amazing” level of service as she manages our client relationships. The proof is when she delivers on the expectation. If she didn’t deliver, it wouldn’t matter what title we gave her.
I’ve written about the corporate mantra, which is a one word phrase to describe the company and its value and/or brand promise to its customers. Ours is “Always be Amazing.” Our company teaches customer amazement, so we want to be amazing to our customers (both internal and external). That means we practice what we preach. From the first interaction you have with us, you should find we are “amazing” to do business with. We return calls and emails promptly. We meet and usually exceed deadlines and much more. How can a company that teaches customer amazement do anything less than create amazing experiences for our customers and clients?
So, while terminology won’t change a culture, the right behavior that is associated with the terminology will. Actions do speak louder than words. And when the words make a promise or set an expectation, meeting and exceeding that expectation is the big step toward creating “Customer Amazement.”
