Think You Don't Have Customers? Think Again
I had a couple of interesting discussions last week—on slightly different topics, but related when it comes to the question: Who are your customers?
Who are your customers?
The first was with a VP Sales regarding some upcoming internal customer service workshops.
“We don’t really need this,” he explained to me. “We are the internal customers in our company. We are the link to our external customers, and we heavily rely on the other departments to support that. This training will be important for them, but not so much for us.”
The second was with the Director of HR of a different company who was trying to nail down the number of people who would be attending the courses. “At the moment,” she said, “all of the staff will be attending. But I’m getting a lot of push-back from managers. They don’t think it’s necessary at their level.” She didn’t sound happy about it.
You have more customers than you think
These aren’t uncommon perceptions when it comes to internal customer service training. But in both instances, they come from a misunderstanding of what internal customer service is—and how important it is to everyone’s success. At a deeper level, it is a failure to recognize the truism that everyone has customers – and often more than we realize.
The VP Sales was right in his team being a critical link to external customers, but forgot about the people within the company who also rely on them for their success. People in finance, logistics, and operations all need timely and accurate reporting of activity and projections to ensure everything runs smoothly. They are customers.
The managers in the other company didn’t think of their employees as customers, but they are—and their experience depends in large measure to their managers’ direction, appreciation, and respect. A manager’s job is to supply them with the tools, support and wisdom that will help them succeed.
Successful people understand this
The most successful people I’ve ever met understand these concepts – and have created trust through caring, competency and integrity. It begins with the understanding that the fastest way to success is by helping the people around you succeed.
