Creating Service Cultures That Keep on Giving - Part 1

As we talked through last time, there are 5 parts to Creating a Customer Service Culture. The first step starts with hiring the right people.

1. Hiring the right personality that naturally excels at providing service.

2. Equipping, teaching and coaching all levels of an organization.

3. Offering high-quality products and services.

4. Measuring and assessing processes that build and encourage.

5. Leading through real-time examples and coaching.

While we all give and take from others to satisfy our needs, some personalities give more than they take. Those are the folks you want to hire for your customer-facing teams. People who gain satisfaction and energy by giving to and pleasing others are the basis of a great service culture.

Hiring personalities more self, rather than others focused and expecting them to change their nature is a non-starter. Not only will the team fail in reaching their goals, but the expenses of not obtaining them will be twice as much.

We have traveled the globe and interacted with highly mixed and isolated cultures. We found base personalities make the biggest difference in service levels across cultures and industries. Would you expect top service levels from an airport security team (TSA)? We did in Nashville TN. That team was staffed with people who enjoy helping other people. One of the hardest tests in service jobs both in the volume of people you interact with and in an environment that is usually tense, is airport security. Without hiring the right personality first and foremost, it would be impossible to provide the service level we found.

So how do you hire the right personality? We agree with what Warren Buffet famously said many years ago.

Hire for:

1) Integrity: Honest with self and others. They are humble and realistic about their own qualities and faults and have a team-first attitude.

2) Intelligence: Aptitude to learn and apply skills quickly in their field of interest and understand how they relate to the team's success.?

3) Energy: Strong work ethic, which means they work harder than most, especially when circumstances become tough. ?Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.?

Do not compromise the order of the above sequence in priority. ?Warren Buffet said: "Hire for honesty, intelligence and strong work ethic. Ensure they have the first one, or the next two will destroy you". Honesty and humility with a team-first attitude will allow the person to grow their value to the team while fulfilling their own goals. All three attributes make us both teachable and more valuable.

Contact us if you would like specialized interview methods and questions to hire the right team, the right way.

Other related articles:

Creating the Right Team

Leading People The Right Way

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