The core of all great businesses...

Early in my career I had the great opportunity to work for BAM (Bell Atlantic Mobile) which eventually became VerizonWireless.

Aside from a being a great organization and by all means a very profitable business of course there was one thing in particular that they did for all of their employees and that was empower us. Working as a CS and Tech rep I was given a 3 week paid training introduction to the entire history, business, system and wireless cultural industry as BAM would offer. To this day, I have not experienced a fraction of an on-boarding process and or immersion training by any employer. BAM now VZW got it right and knew that by making this investment in me and scores of others each week it would pay back exponentially.

Organizations that are wise enough to arm their frontline folks with the ability to service customers, sell products, cross sell and do almost what ever it takes as means of satisfaction and retention are the ones that become the leaders of their industry. Needless to say and unlike many people, I have been using VZW as my cell carrier for two decades. It still amazes me that leaders of today are not as thoughtful as Denny Strigl was. He was the CEO Group President Denny Strigl and COO of BAM/VZW. 

This man was not only a great leader and pioneer in the Wireless Industry but, moreover to his credit, his direction to his staff and everyone who worked for BAM was entirely customer satisfaction focused and driven. Working in this internal hybrid CS/Sales/Marketing/Retention type of role was not easy as there were crazy daily call metrics 75-80 calls a day, up-selling, cross selling that many people could not keep up with but, for those of us that could, it was an experience that made me realize that I was “self- empowering” in all that I do with work and or each person I had “touched .” 

Most is not all of us never realized the service provided on each call would be the last impression of what they may have thought of this billion dollar company.

In retrospect, that’s a heavy burden to carry as a young man starting his career but, a lesson of what it means to rise to the occasion each and every time I have ever dealt with someone even to this day. Doing what ever it takes to help and make customers happy. 

Where are you in your journey of success and at what level? How could you rethink what you are doing for the betterment of your business and are you truly empowering your employees to do (WIT)"What ever it takes." Are you keeping your internal (cross departmental) and external customers happy?

The key to great organizations is training and not just once or something that was done but, ongoing training. Ask Brad Lea the CEO of LightSpeed VT to help you with a Training platform or if you need a Super Star Sales Trainer checkout Jordan Stupar.

Remember as we already know for good or bad if you aren’t taking care of your customers someone else will and to this end I ask, how can I help you?

John Hauryluke : Founder & CEO of CRM CLOUD PEOPLE