Efficiency v Customer Service?

Over the years, I have harnessed my skills to improve efficiency.  

Find the most straightforward route from A to B.

That could be getting a customer to the table smoothly or helping the customer make quick purchases on a website.

We are improving customer satisfaction by doing something extra.

All to be efficient. Or was it?

I thought about writing this as I was reading “The Lean Start-Up” by Eric Ries.

In the prologue, he talks about the decline of manufacturing in America, and how they now employ far fewer people in manufacturing than ever before.

But what they never mention is manufacturing output.

This is clarified in more detail in his book.

This got me thinking.

Would this hold true and continue to hold true for the coming future?

Less and less people will be employed “to do” stuff, but that doesn’t mean output will decline. 

We now build robots, to build robots to make stuff.

Even the “hand-made” vehicle manufacturers will use more and more technical pieces of kit, to take on some of the hard labour.

Thus enabling them to improve consistency and increase productivity.

Throughout my career, I was always looking for the most efficient way to do something.  

The way to complete a task consistently, accurately and in such a way that someone else could repeat it, without my input.

Follow this standard operating procedure S.O.P. (I used to call it an “idiots guide”), and you will get precisely the same results as me.

I built spreadsheets, with macros, databases – with core functionality built-in, to make sure these results could be repeated, time after time without error.

Why?

I wanted consistent results.

I was from an early start in my career, always trying to ensure I could be replaced.

I was making myself irreplaceable! At least I hoped so!

So keeping in mind greater and greater efficiency, should we think like robots?

No, we should be embracing the automation.

Embrace the new normal and make it so that the automation is there not to replace a person, but to add to the experience.

If your team can spend less time doing mundane tasks, that takes time and effort; they can build relationships instead.

Spend time talking to your customers.

Getting to know them.

What do they need?

What can you add?

How can you help?

If you have a system that allows for feedback from the customer as well as your team, you will learn how to serve your customers.

No matter what industry you are in. In this day and age, you are in the service industry.

You are here to provide to your customers.

Whether you’re a carpenter, making a table.  

You know how to make a table, you know how to cut, nail, glue, sand and varnish.  

The more efficient you are, the more you can get to know what your customer wants and if they might like a personalised embellishment that goes that extra mile and makes them go. “Wow”.

If you’re in a restaurant and you overhear it’s a special occasion.  

Don’t wait to be asked for a cake. Get a glass of champagne, or ask Chef to decorate a dessert plate.

Take the time to listen and talk, not just running off to get the next customer sat down.

You will end up with a special story and a repeat customer.

Efficiency is excellent, but in this golden age of technology, don’t let it be at the detriment of the relationship you can build for your customer.

Let it be the benefit to your customer.

Don’t let it be Efficiency V Customer Service; let it be Efficiency for greater Customer Service.

#leanmachine #leanmanagement #effecientteam #teamgoals