When you experience horrible customer service, you don’t have to dig too deep before you can spot major accountability problems with both the service reps on the front lines and then right on up the chain to their supervisors, managers, directors and executives. Great service organizations empower and train their people to put the customer first. But, without first creating an accountable customer service culture, real results that customers will notice will be mediocre at best. Here are what I call the red flags of accountability that are major impediments to good service:

1. That’s not my job.
2. I don’t get paid enough to do that.
3. Nobody told me to do that.
4. I just do what I am told.
5. The last time I suggested something around here I got yelled at.
6. I haven’t got time to do anything about that problem.
7. That has been screwed up since I have been here.
8. I don’t know why they do it that way.
9. Nobody listens to me anyway.
10. We have a lot of jerks for customers.

You haven’t got a chance in hell to make major improvements in your service until the management and the staff recognize and fix these pathological attitudes. Do it as a major initiative - do it as a team!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Accountability in Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.