You can see the immensity of technology on customer transactions by walking into a fast food restaurant.  Order-taking clerks at the ready, looking at you, asking first if your order is ‘for here or to go?’.  As soon as you answer, MOST of them begin to look down and concentrate and work on the data-entry process.  Effectively leaving the most important part of the business alone by itself:  the customer.

From a very personal perspective, I’m ecstatic when someone takes my order, while ‘engaging’ with me ‘front-and-center’ attention/dialogue, while taking care of my business (order taking, order entry, pricing, printing receipt, taking cash, etc.) just ‘underneath’ the transaction.

Most customers have come to accept this type of service in today’s world.  The danger with this technique is that if you own a fast-food restaurant and a competitor comes along who engages with the customer FIRST, and takes care of the order/process/technology SECOND, there would be a strong tendency for customers to migrate to this new business.  Your business might then suffer lower sales.  My point is no matter what business you’re in be the company that puts their CUSTOMERS FIRST and handles TECHNOLOGY SECOND!

Practice making the Customer the focal point of EVERY transaction

Make the customer the ‘center’ of EVERY transaction in your company.  Let the technology needed in every transaction move invisibly into second place.  Add to second place the customer service rep’s personality/presence.

How to do this:

• Stand back and look, watch, and monitor every current customer transaction in your company.
• Get a handle on if your customer service reps are trained enough, comfortable enough, secure enough with using your technology (order entry system, product/service pricing, inventory availability/levels, etc.). If not, you’ve learned where they need additional training.
• Most companies find that their customer service reps need to PRACTICE with the technology and get much more familiar with your products, pricing and inventory. They should know these things like the back of their hand. Find some internal processes for your reps to practice.  Oh, then practice more.  When done, practice some more. Don’t forget YOU TOO! Practice on each other.  Practice with you.  Practice with the Shipping Department staff.  And, if you are brave, practice with the President and his Secretary.
• Send, or take, your reps to another, un-related business where you know they are VERY good at meeting/greeting/working with customers. Have them recount to you what their take-away’ s were.