This is a guest post from Jeanne Bliss — customer experience expert and author of “I Love You More Than My Dog.” See the original post this is adapted from and more like it on her blog.
Beloved companies know that the outcome of their decisions and their actions reveal who they are and what they value. Companies who decide to believe make belief a competency of their business, people, and operation.
Are you a company of believers?
Review the ten actions of believers. Can you say yes to each action?
1. Make employee selection a priority.
You extensively screen and select people who share your organizational values.
2. In decision making, yield to employees’ natural instincts to do the right thing.
You believe employees will live by the values, spirit, and passion for which they were chosen.
3. Invest heavily in training and development to prepare and enable peak performance.
You trust prepared employees.
4. Reward and recognize employees for innovation, ingenuity, and thinking on their feet.
You reinforce your belief in employees.
5. Elevate the dignity of employees by removing unnecessary rules and policies.
You release control so employees can innovate and solve problems.
6. In customer relationships you honor the dignity of customers.
You strive to remove policies and procedures that protect “us” from “them.”
7. Actively decide to be transparent with customers.
You believe that trust is reciprocated. You suspend the fear of sharing information.
8. Believe customers are an asset, not a cost center.
Your decisions and choices are guided by investing in customer relationships.
9. Use your own products and services and interact with customers.
You eliminate detachment and cynicism by personally connecting to your customers’ experience.
10. Believe in the truth of your customers’ words.
Customer feedback fuels your business. You trust current customers to guide future customers.
The actions of belief, such as trusting and honoring employees and customers, bonds people to a beloved company.
Believing is a unique and special characteristic that sets beloved companies apart. It makes them human.
Read More:
- Beloved Companies Deliberately Build a Company of Belief
- How Belief as a Core Competency Drives Business Growth
About Jeanne Bliss
As “Chief Customer Officer” for Lands’ End, Mazda, Coldwell Banker, Allstate, and Microsoft, Jeanne got “customer” on the strategic agenda, earned 98% loyalty rates, and changed experiences across 50,000-person operations. Jeanne now runs CustomerBliss to create an actionable path for profitability and business growth -- through earning customer and employee raves. Her best-selling books are Chief Customer Officer and I Love You More than My Dog: Five Decisions that Drive
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[…] When one customer reached out to Simplicity Sofas about how to remove a chocolate stain on their couch cushion, they didn’t just say “Let me Google that for you.” They gave them detailed cleaning instructions and offered to replace the cushion cover at no extra charge. Why? Because helpful advice costs them almost nothing. A cushion cover doesn’t cost them much. And a return customer is worth a bunch more than both of those costs combined. According to I Love You More Than My Dog author Jeanne Bliss, companies like Simplicity Sofas do this because they trust their customers. […]