We are Customer Centric.
Being Customer Centric is an attitude, a way of life, and our business philosophy. We are guided by our customers – thinking through the eyes of our customers at all times. For us, customers are at the center of it all, deciding what priorities we focus on and driving the change as we adapt and evolve.
The root of being Customer Centric is really about putting the customer at the forefront of your daily thoughts. The original Placers did anything and everything it could to make service the #1 priority for customers. That has carried over to our Outside-In® Companies today. We all have so much to do each day, but it is with intention towards the one who pays the bills – the customer.
I like the idea of being competitive around service. Imagine if we all try to “one up” each other in our efforts to blow a customer’s mind. That kind of service is contagious. When you see others smile and practice it, Customer Centric thinking just becomes second nature. Service becomes easier, not harder. Imagine a world where every day you can make your company better. Imagine right now that you are 100% empowered to fix things around you. We want to really hone in on the fixes and hassles that can make us more and more Customer Centric.
I am always asked about the big stories of Customer Centric thinking, and I have one in mind to share. Many years ago, I was attending a sporting event that ended very late into the evening. In fact, as I was making the ride home some time after midnight my phone rang. It was a new customer who admitted to me that they had chosen to go with a competitor of ours. That competitor had promised them a recruiter to start that day (since it was after midnight) and they had just received an email that the company was unable to fulfill their initial promise.
You might think that I was being Customer Centric to even pick up, but all I did was answer the phone. The Customer Centric stuff comes next. I started calling all of my leaders to ask if they might be able to help me help our prospect. Then it happened–Jamie O’Neill offered to go in that day. Now this was no small feat! She had a team, a business plan, a full day, week, month of stuff to do. But we knew this really mattered, and we did it.
My memories around being Customer Centric involve the really big things in our companies’ history. But the best examples are the day-to-day ones. Seeing staff offer a cup of coffee to a candidate. Watching a team member grab a phone call when someone is not available. Customer Centric is really about executing the little things well. Customer Centric is our recruiters driving candidates around on the weekends to show them schools, and nice neighborhoods and where the shopping mall is located. Customer Centric is when folks step forward to do volunteer work (recruitment or not) on their own time because they know it is the right thing to do and full of good karma!
I sure would love to gather more and different Customer Centric stories all of the time, get some new ones, and commit to getting this sort of thing in orientation and training for others. We all want to know how to fit in!
Imagine a world where each one of us wakes up and plans to be Customer Centric. That is how we will get better all of the time!