CRM - May 2008 - (Page 29)

The Excellence Aptitude Test Rank each comment on a 1–5 scale where 1 = “Strongly Disagree” and 5 = “Strongly Agree” and fears to best design and deliver that excellence they are striving for, the excellence that will truly solve their problems. It’s all there in the unprocessed, real voice of the customer, expressed in the most human way. My workplace strategy is competitive and successful. My boss is a competent and a respected leader. I work with people who support my pursuit of excellence. I live up to my excellence potential. I get many compliments for the quality of my work. I can see the results of my work. My work impacts others in a significant way. I am fully responsible for the results of my work. My work is personal and not just business. I have the tools and authority to do my job. In my organization, technology is secondary to people. I always strive to do more for customers. Decisions are not controlled by senior management. I always do what is right for the customer. My values and the organization’s values are fully aligned. I am excited by the results of my work. Everyone can be as great as the top achievers of our century. I can recognize excellence in my daily work. Excellence is not a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. I will take risks to do the right thing. THE CHAINSAW ROCK STAR Smashing guitars has been a fixture of the music industry for decades. But Henry Juskiewicz gave the old tradition a new twist. When Juskiewicz acquired Gibson Guitar in 1985, he faced a company with a great heritage near collapse. In a recent interview with USA Today, Juskiewicz disclosed one of the steps he took to turn around the flagging company. “Seconds”—guitars with some blemishes or subtle problems—were common in the industry and were sold as “good enough” guitars. To reinforce the concept of product excellence, Juskiewicz took a “second,” and, in the presence of employees, he smashed it. He declared that, as of that moment, any guitar that did not meet the standard of a first-class Gibson would not be sold to customers. Juskiewicz would rather see these guitars destroyed than in the hands of customers. To emphasize his philosophy, he instructed employees to smash each faulty guitar and pile them in a designated area. At the end of every week, he would lead his employees by using a chainsaw to destroy the faulty guitars. This may sound theatrical and harsh. Finance people would likely argue that the company was sacrificing a potential revenue stream. They would argue that defects in these guitars are rarely noticeable and would not impede a customer’s guitar playing. But Juskiewicz realized a deeper truth: However tempting it may be to capture additional revenue from the sale of faulty or defective products, one cannot sell seconds and deliver amazing customer experiences. The impact on brand image and on the customer experience will ultimately be devastating. Juskiewicz’s action sent two critical messages. For employees, the message is that Gibson Guitar is a “no-excuses” www.destinationCRM.com TOTAL OF THE ABOVE Scoring: 20–49: You are a captive of The Excellence Myth, clinging to all the possible excuses for why you cannot deliver excellence. You believe that your destiny, and therefore your performance, is controlled by outside forces that stop you from living up to your excellence potential. 50–79: You try to deliver excellence, but somehow fail to do so. The good news is that you see your potential. The bad news is that your excellence performance is misguided. You need to rethink your definition of excellence and re-evaluate the severity of some of the perceived obstacles. 80–100: You refuse to take no for an answer. Despite the challenges, you see the potential of your efforts and strive to perform in a superior manner. You are proud of the impact you have on others and draw personal fulfillment and satisfaction from delivering excellence. You are on the right path. Continue to raise the bar and reach for new heights of excellence. experience and that anything less than perfection will not be tolerated. Any compromise in quality leads to an overall compromise in excellence. Product superiority is a competitive and strategic advantage and selling faulty guitars, however minute those faults may be, erodes that advantage. Furthermore, tolerating seconds will lead employees to accept less than the highest standards. Production standards will ultimately decline, and the customer experience will be diminished. A subsequent reduction in profits and a decline in customer loyalty will soon follow. The message to customers centered on the company’s high product standards. By witnessing product excellence each time customers bought or played a guitar, they would know that Gibson Guitar provides only the very best. Customer expectations would be exceeded, and their experiences would be delightful. By destroying faulty guitars, Juskiewicz was destroying any attitude of taking customers for granted. Destroying guitars and sacrificing revenue from flawed products may be costly in the short term, but any organization committed to excellence must take such measures. The alternative— mediocrity—is worse. Organizations that seek true long-term loyalty from customers must deliver that same level 29 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | MAY 2008 http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - May 2008

CRM - May 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Is CRM Too Hard for Microsoft Vendors Go Virtual For Feedback Sense-sational Marketing How UGC Can Benefit CRM DestinationCRM Dashboard Price Check, Aisle 5 Required Reading The Moving Target The Excellence Myth Seven Steps to SOA Success And They're Off! Are You Ready to Party? Skin in the Game The Right Numbers Secret of My Success Re: Tooling Connect Pint of View

CRM - May 2008

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