Last week we discussed direct customer impact. These are the roles that are directly responsible for creating, communicating, and capturing value. This week, let’s look at indirect customer impact.
Every customer touchpoint creates or destroys value.
Every time a customer interacts with your company, products, or employees, they either have a positive or negative experience. Positive experiences make them like you more. Negative ones make them like you less.
Of course, nobody sets out to upset a customer, but do we intentionally try to delight them? We have many customer touchpoints we may not emphasize in this fashion. Does your customer service person talk to a user with a smile on their face, or act like they are nursing a hangover. Does your accounting department deliver easy-to-understand invoices that are correct? Does manufacturing ship 100% quality on time? Does each person who wears your logo on their shirt walk around with a smile or a bad attitude? All of these create or destroy value in the customer’s mind.
Every employee creates or destroys value.
That’s a bold statement, but it’s absolutely true.
Every employee either interacts with customers or they help someone in the company who interacts with customers. Someone in sales support may not talk to customers, but they help salespeople who do. They can put the salesperson in a good mood or a bad one. They can provide sales with timely, accurate information, or not.
Picture a finance person creating graphs to give to executives. Clear informative charts will help an executive make better decisions that directly affect customers.
A janitor in your office has customer impact. If a customer visits, what impression will they get? Even if a customer doesn’t visit, the cleanliness of the office affects the mood of other employees who then interact with customers.
Here is the key takeaway. YOU have customer impact. YOU create or destroy value. Try to articulate the ways you create value? Can you create even more?
Every employee creates or destroys value. Be a creator.
