Rock Star Service In Your Business

Dr. Pete Stebbins, Workplace Psychologist, challenged me to write a blog following a comment I made in a LinkedIn conversation.

My comment was this:

‘Good systems enable people to focus on building better relationships and giving rock-star service.’

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But what does it mean?

Thinking about it, just what is rock-star service? Is it even a thing? For that matter, should the words rock-star and service even be placed next to each other?

I mean, rock-stars are not really known for consistency!?! Yet the service that is enabled by a good system must necessarily be rock-steady consistent.

Maybe we need to look at it from a different angle. For some time now rock-stars (and actors, and sports stars for that matter) have been looked up to (worshipped, really) as if they were extra-special. Like royalty, even.

Leaving aside the fact they are normal people who (usually) put their trousers on one leg at a time, like the rest of us, it’s the way we treat them I am trying to highlight. You see, we treat them as we would like to be treated. Nothing is too much trouble, and we strive to give them the best of everything.

(Funnily enough, that’s how we tend to treat our children. Maybe that’s why they act like rock-stars from time to time!?)

We all want to be treated as if we are some kind of wonderful, don’t we? And that’s just how we should treat others — whether they are rock-stars or not.

Don’t you forget it! But, don’t forget, too, that being a rock-star doesn’t mean you can be arrogant, selfishly demanding things left, right and center. Why? Because the people you would be demanding that of are also rock-stars and also deserve to be treated accordingly.

The trouble is, life is just sooo busy! But it is possible to break out of this, as readers of Stephen Lundin’s book Fish! Sticks (and other books) will know. Also, it is possible to be totally focussed on providing rock-star service to everyone we meet, if we stay in the moment, as discussed by Spencer Johnson, in his book The Present (and other books).

Really, it comes down to our choice as to how we will interact with people — will we treat them like they are rock-stars (regardless of how we feel in the moment)? Will we focus on other’s needs ahead of our own?

And then there’s the way we are taught (or allowed) to interact with people in our jobs — the business’ systems. Which brings us back to the statement we opened with:

‘good systems enable people to focus on building better relationships and giving rock-star service.’

Before we get to ‘good’, let’s cover ‘systems’. These are the procedures, processes, methods, or courses of action we take to achieve a specific purpose — ‘the way we do things here’. Sometimes these ‘ways’ are documented, sometimes they’re just passed from one person to another, almost by osmosis.

Often, not a lot of thought is put into whether they were the best ‘ways’ when they were first invented. Even more often, they are rarely reviewed to ensure they remain good practice, let alone best practice.

And this is where ‘good’ comes in. You see a ‘good’ system is one which utilizes the best means to achieve the desired end. I.e. it utilizes best practice. As my good friend Wikipedia tells me:

So, what is the desired end? Sales? Profit? Kudos? Brownie Points?

Surely, it is really better relationships? These things may happen as a consequence, depending on the type of relationship we’re talking about. But, after all, as the business sage said:

People do business with people they know, like and trust.

And it’s clear that this means that a relationship is key. They won’t want to know about your product (or about you), let alone buy, until the relationship is in place. As that other sage said:

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

In short, as parenting experts have been telling us for decades, a relationship is built on time spent. (Okay, they put it that children spell ‘love’ T I M E.)

But how do we ‘find’ that time? There are lots of tools, habits, and discussions available from Dr. Google. Two of them we have already mentioned:

1. Develop a best practice system that ensures that every function is carried out — automagically, as it were — in the most efficient (and most effective) way possible. In other words, eliminate ‘waste’ time (or time-wasters, for that matter).
2. Develop the habit of being ‘present’, as discussed in the books mentioned — of being totally focussed in the moment / on the person with whom you are interacting. That way they will think (and be!) the most important ‘thing’ to you at that time.

I have to mention here that this best practice system is not just some documents put together in isolation by a consultant, or some sucker in the office. The system MUST be documented — how else will you pass it on? But it should be documented — whether on paper, electronically, by audio, or on video — collaboratively by a cross-functional team, possibly assisted by an expert in systems.

Even that is not the finish. The system should be worked through again and again by those involved to ensure it is best practice, that it does achieve the desired end. And, then it should become the training tool for everyone else in the business, on into the future — so everyone becomes a rock-star at running the system — because it’s become automagical to them.Don’t forget that great rock-star maxim:

Remember the focus of the system must be two-fold:

• Streamlining every function to enable delivery of rock-star service, and (thereby)
• Freeing everyone up to focus on building better relationships.

As you can see, the second focus both builds on and builds up the first — because the better relationships enable better service, due to knowing the rock-star’s needs better. So, as I said:

‘good systems enable people to focus on building better relationships and giving rock-star service.’

Before you say, “you missed something — what about the people”, let’s cover that off. There are two factors, really, based on a question. First, the question:

Do the people run the system, or does it run them?

It’s funny, but people seem to fall into one camp or the other on this topic. I would suggest there is a third camp, where reality lies. And that is the where we find that the people set up the system to make the day-to-day automagical, and this frees them to focus on the rock-stars. So, while they do everything according to the system, they do it because of this necessary (if you want to give rock-star service) freedom.

And the two factors?

Well, there’s ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ people, isn’t there?

I’m not actually sure that’s true. Certainly, we all make good or bad choices along life’s road. And, yes, we have all had different upbringings — some more stable, loving and privileged than others. That said, we are to some degree the product of our decisions. So, let’s assume this results in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people. Won’t that impact on the statement we are discussing?

I don’t think so. You see, when that cross-functional team designs the best-practice system, it will include in it sub-systems regarding:

1. Team Members:
2. Definition of the type of people the business wants to employ,
3. Systems to ensure these are the type of people who are employed, and
4. Procedures for dealing with team members who are struggling to provide rock-star service to those around them.
5. Customers:
6. Definition of the target market and target customer,
7. Systems to ensure these are the customers we acquire, and
8. Procedures for dealing with those who don’t act accordingly.
9. Suppliers:
10. Definition of the type of supplier we want to deal with,
11. Systems to ensure these are the suppliers we select, and
12. Procedures for dealing with those who don’t deliver accordingly.

So, as you can see, the team designs the best-practice system that enables them to both be rock-stars and deal with rock-stars, in a rock-star way (of course).As Aristotle said:

All sounds too good to be true, right? But, think about it.

• Who wants to deal with a rat-bag customer who treats you like dirt, is constantly demanding, and pays only when they feel like it, if at all?
• Does anyone like working with a team member who slacks off all the time, bad mouths all and sundry, and couldn’t care less about the customer?
• If a supplier is unreliable — as to price, delivery time, quality, or a combination of these — do you really want them?

It is pretty hard to keep building relationships with and giving rock-star service to customers who deserve it if we are constantly in damage-control and fire-fighting as a result of the above. And this brings us back around the loop:

‘good systems enable people to focus on building better relationships and giving rock-star service.’

Time to go and be a rock-star!

Originally published at beanstalkknowhow.com on February 28, 2018.