Customer Service – over 25 years in retail/wholesale store development have taught me one undeniable fact. Choosing good-hearted employees who have the ability and desire to see things from the customer’s perspective is the most important investment a business owner can make. HOWEVER – one factor can transform a customer focused, good hearted worker into a customer service SUPERHERO! During my tenure in the wholesale industry, I opened over 200 facilities across North America. Throughout those years, I was lucky to encounter a spectrum of companies in the sign manufacturing and service industry. I consider the sign industry a service industry because most of the manufacturing processes are similar, however the the quality of service varied widely. Where one company may take 15 minutes to follow up on a simple permitting issue, another could take days or even weeks to answer the same question. So, what factors transformed the normal, good hearted worker into one with customer service super powers? As i studied the reason(s) why, I found that when even the most talented, customer focused individuals worked without the solid foundation of standardized work processes, they never achieved their full potential. What on Earth is standard work? Standard work is the lifeblood of Ford Motor Company, McDonalds, Starbucks, Toyota, and yes, even your best local sign company (Gallery!). At Gallery, we apply LEAN/Continuous improvement methodology to all our projects, which allows us to deliver a superior product, on time, very efficiently. What does that mean to our customers? It means we deliver superb quality, consistently, at a fair price. It also means we can spend more time innovating, training, and developing new ways to get YOUR CUSTOMER’S attention!
Written By: Gallery Custom Signs
