Customer Driven Startup… - David Novak, CEO David Novak 2013 Annual Report
Building a Great Company • Provider of Choice … Fastest Growing Fast Food Company WW • Employer of Choice … 840,000 Employees WW • Investor of Choice … YUM Stock is up 940% in 13 years Source: Customer Mania, by Ken Blanchard
Customer Mania: Step 1
Customer Mania: Step 2
Treat you Customers the Right way • Determine what kind of experience you want your customers to have – Go the extra mile to delight the customer • Listen to what your customers want and see if it makes sense to include it in your vision • Implement your customer service vision by inverting the management pyramid • Empower your first line employees to make the decisions, for serving the customer
What it means to be Customer Driven • “My job is to reorganize the department on a moment-to-moment basis to serve the citizen (customer) need” … a rare DMV GM • How? – Cross train everybody – Be there when the customer is there • Take you lunch break when customers are not waiting – Bring your brains to work • Empower subordinates – Quack like a duck versus Soar like an eagle • Me to we; Telling on Yourself
CHAMPS for YUM Restaurants, Worldwide • C: Cleanliness • H: Hospitality • A: Accuracy • M: Maintence • P: Product Quality • S: Speed of Service YUM Inc is the largest Fast Food Company in the world. Operating in over 100 countries with 840,000 employees
Customer Mania: Step 3
The Process of creating Customer Maniacs • Recruitment and Hiring – Competence and Character • Training and Development – Communicate your vision – purpose, values, goals – to every employee before they start • Performance Management – Performance Planning setting goals and objectives – Performance Monitoring and Feedback (Feedback is the breakfast of champions) – Performance Evaluation • Career Development – To keep people going, you have to keep people growing Entrepreneurial Companies have to pay special attention to the basics of Human Resource Development
Customer Mania: Step 4
Put Customer Care into Practice for Entrepreneurs • Tackling Real Life Customer Care situations – Pre-sales – While selling – Post-sales • Handling Crisis situations
Customer Care Before the Sale • Entice the Customer – Conference Presence – Analyst Reports – Blogs – Tradeshows – Free Demos • Build up relationships within the Organization – Get referred by Trusted Advisors – Network through friends and social networks • Understand the Customer’s business – Offer Free Needs Analysis – Study the Customer’s Competition – Know the Org and the Personalities of Key players • Know your Competition – Analyst reports and Analyst retainers – Hire targeted Competitor Employees – Learn from Competitors current and ex-customers • Launch your attack at the Highest level – A pro-active Demo – A pro-active business analysis for the CXO – Great Presentation
Customer Care During the Sales Process • PLAN and EXECUTE TRUST for the Sales Call • “Sell” in every interaction, with every department • Make your Champion look good: give them the material they need to succeed in internal selling • Prepare, Prepare, Prepare before every interaction • Entire Team needs to understand plan and responsibility • Setup reporting system so there are no surprises • Don’t forget to CLOSE when the iron is hot • Don’t forget to Collect the PO
Customer Care After the Sale • Once you get the PO, stop Selling, start Supporting • Broaden the Team supporting the customer • Map Team to Customer departments • Develop Project Implementation Plan and distribute widely at Customer • Organize Kick-off meeting at Customer site • Set up system to ensure ONLY high quality interactions with Customer • Delight customer with every transaction … with Documentation, with Metrics, with Functionality, … • Underpromise, Overdeliver • Understand payment process at Customer, so Collections are prompt
Situation 1: When Customer is very upset… • Happens far too often for startups – over commitment • How to handle: – Moves to the top of the TODO Priority for CEO/Exec – Get ALL the data from your team – Develop a plan of action for putting the fire out – CEO or highest appropriate Exec, takes the lead – Meet/Negotiate Resolution and Document the plan to address the issue to Customer’s satisfaction. – Circulate Plan in both Companies – The Action items become Top Priority for all involved in your company – Execute Plan and Beat the Customer’s expectations – Circulate successful Resolution to everyone inside both Companies
Situation 2: Customer does not pay… • Uncollectable bills means you lost not only your product/service, but if you GM is 20%, you will need 5X sales to recover from this Loss • Timely notices about A/P is the key • If Accounting cannot collect, Sales has to chase the payment down • If Sales fails, the Collections job becomes top Priority for CEO/Exec • CEO/Exec has to do the following: – Get ALL the data from your team – Meet/Negotiate Resolution and Document the plan to address the issue to Customer’s satisfaction and the Customer’s commitment to pay – Circulate Plan in both Companies – The Action items become Top Priority for all involved in your company – Execute Plan and Beat the Customer’s expectations – Then CEO/Exec must play the role of Account Collection Manager, and follow up incessantly till payment is received • Before the next transaction, set up the proper business understanding, so such surprises don’t recur
Situation 3: Legal Notice from your Customer • Customer has suffered a significant loss and is blaming you for it and has taken recourse to Legal means to recover his damage • One transaction that CEO cannot delegate! Becomes his top priority. Will probably need to inform BOD so urgency of resolution is very high. • CEO/Exec has to do the following: – Get ALL the data from your team – Call and Meet your champion at the Customer privately. Asses the severity of the situation – Them request a Meeting with the Highest Decision-maker at the Customer – Meet/Negotiate Resolution and Document the plan to address the issue to Customer’s satisfaction – If it deadlocks, be prepared to give the Customer everything he asks for and more … but avoid the lawsuit – Circulate Plan in both Companies – The Action items become Top Priority for all involved in your company – Execute Plan and Beat the Customer’s expectation
Situation 4: How to leverage Key Customer Win • The Value in Key Customer Wins is often not the monetary value, but the reference value…but high profile Customers might be reluctant about giving reference to small vendors. Mktg Dept may object to CIO/Proj Mgr giving a public endorsement • Build it into the Contract … Example: Cisco, Dell and Samsung committed to Reference which Selectica could use in IPO roadshow! • Document success with photos, quotes, benefit statements and publicize in the Customer’s company • Invite Customer Execs to be panelists at high profile external Conferences but also at internal Sales Conferences and Customer Advisory Councils • Guerilla tactic OPTi used in Taiwan was to get Quotes from Top MB manufacturers, and then distributed the Press Release to all Taiwan MB manufacturers • Most successful strategy was “Intel Inside”
Situation 5: Customer Contracts • Contracts are a last recourse strategy; but well thought out T&Cs can save you from many sticky situations • Clauses that matter: – Returns rights – Penalty on delays, quality issues – Arbitration or Lawsuit – Quality standard – Payment schedule – Termination
Winning with Customer Care • Only Entrepreneurs who take care of their Customers, can win in Business • Customer Care needs to in the DNA of every Employee • Management and Reward must align with the Customer Care value • Leadership that “inspires” and “uses authority in the service of superior Customer Care” is key to long-term success
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