Most advanced economies generate the majority of their GDP from services; more than 70% in most OECD countries. In every industry, from telesales to investment banking, the right kind of customer-facing employees are becoming more important for success. And harder to find. And the ageing population and negative population growth will place an even bigger emphasis on these employees in the near future. McKinsey calls this shortage of employees, particularly the best employees, the War for Talent [1].
At the same time, businesses have rediscovered the need to be customer-centric; increasingly demanding customers are free to take their custom to businesses that pander to their every whim and fancy. Particularly if they are high spending customers. And they increasingly do so. The Internet has increased the public pressure to deliver what customers value. And to get it right first time, every time. As the recent fate of Sprint [2] shows, get it disastrously wrong and it can cost more than just the CEO his job. It is not for nothing that Time Magazine named YOU [3], the customer, as person of the year in 2006.
Employees meet customers during all those individual touchpoints along the end-to-end customer experience. As service management research has shown, this places a great deal of stress on both customers and employees. Customers want "Yes, Sir" service from friendly, competent service emloyees, using a minimum of no-hassle processes. Employees often want this as well, but management wants to make a profit. The more the better. So service employees find themselves in no-mans land, caught between the stressful cross-fire [4] of demanding customers and no-less demanding managers. As the old biblical saying goes, "no man can serve two masters".
This places businesses in a very difficult position. They need high value customers above all if they are to be highly profitable. And financial markets expect strong quarter upon quarter profit growth. Even in a looming recession. But they need to look after their best employees just as much as their best customers. And if anything, the best employees are even harder to find. But businesses can't put customers and employees first. Balancing employees, customers and profits [5] is very hard to do, as Sears found out a few years ago; when push comes to shove, one of them has to give first. And it isn't usually profits.
So what should businesses do? Should they put customers first as so many businesses are quick to claim in their annual reports. Or should they put employees first, as Hal Rosenbluth suggests in his book The Customer Comes Second [6]. What's it to be, customers or employees?
What do you think? Should customers come first? Or should employees come first? Or do you know of another way?
Post a comment and get the conversation going?
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager