A Purpose Driven Culture

“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.”

Simon Sinek

When working with my customers I often ask them to name a company they absolutely love doing business with. I mean companies so good you don’t pay attention to the cost and tell everyone you know about them. I then ask them to name companies they hate doing business with, would never do business with or only do business with because they have no better alternatives. Which list do you think is longer?

Most people have trouble coming up with a company they would absolutely rave about but have no problem rattling off any number of companies they dislike. Are the words “competitive advantage” going off in your head? If great customer service is such an advantage why don’t more companies offer it?

Most companies claims the customer is king but the daily results often suggest something completely different. I recently needed to make a change of travel plans. When I went online I couldn’t find a phone number anywhere for this particular company. Yet their website proclaimed over and over how customer friendly they were. It’s the old political adage; “Are you going to believe me or your own lying eyes?”

So where does good customer service come from? Clearly it comes from employees who work for the company in question, right? But where do they learn how to respond to customer problems? I’ll argue that it starts at the top. The owner(s) of the business sets the tone for the company’s culture. I’ve had owners tell me culture is one of those things only bigger companies need to deal with. My response is they have a culture in their company whether they know it or not. The only question is who’s driving it?

Culture sets the tone for everything in your business. How your customers are treated, how your employees are treated, how they treat each other, how you treat your vendors and the community you live in. Sounds kind of important doesn’t it.

If I’ve made the case culture is important, then where do we start? How about defining the purpose of your business? Think of it this way; Why do you get up and go to work every day? Why do your employees? People are attracted to people, organizations and companies that have a purpose for what they do. Think of any truly great leader and you don’t have to look long to find their purpose. A leader with purpose attracts people who believe what she or he believes. These people internalize that purpose to be their own. If they’re working at a company whose purpose is one they believe in they’re much more likely to feel fulfilled in what they’re doing and really care about their job and company. If they care about their company, they’re highly likely to treat their co-workers, vendors, community and customers with more respect.

If given proper authorization, employees who understand and buy into the purpose of their business can then begin to deliver the type of customer service we’re all looking to receive.

Do you have a clearly stated and understood purpose to your business? If not, why? Once you have one and have made it clear to your employees those that buy in are the people you can build your outstanding business with. Those that don’t may not be bad employees but would probably be better off working for the companies that claim; The Customer Is King.