What More Can Fred Teach Us?

Being a Fred is for sharing…

In our last blog we talked about how to be a Fred and we covered the four Fred principles: 1: Everyone Makes a Difference, 2: Success is built on Relationships, 3: You Must Create Value for Others, and it Does not have to Cost a Penny!!, 4: You Can Reinvent Yourself Regularly. And perhaps selfishly we made it all about us becoming great Freds. But how special would it be to not only be a Fred, but also build a great team of Fred’s around you?

Introduction 

In the search for creating and being able to differentiate because you and/or your business provide the ultimate in customer experience Mark Sanborn, the author of The Fred Factor, found it in the attitude, behaviour, and approach to work of his postman! Then using the basic principles that Fred held important was able to offer some brilliant insight into what ‘makes a good Fred’ or in clearer terms ‘what makes for brilliant customer service’.

In this blog we will explore how a Fred working environment can be created. The saying goes ‘customers don’t have relationships with organisations, they form relationships with individuals’ – those passionate, positive, and committed employees are the relationships that customers value. In other words, the Fred’s in the organisation are the ones that customers are more naturally drawn to and want to work with.

Developing a team of Freds

 How do we do it? Four activities…

 Find:

The challenge is how? So here are two things to build on.

1.      Let them find you and want to work for you – if you already have a world class customer orientated working environment then with great certainty you can say that Freds will be attracted to your business. It is a fact that people want to work in a place that encourages, recognises and celebrates actions and activities that show the value of brilliant customer service and relationships. Is your working environment built to attract Freds? If not what needs to be done to get it there?

2.      Discover the dormant Freds in your business – is your business fully aware of the capabilities, specialties, and unique attributes of each member of the business? The simple answer is almost always ‘no’, where to start then…step back from the day to day occasionally and look for those individuals who, without too much fuss, deliver exceptionally well-done projects, have brilliant client meetings, make a clever suggestion at team meetings or who simply are always courteous towards their colleagues. They may already be showing inclinations towards being a superb Fred…the role of the business is to embrace this and encourage it.

 Reward:

The first thing is to understand how and where in your business you can make rewards and then on a consistent basis…

1.      Be sure to give positive feedback about everyone’s efforts. Make this a rule not something done by exception.

2.      Make sure that everyone knows they are making an important contribution irrespective of their role or seniority. If the business is to deliver customer excellence, everyone must play their role well.

3.      Create awards…might be money (but not so much that it feels like a Fred bribe!), might be a certificate or trophy and turn the process into a fun, sharing experience that could include multiple Fred awards.

 Educate:

What a person does well creates an opportunity to teach others the same. Identifying and sharing great customer experience moments can add immeasurable value.

1.      Take time after every great customer experience to dissect and debrief why it was so great, sharing the positive lessons learnt. This is key as things that have big impacts must be given time and space to be considered or they get lost in the BAU of working life, rather than becoming the BAU of working life.

2.      Pull don’t push – it is impossible to instruct someone to become a Fred. The best way to short circuit the process of developing a great business full of customer service excellence is to command it to be that way. So how then?... Invite people to be part of the experience, and use your enthusiasm, energy, and commitment to the process through your behaviour. In time those around you will see the success of your customer experience activities and want to play a big part themselves. And remember you don’t have to be a team leader or big boss to be the initiator…Fred never rose through the ranks of the post office, he led by example from his role as postman!

 Demonstrate:

“Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it, therefore autograph all of your work with excellence.”

 How can you demonstrate customer excellence in a way that everyone around you can be inspired and feel like they to can deliver to a high standard?

1.      Make your example/demonstration down to earth and doable. This is about building customer service excellence so one-off genetically engineered examples will not inspire people to get involved. It is more likely that the harder the example, the less likely success will come. Keep things Fred…his examples and demonstrations were always simple and consistent.

2.      Get groups of people involved, as there is comfort in numbers that allows people to test, try and experience without be singularly exposed. I once worked in a business where two tins of beans were placed at reception one morning with a note saying ‘let’s doing something great for the people in the homeless shelter nearby – leave some tinned food as company for my two lonely tins of beans’. Within two days there were over 450 tins of food at reception and a unique feeling of togetherness at having done something simple, yet worthwhile as a team. You can never underestimate the power of involvement – more powerful than suggesting or asking. 

 The thread…

In the search for lasting, positive customer relationships that are perceived by each customer as delivering excellence, it is often the simplest of things that make a difference and the answers are probably available in the people you interact with everyday…the secret to being a business that delivers outstanding customer experience consistently is that everyone in that business is onboard and playing their part, irrespective of their role, or even their day to day contact with the customers of the business.

 If you are reading this and wondering, how can I bring this simplicity yet effectiveness into my business? Ask us about what is involved, and we will work with you to provide a solution that gives you the confidence and conviction that customer excellence is making a positive impact within your business and on your customer relations.

And Finally…

Heard this on a recent automated call system – “If you understand English, press 1. If you do not understand English, press 2.”