Managing the Moments of Truth

By
George Wells
 

Jan Carlzon, former President of Scandinavia Airline Services (SAS) coined the phrase ‘Moments of Truth’ to describe interactions between a company and its customers or the public.  The Moments of Truth are when the rubber hits the road. 

Most companies do things backwards.  They have receptionists, phone answerers, and greeters managing the Moments of Truth.  Companies will spend weeks looking for a suitable candidate for a middle management position.  They will spend hours interviewing a candidate.  They will interview many candidates for a middle management position.  All this effort is put into hiring for a position that may never manage the moments of truth.  The result is that there is often a disconnect between a company and its customers.

It never ceases to amaze me when I go into businesses or call a business on the phone and the first person I encounter is either unpleasant or is not helpful.  The people who answer your phone or greet people at your place of business can make or break you.  I have worked for companies that have used temporary employment agencies to fill those jobs.  Many companies rarely, if ever, interview the temporary employees.  The people who are managing the moments of truth are usually among the lowest paid people an organization.

One of the best places I worked was Crown Cork and Seal Company.  I'll never forget an experience I had after I had only been with CC&S for a few days.  My boss asked me to call a senior vice president to discuss a project with him.  I asked him how I should go about arranging to talk with the senior VP.  My boss didn't seem to understand the question.  He responded simply by saying, "pick up the phone and call him".  In other companies that I had worked for, engineers didn't "pick up the phone and call" a senior VP.  There was protocol to be followed.  Well, I did as the boss asked and called the VP.  He answered the phone!  No receptionist, no secretary, no anything between him and me.  This was a 100 year-old fortune 500 company with plants all over the world yet VPs and even the president answered their own phones.  What a great way to run a business!

Customer service and quality have reached a crisis level in North America.  It is nearly impossible to talk on the telephone with even a low level manager with the authority to fix things gone wrong.  Talking with a top decision maker in most large companies is completely out of the question.  They are not interested in talking with their customers.  Executives of large companies these days have a "Take the money and run" attitude.  The attitude common in so many big companies is "When the customer calls, send the calls to India, Pakistan, or the Philippines". 

My goal is to always stay connected to my customers.  No matter how long we are in business or how big we grow, I will always try to be the first person to answer the phone when it rings.  No matter how busy I am, I will always find time to talk with customers or anyone else who calls.  You will always have a direct connection to the decision makers here at BestInspectors.Net.

Every time you answer your phone or meet a new client or real estate agent, remember that you are managing the moments of truth for your business.  What if you can't always answer your own phone?  What if you can't always be the first person from your business that people meet?  You need to make absolutely sure that the people you hire are not only willing but able to represent your business as you would represent it.  Anyone who has or has ever had employees knows what a challenge that can be.