I’ve been evaluating and judging companies on their ‘customer centricity’ for nearly eight years now, but on Monday at the 2008 National Business Awards I found myself in a situation I’ve never faced before. How do you evaluate companies who have all developed ‘good practice’ customer relationship management?

All four candidates this year in the Customer Focus Award had a sound customer value proposition, a passion for personalising customer service, they involved their staff in collaborative teams, they asked for customer opinions, they know what proportion of their results are attributable to their customer focus, and they all link their services into their communities. They were truly an inspiration.

No longer was it a question of separating sheep from goats, for the first time I was into grading the quality of ‘wool’; so what was I looking for? I decided on four criteria:-

1. How far they had pulled down the walls of the company and let customers in - did they have conversations with them, did they collaborate with them?

2. OK, they had put in place excellent customer processes but how were they going to sustain that excellence. How did they look ahead, what infrastructure was there for innovation in solving customer problems and managing change?

3. What language did they talk in, what clues did they give as to culture and leadership. Did they tell me about their customer community with cost saving being the number one benefit? It is hard to change to outside- in language, if you are not truly outside-in. It’s a sure sign of customer focus.

4. How was customer focus driving value and resource management in the company? What waste had been eliminated, what value added?

Do you ask yourself any of the following:-

• How can I cut costs and give customers a better experience
• Is there climate change or isn’t there?
• How do I allocate my digital marketing spend?
• Do we give out plastic bags?
• Is there any benefit to us in Facebook?
• How can we compete with China on labour costs - should we use ’slave’ labour?
• Advertising isn’t working - what about word of mouth?
• How do I engage marketing with the call centre data - they are so busy with fluffy creative?

If so the answer is not a tactical one. It is a fundamental change in organization mindset from product marketing for mass consumption to conversational marketing to mass innovation. New ‘mutual’ marketing has three rules

• Join in the conversation
• The business of business is social
• Be ‘of service’ to stakeholders

Click here for presentation from IDMF

Many organizations ask customers what they want: that’s a mistake. How does the customer know? Errrrmmm I’d like that widget in pink and tuned into Radio Mars please.

Meanwhile, in HR the latest employee satisfaction survey (fashionably renamed engagement survey) shows that front line employees dislike the lack of two way communication, and a ‘them and us’ attitude by managers. Although job roles are clear, customer service is seen to have a high priority, and only 7% rate it a poor place to work.

Killing two birds with one stone

In the traditional, unconnected organization these issues might well remain unconnected. When the answer to both is the same – engage front line staff by asking them to be the voice of the customer, and involve them in product and service design. Set them free from the chains of transactional measures, and recognize their importance as insight workers. For not only do they understand what customers want – after all they deal with them day to day – but they also understand what the solutions are - because they know your business.

It may be very true that senior managers are out of touch with customer needs, but it is highly unlikely that your front line staff are!

When your service giving staff are used in this way, customer service moves from the end of the ‘make and sell’ process into the heart of the customer proposition design – and lo sales through service gets in the DNA.

(Extract from Engaging Employees the John Lewis Way more…..)

I notice we get a lot of search engine hits from people looking for information on broken ankles - because of a couple of posts from last year. From my own experience I know the importance of broken ankle recovery stories to healing. So here is my own story for all those it can help.

I broke and dislocated my ankle in June 07 whilst walking the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. Two days in hospital left we with a six inch plate, seven screws and a knee length pot. But the psychological damage was just as great - I wondered if I would ever be the same again.

Almost one year later my ankle is as flexible as it was before. I can walk for miles with no aches or swelling -I do a couple every day. I have no problem with running or climbing. I have only a very thin white scar, and both ankles and legs look very similar in shape. I’ve had no problem from a cold plate in the winter, and the only movement restriction I have is that crouching down is not easy - due to the muscle wastage in my quads. But exercise will rid me of that. I believe the bone has now knitted together and I could have the plate removed, but as it is no trouble I will probably leave well alone.

The secret I believe of my good recovery is (but I am not a professional medic):-

• even whilst in pot I exercised to keep my leg muscles from wasting. I asked a personal trainer to help.
• the day I had the pot cut off I went for treatment from a sports physiotherapist. If you are in the UK, I would not rely on a NHS physio, the treatment is not the same. A sports physio will do massage to get rid of the scar tissue, a NHS physio will only give you exercises
• getting rid of the internal scar tissue in the weeks when it was still pliable was vital to turn it back to useful ligament. That needed a course of massage and carefully build up of spot exercise.
• I swam and did water aerobics three times a week.
• I did a set of specific exercises three times every day. You will need it for your ankle and for your muscle wastage.
• afterwards I massaged my foot daily to get rid of swelling. The physio can advise on helpful oils.
• I made sure my diet was healthy, blanced and took B-Complex suppliments.
• Dermatix is excellent for the skin scar. It is expensive to buy, but you can buy in on ebay for much less.
• your foot and ankle will swell for a few months so think about getting shoes a half a size larger and putting in padding on the unaffected foot. I used pumps in the autumn, and ankle boots in the winter.
• as I got better I was advised to walk regularly on uneven ground, you are retraining your nerves, which take a while to regrow. I did have a lot of numbness and tingling - but it gets less and less and now I don’t notice.
• it is worth getting a task master to keep you on track with a recovery programme. I could have easily slipped but my brother kept me going with dire warnings about the consequences of not working hard at recovery.

My family and friends were invaluable with their concern, interest and support. And it was a delight to write to my surgeon in Wales and thank him for his great skill. Everyone else got a very personal and a very heartfelt thank you. So good luck, you WILL make it back to a full and healthy life.