External Focus is just something for the sales team correct? This is a regular question I receive to which I always answer “DEFINITELY NOT”; it’s the responsibility of everyone in the business.
Why, I hear you shout, I work in an Enabling Function, in the Back Office or in Corporate so I don’t see customers and thereby I don’t have any impact on them … not true, you just don’t have direct contact with them but most of the things you do positively or negatively change our relationship with them and how they perceive our business!
Take the example of our bank in the Czech Republic, we are competing against many (hundreds of) competitors who our willing to offer our customers (Retails and Corporate) the same basic material to meet their needs … money … and our competitors Kc100 note is exactly the same as ours so it is how we deliver it that makes the difference!
In tune with customers and environment, connects with stakeholders and is educated on global issues – that is what External Focus is all about. For our customers, price is important but also how we handle them each and every time they deal with us, this means we have to ensure our processes are efficient, helpful and accurate first time. It’s about meeting their needs not ours…that’s External Focus!
So why is it everybody’s responsibility not just the sales team? Simply put, the sales teamdo not develop all the processes, handle all the interactions, make the decisions or determine the style of our communication.
Let’s take a few simple examples how to explain External Focus, or the lack of it:
- Ever received a letter from a bank (or anyone else for that matter) which you are sure is technically/legally correct but you just don’t understand because of the language used, so many conditions, stars or asterisks … most of us have! External Focus is about making sure any communication we send as a business is understandable for our customer, not just for ourselves!
- Ever heard when you ring a company “sorry, our policies and procedures don’t allow this” or “it’s more than my job is worth” … whilst as a company we must always follow our policies and procedures, as a customer I don’t want to hear these comments, I want to hear what you can do to help me achieve what I want/need … balancing both of these requirements is what will make us truly externally focused!
- Ever been told you will have to wait two weeks for a refund to something you have purchased and returned… didn’t you want to buy the replacement straightaway! Isn’t external focus helping the customer achieve the new purchase today?
External Focus is a state of mind, you have to be constantly thinking about everything you do in your business (process, policies, communication) from the customer’s perspective and thinking about how they will perceive it, work with it and welcome it…are they going to think more positively about your business, or less!
Now, I’m sure I will hear some people say that this means we can’t/don’t have to meet your own business needs but this isn’t true either, it means we have to focus on finding “win-win” solutions. To achieve this, and really be externally focused, takes real effort across an entire organization, it takes imagination, courage and innovation, it takes determination and persistence, it takes listening to feedback and committing to improve…It’s a commitment to never saying we have done enough for our customer!