Most organizations say they put the customer at the center of everything they do. Experiencing the service they provide, however, quickly proves otherwise. Their processes and policies demonstrate that the focus is on their convenience, not the customer’s. We’ve all been frustrated, for example, by phone trees that say; “For sales, press 1; for reservations, press 2; for customer service, press 3.” For real customer service we shouldn’t have to press anything, we should get to talk with someone! They’ve made things more efficient for themselves, but they’re irritating customers in the process.

Conversely, those organizations who design their processes with the customer in mind are our service heroes. A truly customer-focused organization sees the experience through the “lens of the customer,” and they design their processes accordingly. They ask, “How does the customer see us?” Looking at the operation from the customer’s perspective is one of the performance elements that separates outstanding organizations from ordinary ones. Customers appreciate the difference.

In our newly released book, Unleashing Excellence: The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service (Wiley 2009), coauthor Teri Yanovitch and I describe a tool called Service Mapping.  Many of our consulting clients have said that this single tool has helped them to revamp their entire customer experience. You can download the Service Map template by going to www.unleashingexcellence.com.  Once on the site, click on the “Downloads” tab and navigate to the Service Map template.  It will be beneficial for you to have the template in front of you as you read the rest of this post.

Service Mapping is a tool that not only reinforces the lens of the customer mindset; it’s also a tool for making organizational processes more customer-friendly.  This post will describe the process for creating a Service Map, but keep in mind it is not a one-time event.  It should be used on an ongoing basis by every area of the organization in order to continually improve processes.

First, identify a process you would like to improve in order to elevate the customer experience.  You might decide to focus on a broad process, such as “the overall shopping experience in our store,” or a segment of the process, such as “the checkout process in our store.”  It depends on your operation and where your feel improvement opportunities exist.

After deciding on a process on which to focus, put together a team made up of employees involved in the process and conduct a Service Mapping session.

Conducting a Service Mapping Session

Step 1

There should be a facilitator for the session.  Using a flipchart or whiteboard, along with copies of the Service Map template for each participant, the team maps out the process through the lens of the customer.  Each step must begin with “The customer…”  For example, if someone in the group says something like, “Next we process the paperwork,” the facilitator should ask, “While we’re processing the paperwork, what’s the customer doing?”  This answer in this case is that the customer is waiting while the paperwork is processed.  Now you have something to work with since the step is now seen through the lens of the customer.

Step 2

After completing Step 1 and ensuring that each element of the process is described from the customer’s perspective, the next step is to look at each component of the Service Map and ask, “What would mediocre service look like at this step?”  The reason it’s important to define mediocre service is that in many cases, after describing mediocre, it becomes apparent that at some of the steps the service currently delivered is indeed mediocre.  Remember, we’re not talking about poor service; we’re talking about mediocre, transaction-like service.  What I’ve found in conducting many Service Mapping sessions with clients is that while they may be providing excellent service at some of the steps, they’re now looking at the entire experience and can usually see that there are many opportunities throughout the experience for improvement.

After describing mediocre service, then ask the group to describe what excellent service would be at each step.  A word of caution here.  When team members are brainstorming what excellent service would look like, don’t let the words, “We can’t do that, because…” creep into the conversation.  The purpose of the discussion is to describe excellent service and you don’t want to censure yourselves at this point.  You may not be able to implement every idea presented, but it’s better to set your sights high and get as close to the ideal as possible, than to stifle conversation early and only generate ideas that are slightly above mediocre.

Note: Some of our clients have invited trusted customers to participate in Steps 1 & 2.  If you feel comfortable doing so, go for it – it can’t hurt.  I do, however, find that an organization’s employees know pretty accurately what constitutes mediocre and excellent service in any process.

Step 3

In most cases it would be overwhelming to try to change an entire process at once.  I find it more productive to decide on 1-3 of the steps for immediate improvement, and work on those steps.  Once you feel progress is being made, continue working your way through the entire Service Map until you’re satisfied that the organization is primed to provide excellent service at each step of the process.

A completed Service Map has many uses including:

• Providing your team with a template for excellent service at each step of a customer interaction, resulting in consistency across the organization.
• Serving as a powerful training tool for new employees joining the organization (“Here’s how we open an account in a way that distances us from our competitors”).
• Acting as an accountability tool for management. Just by observing employee-customer interactions, determining whether or not the agreed upon standards of excellence are being delivered becomes clear.

Give Service Mapping a try with one process, and I know you’ll be pleased with the result.  With a clear focus and unwavering commitment to improvement, you can differentiate your organization from all of the others that cause customers to shake their heads in frustration.

Imagine if after dealing with your company, customers ask, “Why can’t other organizations do it like you do?”And imagine if you can honestly answer, “Because we’ve designed our operation through your lens, and for your convenience.”

Other articles you might like:

• Put customers before tasks
• Are Your Customer Service Recoveries Really Recoveries?
• Be the best at what you do
• Paint a Picture of Your Customer Service Experience
• FAST GUIDE: 10 Success Factors of Customer Focus

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