Helping Hand

When Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters talk about the customer coming second, this is not just advice for the management team; it applies to all employees. If a co-worker needs your help with something, sends you an e-mail, or leaves you a voicemail message, then you should respond with the same timeliness and enthusiasm that you would afford a client. If a co-worker needs your help, do it fast and do it well. Don't put them in a position where they have to ask you TWICE!

Sometimes co-workers and even family members say things to one another that they wouldn't dream of saying to clients or even perfect strangers. (I always liked the term perfect strangers. They're only perfect because we don't know them.) We simply don't always give our co-workers the same level of consideration we provide to our clients. And it's our clients who pay for it.

Making one another feel appreciated is not management's job alone. We all have to play a part. Be kind. Express appreciation. Go out of your way to help a colleague. Create a positive work environment. Think about how great your client service could be if everyone worked together in this fashion each and every day.

The person sitting next to you comes first; the client comes second. Employees are happier; the workplace is more productive, and your clients get better service. How 'bout giving yourselves a hand!

Back to Client Service

Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters wrote a book titled, The Customer Comes Second in 1992. They came out with a 10-year anniversary update in 2002. It was a book that inspired the culture I wanted to create in my company back in 1995 and served as the inspiration for my passion for client service today.

It's a basic but important read. While you might feel as if you can grasp the concept from the headline, that's true. Rosenbluth's theory was simple: if you want your people to deliver great service to your customers (clients), then you have to put your employees first. The genius of the book however is how Rosenbluth created that culture. It's sheer brilliance.

A Publishers Weekly review of the updated version tells the story nicely:

In an update to the volume they published 10 years ago, Rosenbluth, the CEO of an eponymous travel management company, and Peters, his former communications officer, remind readers that despite great changes in the business world, the need for companies "to attract, retain, and develop astonishingly great people" is a constant. They argue that company's employees, not its customers, should be management's top priority: managers should hire "nice people" and create an environment in which friendships can develop. Maybe it sounds a little wishy-washy, but it's worked for Rosenbluth International (NB: they have a 98% customer retention rate and $6.2 billion in annual sales). Tenets include: monitor company morale, keep leaders accessible, make your company "a lifestyle," offer lots of opportunities for learning new things, celebrate success, be flexible. By charting the changes within their own company, Rosenbluth and Peters show how other businesses can become better places to work as well.

I wrote to Rosenbluth in 1995 when I started my company. As you might imagine, he promptly wrote back to me and wished me luck. It may be one of the only letters I ever had framed. I hung it in my office back then and cherish it today as a reminder of the importance if its message.

American Express acquired Rosenbluth International in 2003 for what I can only say was for a "slightly higher" purchase price than I received when I sold my PR firm with only 10 employees three years earlier.