Why you need to provide more proactive customer service

Jeff Toister April 16, 2020

Advertising disclosure: This blog participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Your customers are facing unprecedented hardships. A lot of companies are making it worse.

One study by Tethr analyzed over 1 million customer service calls from March 11 to March 26, 2020. Hold times increased by 34 percent, escalations rose a whopping 68 percent, and customers reported it was twice as hard as before to get their issues resolved.

There is one bright spot.

Some customer-focused companies are offering proactive service. They are giving customers a break without making people do anything to get it.

A hiker setting out on a long trail in the desert.

Great examples of proactive service

A lot of companies are making customer-friendly exceptions to policies. They are extending payment deadlines, waiving cancellation fees, and giving customers more time to make a return.

But a few companies are giving customers something without requiring customers to do any work.

State Farm launched a Good Neighbor Relief Program to give its auto insurance customers a statement credit of up to 25 percent. Claims have gone down as people are driving less, so the company decided to return some of that windfall to customers. The best part is customers don't need to apply for the credit—it will automatically be added to statements.

Verizon gave its wireless customers an extra 15 gigabytes of data from March 25 to April 30. There were no forms to fill out or calls to make. Many customers simply received a text alert letting them know they had extra data.

Customers will remember proactive companies like State Farm and Verizon.

It’s not just the relief they provided, but how the relief came automatically at a time when other companies are making customers jump through hoops just to get basic service.

You don't have to give your customers something to be proactive.

Try reaching out to clients and colleagues, just to check on their well-being and see if they need any help. You might be surprised at what you learn.

I've discovered many people are struggling to move meetings, training sessions, and other events online. So I've done mini Zoom lessons at no charge for some clients and created a resource page describing the audio, video, and lighting tools I use.

Why proactive service is memorable

People tend to remember experiences and events that are the most unusual. So offering customers proactive relief during a time of stress can really stand out.

Think of it from the perspective of an auto insurance customer.

During normal times, a 25 percent statement credit would be a really nice surprise. But 25 percent statement credit can feel like a miracle in a period when you are worried about being able to pay your bills!

Customers will remember which companies caused them extra stress, and which companies eased their burden.

I travel a lot as a keynote speaker. That means I've had to cancel countless airline and hotel reservations over the past few weeks.

One hotel made it nearly impossible to cancel a reservation. I had to hunt around its website and when I finally found the right place, it didn't work. The company never responded to my email, so I ultimately had to waste time and call.

Another hotel, the AC Hotel in Portland, Oregon, was much more proactive.

I received an email from a hotel employee explaining the hotel was temporarily closed. The employee offered to transfer my reservation to a nearby property that was open or cancel the reservation if my travel plans had changed. All I had to do was reply to the email.

Guess which hotel I'll go back to, and which one I won't?

Take Action

Think about what you can do to proactively give your customers relief.

I don't mean a sale or special promotion. What can you do to provide your customers with meaningful assistance right now?

I've talked to several leaders who are using The Service Culture Handbook as a guide to transform their organizations and become even more customer-focused.

The book provides a framework for creating the type of mindset that leads to proactive service:

Creating a compelling customer service vision.
Engaging employees around the vision.
Empowering employees to provide proactive service.

Why you need to follow the service culture recipe

Jeff Toister February 27, 2020

My friend, Sarah, is a baker.

She's taught me that baking is all about precision. You have to follow the recipe precisely to get the expected result. The outcome might be disappointing if you're off on your measurements, omit an ingredient, or fail to bake at the right temperature.

Even the smallest changes can make a difference.

For example, Sarah's famous peanut butter cookies taste a lot more buttery if she lets the butter warm up to room temperature before mixing it into the cookie dough. (Note to self: ask Sarah for more peanut butter cookies.)

Baking is an important metaphor for building a service culture.

A lot of leaders discover The Service Culture Handbook, and pick and choose which concepts they want to try. Inevitably, they're disappointed with the results.

Just like baking, you need to follow the recipe if you want a strong service culture.

Sarah Levine baking a pirate ship birthday cake.

Why picking and choosing steps doesn't work

The customer service leader was stuck.

She found my phone number in The Service Culture Handbook (page xiii) and sent me a text. Service leaders often call, text, or email me for advice. These conversations help me learn about the challenges they face implementing a customer-focused culture.

This particular leader was trying to write a customer service vision for her company.

A vision is a shared definition of outstanding customer service that gets everyone on the same page. It's the cornerstone of a customer-focused culture and the focal point of the entire book.

She had a good idea of what the vision should communicate, but was struggling to get the words just right. I asked her a few questions about the process she was following and learned she was trying to write it on her own.

I’ve called this the biggest mistake when writing a vision.

The process outlined in the book is an inclusive one. It solicits input from all employees, and the relies on a cross-functional group of senior leaders, middle managers, and individual contributors to write the statement. It’s designed to avoid blind spots by getting multiple perspectives.

When leaders skip steps in the process, like writing the vision on their own, they inevitably struggle:

The vision statement ends up full of empty marketing jargon.
Employees don't buy-in.
Months are spent on a process that should take two weeks.

Getting buy-in, maintaining momentum, and seeing real change is difficult. Skipping steps won't make it any easier.

The leader and I talked through the process. We reviewed the steps together and she came up with a plan. It was tough for her—she instinctively wanted to do things a different way.

But she stuck with it and followed the recipe.

In the end, she and her team created a vision statement that everyone was proud of. The vision was a simple sentence that described the culture and captured the company’s aspirations for being even more customer-focused in the future.

How was the service culture process created?

This is a fair question. Many customer service "experts" are guilty of creating advice out of thin air and then passing it off as wisdom without acknowledging that it's untested.

Here I took another lesson from Sarah.

Sarah does a lot of experimenting when she creates a new recipe. She tries new ideas, makes adjustments, and keeps working until the recipe is perfected.

Then she tries to make it even better.

I created the service culture process based on my work as an internal training director and then later as a consultant. It's been developed over the course of 20 years after working with hundreds of leaders and thousands of employees.

When I wrote the book, I researched customer-focused companies I admired, but had not worked with. I talked to leaders and experts, and further refined the process based on what I learned from them.

The process has been proven to work.

But I’m not satisfied. I continue to make adjustments based on feedback I receive from leaders. For example, I've recently changed the name of the customer service vision to "customer experience vision." It's a small change that makes an important distinction.

Is this the only way to build a service culture?

Of course not!

There are a lot of recipes for peanut butter cookies. Sarah's are the best I've tasted, but there are other recipes that make pretty good cookies as well.

The important distinction here is if you want to make Sarah's peanut butter cookies, you had better follow Sarah's recipe precisely.

Building your service culture is the same way. Pick a proven recipe and stick to it and you're more likely to get a great result.

Why I'm Finally Releasing The Service Culture Handbook on Audible

Jeff Toister February 25, 2020

Starting today, The Service Culture Handbook is available as an audiobook.

The book was originally published in March, 2017. It's been available as a paperback and an ebook for three years and has become a bestseller. So you might be wondering why it's just now coming out on Audible.

The answer is reader feedback.

The Service Culture Handbook audiobook cover

I was originally against the idea of an audiobook because I didn't think that format would be a good experience. I was wrong.

The Service Culture Handbook is a step-by-step guide. It is intended to be read one chapter or even one section at a time. Readers are encouraged to put down the book and implement the steps to get their employees obsessed with service.

My original thinking was people wouldn't do that with an audiobook. I imagined they'd passively listen on their morning commute until the book ended, or they got to work, whichever came first.

Fortunately, I put my phone number and email address in the book so I could easily connect with readers. People have generously shared their feedback with me and I've learned quite a bit.

For example, some people want to hear the book all the way through to get an idea of the process, and then revisit individual chapters. Having the ability to listen to the book while driving, taking the train, flying, or even walking the dog makes this easier than reading a paperback or ebook.

A client who hired me for a keynote presentation told me her executive team prefers to listen to speakers' audiobooks before a presentation. It helps them easily identify some of the main ideas to focus on with their team as they prepare them to attend my keynote.

At least one person told me they listen to audiobooks while running. That’s really tough to do with a paperback!

Others just prefer audio. They can still go through the book one chapter at a time, but now they'll be able to do that in their preferred format.

A few people need audio because they are either blind or visually impaired. Until now, the only way they could access the book would be to use a special software program that reads the book to them. I've been told it sounds like a robot and isn't particularly engaging.

That led to another concern—quality.

Many people have asked if I narrated the book myself. I did not. Once I realized there was a need for an audiobook, I wanted to ensure the production was professional quality. I wasn't convinced I could easily do that on my own.

Fortunately, I was able to partner with Tantor Media, one of the most respected names in the audiobook business. Tantor helped me find a talented professional, Roger Wayne, to narrate the book. Tantor also ensured the production was studio quality.

I promise you won't hear my dog barking in the background!

So please download the book and give it a listen if audiobooks are your thing. Or don't if you don't enjoy audiobooks. The great news is you now have the option.

Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback about the format. I appreciate you!

Why You Need a Customer Experience Vision

Jeff Toister February 13, 2020

There's some confusion between customer service and experience.

I know I've contributed to it. For years, I've talked about having a customer service vision—a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page—as the cornerstone of a customer-focused culture.

Yet I've recently started calling it a customer experience vision.

One reason is I wrote The Service Culture Handbook from a customer service perspective, but the concepts apply equally well to customer experience. Book Authority put the book at #14 on its list of best customer experience books of all time.

Customer feedback has also shaped my thinking.

I've heard from hundreds of business leaders who are working on their vision statements. The place where most people get stuck is thinking too much about their service, and not enough about their customers' experience.

So here's why you need a customer experience vision, whether you're focused on experience or just customer service.

A person using a marker to connect various business concepts to customer experience.

What's the difference between service and customer experience?

A lot of customers talk about service and experience interchangeably. That's okay for customers, but it's limiting for business leaders.

Customer service is the assistance a company provides to help people buy or use its products. Customer experience is the sum of all interactions a customer has with a company.

I'm writing this from my favorite local coffee shop. The barista provides great customer service by being cheerful, quickly making drinks, and calling people when their drink is ready.

The coffee shop provides a great experience by having strong wifi, ample seating, and music at just the right level to help you feel vibrant, yet focused. The parking lot outside, which is entirely out of the coffee shop's control, is also part of my experience when I come here.

You’ll miss a lot if you own the coffee shop and you only focus on making sure your baristas are friendly, efficient, and helpful. Here’s a more in-depth explanation that highlights additional differences between the two concepts.

Why do we need a customer experience vision?

In a word, silos.

They plague companies big and small. People tend to approach their jobs with a very narrow focus, especially if they don't have regular customer contact. Marketing does marketing, operations does operations, service does service, etc.

Here's an example of someone who technically did their job correctly, but completely missed the big picture.

A customer experience vision gets everyone on the same page. It describes the type of experience you want your customer to have, and provides a beacon for everyone to work towards.

Product Development
Manufacturing
Marketing
Operations
Customer Service

Even finance, human resources, and IT departments, teams that don’t traditionally talk to customers, can become customer-focused when they operate under a common vision.

Why change the name to a customer experience vision?

Focusing on customer experience creates a better statement, even if you're just writing your vision for a customer service team. There are three qualities of an outstanding vision:

Simple and easily understood.
Focused on customers.
Reflects both who we are now and who we aspire to be in the future.

Many leaders have told me they struggled with the second part, keeping it focused on customers. People naturally default to thinking of themselves, even when writing a vision statement.

For example, one small business owner recently told me his team was stuck on adjectives that describe customer service such as helpful, friendly, and efficient. My advice was to reframe the discussion to think about why you are doing those things.

Here are a few examples:

The vision at food distribution company, KeHE, is "We serve to make lives better." The company tries to improve the lives of all its stakeholders through the distribution of fresh, natural, organic, and specialty foods.

Equipment financing company, GreatAmerica, defines its vision as, "We help our customers achieve greater success." The company's primary customers are office equipment dealers, and GreatAmerica is trying to help those businesses become more successful.

The USS Midway Museum is a retired naval aircraft carrier that has been rated as the top tourist attraction in San Diego. The customer experience vision at the Midway is "Preserve the historic USS Midway and the legacy of those who serve; Inspire and Educate future generations; and Entertain our museum guests." The people who work there are passionate about educating people on what it was like to serve on the ship.

Aren't they really the same thing?

Fundamentally, yes. There's no difference between a good customer experience vision or a customer service vision. In fact, the process for writing one is exactly the same.

You can still call it a customer service vision if you want. Depending on the audience in front of me, I will too.

Keep in mind that companies already use other statements as their customer experience or customer service vision:

Mission
Corporate vision
Values
Brand slogan
Customer service motto

Whatever you call it, focusing on your customer's experience makes it better.

Take Action

Here are a few resources to help you write your vision statement.

Use this step-by-step guide
Refer to chapter three of The Service Culture Handbook
Watch this short how-to video (LinkedIn Learning access may be required)

Write a customer service vision from Leading a Customer-Centric Culture by

How to Grow Your Service Culture with Team Champions

Jeff Toister January 30, 2020

Scaling culture is a big challenge in customer-focused organizations.

It's easy when there are just a handful of employees. The boss is also the owner, chief executive, and head culture cheerleader. The culture is easy to discuss, share, and reinforce when the group is small.

Those dynamics change as the company grows. Different departments are created. Executives no longer have directly, daily contact with everyone.

Team champions are a solution I'm increasingly seeing.

Champions, also known as culture ambassadors, are people who help promote the culture in their individual departments or teams. They are typically peers rather than the boss, so can add another voice to the conversation.

Sean McCallum, Culture Team Champion at GreatAmerica

Team Champions at GreatAmerica

GreatAmerica is an equipment financing company that uses team champions to help promote its customer-focused culture. I spent some time with the organization last December learning about its service culture and sharing strategies for continued growth.

The organization follows the steps outlined in The Service Culture Handbook:

There’s a clear customer service vision
Employees are engaged with the vision
Operations are aligned around the vision

Sean McCallum, one of GreatAmerica's team champions, was kind enough to join me for a conversation to talk about how the program helps keep the culture strong.

Here are a few things we discussed:

What is a team champions program?
How do team champions help promote the culture?
Why is it helpful to have peers champion the culture?
How can team champions make your culture more authentic?
What are the qualities that make a team champion?

Check out the interview to learn how you can implement a team champions program in your organization.

Should you share your customer service vision with customers?

Jeff Toister January 7, 2020

I frequently get this question.

Leaders want to get their employees obsessed with customer service. The first step on that journey is creating a customer service vision statement.

Many leaders ask me if they should share the statement with customers. Typically, this means incorporating the vision into advertising, branding, or other marketing messages.

The answer is it depends!

Every organization is unique, so there's no one right answer. Here are some things to consider to help you decide what's right for your situation.

Leader facilitating a meeting to discuss the customer service vision.

The short answer

Pressed for time? I've created this short video explanation. Keep reading below for a more in-depth answer.

The customer service vision is for employees

A customer service (or customer experience) vision is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page. You can learn more and see examples here.

Keep in mind the vision is first and foremost for employees. It should clearly guide everyone's actions, regardless of whether you share it with customers.

What's important is that you don't change your vision's wording or meaning just to make it more presentable to an external audience. For this reason, I don't recommend involving customers in the vision writing process.

Marketing the customer service vision

The decision to share the vision as part of your marketing should be based on whether it helps your customers understand the value you provide.

There are three general approaches:

Share the vision
Share a different version
Don't share the vision

Some organizations share the vision directly.

The customer service vision at Navy Federal Credit Union is "Our members are the mission." This statement is also an advertising slogan for the credit union, and is frequently shared with customers.

Here's an example from a commercial where the vision is clearly shared.

Other organizations share an alternative version of the vision with customers.

The customer service vision at JetBlue is "Inspire humanity." The company often incorporates alternative versions of this vision in its advertising that make more sense to customers.

Watch this commercial to see an example. Notice the tagline near the end, "Air on the side of humanity," which is a direct nod to the vision statement.

Still other organizations keep the vision for employees and design separate marketing messages that are more appropriate for customers.

The customer service vision at The Ritz-Carlton chain of luxury hotels is "We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen." The vision isn't exactly a secret, but marketing messages focus on the guest experience.

Guests, not hotel associates, are the star of this commercial that seeks to inspire you to seek adventure and make memories while traveling.

There are some risks involved with this third option.

Marketing messages should still align with the vision statement. It can create confusion for customers and employees alike if they send completely different messages.

For instance, The Ritz-Carlton is marketing luxury travel. This is closely aligned with the vision of “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”

However, a commercial full of irreverent, sophomoric humor would be completely off base with the vision and wouldn’t make sense for this particular brand.

Customer service vision resources

I've assembled some resources to help you tackle this and other questions surrounding customer service visions.

Start with my step-by-step guide to writing a customer service vision.

Find more guidance on getting your employees obsessed with customer service from The Service Culture Handbook.

Prefer video? This LinkedIn Learning course will walk you through the process of building, growing, and maintaining a customer-focused culture.

Get employees obsessed with service from Leading a Customer-Centric Culture by

Five Mistakes Companies Make with Corporate Values

Jeff Toister December 31, 2019

Please excuse my language. I want to write this plainly.

Most corporate values are bullshit.

In the majority of companies I observe, values are created via a meaningless corporate exercise. Employees are unaware of them, or if they are, the values do absolutely nothing to guide behavior.

The problem is values are misunderstood and misused. They are not just a set of fancy words to dream up and slap on your website.

Listing "integrity" as a corporate value doesn't mean your employees will magically act with integrity. Enron, a company made famous for a massive accounting scandal that sent executives to prison, listed integrity among its core values.

Here are five common mistakes companies make with corporate values, and how you can fix them.

Blocks depicting boilerplate corporate values.

Mistake #1: Executives write them

"We just wrote our values at a retreat," said the executive. "We're really excited about them, but I'm having trouble getting employees to buy-in."

Many leaders have shared this challenge with me.

Employees tend to have a pretty good bullshit meter. The values that leaders dream up while sequestered in a conference room at an executive retreat are frequently boilerplate corporate nonsense.

A 2004 study by Booz Allen and the Aspen Institute found the same themes in almost every company's list of values:

90 percent included integrity
88 percent included customer focus
78 percent included employee focus

The fix is simple. Make value writing a more inclusive process to get a broad range of perspectives in the room. Ask employees at all levels to help write values that actually have meaning.

You can use the same process I use to help companies write their customer service vision statement.

Mistake #2: They're not authentic

A friend lamented her company's new values over lunch one day. She and the rest of her executive team had just written them at an executive retreat, but something didn't feel right.

I asked her to tell me more about communication, which was one of the new values. "Oh, we suck at communication," she said. She explained “communication” had been added simply because it sounded good.

Employees can spot inauthentic values a mile away.

Values should codify how people really act. Perhaps not all the time, but certainly when things are going well. They should describe actual behaviors, not wistful thinking about how people might act in some distant future.

When writing your corporate values, ask yourself, "Do we regularly do this now?" If the answer is no, then it's not really one of your organization's values.

Mistake #3: Nobody knows them

Let's try a test.

Try to list your organization's values without looking them up. Now ask your boss, your employees, and your colleagues to do the same thing. See if people can consistently list all of the values.

Values can't guide behavior if they're unknown.

You can fix this by communicating the values repeatedly, using a wide variety of methods. One company I worked with went to great lengths to make sure everyone knew the corporate values:

The values helped guide the recruiting process.
They were introduced in new hire training.
Leaders used the values as a guide when giving feedback.
Values were part of the performance evaluation process.
The CEO spoke about the values at quarterly all-hands meetings.

Mistake #4: They're undefined

A client once hired me to evaluate how its new corporate values were working. I conducted my study and then presented both good and bad news to the executive team.

The good news was 95 percent of employees could correctly identify all five corporate values. The remaining five percent got at least three out of five correct.

The bad news is nobody had any idea what the values actually meant. Even the executive team disagreed on their meaning.

One value was integrity.

The CFO felt integrity meant you don't steal.
The CMO felt integrity meant you did the right thing for customers.
The CEO felt integrity meant you were a good member of the community.

None of these definitions were inherently bad. They were just different. Values can't consistently guide behavior if they don't have consistent definitions.

This problem can be fixed by attaching clear definitions to each value.

When I work with companies on defining their culture, I ask leaders to tell stories about everyday behavior that aligns with the values. These stories help leaders communicate these values more effectively.

Mistake #5: They're not prioritized

Your employees will encounter tricky situations where one value comes into conflict with another. They could find themselves at an impasse if the values aren't prioritized.

Disney theme parks provide a great example. Here's how Disney's four values for theme park cast members are prioritized:

Safety
Courtesy
Show
Efficiency

I've seen a first-hand example of these prioritized values. Here's an excerpt from Getting Service Right, recounting an experience riding the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride:

Everyone had just belted into their seats when a young boy started crying and protesting that he didn't want to go on the scary ride. The cast member playing the "demented elevator operator" immediately broke out of his character and invited the boy to step off the ride. He assured the boy's concerned mother that he'd keep a close eye on her son while she enjoyed the ride. When we returned and the elevator doors opened, the cast member was waiting with the now-smiling boy standing next to him.

Disney's priorities clearly guided the cast member's actions. Safety is the first priority, and this was evident when he delayed the ride and made sure the boy exited safely. The second priority is courtesy, so the cast member momentarily paused his scripted routine to politely address the young boy and assure the mother her son would be safe. The show is Disney's third priority, so the cast member quickly resumed his act once the first two priorities were addressed.

Take Action

Corporate values don't have to be empty words.

They can become useful guides for hiring, training, and coaching employees. And when employees encounter an expected situation, strong values can help point them in the right direction.

How to Reinforce Your Service Culture With Rituals

Jeff Toister December 3, 2019

What typically happens at the start of a meeting in your company?

Meetings probably begin with a leader recapping a few key performance indicators that you could have easily read yourself. Then people go around the room and give updates. Not exactly inspiring.

Leaders at Schneider Electric North America start meetings differently. Meetings begin by talking about customers, whether it's sharing a story, or discussing customer feedback.

It's one of several rituals the organization uses to maintain its customer focus.

I interviewed Kyle Hamm, Schneider Electric's Vice President of Customer Transformation. He explained how his company uses rituals like this to keep employees obsessed with customer experience.

Keep reading to watch the interview and discover how you can use rituals to reinforce your own service culture.

Hamm-4472 crop.jpg — Kyle Hamm

Vice President of Customer Transformation at Schneider Electric North America

What is a service culture ritual?

The term ritual sometimes has a spiritual or religious connotation, but that's not the context here.

A service culture ritual is a habit that reinforces the customer-focused culture. It can be something done by a group, such as the way you start a meeting. Rituals can also be individual, such as the way you start your day.

In their book, Rituals for Work, authors Kursat Ozenc and Margaret Hagan offer this definition:

Actions that a person or group does repeatedly, following a similar pattern or script in which they've imbued symbolism and meaning.

I researched a lot of customer-focused companies when I wrote The Service Culture Handbook. Here are just a few examples of rituals I uncovered:

JetBlue executives travel to each location once per quarter to talk about culture.
Zendesk employees do "ride-alongs" with customer support.
Cars.com employees review and discuss customer surveys comments daily.

How Schneider Electric Uses Rituals to Reinforce Culture

My conversation with Hamm covered a wide range of topics around creating and leveraging service culture rituals.

Why customer-centric rituals are important
How to start a meeting with customer focus
Why stories are helpful ways to communicate culture
How senior leaders can legitimize and promote rituals
When to use rituals to reinforce the culture
How to create personal rituals to improve your own customer focus

Check out the interview here.

Additional Resources

Here are some additional resources to help you learn more about using rituals to reinforce your service culture.

Brand leadership expert, Denise Lee Yohn, recently wrote this helpful post about using rituals and artifacts to reinforce your culture.

The book, Rituals for Work, walks you through creating your own rituals.

Finally, how would you like to improve those meetings? Team Effectiveness Expert, Melanie Proshchenko, has a great course on LinkedIn Learning called Working in Harmony as a Senior Team. It's full of ideas for getting senior leaders to work more closely together, including ways to make those meetings more effective.

Report: Job Seekers Think Culture is More Important Than Money

Jeff Toister September 3, 2019

A few of my friends are looking for jobs.

Some are unhappy in their current role, while others are out of work for one reason or another. They've all told me the same thing about their search: there are jobs out there they could do, but they're holding out for something that's a great fit.

Many job seekers today have that luxury. As of July 2019, the US unemployment rate sits at just 3.7 percent. That means businesses have to really compete for talent.

What makes your company attractive to talented employees?

It's probably not desperation.
It's usually not money.
It might not be your product or service (unless it’s incredibly popular).

A new report from Glassdoor reveals that culture is the most important thing that job candidates are looking for. Here are some highlights along with some suggestions for landing top talent.

A group of colleagues sitting at a conference table with the word “culture” written on it.

About Glassdoor's Mission & Culture Survey 2019

The Glassdoor report was conducted by The Harris Poll.

A total of 5,113 adults were surveyed, including 2,025 in the US, to learn how a company's culture contributes to employee recruitment and retention. The remaining participants were from the UK, France, and Germany. The highlights below focus on the results for US job applicants and employees.

You can read the full report here.

What do job applicants look for?

Culture is extremely important to job applicants. Employees are looking for an organization where they believe in the mission and feel pride in their employer. It's also vital for people to feel like they fit in with the organization.

Here are some of the top findings from the report:

58 percent said culture is more important than salary.
77 percent would consider a company's culture before applying.
89 percent think it's important for a company to have a clear mission and purpose.

This is one of the reasons companies should have a customer service vision. This is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page. Companies with a strong vision are able to unite employees behind this compelling purpose.

Culture is what keeps people, too.

Many of my friends are looking for jobs because the culture isn't right at their current company. In the report, 74 percent said they would start looking for another job if their company's culture deteriorated.

I did a separate study on contact center agent burnout and discovered that 74 percent of contact center agents were at risk of burnout. A lack of a customer-focused culture was the number one risk factor.

How can you become an employer of choice?

Offering a competitive salary, good benefits, and a healthy work environment are table stakes. You’ll have a difficult time attracting any decent employees if you don’t do those things. The real differentiator for top talent is a customer-focused culture.

Start by creating a clear purpose—89 percent say it's important.

Use this guide to write a customer service vision statement.
Explore these culture-building resources.
Get The Service Culture Handbook to guide your journey.

The next step is hiring for culture fit.

A word of caution here. There are a few common mistakes that frequently cause customer service leaders to accidentally hire toxic employees:

The culture is not clearly defined.
Relying too much on resumes and interview questions.
Trying to hire "rock star" employees.

You can avoid these traps using this guide to hiring for culture fit.

Once you've revamped your hiring process, it's time to advertise your culture to prospective job applicants. Many organizations create a culture page to do this. The page often contains:

A description of the culture (mission, vision, values, etc.)
Information about what it's like to work there.
Video testimonials from employees.

Here's how Southwest Airlines provides an overview of the culture:

Screenshot of the culture page on the Southwest Airlines career site.

REI emphasizes the employee experience in this example:

Screen shot of the culture page on the REI careers site.

The Container Store uses this video to share employee testimonials.

Finally, make sure you back up that great culture with an effective onboarding experience. You can use this guide to help you.

What exactly is employee engagement?

Jeff Toister August 29, 2019

Employee engagement has been a hot business topic for many years. There is a pile of research that tells us:

Engaged employees are more productive.
There are too many disengaged employees.
Employee disengagement costs companies billions of dollars per year.

There's just one glaring problem: nobody agrees on what employee engagement actually means.

This is a critical challenge. It's hard to improve something you can't define. Companies launch annual surveys without clarity about what’s being measured. Executive buy-in is often lukewarm, because the idea of engagement sounds good, but nobody’s really sure how it directly impacts the bottom line.

This post provides you with a clear definition along with some examples.

Notebook with the words “employee engagement” written on the front.

The Definition of Employee Engagement

Here's what it means to be engaged at work:

An engaged employee is deliberately contributing to organizational success.

Unpack that a bit and you'll see there are three things that need to happen if you want to engage your employees.

Organizational success needs to be clearly defined.
The employee needs to understand that definition.
The employee needs to know how they can contribute.

Engaging employees requires organizations to have a single, clear definition of success, such as a customer service vision. Without this definition, it’s impossible for employees to be engaged no matter how enthusiastic or committed they might be.

There are a few factors that often correlate with engaged employees, but are not part of the definition:

Job satisfaction: How much do employees like their jobs?
Employee experience: What is it like to be an employee?
Emotional connection: Do employees feel proud of the organization?

It’s possible for an employee to feel very satisfied with their job, have a good employee experience, and feel proud of their company without being engaged. Here’s how:

There’s no clear definition of organizational success for the employee to work towards.
The employee isn’t aware of how the organization defines success.
The employee is aware of an over-arching goal, but isn’t sure how they contribute.

My very first job was like this. I worked for a retail clothing store in high school. I really liked my job, generally had a positive experience, and was proud to tell my friends where I worked. However, I had no idea how my store was doing, what the company strategy was, or how the company defined great customer service. So despite my enthusiasm for the job, it was impossible for me to ever be engaged.

It’s also possible for an employee to be unhappy in their job, yet be fully engaged. While this is usually unsustainable, there are times when all of us are tired and a little unhappy, but we work hard to overcome a big challenge because we’re still committed to making a positive contribution.

What are examples of employee engagement?

Companies with a highly engaged workforce make an effort to ensure every employee understands the big picture and how they contribute. People come to work each day with a purpose and feel they are empowered to make a difference.

One of my favorite examples of a company with engaged employees is the sporting goods retailer, REI. The company defines success through its mission statement: We inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship.

Here's how that looked on a recent visit my wife and I made to our local REI store.

We wanted to buy a large tent so we could take our dog camping. The associates who helped us were clearly in-tune with REI's mission:

They were passionate about the outdoors (inspire)
They gave us great tips on camping with our dog (educate)
and they helped us select the right gear (outfit)

The best part was the associates weren't reading from a product manual or just following a script they learned in training. They were avid campers who relied on their own experience to enthusiastically try to help us enjoy our upcoming camping trip.

Another favorite example comes from In-N-Out Burger. The chain has attained a cult-like following for its tasty food, simplified menu, and incredible consistency.

In-N-Out defines success for its employees through three simple words: quality, service, and cleanliness. You'll see all three in action any time you visit one of the restaurants.

Quality is evident in fresh ingredients and careful preparation.
Service is consistently delivered with a smile and upbeat attitude.
Cleanliness is constantly a priority, even when its busy.

(Fun fact: McDonald's once used those same three words to define success. Here's the rest of that story.)

Finally, here’s one more example from the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. In a city that's built for tourism, the Midway is the top-rated tourist attraction in town!

The Midway is a retired U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The museum uses its mission to define success for employees and volunteers: Preserve the historic USS Midway and the legacy of those who serve; Inspire and Educate future generations; and Entertain our museum guests.

People work and volunteer at the Midway because they care deeply about the ship, its history, and the armed forces in general. They are passionate about sharing the Midway's history and helping people understand what it was like to serve onboard.

Whether it's a local with a membership, a visitor from out of town, or a group of school kids on a field trip, Midway employees consistently go out of their way to ensure visitors have a fun and educational experience. (You can read more about the Midway’s service culture here.)

Employee engagement resources

The starting point for any employee engagement initiative is to agree on what “employee engagement” means. I hope you'll use mine, but it's okay if you have another definition. What matters is that everyone in your organization agrees on what employee engagement means.

Once you clear that hurdle, here are some additional resources to help you: