T
he workplace proverb that
indicates that “A bad workman
blames his tools”, generally points
to success being a factor not of the kind
of tools one has at their disposal, but
primarily of how one uses the tools they
have with them to work whatever job it
is they have. This mainly focusses on the
notion that success comes to the person
that can make the most effective use of
what has been given to them to work
with. The success in question therefore, is
contingent on the resources provided to
the workman in the first place, to enable
any further analysis of if they were used in
a manner that is deemed workable or not. employees, they will take care of the
clients'- is a clarity that organizations
need to contend with and shift away from
the age old assumption that they are doing
their employees (their internal customers
whose efforts - mental, physical, and
emotional, are input into the business) a
favor by engaging them to work.
Whose responsibility then is it to provide
‘workmen’ with the relevant tools at the
workplace to deliver effectively? If the
success of customer experience excellence
as it is known, is wholly dependent on
internal customer service outcomes,
then what is the place of a workable,
environment towards customer centric
delivery - a value found on almost every
corporate strategy across all economic
sectors? Pillar One: Uphold And
Live Out Values That
Govern Brand Success
The internal customer environment,
dictates the level of customer experience
excellence that will be delivered, and
the sustainability of the same, not only
across the years, but across any scalable
strategy that a brand may have to expand
geographically or via diversification of
product range.
This environment has two main pillars
which if mastered by the crafters of the
brand vision, brand strategy and brand
charter, will determine the current and
future success of the company. That the
internal customer is more important
than the external customer - a debate
that Richard Branson, entrepreneur
extraordinaire puts to bed with his quote
'Clients do not come first. Employees
come first. If you take care of your
Far from it… Brands that honor their
internal customers and provide an
internal customer environment in which
their teams thrive, will not only make it to
the roll of customer experience excellence
honor but also without doubt record great
external execution.
The first pillar to address towards
developing and inculcating an internal
customer environment that inspires
productivity at a personal and professional
level, is to truly uphold and live out
values that govern brand success. Beyond
putting up wall hangings with different
value sets in the common areas within
the office space, the values need to come
alive and to honor those that work for the
organization.
Most corporates both in the public and
private sector, will have on their lists
values that govern their operations and
most often the common place ones include
integrity, professionalism, teamwork,
partnerships, reliability, customer focus,
accountability and responsibility. What
do these mean for the internal customer?
In what environment would these values
be truly implemented?
To achieve this, special attention needs
to be paid to internal teams and the
same focus granted towards delivery
of corporate goals for profitability and
It doesn’t matter how hard staff will smile
and be nice to customers, if there are no tools
with which to deliver, if the environment
in which they are working does not dignify
them, if they have no recourse towards hav-
ing their voices heard in the spaces in which
they need to be heard, then whatever gains
are made by the brand will not stand the
test of time.
32 MAL30/19
MAL28/19
ISSUE
ISSUE
The internal cus-
tomer
environ-
ment, dictates the
level of customer
experience excel-
lence that will be
delivered, and the
sustainability of
the same, not only
across the years,
but across any
scalable strategy
that a brand may
have to expand
geographically or
via diversification
of product range.
results, needs to be channeled towards
generating and delivering an internal
customer environment that triggers
service excellence for all.
There is a direct return on investment
for creating a values driven culture in
the organization that every CEO needs
to acknowledge. The connection between
Happy Environment, Happy Staff and
Happy Customers, needs to be fully
underscored. The environment is driven
by deliberate inculcation of values that
inspire and empower, and by having
internal people relations strategies that
provide the keys to unlock transformation
and growth.
Brands need to be cognizant of the
fact that their systems, processes and
procedures need to be reworked in a
way that personal success stories are
recorded internally, that then trigger
external success. Sustainability lies in
looking inwards and having continual
improvement from within, before looking
outwards for growth.
Customer Satisfaction Surveys that are
well crafted and that have the objective
to provide data to be processed into
information, and further into knowledge
to guide strategy, must include some sort
of measure be it quantitative or qualitative