Jumpstart Your Service Revolution by Tom Schlick: What Does it Have to Do With Me?

February 27, 2018

Good question! And the answer is…everything! Even if you don’t consider yourself in the service business.

My new book, Jumpstart Your Service Revolution, has just been launched – and it is chock full of practical examples of how to win an age of disruption. The premise is that almost every company that got into trouble and had their market share challenged – heck, even their very existence put on the line – was sitting in a seemingly stable position. The leader armed the company with a solid strategic plan and the organization was focused on execution. The financial numbers were decent, and competitors seemed to be at bay. “What could possibly go wrong?” the leader wondered.

Disruptive change can feel like a car getting T-boned in the middle of a busy intersection. These jarring crashes are usually foreseeable, though, and often preventable. Jumpstart Your Service Revolution helps leaders see disruptive change coming and address it head-on, using a seven-step process that transforms their organization’s DNA and re-wires the work done inside the organization.

The key part of re-wiring involves connecting everyone’s work to the ultimate success of the end customer. In Service America!, Karl Albrecht says, “If you aren’t serving the customer directly, you need to be serving someone who is.” The further you get away from this customer-centric mindset, the fewer people inside the organization see “customer success” as part of their essential work goals. Instead, they feel disconnected and isolated, and the organization’s overall culture suffers, as does its preparedness and ability to adapt.

Because most companies’ employees are not connecting what they do to ultimate customer success, is it any wonder that their leaders are unprepared for when things do go wrong?

If you want to be prepared for disruptive change, everyone in the organization needs to be mindful of and connected to the customers they’re serving (both inside and outside the organization). This sort of organizational transformation doesn’t happen naturally – which is why you need a revolution, not an evolution. How work gets done and how performance is measured are radically different once this revolution takes place, but the rewards and resilience gained will provide greater purpose and peace of mind.

Jumpstart Your Service Revolution now. Reframe how all people INSIDE your organization can connect what they do to the ultimate success of the end customer. The more they are involved in selling and service, the more they’ll ask, “What might go wrong?” And the sooner you’ll know the answers!

By: Gary Cohen

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