The Customer Mission Podcast with Andrea Belk Olson Andrea Belk Olson

I'm not one for big projects. Especially those that I dread. Cleaning out a closet that's been languishing overstuffed for too long. Or reorganizing a file cabinet. It sucks. So I don't. Whether at home or work, big projects don't have to be big. They can be small if you approach them right.

Company leaders want measurable results, naturally. So they establish goals for the organization, whether a revenue growth objective or a target net promoter score. However, teams often fall short of those goals because instead of measuring outcomes, we measure the number of outputs accomplished, and in turn, overlook their connection to bigger organizational goals.

Making better decisions requires understanding the rationale behind previous decisions. If you don’t understand how you got here, you run the risk of making things not better, but worse.

Most organizations struggle with employee turnover. There are multiple reasons why this occurs, ranging from internal culture issues to simply a hot job market. But instead of being in reactionary mode when employees decide to leave, why not have an intentional attrition strategy?

Over the last few years, retailers have invested a lot in self-checkout lanes. This was initially seen as a great way to reduce labor costs and challenges with hiring. They were touted to reduce waits in line, eliminate the need to interact with a checker, and get you out in no time. But it hasn't done any of that.

Many companies are pulling back on customer service, reducing resources, training, and automating support. It's understandable to an extent. Hiring and retaining customer service staff is incredibly hard. The cost of training people is high. Customers are increasingly doing their research before they enter a store, and they don't even want to talk to anyone at all - just find their item and get on with their day as quickly as possible. So it would make sense that there's a contraction in customer service overall. However, are these companies dramatically shifting where their value lies?