Comments on: Customer Service Initiatives and Executive Impatience http://dennissnowblog.com/commentary/customer-service-initiatives-and-executive-impatience/ Dennis Snow Blog Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:27:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: David Kreiman http://dennissnowblog.com/commentary/customer-service-initiatives-and-executive-impatience/#comment-11 David Kreiman Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:16:04 +0000 http://dennissnowblog.com/2008/04/08/customer-service-initiatives-and-executive-impatience/#comment-11 As a bank that had Dennis come in to help us create and launch a customer service initiative, I wholeheartedly agree with this commentary. We had tried things in the past, and when I saw Dennis speak at a conference, I knew he could help reinforce with our ownership that it can't be a "wam-bam, here is what you have to do" effort. We are in year 3 of our initiative and because we went over the top in making sure that our program stayed in the forefront, including publishing our "Promise" to our customers in various and permanent ways, it took maybe 18 months to have it be firmly ingrained in our culture and our hiring. Our initiative is cemented into how we do business, and we keep working to keep it fresh so that all our hard work doesn't fall by the wayside. As I said, it took us about 18 months for complete "enculturation" - we are a $900 million community bank. For a large bank, I can see a 3 year period as being realistic and reasonable. As a bank that had Dennis come in to help us create and launch a customer service initiative, I wholeheartedly agree with this commentary. We had tried things in the past, and when I saw Dennis speak at a conference, I knew he could help reinforce with our ownership that it can’t be a “wam-bam, here is what you have to do” effort.

We are in year 3 of our initiative and because we went over the top in making sure that our program stayed in the forefront, including publishing our “Promise” to our customers in various and permanent ways, it took maybe 18 months to have it be firmly ingrained in our culture and our hiring.

Our initiative is cemented into how we do business, and we keep working to keep it fresh so that all our hard work doesn’t fall by the wayside.

As I said, it took us about 18 months for complete “enculturation” – we are a $900 million community bank. For a large bank, I can see a 3 year period as being realistic and reasonable.

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