 Ban
the ‘Internal Customer’
‘Internal
Customer’ is a phrase often heard in business.
Usually this refers to one department (the internal
customer) receiving work from another department (the
internal supplier). But this phrase has become widespread and is now applied
to branch offices, field officers, repair centers, distributors,
night shifts, contract workers, parking lot attendants,
bosses, employees, job applicants and even retirees.
Motorola has more than one thousand service agents in
China repairing and upgrading consumers’ mobile
phones. Motorola provides spare parts to the service
agents, making the agents ‘internal customers’
of Motorola. But Motorola pays labor fees charged by
the service agents under maintenance contracts. So Motorola
is also an internal customer of the agents. This could
be confusing.
It gets worse when more than two parties are involved,
or when people say ‘The Customer is King’
and then argue over who should be treated more ‘royally’!
I think the phrase itself is out-of-date and problematic.
Rather than one side taking the ‘customer’
position and casting the other as ‘supplier’,
both parties could – and should –
embrace to become ‘Internal Service Partners’
working together to delight the ‘external customer’.
After all, good ideas and extra effort should come from
both sides in any working relationship. Both
‘internal customers’ should be committed
to creating a positive outcome for their shared ‘external
customer’ down the line.
Within our departments, companies and organizations
we are customers and providers to each other.
We are, in truth, service partners.
Key Learning Point
The phrase ‘internal
customer’ can lead to awkward attitudes and inappropriate
expectations. Replace it with ‘internal service
partners’.
Action Steps
Get together with
those you depend on at work and those who depend on you.
Create a shared declaration of service partnership for
working effectively together, including listening to each
other’s concerns, being open to new ideas, sharing
insights and new approaches, and making suggestions for
improvement.
Keep your service partnership focused on the customer
that really counts – the one that makes a choice
every day about where to bring their business.
Next Article in Customer Service Partners >>
This Call Requires Someone Else. Now What?
First Article in Customer Service Perception Points >>
You Have Leverage. Use it
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