You can tell your people to ‘go the extra inch’, but you can’t make them. In fact, the more you tell them to, the less likely it is that they’ll want to do it.

You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink!

Customer service material so often mentions going the ‘extra mile’, but our research indicates that your people probably see this glib and meaningless phrase as demotivational.  This is because it makes it seem hard and onerous, and it shouldn’t be –

it should be easy and fun.

…Because, if it isn’t, it won’t happen.

The other reason for the ‘extra inch’ is that the customer will be wowed by the little extras delivered excellently, consistently and positively, rather than the great things (that are so much harder to get excellent and consistent).

You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.  So it is with your people; The only way you can get them to ‘go the extra inch’, excellently, consistently and positively, is by:

    * Developing your ‘customer focused mission’

    * Aligning everything around it

    * Empowering and encouraging

    * Measuring and feeding back

    * And of course: Leading by example

As Jim Rohn famously stated:

    “Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated over time.  Success is simply a few disciplines of effectiveness, repeated over time.”

Help is At Hand

Don’t worry, Rome wasn’t built in a day - and neither was it built by one person.  It’s likely you’ll need some help. 

The best help you can get is from the outside in, from those who’ve spent the time and effort to think this through, and have the systems and expertise to make it become easy and fun for your people, so if you’d like us to help you please do get in touch.

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