Serving Internal Customers
By Lane Baldwin, ©2003

Read, hear or say the word "customer." Immediately we think of a person walking through the door to buy something. But the term may actually be broken down into two distinct segments: external customers (the ones coming through the door) and internal - your teammates.

Make no mistake. Your teammates are as important to your success as the people walking through your door. And the better you serve your team mates, the more they will help you succeed. What's great about this system is: if everyone on a store team is committed to helping every other member of the team, everyone succeeds, achieving their greatest potential. If everyone helps everyone else, nobody loses, and everybody wins.

Here's a quick list of ways employees can serve their team:

Be On Time
This is the most basic of all services you can offer. Get to work on time! If necessary, set your clocks early by ten or fifteen minutes. Mentally add time for slow traffic. Set multiple alarm clocks if you're a slow riser. Just get to work on time, and be ready to work. How hard can this be? And yet, your team will appreciate it. A lot.

Do Your Best
Always do your best at any given moment, no matter what you're doing. Wrapping up merchandise for someone else's sale? Wrap it the best you possibly can. Working with a difficult customer? Do the best you can. No matter what's going on in your life - at home or at work - always do your best. You'll always know you did everything you could, and so will everyone else.

Make Coffee
Sounds stupid, doesn't it? But I'm serious: make coffee for your team whenever you can. (In one store recently, two people confided that no one else in the store ever made coffee, expecting them to do it all the time.) Try for at least once a day, maybe even twice. If every team member did this, you'd always have fresh coffee for your team and for your customers, as well. And buy half and half once a week if you use it at all.

Clean the Bathrooms
Just for grins, get to the store an hour early (or stay late) and clean the bathrooms without losing any floor time. Don't make a big deal about it; just get the job done, and do it well. Believe me, your team will notice. Repeat as necessary, say once or twice a month.

Bring Food
Want to brighten some faces? Put some food in front of them. Dietary restrictions notwithstanding, almost any food will do. Chips, leftovers from home, fruit, soup, bread, cookies, popcorn. The possibilities are endless. One person I know offers grapes to team members at least three times a week. One at a time, we each enjoy a few grapes and trade a smile with our "host." It's a great way to spend a minute sharing with someone on a personal level.

Say "Please" and "Thank You" Often And "You're Welcome"
Think about it: if you're asking someone to do something to help you, doesn't it just makes sense to say "please" first? And "thank you" second? And thank them again when they've completed your request. Conversely, when someone else thanks you for helping, use any of the following: You're welcome. Sure, anytime. Glad to help.

Learn to Service the Vacuum
Here's another left-field idea, but one many people appreciate to no end. From time to time, check the belt and roller, replacing the former when it looks worn and cleaning the latter. Also inspect the feed tube, unclogging it when needed. While you're at it, change the bag. Your carpets will appreciate it as much as your teammates. And guys, on another note: Vacuuming is not just for the ladies on your team.

Show Respect for Everyone
I saved the best - and most important - for last. Always show respect for each and every member of your team. Regardless of your opinions about them, everyone deserves basic respect. The cornerstone of behavior, showing respect is the greatest service you can do for yourself or for another.

This is just a scattershot list of ways we can serve our internal customers, but it should be enough to get you thinking. Try this strategy for a month. Don't base your own actions on what others do; don't make a big deal out of it, either. Just find new ways to serve your team mates, and see if you don't improve your workplace - for others and for yourself.

Our thanks to Alexander Communications for quoting portions of this article in their client newsletter.

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