The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Service Professionals

Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s bestseller, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” has inspired and influenced many people in the way that they want to live a fulfilling life. The book provides physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wisdoms for people who want to take control of their lives, their businesses and their careers based on a principle-centered, character-based, “inside-out” approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness. Service professionals, too, could become significantly better at what they do in delighting customers by adapting the 7 habits recommended by the book.

Habit 1: Be Proactive – The Habit of Choice

Being proactive is not about taking initiative. It is about making choices of our behaviours and being responsible for our own lives. The behaviour that we demonstrate towards our customers is a function of our decisions, not our conditions or external stimuli. Proactive service professionals will always make choices and respond positively towards unreasonable customers or challenging situations. They can subordinate their feelings to the values of unconditioned love and compassion. They believe that serving others is a joy and not a chore, and that good service begets good customers. In contrast, reactive service professionals are driven by their feelings, circumstances, conditions and social environment. They only feel good when customers treat them well and if they are treated otherwise, they become defensive or protective. They believe that good customer begets good service.

The concept of having the freedom to choose can best be explained with the story of Mother Teresa when she went about asking for food. This story was shared in ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” course and it goes like this: “One day, Mother Teresa approached a bakery to ask for bread for the poor children in her orphanage. The baker not only refused but became angry and spat on her. Surprisingly, her response was neither anger nor helplessness. Instead, she said: “That was for me. What about some bread for my children?” Stunned, the baker was reduced to tears of remorse. He gave her loaves of fresh bread and henceforth was a convert to her philanthropy.” Like the story, how you choose to respond to a harsh or pleasant stimulus depends on whether you know your objective or end in mind. 

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind – The Habit of Vision

There are two parts to the end in mind. The “bigger” end represents the purpose of your life whilst the “smaller” end represents the objectives or goals of the many endeavors that you embark to fulfill the bigger end. To engage in this habit, service professionals need to have a service mission of delighting customers with positive memorable service experience. They need to have a road map to equip themselves with the necessary competencies and leadership to deliver service excellence. They have to stage every customer interaction and experience with their sincerity and selfless attitude to delight their customers. After you have defined your service mission, you will be able to move on to Habit 3 which provides the framework for you to align your efforts to your end in mind.

Habit 3: First Things First – The Habit of Integrity and Execution

To deliver excellent customer service, service professionals have to first define their tasks and activities into urgency and importance. Activities in Quadrant 1 that are both urgent and important such as attending to an immediate customer’s need, answering a complaint, taking a customer’s call or activities that have some sort of deadline associated with them. Activities in this quadrant have to be attended to immediately. Quadrant 2 are activities that are important but not urgent include customer-relationship building, service planning and preparation, error prevention, personal development, etc. Important activities are those that contribute to the fulfillment of service mission and end in mind. 

On the other hand, activities such as interruptions, unimportant meetings, unnecessary reports, irrelevant emails/calls, spending excessive time on TV programmes/internet, etc. in Quadrants 3 and 4 are not important. Effective service professionals have to stay out of Quadrants 3 and 4 activities and spend appropriate time on Quadrant 2 activities to gain control over the circumstances of their lives. In so doing, Quadrant 1 activities will be reduced as they would have been anticipated and prepared for in Quadrant 2 before they turn into crisis. 

Habit 4: Think Win-Win – The Habit of Mutual Benefit

Think win-win is an attitude of the mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefits in all customer interactions, relationships, transactions, agreements and contracts. Win-win is not based upon compromise rather it is based on the paradigm of abundance and that one person’s win is not at the expense of another person’s weakness. Service professionals can achieve win-win by fulfilling or exceeding their customers’ expectations (a customer’s win) and in turn they would make repeated purchases from them, thereby creating a win for themselves. What’s good for your customer is good for you, and what’s good for you is good for your organisation too.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood – The Habit of Mutual Understanding

Habit 5 is a skill that requires service professionals to first listen with the intent to understand rather than to listen with the intent to reply or to be understood. Listening to customers not only helps service professionals to understand how to serve their customers better, it also helps them to build and sustain positive relationship with their customers. At the business level, organisations can setup customer intelligence system to solicit honest and accurate feedback from customers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders. The voice of the customer (VOC) is a critical input to the design and delivery of service experience.

Habit 6: Synergise – The Habit of Creative Cooperation

Synergise is a verb that requires everyone to work together to achieve a better way (i.e. third alternative) or synergy. Habit 6 is based on the premise that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Synergy can be achieved if service professionals practice Habits 4 and 5 and work together singularly with the customers towards delivering a better service experience. For creative solutions to evolve, service professionals have to recognise and value differences of opinion as well as to welcome and appreciate feedback from their customers.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw – The Habit of Renewal

Habit 7 involves the continuous renewal of body, mind, heart and spirit to sustain oneself to achieve the end in mind. Service professionals have to keep themselves physically and mentally fit, emotionally stable and spiritually purposeful. They need to constantly seek for skill upgrading and self-development to serve customers better. At the business level, organisations have to invest and improve their staff training, technology and systems as well as to engage and empower their staff to achieve both the bigger and smaller ends in mind.

By adapting the 7 habits of highly effective people, service professionals and organisations can achieve new breakthroughs in business performance and customer experience. TANGS, a home-grown retailer, is a good example of how organisations can apply the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” concept to service excellence. As one of the pioneer retailers to join the Customer-Centric Initiative (CCI) in 2005, TANGS has seen its annual sales figures increase by 11% and has won many accolades in recognition for its service excellence. It has been named the Best Shopping Experience – Department Store at the annual Singapore Tourism Awards in 2005 and 2006.