Part Two in the “Ruby Service Pyramid” series.
At Ruby, every day, every call, every email is an opportunity to WOW our customers and create meaningful connections. And while providing this level of service is something we have always strived to do, it is a constant discovery of how we can be better, and it’s taken years to develop our methodology to deliver consistent yet inspiring interactions. Our Ruby Service Pyramid outlines our system:
Today, we’re tackling the foundation of that pyramid – Have the Right Infrastructure. It is at the bottom of the Ruby Service Pyramid for a reason; if we don’t have a solid infrastructure, providing the rest is a fruitless and uphill battle.
Elements of the Infrastructure:
Mission/Vision/Values/Direction – We stand for something and each Ruby staff member knows our Core Values by heart. But not only do they know them, they live them. Our mission, vision, and values keep everyone at Ruby aligned and working with purpose. The Jim Collins article “Building Your Company’s Vision” is the best article I’ve seen on establishing a company’s vision and values, and it is required reading for many of us at Ruby.
Ruby’s mission is to establish personal connections in this increasingly virtual world, and our Core Values of “Foster Happiness,” “Practice WOWism,” “Create Community,” and “Innovate” drive all that we do, and we look to them to inform our strategy and decision-making.
Product and Pricing – Does your product or service provide value for the cost? Does it serve your mission? Ruby loves doing whatever we can to make callers happy, but at the end of the day, we understand our value is determined by how much we can help our clients run their business and facilitate their growth, and make their lives easier and more rewarding. We also understand that value must justify the price, and that our pricing must support the ability to deliver scalable, WOW-worthy service.
Technology and Systems – Behind our personalized, live receptionist service is some pretty kick-butt technology that ensures every call is answered accurately and with the appropriate information at our fingertips to be helpful. We turn to technology to increase accuracy, make us more efficient, and keep service personalized even as we grow. Solid technology and systems frees us up to spend time on the human element of our service – making clients and callers happy and coming up with new ways to be of service.
Staffing – We can have the best staff in the world, but if it is stretched too thin, it is impossible to deliver consistent WOW-worthy service. We hire amazing individuals who are dedicated to our mission. We keep them in part by making sure their workload gives them a decent work-life balance, and ensuring they have space throughout the day to not only learn and grow, but also to take the time to get to know our clients and other staff members.
Feedback – How do we know if what we’re trying to do is working? KPIs! It may surprise you to know that we personal, community-based friendly staff are addicted to our Key Performance Indicators and we measure everything we do. We know that our average time to answer a call is 4 seconds (and we want to keep it that way), and by tracking how many prospective clients contact us on a daily basis, we can accurately predict when we should be hiring our next receptionist. By tracking the reasons our clients contact Client Services for assistance, we know what areas of service to focus training on, and have discovered things that can be automated to make our clients’ lives easier.
So there you have it – the basics of the Ruby Infrastructure. Are there elements of your company’s infrastructure you consider paramount to your success? We want to hear from you!
