Arie Goldshlager’s posterous

Interesting... we had been saying for a long time now that empowering employees (especially front-line ones) is what makes a difference with customers. COD would not exist if they employees did not think they could help customers. Take the Four Seasons and their $2,000.00 per day policy (any employee is empowered to spend up to $2K per day to ensure customer happiness), or Zappos do-what-it-takes policies. It turns out that the business ends up spending less this way than if they actually did not have these programs. (There are other examples, I am sure - I am just writing what I remember now)

So, how companies should manage COD? They should ban it by empowering their employees in the first place, then sit back and marvel at the results.

The unfortunate commentary here is that doing what it takes to help a customer requires defiance and breaking of rules. If the rules were set up to accurately reflect the needs of the customer, and as Esteban notes, empower employees, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

How should companies preempt COD? Organized so these behaviors are the norm and rewarded in the first place.

Really enlightening post. Thanks Arie!