“Insanely Customer Centric Culture” at DHL Express Austria
On September 15, DHL Express Austria’s Managing Directors Ralf Schweighöfer and Dr. Barbara Aigner, Managing Director of Top Service Austria had a discussion with 30 company representatives from a wide range of industries, on the importance of customer orientation as an essential component of corporate culture.
DHL Express is using the “Insanely Customer Centric Culture”. This includes always giving the customers top highest priority, to think beyond standard services and to take personal concerns to heart.
Barbara Aigner emphasized that customer orientation should not be limited to individual departments or contact points. It is supposed to be a consistent orientation, which, starting from the applied culture up to the strategy and control, has to reach every corner of the enterprise – only then one creates the desired effect at the customer.
The company strategy of DHL Express is based on four pillars: “Motivated teams” create “outstanding service”, whereby the company wins “loyal customers”. This ultimately creates a “profitable network”.
Managing Director Ralf Schweighöfer explained how important it is to take all these factors to the same extent and to improve them on a continuous basis. “We did not earn money at DHL Express worldwide in 2009. Only since we have also been focusing on customer orientation and employee development, we are earning money. ”
On concrete examples, DHL Express customer service manager Eva-Maria Leitner showed how customer orientation is conveyed in all DHL Express trainings and courses. “We make it clear to all employees that everyone bears responsibility for the customer experience. And all this from the very first day, over all areas, whether in customer service, warehouse or controlling.
“Our goal is to make our employees feel really annoyed when they were not able to do everything to achieve an optimal result for the customer,” says Ralf Schweighöfer, who already liquidated the quality department several years ago to promote more self-responsibility ,