At RSI, we’ve long been known for the unusual way that our people treat others – customers, vendors, and even each other. In fact, we receive an average of nearly 100 customer compliments per month! Most of these compliments make mention of how friendly, helpful, and genuine our staff is. Notably, “Genuine People” is important enough to be the first statement in our 3-part tagline.

So how do we create this type of experience, and more importantly, what does it mean for you and your people?
As you might guess, having genuine people is not an accident or a stroke of good fortune. It’s the result of a whole series of intentional decisions and a strong organizational commitment to creating a specific culture. This commitment is implemented in four steps. First, we have clarity around the culture we want to promote. Second, we only hire people who share the core values we believe in. Third, we “integrate” new people into our culture with a purposefulness and intensity that is rarely seen. (I’ve shared this integration plan with many companies at our seminars and other speaking opportunities). And fourth, we reinforce the values that are important to us on a daily basis.

How does this translate into specific behavior that affects you?
The simplest and clearest illustration is the RSI Promise. (http://www.rsionline.com/subpages/people/s_people_promise.php). The RSI Promise is a description of 8 behaviors you can expect to see from our staff. Each is written in simple, clear, plain language. It begins with a promise to be friendly and it ends with a promise to own your problem the way we would if you were a member of our family. Each of the promises relates to the experience we commit to create when you or a member of your staff works with us.

I believe there are two parts to delivering superior results for customers. The first part is providing real solutions to customer problems, for if we don’t solve problems, everything else is irrelevant. In the last issue, I talked about our award-winning processes for continuous improvement and performance excellence. But while this is a requirement, quite candidly, it isn’t enough. Customers also want (and deserve) to have a rewarding and memorable experience when dealing with us. The RSI Promise is our commitment to you around this experience.