Stephen R. Covey’s bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®:
Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, has inspired many parallels in the field of business and organizational improvement. Customer Support centers, too, could become significantly better at what they do by adopting the timeless, principle-based habits recommended by the book. We dedicate this discussion to Mr. Covey and his phenomenal teachings.

Today, we discuss seven traits of successful Customer Support Organizations, backed by stories and tips from our customers—some of the most innovative customer service and support organizations. Based on well-understood principles of long-term effectiveness, these habits are: simple, organic, cohesive, and very powerful.

The seven habits that could set your Customer Support Organization on the path to success and growth are:

Habit 1: Be proactive—embrace change, harness the power of new technologies
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind—start with mission statements, goals, road maps, and metrics
Habit 3: Put first things first— priority driven initiatives
Habit 4: Think win/win—what’s good for your customer is good for you
Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood—know your customer
Habit 6: Synergize—bring it all together with a customer interaction hub
Habit 7: Sharpen your saw (the right one, that is)

These habits will take your support organization to new heights in operations excellence and improvement.

As co-founder and president, Hoyt oversees all operational aspects of the business, including sales, marketing, service delivery, and customer support. His extensive resume encompasses over 15 years as an innovator, entrepreneur, and overall technical evangelist with leading Dallas-based companies, including EDS, EpicRealm, MCI and OpenConnect Systems.

Before forming PhaseWare Inc., Hoyt served as director of engineering for RamQuest Software, providing executive support to Founder and CEO Randall Nelson. In another key executive position, Hoyt served as senior technical evangelist for EpicRealm, a content delivery network services company.