I'd like to share a harrowing experience I recently had as Godfrey's IT director. No, it doesn't involve crashed servers or downed phone lines. Some background:

As a company, we're fond of introspection - looking inward at our capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses. It's deeper than figuring out billable hours or workflow efficiency; rather, it's about asking "Is what we're doing ultimately helping to make our clients successful?"

To that end, we often use surveys as a tool to gain perspective. For example, we recently used an anonymous survey to find out what people in our agency really think about our creative process and product.

Here comes the harrowing part: Employees were recently invited to opine about our corporate IT capabilities.

Why is that harrowing? Good question.

We run a lean IT operation. It wouldn't be a stretch to guess that in employees' minds, Godfrey IT = yours truly.

We got a lot of useful feedback from the survey. Technology "pain points." Comparisons to IT operations of employees' former companies. Insights into priorities. A good snapshot of service-level expectations. We've already moved on actionable items and shifted some priorities based on this feedback. For example, we've unified the IT knowledgebase and forums with a new helpdesk ticketing system, and it's winning fans in a big way.

That's the "IT as a whole" aspect of the results. Then there were the "Vince-specific" results.

A majority of respondents rated Godfrey IT services highly, and there were some very positive statements. Many sympathized with how difficult it must be for one person to manage all this, and commended my approach to IT. I'm sure some of these comments came from some of my very best friends in the agency.

But there were some who responded with comments that, frankly, kept me up at night with worry. If I'm to be honest with myself, I should have expected harsh comments – comments not about my technological capabilities – but about how they were delivered. Some employees, rightfully so, were less than thrilled with their personal interactions with Godfrey IT – to the point of preferring not to ask for help at all. That's the kiss of death for an IT shop. I'm equally sure that some of these comments came from my very best friends in the agency.

My first instinct was to rationalize the criticisms. They obviously don't know what it takes to do this job, how stressful 24/7/365 can really be. I'm too busy to deliver "service with a smile." They don't understand how frustrating it is to drop everything and give somebody their password...for the third time this month. Tech support is a two-way street, isn't it? After all, if you want professional treatment, you bear responsibility for being a good customer as well. The customer is NOT always right. Anybody in my position would have a hard time being courteous and friendly, right?

Wrong. A real professional rises above that, putting personal frustrations about his or her customers aside. And that's what my 78 colleagues represent: My internal customers, as deserving of professional and respectful interactions as our agency's clients are.

Fast-forward one week (and about a dozen professional development / self-help Kindle downloads) later. I'm re-reading Dale Carnegie's classic "How To Win Friends and Influence People." The one point Carnegie says you should take away from his book, if nothing else, is how important it is to see things from your customer's point of view before your own. The letter he shares from the head of an ad agency's radio department (the "unmitigated ass," for those familiar), struck a deep, unsettling chord. My users – rightfully so – don't care what my needs are. They have their own challenges, deadlines, and concerns. My colleagues at Godfrey emphasize this point all the time with clients: "Yes, you have experience. You've been doing this a while. You know your customers, or at least think you do. But you must always be curious about what you may NOT know, and think not of your needs – but instead dig deep to find insights that will make you a better, more effective partner."

I've decided that starting right now, employees will not only be able to say that Godfrey IT helps them get things done quickly and efficiently while making fiscally responsible tech investments – but does so in a way that puts their perspective first. Excellent customer experience will naturally follow. If I'm to provide truly first-rate IT support for the wonderful people in this agency, that goal has to be the starting point for every single phone call, every text message, every IM, and every email. Each word coming out of my keyboard must support that, or it doesn't belong.

A few questions you might be asking yourself at this point, whether you're an IT admin or a B2B marketer:  Are you willing to hear what your customers have to say, knowing some of it could be ugly? Can you really hear that feedback and admit that maybe you didn't know them as well as you thought? Are you rationalizing negative feedback out of defensiveness? It's a natural reaction, yes – but can you rise above it? Does the way you interact with them reflect their needs – or your frustrations? And most importantly, are you prepared to respond – really respond – to the insight, and set your own milestones or benchmarks for improvement?

Carnegie and his peers (Henry Ford, especially) may have never imagined the technology and communications tools we have today (it was first published in 1936). But they sure were spot-on about the "people side" of business – and how important it is to see things from the other person's point of view. At the end of the day, isn't that what's most important?