There are many challenges in today’s economy. The watchword in our industry is control costs (at any cost?). As a result, in many instances, customer service is negatively impacted. Some firms have reduced staffs or shortened the hours of operation in order to combat rising costs. This of course influences customer service and the customer experience.
Excellence in customer service is the bloodline of any organization. According to a Harvard Management update by Bain & Co., “Eighty percent of companies believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8 percent of their customers agree.” What is your customer satisfaction index? Have you polled your clients for feedback?
The customer experience often seems to be ethereal, something that appears as if magic — take Southwest Airlines for example. The good news is great customer service does not require knowledge of magical incantations (or voodoo); it springs from human touch (yes, human), not your Blackberry.
Remember the customer is always right. It is our job to make the customer more right!
Commitment, responding to a client’s issues, concerns and emoting empathy are all part of what I call the customer journey. There is a danger that business today has become too internally focused. Who is the voice of the customer in your organization?
It is paramount to remember that to be really successful long-term, the customer experience needs to be seen as the sum-total of how the customer engages with the company, its brand, as well as the entire arc of being a customer. Great customer service starts with good employee morale! Do your employees feel good about what they do? Have your customer service people ever met a live customer?
Do they clearly understand and appreciate the needs of your customer base? Do they feel good about their contributions to the goals of the company? Do they feel appreciation for the job that they do? Does your company really value customer service or does it view the function as a necessary evil? Invariably, companies that care about their people are in a better position to ask their people to care about their customers!
Caution:
· Never complain about customers. They pay the bills!
· In meetings, someone should be assigned to be the voice of the customers.
· Decisions should be made with the intent to support the customer.
· Even when the customer is wrong, they are right.
· Ask a customer to attend one of your company’s meetings so they can communicate their expectations of the company
· When a customer is upset, it gives the organization the opportunity to show its true colors.
· Anticipate conceivable customer questions, issues and problems. Create a seamless experience appears effortless that to the customer. We all know that making something look easy is in fact hard.
· Articulate your value proposition and live up to it.
· Develop a process that delivers excellence to customers – again and again.
· Develop customer metrics (with input from your customers). They will allow you to be sure your standards are being met. Leaders look for formal and informal ways to let customers tell them whether or not they’re meeting their expectations.
· The company with the best customer service wins. (Southwest Airlines)
· Customers seek human touch points, a supportive voice on the other end of the phone line (automated phone answering machines drive me crazy), a timely response to a voice mail, e-mail and a creative approach to a customer crisis. They want a customer service professional that actually listens!
The key elements of a great customer experience are customer F.O.C.U.S.:
F = Frame the needs of your customers.
O = Organize your company’s capabilities to determine the scope of your customer’s business Objectives.
C = Collect and seek data from your customers. What is their product story?
U = Understand the true voice of your customer. Listen to gain insight vis-À-vis their concerns and opportunities.
S = Select an action plan that generates and executes the plan to clearly address the needs of the customer.
Beware of the dominance trap: The larger your company’s market share, the greater the risk of taking customers for granted. Customers are not statistics – they are people. It is our role to never stop showing that we care – with thought and positive action.
