Are you loving the advancements in the Customer Service Experience, as much as I am? I absolutely love that I no longer have to wait in line for my movie tickets. I love that I can pay my bill at my favorite restaurant, right at the table, without having to wait for the server. I love that I can try on clothes digitally, without having to actually try on clothes. I love that I can order my drinks, without waiting for the bartender, when flying through Minneapolis airport. I love that I can check paint swatches, and design my home, without getting off my couch to move anything in my home. I’m telling you, I love this day and age in Customer Service!
Welcome to The Age Of The Customer. If you’re not obsessed with transforming the Customer Experience (CX), you may be putting your organization’s growth at risk. CX is about more than understanding process flow, scheduling, product, and profitability. It’s about truly understanding who your customer is and knowing what makes them tick. Are you paying attention to your customer’s needs AND wants? Are you aware of the customer’s Pain Points? Are you using behavioral psychology to speak the customer’s language and understand their journey?
We’ve got to start with identifying the Pain Points. Understanding what is frustrating, time consuming, confusing, or anxiety inducing is essential, if you are going to improve your organization’s CX. In The Age Of The Customer, I am absolutely unwilling to endure pain, twice. Are you with me? Burn me once… that’s all you get.
Here are 10 Sure Fire Ways To Ruin CX:
1. Apathy/disinterest
2. Failure to greet/welcome/acknowledge
3. Lack of basic manners
4. Lack of store/product knowledge
5. Failure to find out customer needs
6. Not making the customer the focus of attention
7. Telling the customer he or she is wrong
8. Sarcasm
9. Inappropriate humor
10. Unwillingness to go the extra mile
Do any of these feel familiar to you, as a customer? Nothing turns me off faster than knowing that a service professional doesn’t care about their job and, by extension, I know it means that they don’t care about ME.
As a leader, it’s your job to walk through the journey of your customer, anonymously. See the process… Hear the process… Feel the process. What needs to be improved, increased, or ditched, immediately? One of the best ways to insure that the CX is functioning at an optimal level is to be a customer in your own business.
So, to get this ball rolling, let’s look at things a little more strategically. Following are some questions you can answer, which will help you create some direction in your improvements:
How easy is your company to work with?
How many layers are there in your resolution process?
How do customers reach your business?
How quickly do you respond to email/phone inquiries?
Is there a live person available to answer questions in a one visit/call resolution?
Can customers find answers to simple questions?
Do your customers have a self-service option?
How useful is your app/website/chat?
Are your CX goals being realized in the behaviors of the employees?
Are your leaders managing CX effectively?
Define what you want to improve, and then look at what systems and processes you currently have in place. Do they need to be updated or improved to deliver a better experience? Do you need to communicate your CX expectations more clearly? Are you training your employees, quarterly, on those CX expectations? Are your managers managing CX expectations that you’ve set? Start small, with your most important customer channel, and expand from there.
Customers want to self-serve – easily, quickly, efficiently – and then move on with their day. By automating and simplifying tasks, you can begin delivering better solutions. Provide your customers with an easy way to get what they want, in a short amount of time, to improve the Customer Experience. Simple changes will, in turn, create more success, sustainability, and financial stability for your organization.
