We have all heard the saying, “Customer Service isn't a department, it's an attitude." When you treat this concept as a business discipline, the customer experience will lead to profits. So if you believe in the business benefits of the customer experience leading to profits, then what are the best methods for achieving this? The mistake made by many is thinking that just because the company slogan says "we focus on the customer" or initiatives are in place that communicate to the staff to be warm and fuzzy with the customer, those methods will somehow be enough. Many companies "think" they know what the customers want, but the companies who "know" what they want are the companies that will lead the customer experience to a level that matters both in customer loyalty and profits.
(Image and concept adapted from Success Academy.)
Memorable customer experiences don't just happen, they are made to happen by every single person in your organization, and to do this, there are significant measures and strategies that need to be in place. In order to have a focused and effective vision you must define your customer experience strategies. These strategies need to be specific, clear, and memorable. They need to align with your brand and support your corporate strategies.
Most companies have a lot of room for improvement in regards to consistent and favorable customer experiences. Here are the 6 steps to begin this improvement process:
- Know the real customer need.
- Deliver service based on that need.
- Determine where the problems are with the customer experience by exploring all customer contact points.
- Fix what you find.
- Measure your results.
- Last but not least, continuously build support to reinforce the system.
These are basic starter steps, but the most important take-away message is recognizing the need to improve the customer experience. The only way to influence those improvements and sustain them is to clearly understand how your customers use your business. To be fully successful with this, you need to completely dissect all touch points with your customers to fully understand how to improve each touch. The results of your efforts will be a better experience, loyal customers, and higher profits. Sounds like a win, win, win, to me.
"Be the change you wish to see."….Gandhi