There are only two approaches towards customer service. You either care for it or you don’t. It is important to understand that customer service can be the single most important thing that could prevent companies from being in business if not handled well.
Customer service is not a department, it is everyone’s job – Anonymous.
Everyone in the business have the ability to add value towards a great customer service, whether it is the admin ops that buy from suppliers and vendors, or the receptionist that sits behind a desk managing the brand name in more ways than one can imagine. It is key that the board members, get involved in listening to customers. One of the biggest opportunities is via their employees that serve these very customers on a daily basis. Huge insights can be gained into understanding the clientele, what is liked , what needs to change, what makes the customers ‘tick’ from gathering data from staff.
Not just encouraging but also empowering each employee to take responsibility and hence take charge of ensuring the customer experience at each step is enhanced, contributes towards positive customer experience in a big way. They may not be working on the front end or customer facing roles, but they certainly join the dots through out the process.
Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves. ~ Steve Jobs.
Listening to employees through out the hierarchy and across various lines of business, crowd sourcing ideas, understanding pain points consistently, developing internal processes that help employees extend customer delight can be some of the ways to reach the goal of achieving integrated customer experience. Because if you are not, then your competitor certainly will!
Customer experience can make or break companies, and we certainly have many examples in the near future where companies have been taught the lesson for simply not listening to their most important asset – the customer. Yes, I am talking about Uber. From cases of rape to not being able to address the background verification of its drivers, one in particular who was reportedly 26 years in prison for 2nd degree murder, Uber has not been able to address the safety concerns that its customers have had for a while. As a result, the company has recently lost its private hire license to operate in a city like London , where it claims to have 3.5 million registered users.
Constantly evolving ways in which companies can show that they are listening is the need of the hour. Understanding the evolving needs of the customers and addressing them in time is critical rather than being stuck behind data sets that could be passe by the time action is taken. Raising the game to customer delight is something that will make companies stand out.
