Shep Hyken's Blog, page 109

Amazing Business Radio: Rob Markey

Customer Value is Company Value
How to Drive Value and Become Customer-Focused

Shep Hyken interviews Rob Markey, a leader of Customer Strategy and Marketing at Bain & Company. They discuss four strategies companies can use to achieve consistent and sustained growth in customer value, NPS (Net Promoter Score), customer feedback and company culture.

Top Takeaways:

NPS refers not only to the Net Promoter Score, but also to a system that is a set of behaviors, actions and technology that provides customer feedback directly to frontline employees. While the score itself is important, the bigger impact is on frontline employee learning, making customers feel as though their voice is heard and valued.
When asking for customer feedback, model your approach off of NPS and Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s original Service Quality Index: ask a single question with a simple metric, then an open-ended follow-up question (“why?”) and finally, follow up on the feedback you receive.
In his recent Harvard Business Review article, Rob identified four strategies companies can use to achieve consistent and sustained growth in customer value. They are as follows:

Develop robust customer-value management processes and tools.
Combine design thinking with loyalty-earning technologies.
Organize around customer needs.
Lead for loyalty.


The value of your customer is the value of your company.
The best way to grow through customers varies from company to company. For some, acquiring new customers and making sure they are a good fit is the best method of growth. For others, focusing on retaining existing customers may be a better path.
Companies most often underestimate the value of attaining the right customers in the first place.
Organize your company around customer needs instead of functional teams and processes. This will eliminate unproductive internal politics and competition for resources that only end up hurting the customer.
The most important objective for any business should be to grow the value of its customer base. To that end, every individual should understand how they can contribute to and enhance that value.

Quotes:

“The most important objective for a business should be to grow the value of its customer base.”

“Create a shared vision and then free people to pursue that vision. Create an environment where they have a voice and have the ability to shape the way they deliver for customers.”

“Rearrange your organization’s politics so they’re aligned with customer outcomes instead of internal objectives.”

About:

Rob Markey is a partner at Bain & Company and a leader in its Customer Strategy and Marketing practice. He also leads the NPS Loyalty Forum and co-authored The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of March 16, 2020

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Ten Tips to Increase Customer Loyalty by Atlanta Small Business Network

(ASBN) Building customer loyalty takes time and effort, but the reward is guaranteed sales. Here are ten strategies to adopt if you want your customers to be loyal to your brand.

My Comment: “People often confused customer satisfaction with customer loyalty, but the two are very different.” That’s how this article starts, and it has been one of my points to our clients for years. There is a big difference between satisfied customers and loyal customers. Here are ten ways to move your customers toward being loyal. I especially appreciate number six, which is about offering more than “loyalty discounts.” Often discounts are more of a marketing strategy, not a loyalty strategy.

16 Tips to Handle Negative Customer Reviews Online by Sam Hollingsworth

(Search Engine Journal) Here are the best 16 tips for handling negative reviews that all businesses will undoubtedly receive.

My Comment: When a customer leaves an online review, everyone can see it. And you know what else they can see? How the business responds to it. There are popular (and public) review sites like Yelp, as well as industry review sites, and the rules are the same. How you respond to a negative review can turn, as the old saying goes, “lemons into lemonade.” Here is a great list of 16 ways to do exactly that.

Why Customers Panic…and What To Do About It by Chip Bell

(Forbes) Think of your response to your customer’s panic as cut from the same cloth you would use to caringly respond to a young child awakened from a nightmare.

My Comment: The coronavirus is causing some of our customers to behave in strange and different ways. Nice people are now frustrated, if not downright angry. Chip Bell, customer service expert, offers his take on this. Anger is not a primary behavior. It’s a secondary behavior, that is motivated by fear. How we respond to our customers’ fears are important for more than just the moment, but to the future business, we may have with them. He offers up four ways we can help manage our customer’s fear – and anger – through this turbulent time we’re all experiencing.

Why Customer Experience Is Now Job No. 1 for CEOs by Wharton

(Knowledge@Wharton) The best companies are on a quest to put intuitive, self-service, digital experiences at the center of their customer interactions.

My Comment: This article starts with a very compelling statement: “Job number one for CEOs today is ensuring the company delivers a compelling customer experience.” What about putting together deals? Making decisions about new products and capital expenditures? Sure, all – and much more – are important, but I have to listen (and agree) with the good people at Wharton, customer experience is what will set you apart, grow your business and help you get and keep your customers. The decision to deliver a “compelling” customer experience starts at the top.

5 Things Leading Brands Do to Create World-Class Customer Experiences by Janelle Estes

(Total Retail) We live in an experience economy. Making your customers the focus of your business isn’t a competitive advantage; it’s become a basic business requirement. The challenge for retailers is, how do you create loyal customers?

My Comment: What do the best brands in the world do to deliver an amazing customer experience? Here are five ways they do it. And while the article focuses on retail, don’t think that some, if not all, won’t also work in the B2B world.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Guest Post: 5 Ways a Ticketing System Empowers CS Teams to Build a Delightful Experience

This week we feature an article by Dwayne Charrington, a technical writer currently associated with ProProfs Help Desk. He shares the benefits of incorporating a help desk ticketing system into your business.

“Experience-led businesses have 1.7x higher customer retention, 1.9x return on spend, and 1.6x higher customer satisfaction rates” – Forrester.

Coming from the house of the most credible platform (Forrester), this quote has truth in every word!

Customer Experience: A duo of two harmless and normal words. But, put them together against the backdrop of the business landscape, and you have got yourself a phrase that is currently driving the most significant chunk of revenues and business stats.

The modern-day customers are informed, have an immense number of options before them, and take only a fraction of a second to switch brands due to a poor experience! Hence, creating positive customer experiences is a necessity for businesses today. Your customer support representatives play a crucial role in helping you achieve this, but they have their limitations. They can’t be available 24/7 to serve your customers, so how do you deal with this?

Website monitoring is a great way of finding out if what you are offering matches the expectations of your customers. Another remarkable strategy to hit the bull’s eye is equipping your customer support staff with a smart and scalable help desk ticketing system.

Help Desk Ticketing System – 5 Ways it Revolutionizes Customer Support:
1. Streamlined Process

A ticket management system brings all customer-facing inboxes on a single platform, ensuring that no ticket goes unseen by agents. A single dashboard for all tickets increases transparency, as your agents have access to all sorts of customer requests.

These tickets can then be routed to different members of your support staff who have the required expertise to resolve them. Agents can then prioritize the tickets as High, Low, or Normal, depending on how important they are.

Employees can create customized ticket views and also set up filters based on various factors such as status, company name, priority, and type, etc. It also allows them to save any particular tickets for future references.

All of this streamlines the entire process of ticket management, helping agents resolve tickets faster.

2. Omnichannel Support

Regardless of what channel your customers choose to raise tickets, a powerful ticket management system makes sure that all those tickets are brought to a centralized platform that can be accessed easily by your agents.

Imagine if there is a different dashboard for queries coming from different channels. How frustrating it would be for your support staff to juggle between various platforms, identify priority tickets, and then resolve them. This also increases the chance of an agent missing out on an important ticket, which can delay the resolution process, in turn leading to customer dissatisfaction.

Omnichannel support simplifies the process of accessing tickets by bringing them on a central location. It will avoid grave mistakes on the agents’ part, and significantly decrease the probability of your support team, forgetting to resolve important issues.

3. Instant Agent Collaboration

A smart and intuitive help desk ticketing system keeps all agents on the same page. It helps them communicate, collaborate, and work together while resolving customer tickets.

Ticketing software offers shared inboxes that all your agents can access to see incoming tickets. Here tickets can be moved from one category to the other, editing ticket details, and much more. To help agents work collaboratively, you can assign them roles such as Super Admin, Admin, Manager, and Staff. Each of these roles entails different responsibilities, and permissions, making it easier for agents to work accordingly.

For instance, the super admin has access to almost everything in the ticketing system. He or she can use all features, edit the details, and add admins, staff, and managers to the help desk account. All of them can then work collaboratively to ensure that tickets are managed and resolved effectively.

4. Effortless Ticket Tracking

Forget browsing through chaotic listings and reference numbers with lots of redundant information. With the smart assistance of ticketing system software, agents can refer, track, save, and close the tickets at any point in time in a hassle-free manner. All they have to do is input the ticket number and find all the information at ONE place. Automatic ticket trackers such as tags, and labels, etc., make it easier to set goals and minimize the time spent on tickets without losing on customer experience.

A powerful ticketing tool makes it extremely easy to track tickets, saving on a lot of time, and ensuring that tickets are closed within a specific time frame.

5. Efficient Agent Performance Monitoring

The help desk ticketing system offers reports that help you monitor and track the performance of agents. This makes it easy for you to analyze their real-time productivity level, helping you devise better business strategies.

The reports provide you all information regarding an individual agent’s or a group’s activity, right from the new tickets received, and the number of tickets addressed, and the tickets that are still pending.

So, basically, you get an overall view of how your agents are performing. Once you have clarity over each agent’s performance, it gets easier to spot where things are going wrong, and how they can be corrected.

You can also view the ratings customers give to the agents, with the help of reports, which gives clarity over whether customers are satisfied with the responses provided. When you have all the details regarding the performance of your agents, you can conduct a feedback session to communicate the same to them.

This will give them an understanding of where they are going wrong, so they can make improvements in their dealings with customers in the future.

Key Takeaway

Embracing a help desk ticketing system is the best thing you can do for your business. It is a great relief for support agents, as it helps them organize and resolve tickets in a seamless manner.

With a ticketing tool, everything that an agent requires is on a single dashboard – so no hassles at all. All of this makes up for stellar customer experience, ultimately leading you to success and profits.

Dwayne Charrington is a technical writer currently associated with ProProfs Help Desk. He possesses hands-on experience in writing for the customer service industry. Dwayne is insightful when it comes to industrial challenges, emerging customer service trends, and how businesses overcome related challenges. Dwayne likes drawing connections between different industries and entities while designing his blogs.

F or more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: Seven Tips To Make You A Rock Star At Your Next Presentation

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The Employee Experience Starts with the Hiring Process

Every company wants to have good employees. More importantly, they also want the right employees. There’s a difference.

The smartest person in the world may not end up being a good cultural fit for a company. Every company has a personality, and the people they hire must possess the right skills, character and behaviors to fit in. This differs from company to company, so what works for one may not work for another.

I recently interviewed Teri Yanovitch for Amazing Business Radio, and she talked about her job at Disney World. She had just finished high school and remembered walking up to the “Casting Center,” where she would go through her first interview. Her experience that day, from the moment she walked through the doors, set the tone for what she expected the job to be like.

First, she noticed the door had the doorknobs from the animated Disney movie Alice in Wonderland. In case you don’t recall it, the doorknob has a face that talks to and smiles at you. By the way, this doorknob character originates with Disney; the original novel by Lewis Carroll didn’t feature a smiling, talking doorknob.

The next step was a video orientation. This explained the company culture and expectations of Disney employees, also known as cast members. Only then was it time for the first interview. The point is that Disney establishes upfront that learning about the company culture is a priority for new applicants.

In my book The Amazement Revolution, I wrote about Hy-Vee, the regional grocery store chain based in Des Moines, IA. Part of their hiring practice is to ask applicants to spend a few minutes in the store before the interview. This gives the applicant the opportunity to observe employees and customers. Meanwhile, the interviewer gets the opportunity to see if the applicant makes good observations, understands what’s working and what’s not and more. Ideally, the potential employee experiences the store through a different lens than a regular customer.

Very few companies have a pre-application or pre-interview experience. Yet consider how much easier it would be for a potential employee to make a decision about applying for a position at a company if they could watch a video to help them understand the company’s culture—or perhaps the position itself. It could make interviews more effective and even allow potential applicants to determine whether or not the company and job are a good fit for them.

I’m not a hiring expert, but I know this. The best customer-focused companies are also employee-focused. They recognize the need to hire the right people with the right personalities. That is what builds the foundation of a successful customer-focused culture.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. For information, contact 314-692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright © MMXX, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Rupesh Patel

The Secret to Getting Customer Reviews
The Strategy Behind Getting and Utilizing Customer Feedback

Shep Hyken interviews Rupesh Patel. They discuss the importance of customer feedback and strategies for getting positive reviews.

Top Takeaways:

Even if you think customer reviews don’t apply to your business, they are still important. Regardless of your industry, customers are reading reviews online or on some industry forums before they decide to do business with you.
Customers look for recent reviews when researching your business. Studies have shown that reviews older than 3 months are considered irrelevant.
If you don’t follow up with your customers, don’t get their feedback and don’t ask for reviews, you are losing money. Not having any recent reviews (or any reviews at all) can hurt your business.
Studies have shown that 89% of users read the replies to reviews. This creates a huge opportunity for businesses. It is crucial to respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, because it shows that you care about your customers and their experience.
Create both a strategy and a budget for customer reviews. Monitor all platforms where your business has a presence and write a customized, personalized response to each and every review.
Make it easy for customers to leave you a review. If you don’t capture their feedback as they are leaving, send them a brief follow-up message within 24 hours of their experience with you and include a link to a short survey.
Don’t wait too long before requesting feedback from your customers. Otherwise, they may forget the details of their experience with you.
When sending a survey to a customer, make sure the survey is a short one! One minute in length is ideal. At the very least, the time it takes to fill out the survey should not exceed the length of their interaction with you!

Quotes:

“Every review counts. Respond to every single review across every channel you’re on. This shows you care about your customers.”

“We can’t impress everybody. We can’t make every single person happy. But we will try our best.”

“Recognizing the importance of customer reviews will change your business. It will take your business from standard to amazing.”

About:

Rupesh Patel is an award-winning hotel owner, hospitality influencer and passionate entrepreneur. He hosts a weekly live hospitality show on LinkedIn and his website, smartguests.com, has helped more than 4,000 hotels improve their customer service.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of March 9, 2020

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Chatbots Make There 3 Customer Experience Improvements Possible by Rose de Fremery

(SmarterCX) The chatbot age is here. According to Gartner, the average person will have more conversations with bots than their spouse by 2020.

My Comment: In 2017 Gartner predicted that by 2020 the average person will have more conversations with bots than their spouse. Perhaps I have more faith in the institution of marriage, but I struggle to agree with that statistic. But, what I do agree with the author’s view about the three ways chatbots are making the customer experience better.

Modern Thinking for Customer Experience Indexes by Lynn Hunsaker

(CustomerThink) Entering the 2020s decade, it’s time to re-think the picture you’re painting.

My Comment: Peter Drucker (and others) have said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” The many different ways that numbers can tell a story of success (and failure) are overwhelming. The author showcases several ways to measure the success of customer service and experience. Everything from NPS to CSAT to Customer Lifetime Value and more.

Finding connection in a frictionless world by Ivan Bojanic

(Retail Customer Experience) Every transaction is a journey. And every journey has bumps along the road, such as unwanted delays, getting lost and backtracking. In a consumer context, reducing those bumps to make consumers’ journeys smooth, quick and enjoyable is the idea behind “frictionless” transactions.

My Comment: I’m all for a frictionless experience. (I even wrote an entire book about it, The Convenience Revolution, about the subject.) All things being equal, the company that is easiest to do business with will win. This article takes the approach that too much convenience can de-humanize a company. The best companies will find a balance that integrates a human-to-human relationship with a convenient and frictionless customer experience.

Change your mindset; guests not customers! by Kelly Herrick

(Blooploop) If we want to create connected, authentic experiences, we must shift away from a customer mentality and be of true service to our guests instead.

My Comment: Customer is just a word to describe the person who does business with you. So is the word guest. But somehow referring to a customer as a guest will often drive a different customer service experience. Even if you don’t call them guests, your customer service and CX strategy might benefit to this minor change in vocabulary.

Report: Retention critical to growing subscription economy, but ownership and tactics need work by Bob Thompson

(CustomerThink) Subscription businesses are growing, big time. From cloud-based technology providers like Salesforce.com to consumer-focused brands like Stitchfix, increasingly the strategy is to convince customers to commit to recurring payments rather than a one-time charge at the beginning.

My Comment: The subscription model is powerful. Monthly recurring revenue for the company and a predictable delivery of a product or service for the customer is a truly a win/win situation for both parties. Bob Thompson, the man behind “Customer Think,” shares a very interesting take on what it will take to sustain and retain your subscribers.

BONUS

100 Best Customer Service Books of All Time by BookAuthority

(BookAuthority) As featured on CNN, Forbes and Inc – BookAuthority identifies and rates the best books in the world, based on public mentions, recommendations, ratings and sentiment.

My Comment: BookAuthority just released their list of the top 100 customer service books of all time. Plenty of good ones to choose from. How many have you read? And, I’m honored that four of my books made the list. Thank you BookAuthority!

Top 20 Customer Experience Podcasts You Must Follow in 2020 by Anuj Agarwal, Feedspot

My Comment: If you don’t have time to read a book from the list of “Best Customer Service Books of All Time,” consider listening to a podcast. Here is a list of the top 20 customer experience podcasts. Again, I’m honored to make the list with my show, Amazing Business Radio.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Guest Post: Good Customer Service Is More Than Good PR

This week we feature an article by Patricia Fripp, executive speech coach and sales presentation skills trainer. She writes about how one negative interaction can affect the customer’s overall experience.

At a time when every customer counts, we must never forget how our customers see us. One single negative contact can ruin your reputation in the eyes of not only that one customer but also everyone he or she knows. After all, word of mouth can work both for and against you.

You need to make sure everybody in your organization knows he or she is an important part of it. Each department depends upon and dovetails into the other to produce quality service or product. Everyone makes a difference: the sales force, the service technicians, the clerical staff, the PR department. They all work together toward the same goal, keeping the customers satisfied.

A perfect example of how everyone makes a difference is when I was in a Nashville hotel attending a Board of Directors meeting for the National Speakers Association. After the meeting, several of us went to the coffee shop to continue our deliberations. Each of us asked for exceptions or additions to the menu items, we wanted separate checks, and, to make things even more confusing, being speakers, we talked to each other continuously as the waitress patiently took our orders.

“My dear, all this confusion is going to be worthwhile. These guys are big tippers,” I said. She said, “I’m not being nice for a tip. It doesn’t even matter if I get a tip or not. If we give you good service, your group will bring back its business here and not to the competition.”

Isn’t that a marvelous attitude from someone on the front lines? I was so impressed that I wrote a letter to the hotel General Manager, congratulating him on his staff and especially the waitress at the coffee shop.

I never received a reply. That waitress wowed me with her service and her attitude, but the manager’s lack of response almost nullified her customer service savvy. Everyone makes a difference. I think the manager and the waitress should change places for a couple of weeks. She knows more about good PR than he does.

As the late great radio personality Paul Harvey said when we spoke at a convention in Las Vegas, “For a company’s advertising strategy to work, it has to be handled corporately and also individually.”

Recently I checked into a wonderful hotel in Southern California for a conference. As I got out of my taxi with two large suitcases and two smaller bags, I called to the only doorman, “Is there anyone to help me, please?” He was busy chatting to his two buddies, the valet parkers. He finally ran over and asked, “Are you checking in?”

Aaarrrggghhh!

A second hotel example.

My delayed flight arrived at the airport after 10 pm. I called my hotel and asked the desk clerk, “Can you send your hotel shuttle to pick me up?” He replied, “I will try to get it for you.” I said, “I would rather hear a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No,’ not ‘I’ll try.’ I am very happy to get a taxi, however, if you have a shuttle I won’t bill my client for the taxi.” His reply was, “Our shuttle only runs until 10 pm.”

Am I the only traveler who just wants a straightforward answer? Lesson learned: “I will try” means “Please take a taxi.”

Patricia Fripp is an executive speech coach and sales presentation skills trainer. She delivers her message through keynote speeches, breakout sessions, and in-depth customized training and coaching. Patricia is now virtually everywhere with FrippVT, her interactive, learn-at-your-own-pace, virtual presentation skills training. 

F or more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: A PSA For Sales Leaders: Ditch Your Sales Scripts

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Four Lessons From The Cult Of The Customer

It’s almost here… the updated and revised edition of The Cult of the Customer.

If you’re reading this article the week it’s posted, then this is a sneak preview of a few of my favorite quotes from the book. Even if it’s after the book comes out, it’s not too late to “join” the Cult of the Customer—the cult you want to belong to!

I want to share some quotes from the book to get you thinking about how to amaze your customers. But remember, amazement isn’t an over-the-top experience. It’s about a consistent and predictable above-average experience. While you may have an occasional opportunity to go “over-the-top” for your customers, the consistent positive experience is what your customers will love most about you. They will “own” the experience you provide them and they will reciprocate with more business and referrals. Now, as promised, here a few of my favorite quotes along with some short commentary.

“Satisfying your customers is not enough. Satisfied customers are not loyal customers.” Satisfactory is a rating. Loyalty is an emotion. Connect with your customers on an emotional level to move them beyond being “just satisfied.”

“It is the total customer experience—not just customer service—that creates loyalty.” Don’t confuse customer service with customer experience. While customer service is a very important part of the overall experience, don’t forget that it is just a part of it. Don’t confuse the two, and make sure you focus on both.

“Seventy-six percent of customers say it’s easier now than ever to take their business elsewhere. In other words, if the company is not showing any loyalty toward the customer, why would the customer show loyalty toward the company?” This stat is one of the more conservative numbers on the topic of customers defecting. Many customers will walk away after just one bad experience! Customers know what they want and if you don’t give it to them, they will walk. If you want them to come back, treat them in a way that will get them to come back.

“No matter what you do, always do your best. It is the consistent effort to be amazing that creates confidence. When you make a habit of amazing the people you work with, you will inevitably end up amazing your customers… and these amazing experiences will turn your satisfied customers into customer evangelists!” Do I even need to explain this one? A great service experience is not just a one-time-effort. It’s consistent. It takes constant training and practice. When you practice enough, it becomes a habit, one that will make your business a success.

There you have it—some of my favorite quotes from my newly revised and updated book. Consider using these quotes as conversation starters in your next team meetings. What do they mean to you? What can you do to amaze your customers and get them in the Cult of Amazement? If taking care of your customers and making them want to do business with you again and again is important to you, then it’s time to join the cult… The Cult of the Customer.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. For information, contact 314-692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright © MMXX, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Bill Cates

The Radical Relevance of Customer Experience
Crafting Your Message to Deliver a Consistent Internal and External Experience

Shep Hyken interviews Bill Cates. They discuss his new book, Radical Relevance: Sharpen Your Marketing Message – Cut Through the Noise – Win More Ideal Clients, and how companies can create the message that best defines their customer experience.

Top Takeaways:

An organization’s message is related to their brand promise and customer experience. The experience needs to deliver on the customer’s expectation, which is created by the brand promise.
Everyone in the organization needs to be in alignment with the message and be able to describe the value. This applies regardless of whether someone is in a customer-facing role or not.
The same consistent message and experience must be delivered to internal customers (employees) as well. This will ultimately help create a better experience for internal and external customers.
An organization’s message must be relevant to the customer and qualifying—in that it attracts the right customers and repels the wrong customers.
Even if you do not interact with the customer directly, you likely interact with someone who does. It’s important to remember that the way you treat your fellow employees will be felt by customers on the outside of your organization.
A confused mind will not take action. Create clarity for your customers and invite them to ask questions. This strengthens the relationship your customers have with you and your company.
First and foremost, you must determine your company’s value proposition. Ask yourself what message you want to convey and how you provide value for your customers. This excites people and gets everyone in alignment.
Always give your customers a seat at the table. This will help you create your culture and deliver it in a way that makes sense to them.

Quotes:

“Give your customers a seat at the table. This is how you create the culture internally and externally that you want to present to your customers.”

“Everyone who works in an organization is a walking, talking representative of that organization. There needs to be consistency of message throughout, both internally and externally.”

About:

Bill Cates is an internationally recognized client-acquisition expert and speaker. He is also the author of four bestselling books, including his most recent, Radical Relevance: Sharpen Your Marketing Message – Cut Through the Noise – Win More Ideal Clients.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of March 2, 2020

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

CX Is Broken: Five Takeaway’s From NTT Ltd’s 2020 Customer Experience Benchmarking Report by Stan Phelps

(Forbes) CX in its current form is broken. That’s one of the main takeaways from NTT Ltd’s Annual 2020 Customer Experience Benchmarking Report. The global study, entitled The Connected Customer: Delivering an Effortless Experience, surveyed over 1,000 participants spanning 13 different verticals.

My Comment: Is customer experience (CX) broken in most organizations? Marketing guru, Stan Phelps, shares some data from NTT Ltd’s Annual 2020 Customer Experience Benchmarking Report that might make you believe that it’s true. 81.6% of businesses surveyed believe that CX offers a competitive edge, but only 14.4% say it forms a crucial part of organization strategy. Ouch!

Use This Pyramid To Increase Customer Loyalty and Grow Your Revenue by Allyssa Munro

(Thrive Global) The higher your product or service is on this pyramid, the more valuable your business is perceived to be.

My Comment: Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a starting point, the author uses the model to assess customer loyalty. Check out this pyramid which shows that the higher the product is on the four levels of the pyramid, the more valuable it is to the customer.

The new guest-centric look of loyalty for hotels by Mitra Sorrells

(PhocusWire) Consumer devotion has become the holy grail of the hospitality industry, and the battle for it is more intense than ever.

My Comment: Just because this article focuses on loyalty in the hospitality (hotel) industry, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it. Lots to learn here. Most companies are concerned about the rising cost of acquisition – not just hotels. The cost of acquiring a new customer is higher than keeping customers that have bought in the past. More than ever, it’s important to not just get new customers, but keep the customers you have.

How The Amazon Effect Impacts Midsize Companies by Shalini Mitha

(Forbes) Customer expectations often come down to one word: instant gratification. Thanks to industry disrupters such as Amazon, consumers have become accustomed to a world where individual needs are met with one-click ordering, faster delivery, and extraordinary customer service.

My Comment: One of the reasons people enjoy doing business with Amazon is they trust them. They know the package is being prepared for shipping, once it ships and even once it is delivered. While the article focuses on medium-size businesses, I can’t imagine any business, large or small, wouldn’t benefit from learning how Amazon does what they do so well. Their key is creating confidence.

6 tips for building an effective customer focus strategy by Hannah Wren

(Zendesk) The good news is that customer focus can be improved. And it starts by deepening your understanding of what customer focus means and building an effective customer focus strategy.

My Comment: Here’s an interesting stat… 80 percent of companies believe they deliver “super experiences,” but their customers disagree… by a lot! Only 8 percent of customers agree with the company’s assessment. Now, that’s a gap – and we must find a way to eliminate – or at least mitigate – this gap and become more customer-focused.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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