We are in the “Age of the Customer” – a time where service is the key to customer engagement and will lead an organization’s ability to differentiate themselves. Your customers, at any given time, are in one of the four stages of engagement: try, buy, repeat and refer. Imagine that each stage is floating around your business in a bubble. One wrong move by an employee could burst that bubble and break the chain of engagement - permanently.
Take a look at the video below created by a local Florida news station who conducted their own research project focused on customer service and employee engagement – or lack thereof.
It’s a bit shocking to say the least. However, as consumers, each of us has experienced this at one time or another. Perhaps I am sharing too much here by confessing that on one particular occasion, I might have thrown up my arms and, in a voice loud enough for everyone in the store to hear, shouted, “Hey, does anyone work here?!” Of course, it was ill-mannered, but it wasn’t my fault! I blame it on my instinct to cry out for help during an episode of hysterical blindness due to the lack of service. Nevertheless, I was pricked by the “porcupine” of poor customer engagement. The chain was broken permanently for me, and I now avoid this retailer at all costs, even if it means I have to spend more money on the same product elsewhere.
How to Avoid Puncture Wounds
Not to worry. There are methods that can help avert disaster and protect the fragile stages of engagement and not allow porcupines to go rogue in your organization.
1. Discern and understand the behaviors that drive positive brand perception in your industry.
Learn from your customers. Ask them about their perceptions of your brand, your customer service execution, your strengths and your weaknesses.
Learn from your competitors. Find out what behaviors they exhibit that have their current customers hooked or not so hooked.
2. Take what you have learned and address your team. Focus on culture, culture, culture!
Leadership is tricky. What’s particularly challenging is ensuring that employees consistently deliver on the corporate brand promise.
- Leaders today need to set a clear and well-articulated vision for employees. Be able to answer the question that is burning in their minds on a daily basis as they switch from task to task: “What is this all for?”
- Make sure that employees believe in the message and take the steps necessary to ensure that the message is cohesive and appropriately communicated to all staff. Everyone must be on board – preferably the same ship!
- Train staff to thoroughly understand their roles, and how they contribute to corporate objectives.
- In addition, provide them with a clear road map of how to execute well and how to get an “A”.
- Most importantly, empower your employees! Give them the license to translate their training into real day-to-day actions that, in the simplest terms, make happy customers and create positive memories that create a customer for life.
Take a look at the video below to see a company that is truly an artisan of culture and customer engagement.
3. Measure and adjust when necessary.
Great customer engagement is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires continual measurement of operational standards against what is actually happening on the floor, on the phone, or on the web, and how it’s all affecting customer perceptions.
It is not enough to do steps 1 and 2 and then abandon measurement. The difference between “mediocre” and “amazing” is a leadership team that measures, analyzes and adjusts when necessary to ensure standards are met or exceeded. It is important to remember that just because something works within one set of circumstances doesn’t necessarily mean it will continue to work as the landscape evolves. Spoiler alert – more often than not, it doesn’t, but that’s what keeps the game exciting!
From Prickly to Pashmina: It’s all about the Customer Experience
Completely bypass the pitfall of a commodity-based strategy. Providing premier customer service and creating a culture of superior customer engagement is above any price-focused initiative. Your customers will find the product they want. That’s a given. It’s up to you to develop the emotional connection with your brand that keeps them coming back to you.
