The Heart And Core Of Super Customer Experience

by Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach and President CAS, Inc.

reposted with permission from http://katenasser.com/

At the core of super customer service and customer experience is the heart of any company and its employees. When the company operates from its heart to the heart of the customer, it is likely to deliver in an outstanding way.

Then why aren’t there more instances of super customer experience? In this National Customer Service Week 2012, it’s a question worth exploring.

How can we ensure that customer care radiates during every moment of the customer experience?

The Heart & Core of Super Customer Experience Image by: Helen

Image by: Helen K via Creative Commons License
The Heart & Core of Super Customer Experience
When customer care consistently radiates from, in, and through every customer experience, it closes the gap between the customer and the company; it strengthens the bond of trust and builds loyalty. Keep customer care beaming …

• Outside In Not Inside Out. Think of the customer’s view at every moment from design of products and services to the sales and follow-up care. What will their reaction be? Let this approach guide all your design efforts. Let it shape your redesigns to keep pace with a changing customer demographic. Remember, the customer experience is from the outside in to your company — not from the inside out!

• Inspire Employees to Care Before You Train Them to Smile. When employees care about your customers, they build the brand through memorable moments. When you inspire that caring, authentic smiles appear from their hearts. An authentic smile changes everything for it draws the customer back for another helping of your brand of care.

• Clear the Fog and Open the Doors. Confusion breeds discontent and customers see it as another sign that you don’t care. Review and improve every communication, documentation, and design cue from the customer’s perspective. Then provide easy access for any questions that occur due to system glitches, unpredictable customer demographic variation, and randomly occurring problems. Many bad customer experiences start with confusion and end with the blocks and hurdles to easy answers. Count the number of hurdles you ask customers to jump through and you will find the spots they jump ship.True story: I recently received a duplicate bill for my mortgage very close to the due date. I was worried they hadn’t received my check. The duplicate bill also had many other pages enclosed and I had no idea what this was about. When I called to get a quick answer, I was trapped in a poorly designed telephone menu (VRU) that had no escape button to get directly to an agent. My stress and anger increased. I didn’t need confusion and an unintelligent VRU blocking my access. When I finally got to an agent, she confirmed they had received my mortgage payment. She said duplicate statements had been sent out in error. Then she said: “Oh, by the way, you are eligible for a home equity loan.” (That’s what all the other pages were about.)Well if I wanted a home equity loan, I wouldn’t give them my business. They confuse me with their mistake, make it difficult for me to clear up the problem, and then try to sell me something. They are selfish, self-absorbed, greedy, and uncaring. Customer experience and trust score: 0!
• Close the Gates of Service Hell and Open the Portals of Hope. Turn a droning procedure-driven customer experience into an uplifting memorable moment. For example, if you want to sell home equity loans to current mortgage customers, don’t trap them in call queue to listen to pre-recorded interest rates. Deliver care-filled messages that tap their desires and fulfill their needs with your best offer.

• Let Them See You Are Willing to Sweat, If Necessary. Most every customer knows that problems will arise. That’s life. The question is, who will sweat it out — you or the customers? Sure the best service should seem easy and seamless to the customers. Yet when a problem occurs, watch the customer loyalty soar as you work hard to recover. It’s a trust builder for it beams out “we care”.

The heart and core of customer experience finds the source of the customer’s concerns and needs before it delivers a solution.

It connects to the customers’ request for care through the spirit as well as the tangible actions. It leaves the customer better off after than they were before.

It heals, satisfies, and transforms the moment into something more than a successful transaction.

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

©2012 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. If you want to re-post or republish this post, please email [email protected]. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach and President CAS, Inc., delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. For 23 years she has turned interaction obstacles into business success.