Engineering the Customer Experience
If you are working with people whose values do not align with your own, especially with regard to customer care, then your firm’s overall customer experience will be compromised, and dangerously inconsistent at best.
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It’s often wise to catch yourself and follow the W.A.I.T. acronym = Why am I talking?
Monologue or dialogue? Presentation, facilitation, or conversation? Interaction or transaction?
Engagement via interactivity wins the day … and will ultimately win you more customers and clients.
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Let’s say you’re inviting your employees to get creative with customer service innovations and you undoubtedly approve of their awesome ideas. If you don’t support the follow through, accountability, and ultimate implementation of their ideas, then you’re at risk of having your best employees become jaded.
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Listen to your customers fully. Hear them out. Ask questions. This is a lot more effective than interrupting and/or assuming you know what they’re going to say. Let them feel heard.
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“The customer doesn’t have to tell you what went wrong — they can simply walk away — so it’s a gift when they take the time to tell you what they didn’t like.”
-Janelle Barlow
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Many companies use customer surveys to manage their weaknesses. But your customers are also able to express to you what you’re doing well. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to strengthen your strengths.
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When listing client testimonials, be sure to use the client’s full name, title and company (with their permission, of course). John D. may really exist, but many people will wonder … or at least be distracted by the fact that his last name wasn’t included.
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When addressing an upset customer/client in writing — especially in an online forum (Yelp, Google Reviews, etc.) — it’s important to respond rather than react. Get a 3rd-party (unbiased) opinion of your response and never post anything you wouldn’t feel comfortable seeing on the front page of your national newspaper. And certainly do not come from a place of defensiveness; reactivity. Be sure to honor the customer’s concern and thank them for the feedback.
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It’s great to include YouTube videos, relevant links, 3rd-party articles, partner/affiliate links, etc. on your web site. It’s not great, however, to invite customers to completely exit your site from these links. Unless you have all links (simply) coded by your web builder/designer to “Open in new window (or tab),” you are sending your visitors away.
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“The trust that a customer has in your company and in you strongly outweighs the techniques you use to sell. Establishing trust is better than any sales technique.”
-Mike Puglia, VP of Marketing at TimeTrade
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