Customer Experience 102
In an earlier article, I attempted to define the difference between “Customer Service” and “Customer Experience” (CX).
Many organisations face problems on different levels when it comes to improving customer experience. Among these are the typical attitudes of:
- “We’ve always done it this way...”
- “We’re no worse than the competition!”
- It’ll cost too much…”
None of the above holds water except maybe in organisations that are “monopoly providers” and therefore don’t need to worry as nobody has any choice but to deal with them. Even then, I personally have noticed an improvement in how I’m handled by certain institutions compared with, say, 10 to 20 years ago.
A second level on which organisations find it hard to deliver consistently excellent experiences is their own internal mechanisms. They generally design their processes and systems to suit themselves (and the law (see below). This inward-looking attitude fails to consider that those very processes and systems that the organisation’s staff are so diligently trained to use don’t apply to their customers who aren’t trained at all.
The third level on which the problems arise is that our world is becoming increasingly regulated. Businesses may have to deal with any number of laws regarding confidentiality, transfer of data, provision of certain kinds of service (financial or health for example), advertising standards, product description… the list is endless. If all regulations are obeyed and followed to the letter, no business is likely to be able to deliver excellent customer experience consistently. Yet some manage to do it…
Certain industries, however, almost consistently get a “bad rap”. Among these are financial services, credit cards and telecoms.
Bernoff, Manning and Bodine suggest that every organisation should have a CX programme headed by a Chief Customer Officer (CCO). The job of the latter is to advocate on behalf of customers rather than the business.
Even if we have such a person and program in place, we need to measure its effectiveness. We need feedback of consistent quality and timeliness to know where things need improvement. For this to be successful and result in “high marks”, we need to understand our customers, their needs and how they interact with our business at every possible touch point. There’s no point in having highly trained, highly skilled and excellent frontline staff if back-office workers lack interpersonal skills and empathy!
The benefits of a successful CX programme and happy customers are:
- Happy customers (first and foremost).
- Happy customers buy more.
- Happy customers tell other others about how well we look after them.
- Happy customers are more willing to forgive us when we get it wrong.
- Happy customers will leave us last during hard times and finally…
- Happy customers will return to us first when times improve.
The finance director or CEO who doesn’t see the value of a structured and focused CX program in an organisation that depends on customers buying that organisation’s products or services will be the cause of its ruin.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling, Teamwork
Customer Experience 101
“Customer Service” is usually one of the key training courses on which large organisations send customer facing staff.
Most of the time, this kind of training (depending on which level of worker it’s aimed at) instils the skills of greeting, selling, serving, handling telephone calls and complaints either face-to-face or over the phone.
What comparatively few organisations have yet to grasp is the concept of “Customer Experience” (CX from now on). This concept has been going for some time and encapsulates more how customers feel when they deal with an organisation. In other words, which emotions do they experience?
Many of us can produce “horror stories” of dealings with organisations that, if anything, embedded in us the resolve either to minimise potential dealings with them or better still, not deal with them at all.
Bernoff, Manning and Bodine in their book Outside In examine the entire process of CX. There’s an organisation (the XM Institute) that collects data and organises training, seminars and conferences around the entire topic of customer experience.
One thing that has become clear is that a large part of customer experiences tend towards the “mediocre” level. This means that, if we’re lucky, our customers will come away from having dealt with our organisation feeling what can only be described as “OK…” at Best.
The great news is that it takes comparatively little effort to up our game from “mediocre” to “good”. More’s required to go from “good” to “excellent” and remain at “excellent”. This involves instilling a set of thought processes and mindsets into the very “DNA” of an organisation and its workforce to ensure that, no matter where the customer “touches” the organisation, they’ll find that the product or service was:
- Able to fulfil the need described by the business’ catalogue, brochure or even reputation.
- Easy to use.
- Enjoyable to use.
Now ask yourself, how often can you say truthfully that experiences with various institutions and organisations “ticked” all three boxes? If they ticked 2 out of 3, that’s not good enough and rates as a “low good” if you’re lucky.
What would it take to change it?
Is this happening in your organisation?
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Selling, Teamwork
Don’t Hire Skinny People!
This was the advice given to me by a (no doubt) well-meaning person in one of the markets in which try worked.
A little more research on this word of advice informed me that what they really meant was that “skinny” staff were fine, but they were more prone to falling sick or to exhaustion after stressful events in their lives. This person’s belief was that they lacked the necessary physical stamina to cope which then somehow translated into mental stamina.
Happily, experience shows that it’s not just “skinny” staff who are prone to this. It can happen to anyone of us. Body shape, height or size don’t matter. In fact, if the person is “skinny” because they run marathons, etc, then they’re likely to be far fitter and have more stamina than most of their colleagues (as well as eating more healthily, perhaps)!
It got me thinking though, what other inherent or secret biases may people have? How much can this impact interviews? What about the "wrong school", "overqualified", "lives too far away", and other such "excuses"?
We’re all prone (unfortunately) to inherent and unconscious biases due to the way we were brought up, our family, our education, our culture, the country we live in and so on. Being conscious of these is one thing, ensuring they don’t get in the way of hiring effective people is totally another.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Social
Star Wars
Earlier this year, I attended a 50th anniversary screening of “Star Wars: A New Hope” in Kuala Lumpur. The original was actually released in May 1977 (which technically made this the 49th anniversary but never mind) and I remember going to see it as a 15-year-old with my younger brother at a cinema that no longer exists.
Some may accuse me of being a “nerd” (or worse!) but what was fascinating was how many people of all ages and cultures had gathered for this event. Most, to be fair, were at least in their 20s or 30s and wouldn’t have seen the original, digitally un-enhanced version “back in the day”. What united us all was a love of this incredible “space opera”: the characters we all know and love and some of the most famous lines in sci-fi history (“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”, “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” “That’s no moon, it’s a space station!”).
Some of the audience were in Star Wars costume (I wasn’t, although I did wear a shirt with small prints of one of the spaceships from the franchise).
The film was accompanied by live music by the Malaysia Philharmonic and from the first bars (the “20th Century Fox Fanfare”) to the final credits, all the music we knew and loved from the first film was instantly recognisable and performed flawlessly. At times one couldn’t hear the dialogue as it was drowned out by the orchestra but most of us knew those scenes well enough not to have to worry (and in any case, Malay subtitles were played underneath for those who needed to follow along!).
As we left, I looked around the audience. There were smiles, laughter, shared memories strangers chatting with strangers and general happiness on the faces of people who’d relived memories of their past and had been allowed to forget for a moment what was going on in the current galaxy…
What united us across age groups, nationalities, religions and cultures? Quite simply, an overriding bond of love of “Star Wars”; something that transcended all these boundaries and reminded us all, in the end, of our underlying humanity, sense of fun, childhood (in my case) but also our ability to get together no matter what our differences might be.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Leisure, Social
Missing the Menu
A friend sent me a funny video of an elderly person who went to his local pub for a pint and a pie and, instead of ordering at the bar as he was accustomed to do, was told to “scan the QR code”.
The story’s narrated as a song and proceeds to detail the problems that this gentleman had: an old Nokia “dumb phone” and no ability to log on via QR code. In the end he gives up in disgust and goes home for dinner instead.
Why he chose to go and eat at his local pub instead of with his wife is neither here nor there, but what it does highlight is the trend amongst restaurants to ask patrons to scan a QR code rather than providing a menu. I realise that this may well be okay for the younger “tech savvy’ generations but some of us (me included!) still prefer a “traditional” menu as it’s easier to read than it is on a “smartphone”.
The “traditional” menu allows us to scan multiple dishes at a time and pick the combination that suits best. The downside with many menus viewed on a smart phone is that one may see only one or, at most, two choices at a time.
Result: it takes longer to order and there’s a risk that people may make a mistake or duplicate a dish due to clumsy fingers or other factors.
Some say that the QR process makes things “more efficient”. My question is: “For whom?” For those of us who pay to go out to eat, efficiency is about serving staff who know the menu, can provide advice, repeat one’s order back and can be summoned if things are slow to come or there’s something wrong with the meal. Generally, restaurant staff are still available, but part of the dining experience is interacting with others and this is now being taken away in the interests of “efficiency”.
One has two choices: either accept the inevitability of “technological progress” in what has been until now a social interaction or to patronise only restaurants that offer a “physical” menu, provide working experience to young people whilst teaching them customer service and other life skills.
Another option for restaurants might be to have boards on which favourite or best-selling dishes are displayed for those who don’t want to use technology. Not only would it retain business, but it would also help shift popular dishes or even “low-moving” ones if the restaurant so wished!
Question: is going out to eat a social experience for diners and restaurant staff or is it becoming a “commodity” where diners go in, eat, and leave in the shortest possible time?
Are we, in our efforts to make our businesses or staff more “efficient”, driving our best customers away?
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Selling, Social
Stop the Scripts?
It seems increasingly that the operators in Help or Call Centres are being obliged to follow a set script when dealing with customers.
This may be to ensure that they don’t say anything that might compromise their employer; hence no deviation from the “approved wording”.
The flip side is that this makes customer interactions longer than necessary. For customers whose time may be limited, the process of allowing the “conversation” to run its course can be frustrating and result (as it has for me!) in loss of patience as some poor operator is obliged to read out pages of legalese, statutory warnings or cautions.
It’s not their fault. If they don’t do it, they could land their employer in trouble. The world is becoming more regulated and proscriptive (no pun intended) at the expense of satisfactory customer experiences.
Some businesses may have no choice (particularly in the financial services sector where a slip could cost an institution millions). There must come a time, however, when the customer’s needs matter more than potential corporate liability.
Equally, if the problem in question doesn’t fall under the “standard script”, operators are often left not knowing what to do. This is especially the case where there seems to be no escalation procedure for them to hand the customer over to a more experienced colleague (although in some cases I believe this is improving).
What’s the solution? First of all, if we can, hire staff with the right “qualifications”. Yes, they may be more expensive, but in the long run if there’s increased customer satisfaction when dealing with our businesses, isn’t that worth it?
Another solution might be to provide proper training on call handling rather than simply putting them at a desk with a phone. I suspect this does happen, but that the training simply involves using the “approved scripts”.
I’m sure some people will suggest that AI is the way to go. In the future, it may well be but at present my experience of AI “chatbot” is uniformly poor. The AI needs to be trained a lot more before it can successfully handle a customer interaction, especially in cases where escalation is needed.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Selling, Strategy
I Dumped the Games
Since I got my first Apple device (an iPod Touch) in 2011, I’ve always had some kind of game or games on my iPhone and tablet.
These were normally the more cerebral or strategy games, not Mario Kart, Candy Crush Saga, Grand Theft Auto, etc and I enjoyed playing them. From time to time, I tried out new games (Sudoku and different variations of Solitaire) but I found that I grew tired of them at an increasingly rapid pace.
So, this year, without making any New Year’s Resolution, I ditched my games. The result was interesting to say the least. I suddenly found that I had more time on my hands. My ToDo list began to shrink. I actually started to plan a lot more and in a lot more detail. I read.
I come from “that generation” who didn’t grow up with smart devices as the current Gen. Z, Alphas and now Betas are. I didn’t have to undergo the “withdrawal symptoms” that teenagers in some countries are feeling now as their governments ban social media accounts for under 16s or under 13s as they deem appropriate.
When my generation wanted diversion, we read books (paper ones), went outside and played with our siblings or friends if we lived in a neighbourhood (of course, it was safer at that time). We drew things, we played with that wonderful toy Lego, inventing aeroplanes, space ships and anything else that caught our imagination.
We developed the ability to think and create. There’s now some concern that technology (especially with the advent of AI) is destroying the human creative genius. Whether that’s the case or not, I don’t know. However, if Hollywood’s anything to go by, there are fewer “original” films being produced and what we’re seeing now are mostly “reboots” of films produced in the 70s and 80s before CGI became as advanced as it is.
Back to what I was saying: I don’t miss the games. They’re still sitting there on my iPhone and iPad, but if I make it through to the end of this year without touching them, I’m deleting them altogether. I think this’ll probably make me a more thoughtful and productive person (at least I hope so!)
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Leisure, Productivity
