A Tale of Two (Well, Three) Customer Experiences: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

By Erica Marois

Two years ago, after an 18-month stint as Connecticut residents, my husband and I boxed up our belongings and made the journey back down south, landing in Richmond, VA. Unlike our move to Connecticut, we hit the road with significantly fewer belongings. If you’ve ever lived in New England, you might be able to guess why. The cost of living is high, and the closet space in the beautiful historic buildings tends to be rather sparse.

Fast-forward a year, and we were ready to move into our newly built home in Virginia. There was just one problem; because we downsized in Connecticut, we suddenly found ourselves in need a ton of new furniture to fill up the bigger space. Now, as much as I love to watch HGTV and daydream about decorating, I’ve never particularly enjoyed shopping for furniture. Mainly, for two reasons. One: furniture is expensive! Two: I’ve had so many bad experiences buying furniture over the years--from poor quality to poor service to nightmare deliveries and high-pressure sales staff. To me, furniture shopping is about as enjoyable as car shopping.

Alas, we needed a new sectional and new bedroom set, so we set out on a quest to find the perfect pieces for our new home. Did we get what we needed? Ultimately, yes. But the journey there was complex. We encountered a tale of two, then three, customer experiences. Whether you work in retail or not, the stark contrasts between these stores offer a few lessons worth gleaning.

A Tale of Two (and Then Three) Customer Experiences

Several months ago, motivated by a closet organization spree, my husband and I set out to find a new set of dressers for our bedroom. The set we had was just too small. Remembering a browsing excursion we’d taken a few weeks earlier, I suggested we head to Haverty’s to check out their options. The last time we’d gone there, I thought their selection was impressive, and the store was nice and clean.

When we walked through the door, a kind gentleman named Bert greeted us. He asked us what we were looking for, pointed us in the right direction, and let us loose to browse without interruption. Pretty quickly, we found a set we both loved, and Bert helped us place the order. He explained the payment options in detail, went over warranties, and made friendly conversation while we waited for some of the back office folks to complete their paperwork. It was a pleasant and no-hassle interaction, which I appreciated. To make it even better, Bert let us know that we could have the set delivered to our home just two days later, and we would receive SMS updates on the day of delivery, including a custom link we could use to track the delivery drivers in real-time to find out exactly when they’d be arriving. Furniture stores are notoriously bad about giving you vague delivery windows, so this shocked me. I’ve spent many a day waiting for deliveries that never showed up at the promised time. I was cautiously optimistic that this would be different.

Luckily, it was. The day before our delivery, I received a text letting me know that our furniture would arrive between 4:00 & 6:00 the next day. As promised, I got access to a link I could use to track the delivery team on their route--I could see that they had nine deliveries scheduled ahead of ours, and I could even see the other zip codes in which they’d be making stops.

At 3:00 on delivery day, I got a text letting me know that the drivers encountered a delay at the stop before ours, so it looked like our delivery would be closer to 6:00 than 4:00. I appreciated the proactive update! By 6:30, everything was in its place and drivers were on their way.

All in all, we couldn’t have been more pleased. Not only do we love the new furniture, but we appreciated how easy and transparent the entire process was. And as a pleasant surprise, we received an email from Bert a few months later--he wanted to check in and make sure we were still enjoying our furniture.  Ironically enough, that email came just as we were dealing with a very different experience involving one of Haverty’s local competitors.

Customer-Centricity at the Competition? More Like Customer-Chaos

Four or five months after we bought our bedroom furniture, we realized new living room furniture was the next priority. With family coming to visit for the holidays, we wanted more seating. While I loved the experience at Haverty’s, they didn’t have the size sectional I wanted at I price that I could stomach, so I was open to looking elsewhere for a good bargain on an oversized sectional. After being lured by some convincing TV ads, we stopped by a local chain to see if their holiday deals were as enticing as advertising.

After “winning” 20% off our purchase at their one-day sale event, we decided to go ahead and buy a gloriously soft, cozy, and spacious sectional. While they didn’t currently have the one we wanted in stock, our salesperson assured us that they were expecting one to arrive any day, and said he thought we could have it delivered within the next week.

A week passed. We didn’t receive a phone call. I finally decided to call the store after Christmas to see if I could get an ETA on delivery. The customer service representative let me know that our sectional had arrived over the holidays and she went ahead and set up a delivery time for four days later. I was excited!

Fast forward to the day before delivery. My phone rings, and I see it’s the furniture store. I’m expecting that they’re calling to give me my delivery window, but instead, they called to tell me that they discovered our sectional was damaged, so they needed to reorder and reschedule our delivery. At this point, I was starting to get annoyed, but I also appreciated that they didn’t send us a defective product. Unfortunately, from here, things just spiraled more and more out of control. I never got a call back to give me an update. After another week of no word from our salesperson, I called the store again, and this time a manager told me they wouldn’t have another sectional in for at least six weeks. She did offer to refund the delivery fee, so I decided to wait it out.

Six weeks, then seven weeks later, we never heard from anyone at the store. We called three times, and could never get a straight answer. Each person we talked to tried to pass the buck to someone else. Finally, one of the managers told me they had no idea if or when our furniture would arrive. After a visit to the store, and a few more frustrating phone calls, we finally canceled our purchase and got a refund. To me, the most frustrating part of the ordeal was the lack of proactive communication, or really any communication at all. And ironically, this company is now running an aggressive TV ad campaign touting its focus on customer experience.

Rooms to Go for the Steal

The weekend after we got our refund on the sectional that never arrived, we decided to stop by Rooms to Go, just to browse. I’ll be honest, I had a few mediocre experiences with them in the past, so my expectations were low. Much to my delight, the shopping experience was low-pressure, pleasant, and incredibly easy. As soon as we walked in, a friendly salesperson named L.T. greeted us, explained their current sales, and then left us alone to browse. My husband and I were debating between two sets, and we asked for his opinion. He offered up his thoughts, and we got to chatting for a bit. When we were ready to check out, he used his iPad to tell us exactly when he could get the new sectional to our home. Much to our delight, he said us we’d have it within 48 hours. And guess what? We did! The delivery team was incredibly courteous and professional, and we love our new furniture.

The icing on the cake? Two weeks later, we received this note from L.T. in the mail.

Bringing It All Together

I didn’t write this post to vent or shame (in fact, that’s why I never revealed the name of the second store). Instead, I hope this real-life example serves to illustrate that customer experience really does trump price; and if you’re going to market your products on the basis of customer experience, you better be able to back it up. Like it or not, the experience that other brands deliver impacts the expectations that customers have for your company. What can you do you to make sure you don’t fall short? What could furniture store number two have done to deliver better service?

Here are two quick tips:

1. Keep your promises! If you can’t, be transparent about why, and offer an alternative. I’m not an unreasonable person. I understand that things go wrong--and sometimes it’s nobody’s fault. However, as service professionals, we have to be creative problem-solvers. Furniture store number two could have found a way to keep their promise: they could have offered to give us the floor model (which they clearly had in stock) at a discount. They could have offered to have us pick another sectional that they knew they could deliver within a reasonable timeframe. Rather than trying to work out another solution, they chose to ignore that there was even a problem in the first place.
2. Communicate proactively! Don’t make your customers reach out to you for updates. This one seems like a no-brainer, but plenty of brands still struggle to do this effectively. The good news? You don’t necessarily need any fancy or expensive software to keep customers in the loop. Free email marketing services like Mail Chimp are an excellent solution for small businesses or budget-strapped teams. Setup automated emails to let customers know what’s going on with their order, what to expect next, or how to reach out with a question/issue. Or, utilize simple calendar reminders. Have a customer order that’s set to go out next week, but you don’t yet have an ETA? Setup a reminder to take the 5 minutes to check for an update and provide the customer with more information before that week is over.

What advice would you add to the mix? How would you have handled things differently? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! For more insights on meeting customer expectations, check out this useful advice from Brad Cleveland.

Erica is the Content Manager at ICMI, an Informa PLC company that helps business elevate the customer experience through training, events, consulting and information resources. A passionate connector of people, Erica is a customer and employee experience enthusiast who loves helping others find unique solutions to their biggest challenges. Outside of her day job, she's also a community organizer for CX Accelerator.

You can connect with her on Twitter and join her on Tuesdays at 1:00 ET for #ICMIchat.

 
 

12 Practical Steps to Achieving Customer Satisfaction

As we enter the Christmas season, our awareness and desire to help others increases.   That can be helping those in need, donating our time and/or money, or being a little more kind to others. When we are help one another, not only does it make us feel good, it is encouragement for the recipient. 

For customer service professionals, helping others, is what we do throughout the year. The challenge is to do so in ways that transcend the profession of customer service. Customers are people. It's easy to lose sight of that when you are focused on meeting objectives, analyzing data, or looking for ways to improve. At some point, the customer can become secondary to the service. 

With that in mind, and in the spirit of Christmas, let’s take a look at 12 steps that help ensure you are providing excellent service, and a high level of customer satisfaction. This isn't an exhaustive list, nor is it the result of extensive research. These are things I incorporate as a leader, to ensure people are always my highest priority.

12 Practical Steps to Achieving Customer Satisfaction

1. Treat customers as you would treat yourself
2. Always respect customers
3. Going above and beyond, should be the norm
4. Keep your promises
5. Be an advocate for customers
6. Be personable
7. Make it easy for customers to do business with you
8. Anticipate the needs of your customers
9. Listen to understand, and to be helpful
10. Be honest
11. Tell the truth, always
12. The above, must first be given to your employees

Is there something you'd like to include? Please leave a comment. I am always eager to try an approach that works.

I have over 15 years of progressive customer service leadership experience in the public, private and government sectors. I have led or consulted contact centers of various sizes across numerous industries. Additionally, I’ve implemented new technology and products, while maintaining award-winning contact centers.

Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Amazing Service Begins With Engaged Leaders

By Sean Hawkins

Providing excellent service to customers is not as hard as we make it seem. However, it takes commitment, diligence and lots of effort to do it well. In simplest form, excellent service is the result of treating customers with courtesy and respect. Treat them like people first, with an empathetic and sympathetic approach, and you are on the path towards success. Unfortunately, in the business world, we may lose sight of that.

If the process of doing business leads to unsatisfied customers, it is time to reevaluate how business is done. Companies are competing for the same customer, and if all things are equal, service is usually a deciding factor for the consumer. As service leaders, you must evaluate how you're doing business. That begins with your customer facing teams. How can you help your team provide great service?

Review Processes
Exceptional service allows agents to offer immediate solutions without getting bogged down in processes or policy. This leads to happy, loyal customers. In turn, your contact center will see an improvement with CSAT. Removing barriers that prevent exceptional customer service will lead to a more engaged service center. I make it practice of regularly reviewing processes, policies and procedures impacting our customers and agents. As business needs change, policies should be reviewed and updated if necessary.

Employee feedback
I’ve yet to work with anyone, who enjoys denying customer requests. On the contrary, they have a desire to satisfy them. Team members have often requested that they be allowed to offer a good will credit to customers. This request was due to their willingness to go beyond good service to amazing service. They knew that random acts of kindness made customers happy.

This empowered them, and made them feel a part of the decision-making process. They had ownership! Upon implementation, we were able to see how this directly impacted customer and agent satisfaction.

Manager Buy-in
I’ve always treated my team as customers. In my opinion, showing them what great service looks like, is more impactful than telling them. When they see those fundamental service principles in their leaders, they will emulate it amongst one another and customers. Leadership must be committed to improving and should regularly attend training, seminars and conferences.

Front line supervisors, leads and managers are a great source for ideas- one of the best IMO. Allowing them freedom to develop CX initiatives will ensure they are customer focused and invested in organizational goals.

I recommend leadership review customer feedback, customer satisfaction surveys, and other Voice of Customer data, as a team. Doing so ensures everyone is aware of the group's performance, problems can be identified and discussed, and new ideas can be presented to the group.

Next Steps

Below are 4 steps you can implement immediately, to help you get closer to achieving customer service excellence.

• Empower agents- solicit and accept feedback, and include them in the decision-making process when possible.
• Be transparent- provide clear, honest and effective communication. Be prepared to answer the tough questions and explain why decisions are being made.
• Be accessible- make time for your staff, walk the office spaces, and have an open door policy.
• Be attentive- actively listen to your staff, learn more about them, and be mindful of things that are important to them.

These suggestions can be easily implemented, are quick wins, and address some core areas of customer experience. To be honest, you should currently be doing these things! With consistency, effort, and diligence, I’m convinced these steps will set you on the right path, and improve your service department. It's worth mentioning, you can't achieve and sustain a great service culture, without 1st creating a great workplace culture.

_____________________________________________________________________________

I have over 15 years of progressive customer service leadership experience in the public, private and government sectors. I have led or consulted contact centers of various sizes across numerous industries. Additionally, I’ve implemented new technology and products, while maintaining award-winning contact centers. 

Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Customer Irritation Erodes the Experience You Deliver

I was recently at a business conference at a highly regarded venue. The presenter was wonderful and provided lots of strategies, techniques, and solutions for those in attendance. Participants walked away with a wealth of knowledge and takeaways ready to implement in their companies.

The food was great. The venue provided a light breakfast, delicious lunches, snacks, and a wide variety of sodas and water.

One thing that was a surprise to everyone was the renovation taking place on a grand scale. However, the venue did a remarkable job with signage to direct parking and where to enter the main building.

Upon the conclusion as everyone was walking out to their cars, I overheard several conversations focusing on two extreme irritations during the conference...

1. Access to the provided WiFi was impossible. While everyone could select the WiFi network and was taken to the login screen... everything froze from that point on. The screens simply didn't progress past the login screen, regardless of network carrier. And because the conference room was in the lower levels, we all transitioned between no network, 3G, and LTE random.

The irritation was that WiFi was presented as an option, accessed to the login screen... and then left everyone hanging. Several attendees mentioned that it would have felt better to them had it not been offered as an option at all.

As a result, one of the people at my table lost all of his notes he took on his computer. Apparently he was in LTE mode when accessing the online program, yet because of the inconsistency of network connection in the room without WiFi, his notes were lost as soon as he turned off his computer.

2. The room temperature was freezing 90% of the time. As in - I'm sure the aging process was slowed dramatically for those in the room during those two days. I know HVAC is a challenge in most buildings, but it is something that impacts the ability for participants to fully engage in an event. When folks are too hot or cold and the temperature passes their comfort threshold, they become distracted looking for ways to become more comfortable.

The interesting thing was that some of the attendees went to a local restaurant at the conclusion of the first day's curriculum and the temperature in the restaurant was so cold that a few folks went to their cars to grab sweaters and jackets. Someone even brought out a blanket from their car to use in the restaurant. When this was discussed at our table the next morning, one of my table mates said "If you managed a restaurant, wouldn't you make absolutely everything would be done to keep people comfortable so they could enjoy their meal? It was crazy cold." No one mentioned the food, the conversation, only the temperature.

The point... the conference content was wonderful. But when asked about the venue, most everyone mentioned the WiFi and temperature without mentioning the renovation challenge or the beautiful gardens that surround the building itself, the great food, or the nice room.

When this company hosts another conference, I wonder if they will consider holding it somewhere else because of the irritations listed above. These examples may not be deal breakers in your mind. The point is that they both caused extreme irritation for everyone in the room. One of the main drivers of customer defection is irritation. When customers experience frustration and irritation with a company, they begin to look elsewhere.

Where do your customers possibly experience irritation and frustration when working with your company? Is it hold times on calls, delays in email responses, set time expectations for resolution not met, not having a main or consistent point person to handle their account so they feel like a first time customer every time they contact you? Do business with your own company. Experience what your customers experience. See what irritates or frustrates you. If you notice it, your customers will too.

Are you willing to risk losing customers to irritations that could be eliminated or reduced? If you truly are committed to improving your Customer Experience, take an objective look at what your customers see and feel.

Article reposted with permission of author

Kristina Evey | Ever feel that you're just one win away from a major tipping point that will help you and your business stand out as the top tier in your industry? I create that "win" for motivated C-Suite and Leadership teams. I'm a Customer Experience Strategist who loves to help Leadership Teams demystify the process of shifting operational and business priorities to the customer perspective and seeing revenue increase. I like seeing the "A-Ha!" moments at the C-Suite level when they realize how simple changes make huge impacts both internally and externally. I help B2B companies build strong connections with their customers by engaging at all levels to consistently deliver unexpected and amazing experiences customers are so delighted with that price becomes irrelevant.

Connect: LinkedIn | Twitter

Workforce Management's Impact on Customer Service

Workforce Management drives CX

A biker friend of mine recommended a book to me called “Freedom” written by Sonny Barger – yes “that” Sonny Barger – a founding member and former Oakland Chapter President of the Hell’s Angels.  It took me about six miles, in one session, on the treadmill to read the book filled with Sonny’s rules for life.  Some of the bits resonated with me – others did not.  This bit speaks to me in the context of customer experience:

“Treat me good, I’ll treat you better, treat me bad and I’ll treat you worse”

Customers don’t really want to be amazed or have their hair blown back – just helped. They want the product they want/need, their problem solved, or their question answered.  They want those things done with common courtesy and respect.  Treat them good – they will do business with you, treat them bad – they will do business with someone else.

The Workforce Management function has many customers – the external customers, agents, business managers, finance, marketing…  Success is in finding the balance of forecasting and scheduling “Human Resources” to assist the external customers when they want assistance.

Have them at “Hello!” 
When callers negotiate the IVR and determine that human intervention is what they need, the distance between the IVR and the agent is significantly influenced by the efficacy of the Workforce Management team. When callers wait “too long” they become frustrated and they don’t feel valued.  Those feelings set the tone for the human interaction and inform the customer experience. 

Create consistency! 
Service level measures the % of calls answered in a # of seconds.  Some businesses require a speedy answer – think 911 and OnStar – where an immediate response is critical. Aside from that, speed is linked to cost and not to customer satisfaction. I tend to favor that sweet spot in the range of 80-90% answered in 45-60 seconds.  Most callers will not be bothered by waits of less than a minute – provided the quality of service is good. This range of service level goal improves queue throughput, significantly lowers staffing costs, and improves the ability to provide a consistent level of speed of answer.
 
Communication is key! 
Business people and marketing teams can craft amazing campaigns that result in strong responses and take rates. If the communication link between them and the Workforce team is not in place – the efforts will result in burying the call center in call traffic with no one to answer the phone.  You must answer the phone to provide the service or close the sale.

Hire the right Workforce Team!
There are certain skills in most job descriptions for Workforce jobs – a conglomeration of technical and analytical requirements. The intent is to produce a purveyor of data and algorithms to yield a highly efficient forecast and scheduling plan. Follow that simple formula and you will likely fail.  The right candidate must understand the people perspective – from external customer to agent; that an efficient Workforce plan must consider the customer experience and employee engagement as critical success factors, that embracing abundance means that everyone in the process wins.

Support your frontline agents!
Forecast to allow for vacation time off approvals – it will reduce unplanned absenteeism, calm stress, and improve employee engagement.  Allow agents the opportunity to plan for time off well in advance of the dates they are requesting.  Schedule to support work/life balance – offer flex shifts and lunch lengths, where possible.  Allow shift trades to give more flexibility.  Automate your processes – so they don’t have to find a supervisor or manager, tell their story of why they want time off, and await judgement. Forecast and plan such that they can use the time off they have earned to play, rest, and recharge – after all, they earned it. Treat them good – they’ll treat the customers better!

Debra Bentson has spent most of her career in Contact Centers with an emphasis on building and leading Workforce Management teams. Her leadership style balances structure, empowerment, accountability, results, and fun. She is a member of the NCCCA (Nor-Cal Contact Center Association) Steering Committee and an ASUGA (Aspect Software Users Group Association) board member. Dr. Bentson is a member of the DNF (Did Not Finish) crew at the Antioch CA Speedway – push starting sprint cars, clearing wrecks, and supporting track safety.

Dr. Bentson follows this simple prescription for life: "Work and play, laugh loud and often, be safe and strong, and live on your own terms". Connect: LinkedIn | Twitter

Empathy, and the Recipe for Chocolate Cake

Once upon a time, (isn’t that how they always start), a young woman took a leap, and accepted a position in a customer service role. This is a new adventure, how exciting!!

The young woman had no experience in customer service, but was up for the challenge. She thought should could figure it out. She could talk to anyone; how hard could this be? I mean, they are just people, right? Friends had always told her she could talk to anyone, she was an expert in her previous field, and she wasn’t afraid of anything,

She had a new team to work with, and colleagues with different skill sets. They all seemed like they knew what they were doing. She plugged in her headset and started her day.

Things are going well. "How can I help you?" "Can you please tell me what happened?" "Thank you for calling! I am happy to have helped you!" It seemed like a breeze. Day one done.

Day two, started out the same, until the call came in, that she wasn’t prepared for. "How can I help you?" The reply was simple, “I am not sure you can.” Really?

"Can you please tell me what happened?"

The customer stated, "I have a huge problem. Your office told me that I wouldn’t have to enter in all of this data. I can’t believe all of this happened! I am so mad, and I need to talk to someone who can help me!"

She is having a moment of crisis. Could I help her? Do I know what happened? What did she say she needed on her previous calls? What did we tell her? When did this happen?

Realizing the woman on the phone was mad already, and asking her to hold could only irritate her more, she  was focused on diffusing the situation and finding out what happened. How can she make this better? How can she make this right?

Things aren’t going well. She is trying to listen, trying to research, and trying to figure out how this went so horribly wrong.

Many thoughts came to mind. "Where do I look to find this?"  "Who can help me, help her?"  "Did she make the mistake?"  Then, she remembered something her colleague said to her at lunch, "if you list it out, you willl figure it out."

So, she had the customer start from the beginning, to understand how this happened. She assured the customer that she'd make things right.

The customer took her back to the beginning. She went back to when she didn’t understand what needed to happen, back to when she called the service team to make sure she was doing the right thing.

The service agent was able to list it out, step by step, documenting each situation while the customer was explaining. During this process, while she was listening to the customer, she felt empathy.

In that moment, "I know how to talk to people, or I’m excited about the new opportunity", didn't matter.  It was upsetting, being in this position. "How would I feel if it was me?" "Who would help me, after I called several times before?" Does anyone  in this organization care?"

In those moments, when don’t have the right information, directions, and resources, things can escalate out of control. You have the wrong ingredients.

Give you staff the recipe for success:

1. Train them in the details
2. Address their concerns
3. Give them resources
4. Do the right thing
5. Be human
6. Utilize empathy and sympathy
7. Actively listen 
8. Be available, be present, be real
9. Empower your staff to make the BEST decisions for customers

In the end, the above story worked out. I'm sure by this point, your are wondering about the chocolate cake. Well, I needed something to keep your attention.

I love what I do. I love my industry. I love the long hours and weekend set ups, concrete floors to flights of fancy, coffee runs and changes on the fly. My goal: delivering client needs on budget, and on time.

Connect: LinkedIn | Twitter 

B2B Customer Experience: All Hands on Deck

Consumers have the power, everyone is an influencer, and consistently delivering exceptional customer experience is critical to event success. And as the B2B vs B2C playing field has leveled, buyers expect consumer centric experiences across the board.

I've certainly had some great interactions from brands that are clearly customer obsessed. Amazon has a fantastic turnkey return policy, AMEX overnights cards, Chase Bank fraud protection has zero friction, but I also think back to one of my first jobs as a cashier at the Ace Hardware in Fargo, ND. There are a few things I'll never forget from our training: 

1. Greet every single person who walks in with eye contact and a smile.
2. When customers say thank you, rather than responding with "you're welcome" say "No, thank you. It's truly my pleasure."
3. When someone asks what aisle a product is in, walk them to it personally as opposed to just telling them the aisle number.
4. If there is a long line at the register, acknowledge what's happening. Make eye contact with all of the people in line and say "We'll get someone up here to help as fast as possible. Thank you so much for being here and for being so patient."

And here’s the thing – as a B2B event marketer, I still apply this advice.

Greet clients: Perhaps this means live chat instead of gated forms enabling a real time information exchange.

Say "Thank you": How are we working with customer success to ensure surprise/delight and retention programs have the right tone?

Walk with clients: Digitally, are you ensuring a smooth customer journey to relevant information? And onsite at events, do walk with clients as that added touch.

Acknowledge customers: Brands don’t always get it right but addressing pain points in earnest ways makes relationships more human and meaningful.

With the amplification of social and more market choices than ever, it’s important to remember that customer experience is most successful when all departments contribute.

Kathryn Frankson is a B2B event sales and marketing professional at UBM. A believer that 2018 communication means knowing how to get the markets attention through thumb stopping content, audience development and storytelling, she executes sales and marketing strategies in the catering, special event, cruise shipping and pharmaceutical space.

Connect: LinkedIn

"Follow the Leader", Featuring Mike Aoki

What do you think is overlooked by contact center leadership, that hinders their customer retention efforts?

Customer retention is a relationship rather than an event!

Too much emphasis is placed on "saving" customers. That is like waiting until the end of a romantic relationship to tell someone you love them. By then it is too late. Minor frustrations, unfilled needs and finally a "trigger" event cause a breakup.

"EVERY customer contact is a retention opportunity!" Train your agents to look for ways to improve customer experience on every interaction. How can you add value? Look for opportunities to help. For instance, suggest automatic renewals, so customers avoid service interruptions. Offer paperless billing to save the environment and make record keeping easier for customers. Make your customers feel valued. Make it easy for them to stay loyal.

In addition, look for opportunities to add positive emotion during customer interactions. Apologize when appropriate. Be gracious. Use friendly, but professional language in both verbal and written communication. Little things count in a relationship. So, remember to make your customer feel appreciated.

Remember: "Every customer contact is a retention opportunity!" 

Mike Aoki is the President of Reflective Keynotes Inc., a Canadian training company that helps contact centers improve their sales and customer retention results. A contact center expert, Mike serves on the advisory council of the Greater Toronto Area Contact Center Association and was Master of Ceremonies for five of their Annual Conferences. He was also chosen by ICMI.com as one of the “Top 50 Customer Service Thought Leaders on Twitter” for 2014-17.

Follow: LinkedIn | Twitter

What Value are you Adding to Your Product or Service?

By Lori L Dees

I work for a local dental society, as the Exhibits and Foundation Manager. We receive many offers of products and services from a variety of companies. Most are looking to increase brand awareness, but the few successful business affiliations seem to stem from a mutual respect and partnership beneficial to the both of us.

We can purchase products from any number of suppliers, but we always go back to one. Why? Because the company has proven our company, mission and business are important to them. They visit us periodically, making sure to bring swag!  This is of mutual benefit to both of us, because they get to share samples of their product with us, and we can provide that to our customers. They know we will give honest feedback about their products, and when we are ready to purchase, we will remember the relationship we have with their representative, and their company.

There is never a hard sell, just sharing of information and a cheerful banter. We usually do not purchase anything during or soon after the visit, but when we are ready to order something, we feel confident purchasing from this company. We have a history of wonderful service. We get a great product for a great price, with value added extras included. In this case, with purchase of toothbrushes, we receive free imprinting, free toothpaste samples, floss samples, and bags. We use this to create free health kits that are distributed at schools and health fairs. This allows our foundation to further its community outreach efforts.

Not only do they sell us a great product at a great price, they  also donate products to us, so we can then donate it to worthy charities in our community. This has allows us to assist those in need.

So, the next time you pick up the phone to make a cold call, think about what value you can add to the company, and not only to your bottom line.

• What information can you share that will be of use to them? 
• What value can you add to their mission?  
• What events do they have coming up that you might participate?
• What causes are important to your customer? 
  
• What do you have on hand that you can donate to their worthy cause? 

While they may not purchase immediately, they will remember you when they are ready to make their next purchase. They will remember the value you can offer.

 

I am passionate about great customer service with a smile.  Prior to my current position as Exhibits & Foundation Manager at Dallas County Dental Society, I spent almost 25 years working with dental students and patients. I love learning new things and recently became a certified coach, and I'm working on certification for handwriting analysis.  On most nice days off, you will find me on the golf course with my husband and my dachshund, or in the pool with our grandchildren.

Follow: LinkedIn 

Do You Have The Right BLEND For Sales?

By Michael Sherlock

“Do you care about the environment?”  he asked while trying to step in front of me politely while I attempted to entre Whole Foods.  Damn!  I made eye contact.

“Do you care about saving homeless starving dogs?” she asked, while I tried to get across the street before the light changed.  Damn!  I made eye contact again.

“Your shoes are awesome!” he said while I moved rapidly through the mall on the way to meet one of my clients.  “Why thank you!” I responded.  And left buying his eye cream that I didn’t need.

I work often with teams that have the tough job of cold calling.  Cold calling on the phone.  Cold calling on people on the street outside of businesses.  Cold calling while walking into offices.  They deal with rejection numerous times, but often that rejection is based on their own strategy.  After all (and I hate to admit this), sometimes I just want to say “No, I don’t care about the environment OR starving dogs!”

Neither of those statements would be true.  I care about both.  But the questions tend to baffle me.  Is this working somewhere other than 2am infomercials?  What makes us cringe when we see the people on the corner raising money for a worthy cause or trying to get us to switch our energy provider?

You may think that the gentleman who complimented my shoes got me because he made a personal comment.  Well, the answer is both yes, and no.  What he really did to shock me was give a genuine compliment in a way that forced my natural response.

You may think that the other two people only provided me with a Yes or No (closed) question, or that they were too scripted.  Again, the answer is both yes, and no.  They backed me into a corner from which I felt that fight or flight were my only options.  And they treated me like a number instead of a customer.

In my upcoming book, out this fall (I am still arguing with my editor over the title), I look at sales by what I call the BLEND principle.  When you blend these 5 ingredients, you have a successful sales opportunity:

   B – Be immediately and fully present

   L – Listen with your ears AND your eyes

   E – Ensure that you have asked all of the right questions

   N – Never let your customer feel like a number

   D – Deliver an exceptional experience

In a rush to make fast sales, we forget that a sale is not just an exchange of goods or services for something of value.  It is an emotional exchange as well.

Each of the 5 elements above require you to slow down and truly concentrate on each customer at a time.  Before you dial the phone or walk into an office, have you done your homework?  Do you know who you are calling, why you are calling and what is important to them?

I know.  Right now, you are reading this saying “Michael, you are crazy!  I need to make 100 calls a day!  I need to close 10 new sales!  I need to make 5 new connections!”

But where is it written that homework has to take hours?  Sometimes the mental preparedness is a 5-minute meditation before the first dial.  And then being so confident in your script that you remember that the script is only worthwhile if someone allows you to talk to them.  And if you listen.

Being immediately and fully present requires you to look and/or listen to the person you want as a customer.  Are they open?  Are they guarded?  Do they care about your product, service or mission?  You can tell if you really look. 

Listening with your eyes AND ears means that you are not just focused on delivering your message in a rush.  You care whether or not the message resonates.  If it doesn’t, and you try to force it, you just broaden the chasm.

You can’t ensure that you’ve asked all the right questions if you don’t ask any questions.  And be prepared for push-back, disbelief or disagreement.  Their thoughts and opinions matter on your way to a sale.

No one wants to be the “next in line” person.  Even if you are on dial 97 of 100, it is more important for you to make that sound like your first call than to hit 100.  And if you ask me the same question on the street in the same way you have asked the other 200 people who went by, I will know it.  And feel it.  And keep walking.

Finally, regardless of the outcome, provide an exceptional experience that transcends product and company.  Reach me as a human and I will remember you, your product and company forever.

Ignore the first 4 concepts and I will also remember you, your product and company forever.

“Ma'am, if you are interested in a healthier energy company, I’d love to share some information with you.” 

“Sir, if you are passionate about animals, I can make your day.”

“Pardon me ma'am, but those bags under your eyes and those dark circles make you look so old and tired!  Try my eye cream!” Damn!  I made eye contact…

Michael Sherlock is a business writer, author, speaker and podcast host.  As a Vice President of US Sales for two multi-national medical device companies, Michael has managed net revenue exceeding $50 million and managed as many as 500 employees at a time.

In 2016, Michael published her first book, Tell Me More, to promote her highly effective approach to employee empowerment, building team skills and confidence, accelerating productivity, and rapidly growing top-line revenue at any company.  Her second book is due Fall 2018.

Mrs. Sherlock provides corporations and business leaders with engaging presentations and actionable strategies on leadership, employee development, customer experience, and sales transformation.  In addition, Michael hosts the Shock Your Potential podcast where she highlights the best in leadership, sales and customer experiences.  The Shock Your Potential Podcast is available via iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and your favorite podcast apps, as well as online.

Connect: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram