Research and studies consistently prove the power of a positive customer experience. The best organizations know customer experience continues to be a prime differentiator. Research can be very revealing about the reasons for customer’s dissatisfaction, their needs and the reasons for their loyalty to brands. The key is looking at the statistics and applying it…
Customers want real and personalized experiences. The best companies are delivering value with individualized and meaningful messages to their customers. The key is the message must be appropriate, relevant and of value. Customers want to be loyal. It is much easier to educate one company instead of many about preferences. A recent study by Harris…
Culture is reflected in how people behave. It is a given if you want to change your culture, you must change behaviors. Leaders set the example as they demonstrate it’s about everyone’s behavior. Leadership has to be focused on the strategies that will have a lasting impact on the customer-focused culture. Here are strategies that…
Most organizations know how to talk about creating a customer-focused culture yet implementation eludes them. Many roadblocks get in the way of the good intentions. The list of roadblocks is quite long. To get started, here are a few to consider in your organization. Silos. If you still have silos, then you can’t be a…
There is much conversation around creating a memorable customer experience in order to gain customer loyalty. Whether a fad or not, customer experience is a differentiator and should be a part of your brand. Too often companies jump on the bandwagon without the proper processes and strategies needed to make their goal a reality. The…
Every organization has a chance to deliver a positive customer experience. That experience has many starting points and touchpoints along the customer interaction. Each touchpoint will affect the customer’s perception of your business and even their loyalty. To remain competitive, take a look at the simplest of interactions and decide how those interactions represent your…
It is easy to think your service efforts are exceptional. Often the reality does not match your opinion. An often quoted piece of research from Bain and Co. tells us how executives tend to misread their performance. When surveying 362 firms, they found that 80 percent believed they delivered a superior experience to their customers.…
Customer service excuses leave the customer more frustrated, frequently irritated and certainly surprised. In two recent situations, excuses weren’t necessary. Ownership and action would have responded to the issues quickly. In the first encounter, I called a photography studio to find out why my daughter’s individual basketball picture was not posted on their site. The…
There has been much debate on whether call centers will survive. Since customers are armed with many options and channels to access help with issue resolution, the question seems timely and appropriate. However the best leaders of call centers know they are more relevant than ever. While recently speaking at ICMI’s callcenter demo and conference,…
School is about learning, getting better, focusing on fundamentals and being part of a community. At the recent convocation, I had the chance to hear Dr. Brett Jacobsen, Head of School at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, pose an interesting question to the students, teachers and staff. The question starts with, “How might we?” This question…