THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
The Customer Experience is essentially what it’s like for me as a customer to do business with you, the business. This can be summed up as what a customer would write in a review.
For most businesses, success and revenue are driven by satisfied customers, so it's in everyone’s best interest to ensure we deliver the highest level of customer satisfaction aka: deliver the best customer experience. Customer satisfaction is also what helps create and maintain job security.
It’s important to listen to both customers and employees, however, listening is not enough you must take appropriate action from the feedback.
What you’re hearing from the customer (or reading on your google business profile page) is simply the customers perception of what it’s like to do business with you. You may not agree, but really, does that matter?
Customers love feeling special, so welcome their input, respond promptly to inquiries, and make them feel as though they’re the most important customer you have. This needs to be more than an idea, it has to be the standard. An unwavering commitment to ensuring your customers will not hesitate to recommend you to others.
As the leader you need to be the number 1 cheerleader of customer satisfaction. If you don’t believe it and display it, nobody else will buy in. Not for very long at least. The Latin saying “Acta non verba" means “actions not words.” If you want to be trusted use your actions, save your words for praising others.
FREE TIP: Don’t complain or comment about a “terrible customer” or a “nightmare client” be creative and come up with internal code for these types of situations such as “this customer helped us to be better” or something similar that if it were to be overheard by another customer or employee would appear to be focused on providing better service, even if it’s code for “what an a$$hole” Have fun with it but don’t abuse it.
When working with new clients, return customers, employees or anyone who we engage with as a purveyor of goods and services the opportunity for them to voice concerns and/or dissatisfaction must always be a priority.
Most importantly, invite them to complain early and often, welcome it, ask “What is something that you thought would have turned out differently?”
Direct and assertive communication is the enemy of passive aggressive behavior. Passive aggressive behavior is emotional dishonesty. Dishonesty erodes trust and creates resentment.
Honest feedback is essential to getting the results you want because of the emotional honesty and trust it welcomes. It will make you better.
Employees harboring frustrations can turn to resentments that create a toxic work environment. When people are feeling slighted, unheard or mistreated they often seek out other people who feel the same way towards the “wrong doer” or “evil manager” spreading these negative feeling to others.
Rather than doing all the talking yourself, listen to their honest opinions and make suggestions. This type of open dialogue can often lead to creative and impactful ideas. Embrace the feedback of your customers, beg for it. When it comes to your employees, create a workplace where their ideas and opinions are invited.
If a customer complains about the service they received use this opportunity to train and guide employees. Instead of being angry, be excited to figure out a way that ensures the situation doesn’t happens again. Ask your employee, straight forward but inquisitively (even if it was their fault) “What can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen to us again?”
If you’re fair and firm, taking the time to share feedback with the employee you both will have learned a valuable lesson and together you will be able to prevent similar issues from occurring again in the future. You might even earn a trusted partner in your business.
In the contrary, you decided to just fire the employee, now you have a greater chance the issue happens again in the future to a different employee. Maybe even the replacement you hire. To be clear, we’re not talking about malicious or grossly negligent behavior. We’re mainly discussing negative feedback from a customer or client that can be used as a learning opportunity.
When it comes to both employees and customers, allow them to make your business a better place. Don’t shy away from it. If you truly want them to trust you, then you have to show them that you care, this goes for customers and employees equally.
If you don’t genuinely care, you won’t be able to fake it.
