Roadmap to a Customer-Centric Strategy
Part of the appeal of customer-centricity is that it takes very little business acumen to grasp its core concept. Focus intensely on customers, align your products or services with their interests, and voila: a customer-centric culture is born. Simple, right? Not quite. Becoming a truly customer-centric organization is perhaps one of the most difficult transitions an organization can make, fraught with hidden obstacles and unanticipated challenges. Here are three potential roadblocks on the path to a customer-centric strategy, and how to get around them.
Failing to understand your most valuable customer A customer-centric strategy is only as good as its customers. You cant let the average customer dictate what you do, says Robert Duboff, CEO of Hawk Partners LLC and coauthor of the book Market Research Matters. Generally speaking, Duboff says, 20 percent of a company’s customer base generates 80 percent of its profits. Given that split, its imperative to put your most valuable customers at the heart of your approach.
Identifying those customers need not take exhaustive research and complicated measures. It can be a fairly straightforward process, as it is with the Net Promoter Score, or NPS, a metric developed by Bain & Co.s Fred Reichheld. As set forth in The Ultimate Question written by Reichheld and published by Harvard Business Press the NPS approach consists of one simple question: On a scale of one to 10, would you recommend us to your friends?
Based on the answer to that question, customers are segmented into three categories: promoters, who actively champion a particular product to their friends and colleagues; passives, who are lukewarm about the product; and detractors, the opposite of promoters. A given company’s score is simply the difference between its number of promoters and its number of detractors.
NPS has proven to be a powerful tool for such companies as General Electric Capital Solutions, which has used it not only to identify customers that are already valuable promoters but to gain insights into how it can convert detractors. For a business like GE Capital Solutions, which serves more than 1 million very diverse customers in many different industries, NPS helps us better understand what our customers are feeling and how we can improve their experience with us, says Stephen White, a spokesperson for GE Capital.
Failing to support your external customer-centric strategy with an internal customer-centric strategy Speaking of valuable customers, what about that most priceless customer of all your employee?
While most companies aren’t in the habit of regarding their employees as customers, those seeking to instill a customer-centric culture should rethink their stance, argues Elaine Berke, president of Westport, MAbased EBI Consulting, which specializes in helping organizations develop customer-centric strategies. Customer-centricity needs to come from the inside out, says Berke. Leadership must avoid a double standard that makes it OK for managers to argue with or demean staff while still being courteous and considerate to external customers.
Consider the case of the world-renowned Johns Hopkins University Hospital. In developing a comprehensive Service Excellence initiative aimed at boosting its level of patient care, the hospital included employee satisfaction as a core component of the program. The hospital conducted an extensive survey to gauge employee concerns that turned up such simple, actionable insights as making it a point to compliment co-workers and instituting criticism-free no negativity days.
Customer-centric organizations value and respect internal customers as much as external customers, says Berke. Like the old saying goes, If you’re not serving a customer, you’re serving someone who is.
Failure to identify the moment of truth Companies spend considerable time and resources developing metrics for processes, execution and other day-to-day functions but often overlook defining their moments of truth those points at which a customer interacts with a company’s product or service and forms an impression. Companies are usually very good at creating metrics around [such procedures as] production deliverables but have a much harder time knowing how to create and measure standards relating to the quality of customer service being delivered, Keith Bailey of Sterling Consulting Group says.
In defining a company’s moments of truth, Bailey suggests looking at three different angles quality of product, quality of procedures and quality of relationships. Taking a hotel as an example, the quality of the product would be the cleanliness and comfort of the rooms. The quality of procedures would be such factors as how it long it takes to check in or how long customers wait for room service. The quality of relationship would be the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff.
Considering each angle separately allows a company to isolate the negative moments of truth within each and develop a game plan for turning them into positive experiences. Procter & Gamble, for example, identified its moment of truth as that instant when a shopper picks up one of its products and decides whether or not to purchase its decision the customer makes in an average of six seconds. The company has overhauled its marketing with that insight in mind, creating a global First Moment of Truth business team designed to win over the customer in that moment.
There are as many different customer-centric approaches as there are customers, and each has its own unique challenges, but the road to a truly customer-centric strategy always begins with the same steps.
Small Business Customer Service Techniques
When dealing with any customer always remember the golden rule that it is a good opportunity for your company to make an impression by providing that person with a sense of personal satisfaction. My research has clearly shown that successful businesses and organisations make every effort to deliver what the customer wants by applying a number of key customer services techniques
The following are six significant techniques that will assist in making your customers feel important and attract them to want to deal with your business.
1. How to build rapport and trust
Providing helpful advice and friendly service helps to build a rapport and trust. An excellent technique to use is to connect the customer in conversation by giving your name and asking theirs as this indicates you are interested in them and what they are looking for. Always be polite, ask appropriate questions and show interest in what is being said as this will help the customer to develop confidence in you.
2. How to communicate
Most customers will know what they want although some may be unsure on where to look or find what they have come for. Your responsibility is to help by assisting them to get what they want. The best customer service technique most businesses follow is to ask relevant questions and importantly to listen as this will help you to assist the consumer. A happy customer will keep in mind the obliging service provided and will return and tell other people about your business.
3. How to help the confused consumer
Sometimes it’s not humanly possible to provide what your customer wants. In such situations it is important to know everything there is to know about the products or services your business has to offer. A good customer service technique some businesses use is to look out for consumers wandering around looking lost and confused. By approaching and offering to help, the customer will be grateful and appreciative for the service and attention you have given.
4. How to provide exceptional customer service
It is easy for successful businesses to become complacent and be lulled into a false sense of security when turnover figures are up. Being complacent can provide the competition with an opportunity to be more productive. To counter this a good effective customer service technique is to introduce staff training programmes so staff can be equipped to provide exceptional service through effective communication, client rapport, phone management and handling difficult customers. Investing in role playing type training programmes is one of the most successful methods businesses use to convey to staff what type of service to the consumer is expected and necessary if a business is to survive.
5. Thanking the customer
Always ensure the customer is genuinely thanked before they leave. This simple gesture is important because most people generally like to be appreciated and know that you are grateful for their business. Also ask the customer if there is anything else you can do as this could result in repeat business.
6. Following up
A very effective customer service technique used by businesses today is to offer generous warranties and discounts on goods and services to loyal consumers (some businesses provide loyalty cards that offer discounts). If a customer has a problem with a product always offer advice and try to fix it or provide a solution. Following up with after sales service through Email, phone or letter is another technique that helps to earn loyalty and adds a nice personal touch.
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Brandon has been involved with customer relations and interaction with customers for many years now. To find more informative articles and resources about customer service visit his site goodcustomerservice.org Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brandon_Walker |
Free Customer Service Training For Your Organisation
Free Customer Service Training For Your Organisation
I am sure that any Small Business owner will understand the importance of delivering a high quality of service to its clients. Good customer service is often the differentiator (particularly for a small business) between a client choosing your business over a competitor’s offerings.
So how do you go about improving customer service levels? Well one way that you can do this is to train your staff in customer service. Yes I know there is a credit crunch going on out there and businesses are looking to cut back on “non-essential” expenditure but that is why I am offering you this opportunity to get it for free. Yes that is right for free!
An associate company that I work closely with, Cute Dog Consulting (www.cutedogconsulting.com), can offer you free Customer Service Training to NVQ Level 2 for your staff (they also offer a Level3 which can be part funded) if you are based in the South East of England. The training and assessment is carried out at your workplace so there is no need to attend a college or sit an exam at the end. Cute Dog Consulting has designed the training programme which involves group workshops and individual on-the-job observations/assessments which will result in a qualification without taking an exam, being the equivalent of an A level in Customer Service at Level 2, or part of a degree (Level 3)
This course has been designed for professional front line staff, and its flexibility allows it to be equally suitable for someone who has left school without any formal qualifications to someone with a degree – its all about proving that you are doing your job in the most best way possible and keeping customers happy consistently… the whole programme is designed to be flexible and to fit in with normal working hours.
So as an employer you get a triple benefit in upskilling your staff with free training, giving them a formal qualification and you get to improve the quality of customer service provided to your clients. Keeping you happy, your employees happy and your clients happy.
If you would like to know more about this fabulous offer and how you can benefit from it then please contact me using the contact details on the 4 Momentum website (www.4momentum.co.uk)
Paul Stanford is a Director of 4Momentum http://www.4momentum.co.uk. 4Momentum provides business advisory services to small businesses, charities and social enterprises primarily in Sussex. Services include advice on starting a business, growing and transforming a business and selling a business. Clients typically contract 4Momentum for short periods of an hour to long term consultancy over many months for advice on subjects such as mentoring, business planning, sales and marketing advice, bidding for contracts, raising finance and general business advice. Paul is approved by the UK Government to deliver business advice on their behalf through Business Link and is a member of the Institute of Business Consultants. Visit his blog at http://www.paulstanford.co.uk/blog
Copyright 2008 Paul Stanford
