4 Strategies that Create an Outstanding Customer Service Experience

If customer service is so critical to the success of a business, then why are there so few companies that get it right?

We are familiar with the brands who are the crème de la crème and float to the top of the customer experience chart.

The Top 10 for 2023 were, in order:

1.????? Amazon

2.????? Walmart

3.????? Target

4.????? Apple

5.????? Chick-Fil-A

6.????? Costco

7.????? Best Buy

8.????? T-Mobile

9.????? Kohl’s

10.?? Google

What are these companies doing differently than their competitors?

Number one – they don’t waste time talking about what resources they don’t have instead they focus on ensuring people and dollars are allocated where and when needed to the give the Customer what they want and ask for. As part of this investment, there are four essential elements successful companies ensure are part of their customer service framework and strategy to consistently meet their customers’ needs.

There are 4 Key Strategies:

1.????? Customer Service is at the Heart and Center of the Business

2.????? The Right Seats are in the Seats

3.????? Systems and Technology are Integrated

4.????? Governance, Monitoring and Oversight

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1. Customer Service at the Heart and Center of the Business

Did you know the significance and value of customer service can only be realized when it sits directly in the center of all the areas that touch and impact the business?

This means all business units, channels, processes, and technology that serve and support the customer must be accessible to and funnel through the customer service organization. Unfortunately, what I tend to see in most organizations is this tendency to sit customer service in a corner. Which establishes a mentality and thought process that they are not relevant, have no value and that there only purpose is to answer the phones and have actual contact and conversations with the end customer. ?

By simply placing customer service in the middle of the organization changes the dynamic and creates the benefits that allow the Top 10 brands to win the customer service game. A mindset is drilled into the organization that the entirety of the business owns the relationship with the customer. Because of this centricity, a visibility of what the customer is experiencing, in real-time, is opened to everyone and leadership has purview to redundancies, work stoppages, bottlenecks and mismatched priorities where they are occurring and whether promises are being kept.

2. The Right Seats in the Seats

Let me contact customer service so that I may be treated with disdain and talked down to…said NO ONE EVER!

Customer service is an inviting, friendly, and most importantly helpful endeavor. Regardless of the medium used – your customer should 100% of the time feel valued and truly appreciated. In the realm of customer service this is 101 basic and the responsibility of leadership to ensure the right seats are in the seats who will make sure this happens.

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To get this right, stop falling prey to “chimpanzee in the seat syndrome.” Because customer service has been so devalued – there is this innate thought process that you can give a chimpanzee a headset, phone and computer and they can do the job. Be deliberate about who sits in this seat.

Most of us just tolerate people. To sit in this chair – the person must like and respect people at their best and at their worst. The right Customer Service Professional, when the customer goes sideways, doesn’t take it personally. They hear a call for help. They actually care and want to help. These skills are rare and innate.

Can customer service be trained? Absolutely…but it will be the one’s with the innate skills and abilities who will make the difference in your service/support and organization. Customer service is a skill when paired with training unleashes sustainability, profitability, and customer retention.

?3. Integration of Technology and Systems

How many systems does your customer service Team need to access to support the Customer? Customer Service Organizations I’ve managed have had to access as few as seven to as many as fourteen. The right answer is one, no more than two. There should be one system, generally, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that all other systems feed into that presents a 360-degree view which allows Agents to best serve the customer.

There are a host of benefits that come with integration.

·??????? Training and ramp up are easier. You can train up front on the basics of the systems but the real insights are provided via the CRM

·??????? Allows the technology to support the process by hitting the high points.

o?? Rather than counting on the Agents to remember what to do…build the process into the system to ensure the task is completed.

·??????? Questions that need to be answered, insights that need to be gained, reporting and dashboards can all be built into seamless processes.

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This is a critical element that all too often is unfortunately missed.

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4. Governance, Monitoring and Oversight

?Do you know whether your organization keeps its promises to its Customers?

Depending on the size of the organization, there are quite a few promises being made both to internal stakeholders and external customers. Doesn't matter who the promises are being made to, an impression is being made.

This effort requires an Executive Stakeholder and integrates with the technology component. This is generally a daily meeting for business units experiencing challenges and weekly for those on track and are meeting their obligations.

From the technology perspective, process journeys, length of time an issue has been open, and reopen counts should all be incorporated into and within the process allowing the organization and leaders visibility into the progress and performance of the business. Creating a clear sense of accountability, focus and ability to correct issues and get ahead of any escalations.

Trust cannot be built where trust does not exist. Loyalty cannot be built where consistency does not exist. It’s great to fix what went wrong…but when this is the norm, the relationship breaks. This is why governance, monitoring and oversight must be embedded within the customer service strategy.

Why are these key customer strategies overlooked? Is it because Folks don’t know? Is it the desire to maintain plausible deniability? Or is it the intense focus on capitalizing on low hanging fruit and the quick wins?

This is something I delve deeper into and explore in my upcoming book (Customer Service is the Business; Designing a Customer Experience that Aligns People, Process, Technology and Promises!) due to hit Amazon in late March. However, what I can share are these four strategies are not all encompassing of what should be a part of the customer service strategy but well worth the effort. If you want to know more the Phoenix Business Development Group Team can help | 888-821-0611 Office | [email protected]

Tonya Haynes is the author of, "The Serious Entrepreneur's Playbook - Playing & Winning the Business Game!" and has 20+ years experience implementing, re-engineering and turning around the performance of Contact Centers, IT Help Desks, IT Service Desks and Call Centers.?She teaches Entrepreneurship, Business, Communication and Professional Development. She is available for speaking engagements, teaching/training and consulting.