Customer service should not be a department...

So recently we witnessed “Customer Service Week!” I loved the creativity and various themes. The taglones were to die for! The goodies with skimpily dressed ladies offering “free merchandise” on the streets. Marketers have objectified women so much! A story for another day. Let’s stay focused!

During many conversations, while auditing Customer Experience I find that many people think I am talking about Customer Service. You know, that something that happens after the sale? Yes, that one is customer service! Providing excellent customer service at every interaction is a big part of Customer Experience, but it is not the end-game if an organization plans on delivering superior customer experience.

If you speak to branding experts like my go-to Brand Titan Klaire Muriithi - The Brand Titan , they will tell you this misconception has contributed to brand deterioration, mostly by default and unknown to senior management.

?Definition…

Wikipedia defines Customer Experience as “the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods and/or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. This can include awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation, and advocacy. It can also be used to mean an individual experience over one transaction.”

There may be other definitions out there, but this one suffices for this article.

From this definition, we all should agree that customer service should not be a department, it should be the corporate culture that expresses the experience.

The genesis of customer experience…

Customer Experience begins way before the sale. For example: When you want to purchase a product or service, how easy is it for you to research that product or service?

Does it show up as a hit in your favorite search engine?

Did you find any consumer reviews?

When you are visiting the website, can you find the information you want to know?

Was it easy or difficult?

How appealing was the presentation to your eyes and intellect?

When you clicked the link for “chat” or “contact us” did you receive a prompt response?

When you received the response did it meet your needs and was it a pleasant experience? Instead of the web, you may prefer to use the telephone or maybe even just walk into the store and ask questions.

Regardless of your technology of choice, if at this point your experience becomes difficult, slow, or unappealing, there is a high probability you will go somewhere else to make your purchase and you will probably never go back again.

Remember the old adage,?“You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression”?

This is one of those tried and tested statements that we all remind ourselves of when we prepare for a job interview, we meet a new customer or family member, or even when getting ready for a first date!

Consumers have options…

Now that consumers are using multiple technologies to research, shop, and compare, it is crucial that businesses selling products and services provide a pre-sales experience that is welcoming, infuses confidence, is well thought out, and values the customer, their time, and their preferences. They must execute it consistently on the web, the phone, and in the storefront, or the current sale is lost and future sales are at high risk. The difference must be designed and purposeful.

Recently, I had an encounter in the healthcare industry which served as a good example for compare and contrast purposes and also to demonstrate how customer experience begins before the sale.

My regular dentist referred me to a specialist. I gave his recommendation heavy weight since he is a healthcare professional who knows his stuff. I knew that his referral would be on the other side of town, a little far, but I was willing to make the appointment. I would much rather have the appointment close to home as my whole life is in a 6 km radius of the estate and I just don’t want to deal with the hustles of heavy traffic…. But so be it.

I called the phone number my doctor gave me and was picked up by the answering machine. I didn’t mind the first 7 minutes. But by 11 minutes I felt like I was a captive and I was ready to hang up if I heard one more pleasant recording apologizing for the wait and that someone would be with me soon.

While I was holding I decided this place was too busy for me. If I can’t get through on the phone, what will happen when I am in the waiting room? What kind of quality, attention, and focus will I receive from the specialist and his staff? Will my bill be accurate? At 16 minutes I hung up and decided to go online and find someone local.

DONE! No sale for you, doctor, and I won’t call again!

Consequence…

The referered doctor loses and the new doctor wins! The new doctor wins again because customers who are referred by default promoters, like me, also become good customers who buy more products and services and become promoters themselves.

Is your business positioned for successful pre-sale? Is your business staffed appropriately on email, phone, and storefront? Have you been purposeful in the design of the experience your customers will receive when they are looking for you and your services?

If the answer is “no” to any one of these, you are losing sales that you didn’t even know about. And people who have decided against your products and services are talking about you and driving more business away from you.

Finding a solution…

Take a moment today to identify the places in the pre-sale process you can tighten up. Are there any quick wins you can execute on? Anything with big impact and low cost should be tackled now. Make a list of the other items, prioritize them and put them on the short list of projects which need to be done in the next 2 quarters.

You will be thankful in the long run!!

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