Help! I am Customer Obsessed!

Oops! Wait a sec! Actually, I′m not insane. I do not need help, since constantly delivering state-of-the-art customer experience is the single greatest success factor of any organization, isn′t it? ABSOLUTELY!

It even goes to the very heart of everything you do. And it shows what you and your company truly stand for. Your customers see, smell, taste, hear, feel, and know that better than you ever will.

So, YOU better help your customers!

This article outlines 5 steps that enable every organization to understand and holistically embrace the art of delighting customers in order to be successful in the long-run. To help your customers, to make them happy, and ultimately to become what I call "Customer Obsessed:“

STEP 1: SOAK UP THE TWO FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF CUSTOMER OBSESSION

1) Make sure that you do everything to make your customers happy!
2) Customers first, then brand, then revenue, then profit!

STEP 2: EMBRACE THE 13 KEY PRINCIPLES OF CUSTOMER OBSESSION

Offer A Good And Reliable Product/Service: That′s the basis. If not, no need to worry about good customer service.

Put Customer-Focused Thinking At The Center Of Everything: Customer service is not a department, it′s an attitude and everybody′s job!

Worship Your Customer: He′s the boss. He′s paying the salaries. Ask, listen, and learn from them. Treat people like you want to be treated.

Top Management Commitment and Engagement: Serving the customer starts at the top. It′s the CEO′s most important job. A good leader needs to be a good servant.

Train, Excite, And Empower Your Staff: All of them and not only the customer service reps. Treat your employees well, and they will treat your customers well!

Act As Quickly And As Reliable As Possible: Based on demanding and precise KPIs be super fast, polite, honest, transparent, and concise. Be pro-active!

Use Leading Technology: Customers define the systems and IT structure required to provide outstanding customer service. IT is not a cost. It′s a critical success factor.

Radiate A Yes-Attitude And Be A Communication Master: Smile whenever you interact with the customer. Treat every customer as an individual. Be respectful!

Constantly Inform And Educate Your Customers: Let your customers know about how your products and services work and how you operate and how to contact you.

Under-promise And Over-Deliver: As a general rule you should provide more than what customers expect to get. Ultimately try to delight your customers.

Never Stop Learning And Improving: Think ahead. Anticipate future needs, wants, and possible problems. Get constant feedback. It′s all about the long-term!

Leverage Excellent Customer Service: Don′t be too shy talking about the good you do in an indirect way, e.g. by using the power of communities or brand advocates.

Don′t Forget The Financials: A world-class customer experience is also about business, hard facts, and figures. All such initiatives need to be self-funding over time.

STEP 3: LEARN FROM THE WORLD′S MOST CUSTOMER-OBSESSED COMPANIES

The world′s leading customer-oriented organizations deliver outstanding customer service and customer experience to become and stay leaders in their industries. They understand that it's not only about customer service and customer experience any longer. For them it's all about customer obsession! They constantly embrace it, live it, and celebrate it.

The following companies constantly rank among the most customer-centric ones of any reputable survey and industry benchmark study. They belong to my personal Customer Obsession Hall of Fame: Disney, Amazon, Ritz-Carlton, Singapore Airlines, Nordstrom, USAA, Harrods, and another handful of world-class companies. To fully understand how they do it continue to read here.

STEP 4: READ THE BEST BOOKS ON HOW TO MAKE CUSTOMERS HAPPY

If you are serious about significantly improving your customer experience, then you need to get your hands more dirty and your mind stimulated. I suggest you read the following 3 books:

Delivering Happines: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, by Tony Hsieh
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business; through LinkExchange, Zappos, and more. Tony shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success — and how by concentrating on the happiness of those around you, you can dramatically increase your own and be successful at the same time.

Getting Naked: A Business Fable about Shedding the Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty, by Patrick Lencioni
Lencioni preaches a business model that may seem antithetical to many, which he calls "getting naked": being unafraid to show vulnerability, admit ignorance, and ask the dumb questions when dealing with clients. his central argument is that by focusing on sales, rather than communication, organizations lose out on valuable long-term client relationships.

Outside In, by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine
Based on many years of research by the customer experience leaders at Forrester Research, the book offers a very comprehensive roadmap to attaining a leading customer experience culture. It contains many relevant case studies, it explains the Customer Experience Ecosystem, policies, processes, technologies, and focuses on the relevance of hard data.

STEP 5: BRING IT ALL TOGETHER
In today′s highly competitive and dynamically changing world it is a must to be customer-focused. Top companies go a step further by striving to constantly deliver exceptional customer experiences. A third group, however, the very best organizations, aren′t satisfied even with that any longer. They′re totally customer-obsessed instead.
Define for yourself in which group you currently are and to which one you′d like to belong by when. There′s all the information you need in this article to get moving and to avoid disappearing from the market one day.

Now, it′s Your turn: I′d love to know what customer service, customer experiences, and customer obsession mean to You. Which strategies and tactics are working for You? Which are Your benchmark companies? Which insightful books have You read on how to delight customers? Any other thoughts?

Let us know in the comments here!

Best regards,

Andreas von der Heydt

*****
Andreas von der Heydt is the Head and Director of Kindle Content at Amazon in Germany. Before that he held various senior management positions at Amazon and L'Oréal. He's a leadership expert and management coach. He also founded Consumer Goods Club. Andreas worked and lived in Europe, Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Andreas enjoys blogging as a private person here on LinkedIn about various exciting topics. His latest book is about what makes a future leader. All statements made, opinions expressed, etc. in his articles only reflect his personal opinion.

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Other recent and popular posts by Andreas von der Heydt:
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