eBusiness Weekly
Clemence Mutembo
I was taken by surprise and felt so honoured last year when I got a call from STAR FM to go and explain the International Customer Service Week. I spoke for about 10 minutes. I was being interviewed by Nikky on the breakfast show.
The International Customer Service Week is celebrated every year on the first full week of October. This year, it will be celebrated from October 2 to 6.
The week is designed to recognise and celebrate the hard work and dedication of customer service professionals around the world. It’s also a great opportunity for businesses to focus on improving their customer service and building stronger relationships with their customers.
Whether you’re a customer service professional or a customer, International Customer Service Week is a time to appreciate the importance of providing excellent customer service.
There are several reasons why it’s important to celebrate International Customer Service Week. First and foremost, it’s a chance to recognise the contribution that customer service professionals make to businesses and to the world as a whole.
Customer service is an essential part of any successful business and it can be a hard job at times. The week gives us an opportunity to show our appreciation for the work that these professionals do.
Additionally, the week serves as a reminder to businesses to focus on improving their customer service.
It’s a time to review current practices and look for ways to improve the overall customer experience.
Whenever I am invited to train staff and management, I go beyond what they thought I could do and that has brought me quite some business.
You see, delighting the customer is something that very few businesses achieve or aim at.
Delighting the customer is a step beyond just satisfying them and involves exceeding their expectations.
It’s about providing them with a truly memorable experience.
It is the difference between doing the bare minimum to keep a customer happy and going above and beyond to make them feel valued.
Some ways to delight customers include: providing personalised service, going the extra mile to help them, exceeding their expectations with upgrades and also making them feel special with a personal touch.
The goal of delighting customers is to turn them into brand advocates who will recommend your company to others.
Going the extra mile in customer service is also a way of exceeding customer expectations by providing exceptional service that goes beyond what is normally expected.
It is an important part of customer experience because it can turn customers into raving fans who will then be more likely to recommend the company to others.
There are many ways to go the extra mile but some examples include: taking the time to really listen to the customer, being empathetic to their situation and going out of your way to make them feel special.
If someone is rewarded they may also delight customers. There is what is called a metric-improvement award.
A metric-improvement award is another type of incentive that can be used in a customer experience strategy.
This type of award recognises staff members who have made improvements to a specific metric related to customer experience.
For example, an employee might be recognised for reducing the average time it takes to answer customer phone calls or for improving the percentage of positive reviews on a company’s website.
These awards can help motivate staff members to focus on specific areas of improvement.
This can in turn lead to a better overall customer experience. My very first job in formal employment was in Tourism and Hospitality in 1999 .I was based in Victoria Falls. I used to work at the Victoria Falls Hotel.
I had wonderful experiences working in a Five Star hotel. Tourists would come for great experiences.
Every person has had a positive experience one way or the other in life.
For example, watching a beautiful sunset would definitely be considered an experience. It’s an experience because it’s a sensory event that you observe and feel. You see the sunset with your eyes, feel the warmth or coolness of the air and perhaps even smell the scents of the environment.
It’s also an experience because it’s a moment in time that you remember and can reflect on later. The sunset may have even evoked certain emotions or memories for you.
The experience of watching a sunset can be very personal and meaningful which is what makes it such a powerful experience.
In the context of business there are four fundamental determinants of customer experience and these are: people, processes, product and environment.
Let’s break them down further:
1. People:
These are the employees who interact with customers and deliver the experience.
2. Processes:
The systems and procedures that enable employees to deliver the experience.
3.Product:
The products and services that customers experience.
4. Environment:
The physical or digital spaces where the experience takes place.
The above touch points should be managed for optimised customer satisfaction.
I did strategic management during my marketing studies and I find it to be a very exciting subject.
Competitive advantage is a strategic advantage that a company has over its competitors. It can be anything that gives a company an edge in the marketplace including such things as cost advantage, differentiation advantage or a combination of all those.
It is what sets a company apart from its competitors and allows it to survive and thrive in the marketplace.
Without a competitive advantage, a company will struggle to attract and retain customers and ultimately to succeed.
Customer experience which is abbreviated (CX) can give a business a competitive advantage by differentiating it from its competitors and creating a unique and memorable experience for customers.
A positive customer experience can lead to increased loyalty, advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing which can help to attract new customers and increase sales.
Additionally, CX can improve customer retention which can save the company money in the long run.
Finally, a great CX can build brand equity and create a strong reputation which can make the company more attractive to investors and help it stand out in the market.
What I particularly like about customer experience is that it creates a very powerful bond between customers and the business.
This makes the customers less susceptible to inducements and enticements from others participating in the same markets.
Customer experience will always be improved by ideas that you look for and implement. In your customer experience strategy, there is a very special section where you record the ideas to be implemented.
The ideas section is perhaps the most important part of the customer experience strategy because it is where the specific actions are defined.
Without this section, the strategy would be nothing more than a set of goals and objectives. The ideas section should be action-oriented and specific outlining exactly what will be done to improve the customer experience.
Additionally, it should be rooted in research and data ensuring that the actions taken are based on evidence and are likely to be effective.
The ideas section should also be flexible allowing for adjustments as new information becomes available.
There are a number of sources that can provide ideas for improving the customer experience. One place to start is with the company’s own customer data.
By analysing customer feedback and tracking customer behaviour, companies can identify areas where the customer experience can be improved.
In addition, looking at industry best practices and benchmarking against competitors can provide valuable insights.
Additionally, there are a number of resources available online that offer customer experience improvement ideas such as blogs and case studies.
Finally, consulting with experts in the field can provide valuable guidance on how to improve the customer experience.
I wrote an article some few weeks ago explaining the different customer touch points. Processes are indeed a type of customer touch point.
Never forget that a brand touch point is any point of contact between a business and its customers.
Processes are one of the most common touch points. When a customer interacts with a process such as placing an order, making a return or contacting customer service, the process can have a significant impact on their overall experience.
For this reason, it is important for businesses to design their processes with the customer in mind and also ensure that they are easy to use and meet customer needs.
By doing so, they can create a positive and memorable customer experience.
It is quite evident that processes play a crucial role in shaping customer experience. This is because they define the way that customers interact with a business.
If a process is smooth, efficient and easy to use, it can lead to a positive experience. On the other hand, if a process is confusing, time-consuming or frustrating, it can lead to a negative experience.
Therefore, businesses must carefully design and optimise their processes to create the best possible customer experience.
I have experienced rude employees a number of times during my journey as a customer. I really avoid buying from any place I know has rude employees.
There are a number of reasons why customers might prefer to avoid dealing with rude staff members.
First, it can be frustrating and stressful to deal with someone who is rude or unhelpful. Additionally, rude behaviour can make customers feel disrespected and this can erode their trust in a company.
Rude staff can also reflect poorly on a company’s brand. This damages its reputation. Finally, when customers have a negative experience with a company’s staff, they may be less likely to return or recommend the company to others.
There are a number of ways that staff can improve their customer service skills. First, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the company’s products and services.
Additionally, staff should be trained on how to deal with different types of customers and how to handle difficult situations.
It is also important for staff to be friendly and polite even when customers are upset or angry.
Staff should also be empowered to make decisions and provide solutions rather than simply referring customers to a manager.
Finally, it is important for the company to regularly receive feedback and make changes based on customer feedback.
When you get a customer, there is no guarantee that the customer will remain with you forever. It’s a business reality that some customers will leave businesses due to different reasons.
There are a number of reasons why customers might choose to leave a company. One common reason is a lack of satisfaction with the customer experience.
If a customer is not satisfied with the quality of a product or service, they may take their business elsewhere.
Additionally, if a company is not responsive to customer feedback or does not address complaints in a timely manner, this can lead to the customer choosing to leave.
Other reasons for customers leaving a company might include price increases, a change in life circumstances or a change in preferences.
Ultimately, there are a number of factors that can lead to the customers leaving.
There are a few strategies that companies can use to reduce the risk of customers leaving.
First, it is important to understand the customer journey and identify any pain points that might cause frustration. Once these pain points are identified, companies can take steps to address them.
This might include improving the customer service process, providing more training for employees or making changes to the product or service itself.
Additionally, companies can focus on building strong relationships with customers by providing personalised service and communicating openly and honestly.
By taking these steps, companies can create a positive customer experience that will encourage customers to stay.
Clemence Mutembo
Clemence Mutembo is a high-impact and highly- demanded Customer Experience and Sales trainer who has made over 400 presentations to small, medium and large organisations./You can reach him on 0778 994 994
