Tag Archive for: customer service
Every business owner wants to increase company productivity. That’s the nature of business, generally speaking: essentially, it’s about sales. Those sales, however, are inextricably tied to the people who make them possible, a company’s employees and its valued customers. Without customers, a business would not exist, and without engaged employees, customers would walk away for lack of a great service experience. As they should.
Mystery shopping is a market research tool through which we can gain valuable insight into a business’ performance. If you’d like to know how mystery shopping actually works, check out this article. The question we’d like to address today is why companies should even bother with it; how does mystery shopping benefit your business? Can it really increase company productivity? How?
Firstly, yes, mystery shopping can increase company productivity, here are just four ways how:
1. Mystery shopping examines frontline employee performance
When a mystery shopper is sent in, one of the things they usually gain insight into is how well the staff on the floor of a business treat them. In other words, how well your company delivers its customer service. This is a great way to tell whether your team members are providing the right types of experiences to your customers. Armed with this knowledge, problem areas can swiftly be addressed to increase company productivity!
2. Is your brand resonating with your customers?
Another thing important to increase company productivity is determining how well your brand messages are resonating with your customers. Are they even aware of what you’re offering? Lack of or failing brand resonance is one of the leading causes of a drop in sales. Properly conducted mystery shopping research can reveal whether or not your brand has lost touch with its message and its customers.
3. Do all your outlets follow the correct product and marketing placement policies?
If you have multiple outlets, it’s important to make sure that all of your shopfronts are following your placement policies. Following on from brand resonance, this is an important way to make sure that your customers are not only comfortable in your store – i.e. they know where to find things, or check for updates! – but also actually see your onsite marketing material. No doubt you put a lot of effort into making sure your customers see what you’d like them to, it would be a shame if those efforts to increase company productivity and sales go down because one of your outlets didn’t get the memo.
Also read this article: Retail Customer Service: Reality of Retail Industry
4. Are your training & incentives programs helping to increase company productivity?
Training and incentivizing our employees is one of the best ways to ensure that they are meeting our company standards. This is by no means a bad thing, but it’s always a good idea to measure the impact of such programs and see whether they are meeting your expectations. At AQ, we’ve successfully used to take the pulse of such programs, particularly in the automotive industry.
And there you have it, a quick selection of 4 ways mystery shopping can help increase company productivity.
Customer expectations? What’s the big fuss? A customer comes in, makes a purchase, goes away again, right? No big deal? We all know that it’s more than ‘no big deal’. A customer’s expectations are what we, as responsible companies, strive to meet.
What do you mean with ‘customer expectations’?
In a previous article, we discussed how customers want to be reassured that they’ve made the right choice. They want the product or service they bought from a company to meet their expectations. They don’t want to feel like they’ve lost time, been tricked, or – worse of all – wasted their money. A customer who leaves feeling used is never coming back, and they will spread the word. People are far more likely to share negative feedback than they are to share compliments.
Promising someone the stars and only coming back with a faintly glowing rock, is not the best way to get return customers. If you promise 100%, then you have to deliver 110%; that’s just the way customer service works. People want to feel special – they want their decision to use your company validated – and as a result, managing customer expectations is one of the key skill-sets required in the customer service game.
Another thing to remember is that not everyone has the same expectations. Or the same interpretation of what we, as companies, think are customer expectations.
Defining the Expectations Clearly
Last week, we talked about why knowing how to have a good conversation can empower the frontline team and drive the bottom line. It’s great to carry a good conversation; part of that is to have the same conversation. It’s not so great if the customer has a different understanding of the words that are coming from your frontline.
If a sales rep is talking about oranges and the customer is hearing apples, there’s going to be some issues!
Similarly, companies can be overzealous when it comes to promising quality. When was the last time we saw an infomercial at 3am that promised us smooth abs and great triceps in six weeks? Think back to the last advertisement you watched for a car, with the fine print warning that the clip was shot in optimal conditions and ‘real results may vary’. It’s difficult to manage customer expectations and boast the quality of your service or product.
Again, if we promise 100% then customer expectation is at least 100%. Any good customer service rep will do their best to make sure they’re giving 120%.
A Note about 100% Satisfaction
Everyone has different opinions, so how do we make sure we’re meeting customer expectations? Legally speaking, the promise of 100% satisfaction is all about the judgement of a ‘reasonable person’ [Source]. In this way, companies can protect themselves from irrational demands and unreasonable expectations.
How far do we go?
This is a good question. The answer varies depending on the practicality of the request. A customer coming into a green grocer to buy apples when there are none, is easier to please than a customer who walks into a car show demanding to buy t-shirts. Is there a practical way to meet their expectations? Then use common sense and strive to meet them! Unreasonable customer expectations? Do your best, but remember that there’s just no pleasing some people no matter how hard you try. Some people who will never be satisfied. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give it our best shot though.
Validating customer experiences is a surefire way of winning that customer over, forever. Validation and customer experiences are inextricably linked. People have needs and desires. Those needs and desires lead them to choices and decisions. We need – or want – something, and we go out and get it.
What do we mean with ‘validating customer experiences’?
A few weeks ago, customer service guru, Shep Hyken, wrote an article on the concept of customer validation. This blog article talked about how validating customer experiences is a vital part of a well-delivered customer service.
If we looked up ‘validation’ in the dictionary we’d come across something like:
“…an act, process, or instance of validating; especially : the determination of the degree of validity of a measuring device.” [Source]
In his article, Hyken uses the term ‘validation’ to describe achievement when a good sale has been made. A salesperson providing the proper advice and aid is awarded a “I’ve done well!” feeling when a sale is made, and a customer – hopefully! – leaves with a “made the right choice!” feeling.
Validation taking place here goes two ways: the salesperson feels their effort has paid off, and the customer feels that their decision making process has met their need. This achievement, the validation, is the way to generating great customer experiences.
What we’re getting at then is that ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ we all feel when we’ve done something right.
Customer Experiences, and why they should be validated
The world revolves around human needs, decisions and validation. We’re all looking for validation, whether it’s about our own choices or someone else’s. That feeling we get when we’ve accomplished something we’ve worked for boosts our self-esteem in a way nothing else can – to that end, most of us want to ‘do good’. We’ll just ignore all the procrastination we do on Facebook and all the times we binge-watched entire seasons on Netflix, that’s gratification, not validation of effort (although, in all fairness, validation delivers gratification).
A good customer experience comes when both parties – customer and salesperson – feel like their efforts have been validated. As a result, the whole purpose of customer service is to reach that point of validation. A happy customer – validated! – is likely to return and purchase again. Continually delivering what a customer desires and constantly validating their choices will generate a loyal customer, and a loyal customer is priceless.
Check out this video from Temkin Group International for some more insight:
Are you validating your customers’ experiences?
Having established that it’s important to ensure that no one feels as though they’ve wasted their time, what are you doing to improve the way your customers feel when they make their exit? Even if they’re delighted and shouting your praises from the rooftops, our work is not done. It’s important that our customers all feel that way when they leave. That’s easier said than done, really validating customer experiences is hard work. There’s no set plan or structure that you can apply to all customers across the board. Every customer needs – and deserves! – a tailored customer experience that leaves them feeling validated by the choices they have made and the level of service they have received.
Think about that, the next time a customer comes to you for a product or service.
Companies always want to boost customer experiences. Better customer experiences means higher customer loyalty, and better sales. Customer service representatives get overwhelmed with the wealth of information available to them There’s a whole Internet of Things out there. There’s so much knowledge to be had and so many people offering it. What is the ‘right’ advice? Where do you get it? Once you get it, how do you make sense of it?
Let’s break all this information down to the basics:
1. Communication
This is about clarity and connectivity.
People don’t like being confused; they want to understanding:
- What you’re offering
- Where they can find it
- When they can expect it
- How it will arrive
- Why they should use your company
In general, people crave simplicity: we don’t like to be forced out of our comfort zones. This is particularly true of people today: Millennials are more likely to check out what they want and whether they’ll buy it online than coming into a shop. By the time they set foot on an actual sales floor, 60% of them already know what they’re going to buy.
This connectivity comes from the clarity of your service or product, as it is presented to prospective customers. As a result, it’s not a bad idea to let the customer set the pace and choose how they’d like to be connected with you. For example, Millennials may prefer to connect to your product/service via social media platforms like Facebook or Snapchat, while an older generation would rather receive an email or even a phone call.
More than that, however, is the connection we forge as human beings: do you smile when I walk in to have my car serviced, for example? What sort of smile? What is your body language communicating to me, your customer? Do I feel welcome?
Good communication forges a bridge of understanding between people. This will allow both parties to avoid pitfalls like misunderstandings, badly explained expectations or desires, and a breakdown in the relationship. Communication is all about building trust and relationships, after all, and great communication will boost customer experiences to no end.
2. Consistency
Consistency and cohesion.
According to Google, ‘cohesion’ means:
‘…the action or fact of forming a united whole.’ [Source]
Customers are individuals, but a customer service team? They should be of one mind and one bo —er… nevermind, too creepy. Your customer-facing front line needs to be a team! This is the first step to great consistency, and through that to customer loyalty.
Google defines ‘consistency’ as follows:
‘…conformity in the application of something, typically that which is necessary for the sake of logic, accuracy, or fairness.’ [Source]
Now, conformity gets a bad rap, so we’ll just avoid that word. Let’s focus on the section about ‘logic, accuracy or fairness’.
For example, imagine you’re travelling abroad. You’re in a strange city, you don’t know how anything works, maybe the language is even different. Then you spot a Starbucks. You go in, you order, you pay, you wait, then you grab your caffeine and go. No drama, no panic – you knew exactly how it worked. Why? Because Starbucks, like so many global franchises, has mastered consistency. Their style of service is the same, whether you’re in New York, Hong Kong, or Sydney. That’s comforting because it means you’re always at home.
Small business with only one location aren’t exempt from this concept. A customer should be able to receive the same style – and hopefully good level – of service every time they purchase a product or utilize a service from that company, whether it’s today, in a year, online or offline.
3. Commitment
Last, but not least, and arguable more important than communication and consistency: commitment.
What’s that quote? Something about not bothering to get into the ring unless you plan on fighting? That.
Establishing trust is not something that happens over night, and any commitment to such a relationship will shine through! It’s important to look at any customer service strategy as a long term investment, one that is going to require time, people, effort and finances. No one’s asking you to marry your customer, but if you’re looking to boost customer experiences, you’re going to have to go all in as a company. Half measures will not do it.
This will also help build your capability, supporting your authority on your chosen subject matter(s), thus making you and your brand more trustworthy in the eyes of current and future prospects.
What to take away to boost customer experiences…
There are several big aspects of customer service you’re not allowed to miss, not if you’re really looking to boost your customer service experiences. There are also plenty of smaller ones; the important thing is to remember that many of the ‘small’ ones often fall under the ‘big’ ones. Next time you find yourself stressing out about the latest article talking about how you’re not communicating enough, or your not doing enough of something else — think about, maybe you’re already doing it, a little bit.
All three of the things – communication, consistency, commitment – are vital skills for good customer service. And remember:
Good customer service will boost customer experiences.
