So many forces are outside of a business’s control. (This is true in every era, not just now, when things feel particularly out of control.) Yet there is an ingredient of business success that’s within your control to improve, interaction by interaction and inch by inch.
That ingredient is the quality of your engagement with customers: your customer service, customer experience, the quality of your relationship with your customers and of their relationship to your brand and organization.
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In bringing your efforts to bear, you are taking steps toward the creation of one of the most important forces in our connected world: the loyal customer. A truly loyal customer is worth ever so much than one who’s merely satisfied. A loyal customer is less price-sensitive. More forgiving of your minor foibles. More open to buying more, and to considering your line extensions. And a loyal customer is the essential material for the most effective marketing in the world: ambassadorship–by-customer.
It’s up to you to take up the challenge of creating these cared-for, engaged customers. And “up to you” is exactly where you want the control to be in such an otherwise up-in-the-air world.
Get this right, and I predict that other negative forces in the world that feel so out of control at the moment will also bow down and do your bidding.
Five ways to start today.
1. Look at how you onboard new employees. Do you infuse employees with your pro-customer passion from Day One, or do you bog them down with legalese?
2. Look at the kinds of behaviors you praise in your employees. You may say you’re all about your customers, but when an employee goes out of their way on their behalf, do you celebrate that employee or do you give them a hard time for not working “efficiently”?
3. Do you have a framework for customer service recovery? Your employees need to have a systematic way to work with customers when you’re upset. Consider my MAMA method, which I can send you if you ask.
4. Invest in in-depth customer service training. Having well-intentioned employees simply isn’t enough if they lack the training they need to do their best. Note: I offer customer service training and training design.
5. Embrace innovation. A customer-focused organization also needs to be a future-focused organization. Customer expectations aren’t standing still, and you shouldn’t be either.
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Micah Solomon is a customer service and customer experience consultant, keynote speaker and trainer. He also works as a content creator and ghostwriter and as a customer service expert witness. Micah was recently named “the World’s #1 Customer Service Turnaround Expert” by Inc. Magazine. Email Micah directly, visit his website, or check out Micah’s new bestseller: Ignore Your Customers (and They’ll Go Away) (HarperCollins Leadership).
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