Do you consider yourself customer-driven or are you customer-driven?
As many as 80% of organizations consider themselves customer-driven, while only 8% of customers emphasize this. There's a factor of 10 in between. And that's exactly where the big problem lies. The intention is there and the first steps are often taken, but customers hardly experience it. And quite honestly; from my experience as an employee at various financial service providers, this is quite recognizable. And this is exactly why I joined Blauw. My mission is to help organizations become more customer-driven every day, step by step. But how do you do that?", I hear you thinking. In this blog, I'd like to take you through a few concrete examples to increase customer awareness. Because that's where it starts!
Bring your customer inside
Bring your customer inside
And preferably literally. It is important that everyone in an organization, on a daily basis, comes into contact with what your customer thinks of you. You can do this by displaying quotes from customer studies or messages from social media about your organization on screens, mouse pads, coffee mugs, screensavers, you name it. As long as it is visible what customers say about your organization (or what customers think of your organization). Often and for everyone. Fun and sometimes confrontational, but most of all you make it matter.
Another method is to start each team meeting with "the voice of the customer. In this you share with each other a customer experience. This can be either positive or negative. The main thing is to reflect on it and also discuss with each other what you as a team can do with that customer feedback. I once shared in my own team a reaction from a customer who thought it was crazy that the opening hours of the different contact centers within the same organization did not match. And let's face it; from the customer's perspective, that's crazy too! Based on this feedback, we were able to set up concrete actions to improve this.
Listen to your customer
Listen to your customer
A final example that I am sure has very big impact; have everyone without direct customer contact listen in at the contact center once a month. From management to operational staff. If you want to take this a step further, let everyone listen in. This is exciting, but at the same time fun and very valuable. I myself had the opportunity to manage several contact centers for almost two years and my colleagues appreciated this involvement enormously! From my later role as a marketer, I have also called back so-called detractors (customers who give you a 0 to 6) several times. Despite the fact that I could not directly solve the problem substantively, the customer was happy with my phone call because I took the trouble to listen and show understanding for her situation.
What works and what doesn't works differs per organization and therefore requires a customized approach. Increasing customer awareness and getting colleagues enthusiastic about this is step one. Getting your organization to work from a continuous improvement approach is the next important step. More about that later!
Customized approach
What works and what doesn't differs per organization and therefore requires a customized approach. Increasing customer awareness and getting colleagues enthusiastic about this is step one. Getting your organization to work from a continuous improvement approach is the next important step. More about that later!
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