Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced by a customer friendly culture.
- David Freemantle
David Freemantle certainly appreciates the value of a customer friendly culture, don’t they? Building a customer friendly culture is occupying the minds and activities of a lot of companies that we’re talking with lately.
This is great because the culture is the difference between going through the motions of a script and internalizing a set of values that dictate actions beyond the script.
Here is an example: I recently was on the phone with an incredibly chipper call center rep at a telecommunications company. He didn’t answer either of the two questions that I had, yet remained friendly throughout the call.
As the call ended, he said: “We aim not just to meet your expectations, but exceed them. Have I done that for you today?”. A more customer-centric response is: “I’m sorry that I can’t answer your questions. Let me find someone who can. Would you like to hold or can I call you back?”
Don’t get us wrong: Company intentions are important. Before we get into the culture part, we always step back with clients and ask “what kind of culture?” The story about Southwest Airlines, in which the company refused to give customers reserved seats, food, and baggage transfers is a great example.
The company’s primary value proposition to customers is low prices (along with on-time service that’s fun). That sets the stage for the kind of culture the company sets out to create. It’s not customer-centric at all costs. It’s focused on what’s valuable to customers.
Recently over at AmazingServiceGuy, Kristina Evey wrote a post about the friendliness factor and how it relates to customer satisfaction. In her post, Kristina wrote that:
Customers make their purchasing decisions based on how they feel. When they are developing relationships with their service and product supplies, a person who smiles is inviting and is easy to talk to ranks high in the preferred qualities that customers list.
Think about the last great customer experience you had (maybe on Zappos, maybe in your local convenience store). Now think about the last really bad experience you had with a customer support person.
There’s a fair chance that much of the difference between the two exchanges wasn’t about the product or service that the organization provides, but rather was simply a reflection on how personable, how helpful and, yes, how friendly the customer service person was.
Here are 6 fantastic shortcuts for a customer-friendly culture where you and your business may see value from your contributions and efforts:
Demonstrate great service value
Show customers examples of your or maybe others that you exemplify. Hopefully, you appreciate that great service is your best marketing tactic.
Total team involvement
Remember in marketing as well as service, everything and everybody is a service provider. Make it a total team effort. Customer service really is everyone in the company’s business.
Unless every employee assumes responsibility for customer experience and service, you will be missing improvement opportunities.
Employee empowerment
Train your employees and then empower them and turn them loose. Minimize rules. Let them know that you want them to do what is right and be the customers’ advocate. The simple thought is that while the customer is not always right, they always have the right to choose.
Sometimes the best marketing is being social. Listen actively and remember things for the next engagement. Like names. Don’t be hesitant to ask good questions to learn new insights. And use initiative to take action on those insights.
Invest in talent and training
In terms of hiring, companies like Whole Foods focus on getting the right people in the door to start with, so that their socialization builds on fueling a fire that’s already there.
Volution (a software company) infuses job announcements with its customer-centric values, and KeyBank tests applicants for natural approaches to customer issues that align with the company’s values.
Go all in
If you’re going to do something, do it. Go all in. Doing it half in makes no sense at all to us. It’s like a business that has so many rules and regulations about sales and exchanges that you wonder if they really want to be bothered to sell you anything at all.
Focus on details
Always pay attention to the details, as they are the things that matter the most. Declare war on bureaucracy. Focus on making things and as simple and convenient for customers. Ask for and use ideas and collaboration of customers.
Do it, don’t procrastinate
We feel the words of Martin Luther King Junior spoken about a half a lifetime ago, apply really well here:
“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”
The bottom line
Friendliness has a way of coming back; that is the nature of the beast. One doesn’t have to be friendly for a return. It just happens.
The lessons out of a friendly culture remain to inspire everyone to do the same. One act of friendliness stands out as a beacon for others to follow.
It’s up to you to keep improving your ability to create a customer-friendly culture.
