Gone are the days of believing that only the front desk staff, customer care representatives, and marketing team can influence a customer’s perception of your business.
Customer experience continues to evolve, so you must learn about the new trends. This does not only apply to you, the leader but your staff as well. In customer experience, every member of your business must commit to improving their output to keep the customers smiling always.
Most times, it isn't that your products or services are of substandard quality. It is the employees who do not perform their duties in the best possible way. Some of your workers who are present at a customer’s various touchpoints may not share your vision for promoting a good customer experience. Remember that you have a responsibility to offer all customer products or services that leave them feeling satisfied. Each customer experience should be the same—good.
While we agree that customer experience is not an easy sea to navigate, with consumers’ wishes changing regularly, you can implement customer experience training for your staff. This training will, aside from other benefits, equip them with the knowledge and skills required to satisfy every customer. They will learn how to manage the concerns of each customer, especially when the customer complains.
If you are looking to expand your business and maximize the Return on Investment (ROI), then you must shift focus towards the customers. Every department of your business or company can make or mar your relationship with customers. So, it's time to enlighten your staff on the importance of a positive customer experience and the role that they play in achieving that goal.
Read on to learn how to sensitize your staff on customer experience, and their obligation to satisfy the customer’s needs.
What Customer Experience Means?
Customer Experience, also known as CX, refers to a customer’s feeling about a business. It is also the product of a customer’s interaction with a business from the touchpoint of marketing to customer service. It also encompasses the other touchpoints.
CX does not only focus on the customer’s actions during the interaction with your business. It also includes the emotions that they feel after buying or using your product/service. Remember that you and your staff are responsible for augmenting the areas that you believe will ruin the customer’s faith in your service.
Annette Franz, founder and CEO of CX Journey, views CX as “the sum of all the interactions that a customer has with an organization over the life of the relationship with that company or with that brand.” Now, note that even if the customer does not end up buying your product, you are required to furnish each interaction with professionalism and courtesy and a great experience.
What Does a Good Customer Experience Feel Like?
Below is a list of what we identify as indications of good CX. Do note that good CX not only means that you have satisfied the customers’ needs, but you have built a great relationship and more likely increased sales as part of that. Customers who invest in CX do well because they:
- Design easy-to-access websites or applications.
- Possess a skilled customer service team that's on standby mode always.
- Make products that not only match customers’ expectations but surpass them.
- Have a focused marketing department that runs relevant advertising campaigns building the relationship from the brand awareness phase.
A Quick Tip:
No customer wants to be treated unfairly, so endeavor to promote personalized interactions that fully represent their needs.
Why Train Your Staff on Customer Experience?
Thanks to technological advances, customers now have a lot to say about their interactions with businesses, companies and even the individuals they interacted with. With social media and online review platforms, disgruntled customers can share their views on your company’s product or service with a wide audience. Negative feedback can cause prospective customers to reconsider using your product.
You must avoid bad publicity and instead show customers, whether new or existing, that your business values them greatly. One step in that direction is the training of your staff to be ambassadors of good CX. Now, you may wonder if the training applies to all staff or just the ones that come in contact with customers. This training is a valuable tool that all staff should benefit from.
3 Ways to Make Customer Experience Training Worthwhile for Your Staff
Before embarking on CX training, there are three ways by which you can make the process more profitable for your staff. Below is a list:
1. Prioritize “Customer Experience” and not “Customer Service” in the Training
Many companies mistake customer experience for customer service, thereby ruining their efforts. While customer service is the provision of assistance to customers through either digital outlets or human staff, CX is the overall quality of interaction between customer and business. Remember, CX is perceived as good or bad only from the customer’s eyes, not yours.
So, to make progress in the training, ensure that you distinguish between the two concepts. Remember that CX training involves all staff and not just the customer care team, so don’t let them see the training as one designed for customer service.
2. Train Your Staff Using a Role-Based Strategy
Like other training, it pays to identify your target audience and train them properly. We recommend that you provide managers and non-managerial staff with separate coaching additional to the core training everyone gets.
We say this because role-based training helps you educate the different departments on how their respective functions if performed rightly, will increase the number of good CXs.
3. CX Training is for All Staff
Times have changed and CX is not only determined by customer-facing staff like sales representatives, marketing staff, or customer care representatives. Remember that each employee, regardless of position, is responsible for a good CX.
Each department is intertwined, consider the customer care representatives for example. If tech support doesn't resolve any tech issues, there's no way for the customer care reps to address customers’ concerns.
Make sure that your training includes everyone and educates them on how to better their performance on the job. Think of CX Training as both a top-down as well as a bottom-up initiative.
Final Thoughts
CX will always be a relevant portion of your company’s growth and its ability to retain customers. Remember that an increased ROI comes with long-term customers and not one-time customers. So, train your staff to always provide customers with an excellent experience. Your future valuation will thank you too.
