Have you ever wondered how some businesses maintain their enviable track record for keeping their customers happy? One of the propellants is structure, namely the rigorous network of standards, practices, systems and processes, with which the businesses are compliant. Compliance with the wiring of this internal infrastructure, to which service delivery and, by extension, the customer’s experience, are tethered, allows these businesses to ensure that their brand of customer experience is always standardized and consistent.
This is the happy combustion that is the outcome of sticking to standards of performance and standards of care, whilst maintaining rigid adherence to best practices in managing operations and managing people. Without this level of structure, the experience offerings for customers, will be reduced to a series of unfortunate misadventures. A lack of structure creates the circumstances that are ripe for widely-varying outcomes.
Every business should be guided by a service delivery structure that preserves a sense of order in the way that its customers experience happiness.
Every business should be guided by a service delivery structure that preserves a sense of order in the way that its customers experience happiness.
Consistently stellar experiences are attributable often, to a business being compliant with standards of care. When a business takes the time to articulate these standards, this becomes the first step to sustainability of the care structure. Sadly, many businesses that I have encountered, have not defined these standards and without clear definition, reinforcement and enforcement cannot happen. Hence, the hit and miss outcomes. So, when it comes to the customer’s journey, a critical step is to establish standards of care for all key inflection points.
There is a fundamental blueprint for managing and resolving complaints. Of course, structure plays an important part in creating an unvarying application of the remediation process. Every employee in a business, including non-customer facing employees, should be crystal clear on the process involved in resolving the simplest, to the most complex complaint.
Structure has to govern the communication process that a business utilizes to ensure smooth transitioning of customer information across channels, across departments and within business units. Without a clear governing structure, customers will be frustrated by the resulting high frequency of disconnected and disjointed messaging that will begin to characterize the customer experience.
Structure has to govern the communication process that a business utilizes to ensure smooth transitioning of customer information across channels, across departments and within business units.
In the process of executing customer related actions, if a business lacks documented guidelines on how, when and who should comprise the communication circle in the process of executing customer related actions, then that business should prepare itself for the capricious nature that will rule its communication. Don’t forget that one of the most irritating issues for customers is poor communication.
So, let me ask here, “How does your business assist employees to develop critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills?” This capability should be nurtured in every employee, if a business is to imbed the attributes of responsiveness, sense of urgency and standards of efficiency, in all of its customer encounters.
The need for critical thinking arises in almost every customer to employee encounter, so making sure that employees are subject matter experts in this area, is a good way to avert poor judgment and inadequate decision making, when the opposite is required to influence good customer outcomes.
Don’t forget that one of the most irritating issues for customers is poor communication.
Moving the customer from end to end, along the pathway dedicated to his or her business encounter, requires employees to get the beginning, the middle and the close-off of the encounter, right. When employees master this structure, several benefits accrue. Employees avert interpersonal conflict, they use time efficiently and they control the conversation, effectively.
As a service transformation practitioner, in the customer experience shaping universe, one of my favourite phrases is that, “Whoever controls the conversation, typically controls the outcome of the conversation.” Expertise in controlling the conversation, is one of the most mission-critical skills that an employee can put to good use, when moving customers along the customer encounter continuum.
One of the most useful benefits of applying structure to the business of customer experience management, is that it enables the scalability of change, to match the changing needs of the customer. What this means, is that the elements that are combined to drive faultless customer experience, can be expanded, adjusted or modified to meet the moving expectations of the customer.
Expertise in controlling the conversation, is one of the most mission-critical skills that an employee can put to good use, when moving customers along the customer encounter continuum.
As customers’ demands change, standards can be adjusted, processes can be augmented and practices can be revolutionized, to aid a business in remaining top of mind in its delivery of customer happiness.
As an propellant and accelerant of effective customer experience management, making structure a foundational element on the journey to achieving customer happiness consistently, should be an easy decision.
Don’t you agree?