There’s an elite group of athletes who can always be found at the top level of their sport of choice. This top level is called the championship league and the athletes who populate this league are spectacular machines in action. They get the job done every time. How come? They embody the mindset, the physical machinery and the precise execution of the gameplan, to achieve the endgame. It’s no small wonder that these athletes make their lesser counterparts look mediocre.
This is the championship league, a space inhabited by only those individuals who possess laser-focussed intentionality, that is buttressed by an unwavering commitment to executing gameplans.
Similarly, in a different universe, there are those businesses that inhabit the championship league of service excellence. Entry into this league is neither easy, nor quick. It takes quite a while to master orchestration of the many moving parts that comprise a customer-centric business. The journey is not for faint-hearted business leaders.
Solution-management in the customer experience universe, is the capacity to ensure that the customer’s expectations of a desired outcome or outcomes, are met and exceeded.
One of the major areas of differentiation in a service excellence championship league, is the obsession with finding, curating or creating solutions for customers. Champion businesses have forged solution management into a fine art.
Solution-management in the customer experience universe, is the capacity to ensure that the customer’s expectations of a desired outcome or outcomes, are met and exceeded. I can tell you that some customer-obsessed businesses leave no stone unturned, in finding solutions that exceed their customers’ expectations.
Typically, the solution-management protocol follows a well-defined playbook. Deliver immediate relief to the customer, follow up with a service recovery plan and close off with a permanent solution.
It’s called business preservation and is activated whenever the customer experience ball is dropped.
So, let’s say a customer at an insurance company experiences a glitch in his premium payment in a given month. He calls in to report the glitch and speaks with a contact centre agent. This agent acts as the first point of resolution, without transferring the customer to any other department. The agent verifies the customer’s claim and executes an immediate remediation of the issue. Next, the agent indicates what can and will be done to ensure that the glitch does not happen again. A goodwill gesture is then extended to the customer, as compensation for his trouble. The icing on the cake is that the situation in fact, does not happen again.
Now, while this may seem like a fairytale scenario, with so many remediation and service recovery protocols being deployed, the truth is that this is how championship league businesses operate. Many of their lesser counterparts will scoff at so much “over the top” actions. It’s called business preservation and is activated whenever the customer experience ball is dropped.
The secret sauce to this enviable scenario, centres around pairing the service remediation process that I just described, with ownership, accountability and the relentless pursuit of delivering customer value. Of course, I used a service failure scenario to showcase the need for frictionless recovery. Solution management has equivalency in scenarios that are neutral as well, where the customer just needs to have a need resolved, not a problem solved.
The fine art of solution management is founded on making sure that failures are prevented and, in those instances when they do happen, that the first point of resolution kicks in as the last point of resolution.
The fine art of solution management is founded on making sure that failures are prevented and, in those instances when they do happen, that the first point of resolution kicks in as the last point of resolution. The “It’s not my job mindset,” is completely non-existent in solution-driven businesses. Every employee buys in to the credo of situation-ownership and integrates a first point of resolution standard, into every customer encounter.
The result of this workplace culture orientation, is that every employee becomes an accountability partner to the business, making sure that customers experience success whenever they conduct a transaction. As a matter of fact, this credo is applied at omni-channel level, so that a frictionless experience awaits the customer whether he or she conducts business face to face, online or via e-commerce. The entire workplace culture derives its momentum from each employee believing and acting as a lynchpin for ensuring that the customer’s end to end experience is nothing less than stellar.
While some businesses that are working their way up to championship league level, may be some distance away from deploying a first point resolution infrastructure, they may be doing the next best thing and ensuring that there is an army of interventionists in place. These are roving ambassadors, whose sole purpose is to preserve each customer’s entitlement to a frictionless experience.
The entire workplace culture derives its momentum from each employee believing and acting as a lynchpin for ensuring that the customer’s end to end experience is nothing less than stellar.
Understanding the need to master the fine art of solution management in customer experience management, is an essential step for any business that intends to deliver value consistently, to its customers.
Mastering the art, on the other hand is what differentiates little league, from championship league businesses.