Word of Mouth

The act of word-of-mouth is often preceded by an actual positive service experience. Essentially, service providers need to work on the customers' hearts and minds before they can gain word-of-mouth. The share of heart concept suggests that delighting customers is the key to connecting with the hearts of customers. Share of hearts refer to the extent to which the customer is emotionally linked to the service provider in response to the verbal and non-verbal acts of the service provider.

The share of hearts marks the start to how a service provider engages the customer., in the sense that customers form an emotional linked to the product, service or even service provider. Service providers need to work on the customers' hearts and minds before they can gain word-of-mouth.

Service mindfulness suggests that service providers are alert to both the spoken and unspoken needs of customers.

Service providers win the share of customers' hearts through their heartfelt and caring services, triggered by their service mindfulness. The sustained efforts of service providers move customers towards the share of mind, navigating into their subconscious and resulting in top of mind recall when they are again in need of the service. The share of voice is earned when customers are willing to testify about the goodness experienced from the acts of the service providers. Gaining the share of heart, share of mind and share of voice is becoming progressively more important in light of ever-increasing competition.

When customers are delighted, they become brand ambassadors and give their heart, mind and voice to the brand.

New perspectives to customer service

Traditional methods of gaining competitive advantage over other service providers have become less effective in this new era of social media empowered services. To succeed, service providers need to take on an entirely new paradigm when it comes to customer service: one which seeks to put customers first, is willing to go far beyond their expectations and strives to delight and surprise them. This change in service begins with a change in perspective.

Excellent customer service starts from within an organisation - from the way that service providers function within the organisation when working with internal staff and systems. The 3 important aspects that determine how well an organisation fares internally are its systems and processes, internal communication and personal support for staff. Excellent service begins here - getting these aspects right means a step in the right direction for the organisation.

Real Service Providers serve their customers as they would serve their grandmothers - wholeheartedly, with tender loving care to delight them.

 

How to facilitate feedback from employees?

"If you do your job correctly, there will be sufficient ongoing communication so that all your employees know what is expected of them and how well or poorly they are doing."

Below are 6 steps approach to facilitate feedback:

1. Identify successes and failures - Be specific. Don't tell an employee he or she is too often. Instead, tell him the exact number of times he or she has been late during a defined period. Be equally specific when offering praise, such as the amount of money or time a worker has saved the company. When talking to employees, focus on the action rather than on your conclusions.
2. Stop talking and start listening - Ask employees to respond to your observations and pay careful attention to their words and body language; ask questions as necessary to make sure they have had a full opportunity to get their views across. If you don't listen to what an employee has to say, it's less likely he or she will listen to what you have to say.
3. Discuss the implications of behaviour - If you are dealing with problem behaviour, convey the probable outcomes in clear and unmistakable terms. Likewise, let performing employees know if they are on target to receive a bonus or other recognition. Specific information about consequences provides employees with benchmarks against which to asses and adjust their behaviour.
4. Link past accomplishments to needed changes - Look for areas where the employees has been successful and point out how the traits that led to those successes can be applied to areas that need improvement. Don't just offer exhortations; build an employee's confidence by letting him know exactly why you think he or she will be able to handle whatever tasks are at issue. Explain how current workplace requirements are related to his previous accomplishments.
5. Agree on an action plan - Ask employees what steps he or she can take to address issues that have been identified. Solicit his or her suggestions. This is a powerful tactic because people are most likely to follow through on their own ideas than on what they are told to do by someone else.
6. Follow up - Set a date and time to meet again for a formal review on progress related to the action plan. But don't wait for that date to stay engaged with the employee. Instead, use the development of the action plan as the starting point for the more regular, informal feedback sessions that distinguish a good manager. Let employees know when they are on plan and when they might be falling short.

Instead of continually reprimanding your employees, who are fighting the battle for you in the front line, talk quite specifically about how that employee needs to improve. Give employee a goal to work toward, not a legacy to overcome. Your ultimate goal "is to energize and excite people about the role you need them to play and the development they need to go through".

Remember: Employees are your core asset in a successful business.

The Mystery of the Missing Wow!

Why it's difficult to find delightful experiences or even just good service out there?

There are hundreds of posters on company walls with quotes on the customer and how they should focus on them but very few act on them.

Why?

Here are several possible reasons:

1. Never experienced it before - positive experiences are not painted for them and they are not trained to recognise them and deliver them. If they have not had the chance to experience what it feels like to be delighted as a customer, they would not know.
2. Leadership focus - leaders should see connecting not delighting the customers as a necessary focus in order to grow the business. Resources should therefore be channelled to the right places. Training and equipment that will help deliver a positive experience to the customers will be a better investment.
3. Leaders not walking the talk - some leaders do tell all staff members that the customer is important and they should always put the customers' wants and needs first, but they may not act accordingly themselves.
4. Measures differently - many companies that preach that the customer is the most important being and that staff members must go to great lengths to please or delight the customers, but they measure staff members against all other indicators that are not related to the customer.
5. Many service staff don't have basic manners themselves - often it's not about 'service' or an 'experience'; it's just plain manners!
6. The "What's in it for me?" culture - a culture that calculates what we put in and expects the same or even more in return, we will be sorely disappointed. A true blue customer-focused person is a true giver-one who gives more and expect less.
7. Perception of the people - organisations focuses on getting its people equipped with what is necessary to deliver the positive experience and at the end of the day, appreciates their hard work and efforts and rewards them accordingly is necessary too. 

The Employee Wow! Experience

To deliver The Wow! Experience, one must first experience it.

The point is that staff who are managed well and given the best environment to do their jobs, in tun do their best to delight their customers.

Leaders of organisations who want to deliver The Wow! Experience must focus relentlessly on providing the necessary environment to make their staff positive and happy.

What does the company need o do to ensure The Wow! Experience for the employees?

1. Select the 'Best Fit' not the 'Best' - It is also very important to hire people who are positive about themselves and the world around them. They must, firstly, like themselves.
2. Equip them - Resources channelled into developing people are never a waste.
3. Empower them - Empowering builds a sense of ownership in the staff. This leads to them seeking the best for the customer and the company.
4. Recognise and reward positive behaviour - Recognition for the staff can come in many forms- a simple 'thank you', a pat on the back, an award given during the company dinner.
5. Involve them, build ownership - Front liners should not be looked upon solely as implementers of corporate strategy. They have valuable insights that could save the company thousands of dollars in market research activities.
6. Trust them! Trust them! and still Trust them! - Communication is the key in building trust.

The Customer Experience

Good service is not good enough. Today's customers are different. Their tastes are different, their demands are varied and they have raised the bar. Companies that want to make it have to open their eyes and ears and realise that the customer service landscape has changed dramatically.

The Wow! Experience is one where the customer's expectations are met and exceed at every stage of his interaction with you - from the beginning to the end. There is an emotional connection with the customer which cause him to respond positively in a way that helps grow your business - he buys, he returns and he tells others about you. Your engaged customers become loyal and choose to return and even become your 'salesperson' as they tell others about you.

The Wow! Experience involves the 3Cs:

1. Customer first focus - the key focus of the strategy is centred on the customer and how to connect with her. The people, place, product and processes are focused on the customer.
2. Customisation - tailoring and personalising components to suit the customer's specific wants.
3. Complete - an end to the experience - meeting and exceeding the customer's expectations at every stage of the transaction - from beginning to end.

Companies which get their customers to say 'Wow' are those which strives to go beyond and to exceed expectations at every stage. Emotional engagement makes these customers return, and tell others about you. Your business grows.

The Wow! Experience involves engaging the emotions over and above meeting the 'given' expectations of speed, quality and the like. Customers today are willing to pay a higher price for such experiences because they are rare. They also make customers feel like individual and specific needs.

The 4 Ps of the Wow! Experience

1. People - quality leaders who hire the right staff who are then trained diligently in the different products until they are truly skilled and confident.
2. Product - high quality and easy to use.
3. Place - appealing décor and a comfortable space to conduct business in.
4. Process - processes are developed with the customer in mind; efficient and consistent.

The Wow!Experience is about meeting and exceeding the expectations of the customer at every contact point to create something that is unique and memorable.

So from today onwards, make an effort to stand out from the crowd and be noticed - it pays to be different in a way your customer value.

Positioning Customer Service as a Profit Generator

It can be difficult for executives to consider the impact on customer service when making strategic decisions about their companies. They often lack direct contact with customers, and the limited customer service data they have is not as comprehensive, easy to understand, or reliable as the financial reports they are so comfortable using. However, leaders must understand that outstanding customer service is not a  cost to be minimised; it's an investment in future profitability.

Below is a summary of the solutions:

• Executives must capture and analyse customer satisfaction data to ensure strategic decisions are not based solely on financial metrics.
• Customer service leaders should dig deeper into their financial statements to understand the true cost of poor customer service.
• The long-term benefit of customer service investments should be carefully understood before implementing cost-cutting measures that might drive customers away.
• Investing in the right number of qualified, well-trained employees pays off when the employees are able to drive sales and customer satisfaction.
• Self-service technology can be tempting because of the promised cost savings, but the expense of lost customers and lost revenue can be high if the technology doesn't function properly or customers find it irritating or difficult to use.
• Executives should carefully consider the impact of any price or fee increase on customer retention, revenue per customer, an referrals before making a final decision.