Last week, after dropping off my Prius at the dealership for routine service — as I’ve done regularly since I bought the car in 2007 — I ambled over to the shuttle stop for a ride home. “Where you headed?” barked the driver, never raising his head from his newspaper. I recognized him — he’d driven me back and forth from the dealership on numerous occasions, and we’d had many interesting conversations about airplanes and about our mutual hometown of Alameda, Calif. When I let him know where I was going, he immediately recognized me and his demeanor changed entirely.
Interesting insight, Chris. I agree that companies need to tap their front-line employees. There is a wealth of ideas and information there that is often underutilized; ironic, since it is the customer-facing employees who are closest to the customers and have most of the customer touchpoint experiences.
A lot of companies continue to struggle with their customer service performance, often spending a ton of money on branding and marketing initiatives, only to see customers pack up and leave for greener pastures (or at least the hope of finding greener pastures).
In this environment of seemingly ever-increasing product/service commoditization, more and more companies are discovering that they can differentiate themselves by providing a superior customer experience and building loyalty out of the value the customer receives from the quality of that experience.
Customer-facing employees must have the right skills and behaviors to create the optimal experience, but if they have those skills and demonstrate those behaviors, great customer experiences naturally follow, along with sustainable loyalty ... and that means increased profits.
Scott Heitland
Principal | Pretium Solutions
www.pretiumsolutions.com
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Customer Focus Is an All-Hands Exercise
Posted by: Christopher J. Bucholtz February 10, 2012 05:00 AMLast week, after dropping off my Prius at the dealership for routine service — as I’ve done regularly since I bought the car in 2007 — I ambled over to the shuttle stop for a ride home. “Where you headed?” barked the driver, never raising his head from his newspaper. I recognized him — he’d driven me back and forth from the dealership on numerous occasions, and we’d had many interesting conversations about airplanes and about our mutual hometown of Alameda, Calif. When I let him know where I was going, he immediately recognized me and his demeanor changed entirely.
A lot of companies continue to struggle with their customer service performance, often spending a ton of money on branding and marketing initiatives, only to see customers pack up and leave for greener pastures (or at least the hope of finding greener pastures).
In this environment of seemingly ever-increasing product/service commoditization, more and more companies are discovering that they can differentiate themselves by providing a superior customer experience and building loyalty out of the value the customer receives from the quality of that experience.
Customer-facing employees must have the right skills and behaviors to create the optimal experience, but if they have those skills and demonstrate those behaviors, great customer experiences naturally follow, along with sustainable loyalty ... and that means increased profits.
Scott Heitland
Principal | Pretium Solutions
www.pretiumsolutions.com