Fast Guide to Creating a Customer Focused Culture

One unfortunate side-effect of a busy company is that sometimes employees are so focused on the tasks at hand that they lost their focus on the customer. If you want to be truly successful you need to sharpen your focus on how to create a customer focused culture within your company.

These six areas will help you get the customer back where they belong within your organization.

Model What You Expect
If you want to change or redirect the culture in your company you need to make sure that it is emphasized from the top of the chain of command all the way down to the entry level clerk that was just hired. Your employees need to know that you are as focused on the customer as you expect them to be. If they see you modeling the behavior, they are much more likely to buy into your philosophy.

Make Knowing Your Customer a Priority
If you want to really serve your customers you need to know what they need. That means that you must get to know them. You should make an effort to know how large they are, who their customers are, how they prefer to do business, etc. The more you know about them, the better you will be able to understand their needs and customize what you are offering them to best meet those needs.

Listen to Your Customers
One way to really get to know your customer is to really listen to what they are telling you. Do not go to them with preconceived notions of what they need without first listening to what they are telling you they need. Many conflicts can be avoided, and complaints resolved, if you only take the time to listen.

Hire and Train Good People
Hiring the right people can be a time consuming process, but it is one that is necessary to be successful. The wrong person dealing with your customers can destroy everything that your company is doing that is right.
By training your employees about the proper procedures and policies you can better assure that those employees will respond appropriately with your customers.

Empower Your People
Many times there are easy solutions that are available that would handle a customers concerns. You companies relationship with your customers will improve if issues are resolved quickly. The quickest way for that to happen is for your employees to have the power to make decisions regarding how issues are resolved.
When your employees have to put a customer on hold while your employees track down a supervisor to make a decision, it is wasting your customer's time. They will have a better experience if everything is resolved as quickly as possible with few inconveniences.

Respond Immediately
In this era of instant communication there is no excuse for a customer to have to wait several days before having your company respond to them. This is especially true when dealing with complaints. Do not give the impression that you are avoiding the issue. Respond to your customer as quickly as possible.
It may be that you do not have an answer when you respond. It is appropriate to respond and let the customer know that you are working on their problem. Once you have a resolution, you can contact them again to let them know how you plan on addressing their issue.

Knowing how to create a customer focused culture is basically adopting an attitude where the customer is the most important asset your business has. You should do everything within your power to protect that asset. Without your customers, you have no business.

Customer Focus Drives Organizational Strategy

I would like to applaud Dale Wolf of The Cx Institute for observing that "your customer needs set up your corporate strategy. Your corporate strategy sets up your customer expectations.

For example, if the customers you are targeting want “everyday low price” then they will expect you to use specific strategies and processes to deliver this position consistently.

Growth Companies must deliver the best, most effective products, speed to market, innovation and market leadership driven by people who are entrepreneurial and who are rewarded for increasing revenue.

Low-Cost Companies must deliver low price with products that have exactly the benefits that customers want without unwanted frills by standardizing processes, eliminating waste and rewarding efficiency.

Relationship Companies must be intensely customer-centric and provide intense service, multiple touchpoints and consistent quality to build loyalty and reward improvements in customer lifetime value.

Risk Averse Companies must imitate and let leaders go first and then improve with quality control and tight contracts and reward for compliance.

Use customer focus to eliminate strategies and processes that confuse direction; focus right where you want to be and re-define your processes so that they simply deliver the expected value at a profit level you find acceptable."

And the winners for customer experience driven loyalty are....

Satmetrix Releases 2010 Annual Net Promoter Benchmarks for Customer Loyalty

Reports Highlight Customer Experience Rankings in Insurance, Financial Services, Airlines, Telecommunications, Technology, Retail and Online Services


Mar 17, 2010 -- Satmetrix, the Net Promoter(R) company and leader in customer experience programs, today released its 2010 Net Promoter Industry Benchmarks for the insurance, financial services, airlines, telecommunications, technology, retail and online services industries.

Leaders included well-known brands such as USAA, Charles Schwab, JetBlue, Verizon Wireless, Apple, Trader Joe's, Costco and Amazon.com.

The rankings are based on survey responses from more than 19,500 U.S. consumers nationwide who had purchased products or services from each company within the previous 12 months.

A company's Net Promoter Score, or NPS(R), is based on customers' likelihood to recommend the company's product or service. NPS is calculated as the percentage of customers who are Promoters, rating the company 9 or 10 on a zero-to-ten point scale, minus the percentage who are Detractors, rating 6 or lower. Consumers also rated each company on various aspects of customer experience including product or service features, customer service and overall value, allowing Satmetrix to analyze drivers of loyalty and performance gaps for each company.

"A company's ability to deliver a superior customer experience relative to its industry peers is a critical indicator of customer retention and new customer acquisition through positive word of mouth," said John Abraham, general manager of Net Promoter programs at Satmetrix. "These benchmarks allow companies to see how consumers rate them relative to their competitors when it comes to customer loyalty."

The study encompassed 17 specific competitive sectors across seven industries. Highlights for each industry include:
Insurance: A significant contrast appeared between property and casualty insurers and companies offering life and health insurance. Scores in life and health were lower, particularly in the health insurance sector. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois was the only health insurance company profiled with a positive NPS, scoring 5% in a sector with an average of negative 13%. CIGNA ranked last among major health insurers with an NPS of negative 28%. State Farm led the life insurance category with an NPS of 34%, more than 22 points higher than runner up New York Life, while USAA dominated the auto insurance sector at 78%, more than 37 points ahead of runner-up GEICO. In homeowners insurance, USAA scored 69%, well above Travelers, which came up last at 3%.

Financial Services: Brokerage and investment institutions saw a significant increase in NPS over the previous year, signaling a recovery in customer trust since the 2008 market crisis. Overall, the sector achieved an average NPS of 29%, up more than 20 points since last year. Charles Schwab held its ground as the sector leader with an NPS of 46%. Although the credit card sector fared poorly overall, American Express and Discover maintained their strong performance year on year, outperforming sector laggard Bank of America by more than 36 points. USAA, a non-traditional player in the banking sector, stood out as the leader with an NPS of 81%, placing it 40 points ahead of runner-up BB&T. Citigroup was the only bank profiled with more Detractors than Promoters, earning an NPS of negative 9%.

Airlines: JetBlue and Southwest were clear frontrunners in the airline industry, scoring more than 40 points above the industry average. JetBlue Promoters referenced the in-flight experience, extra legroom, quality snacks and television, while Southwest Promoters praised the airline for its friendly service and for not charging baggage fees. U.S. Airways trailed the segment at negative 16%.

Telecommunications: Verizon Wireless led the cellular phone service sector again this year with a score of 41%, while AT&T dropped to the bottom of the sector with a score of 9%, in a statistical dead heat with last year's laggard, Sprint (10%). Time Warner Cable's Road Runner High Speed Online led the Internet service provider category with a score of 21% in an industry whose average NPS was a mere 4%. DIRECTV led in the satellite and cable TV category with an NPS of 27%.

Technology: Apple, with an NPS of 78%, continues to be the top performer in the computer hardware sector. In the consumer software sector, Adobe Systems (37%), Intuit (36%), and Symantec (36%) were the frontrunners, with security software provider Symantec recording the most significant increase between 2007 and 2009.

Retail: The grocery/supermarket retail sector achieved the second highest average NPS of all industries examined in the reports, with Trader Joe's and Wegmans leading the way at 69% and 67%, respectively. Big box membership clubs Costco (66%) and Sam's Club (61%) led the department/ wholesale/specialty sector, followed by Target and Lowe's.

Online Services: Amazon.com and eBay led the online shopping sector with NPS of 71% and 65%, respectively, followed by Barnes & Noble's bn.com at 59%. In the online search and information category, Facebook scored 65%, moving into a leading position alongside Google at 63%.

"We continue to see the impact that the customer experience has on loyalty and business growth," said Deborah Eastman, CMO at Satmetrix. "Best-in-class companies are those that put in the processes to continuously listen to, learn from, and take immediate action on what their customers tell them about their performance."

"Customer Service is the New Marketing!"

"Customer Service is the New Marketing!" , says Zappos' marketing chief Aaron Magness in an interview with Fast Company.

I liked his answer to the question What is marketing all about?:

"There are five principles that I try to focus on in everything that has to do with marketing:

1. Customer service is the new marketing. The days of dictating your brand to the public are long gone. There is so much access to information; the customer is actually dictating your brand to you.


2. Communicate with your customers, don’t market at them. Customers get bombarded with marketing messages every day (practically every second). Find ways to interact with them. Discussions drive loyalty, not one way messaging.


3. Don’t try to be interesting, be interested. I first heard this phrase from our CEO, Tony Hsieh, and thought it was great. It is really spot on. A lot of companies try to launch a really creative campaign, but lack the follow up to the brand promise. Your campaign should highlight what your brand promise is, not try to invent one.


4. Try to WOW at every interaction. This goes for working with employees, vendors and customers. Personal relationships and interactions drive everything. You need to capitalize on them. This is obviously something that is very true and important at Zappos. I don’t think I every put it into words until I worked here, but the importance and implications are great.


5. Your culture will dictate your success. This goes back to building your team. Hire great people, treat them like adults and let them do great work. The rest should come naturally on its own. "

A quick guide to customer journey mapping, to improve customer service

Arne van Oosterom of the Dutch organization DesignThinkers wrote a concise overview which I really like for its clarity.

• To stay competitive and survive the changes organisations are presently facing, they need to reassess the way they are structured, function and build relationships with customers.
• Closing the "reality gap" between organisations and people (employees and customers alike) should be the number one priority.
• And for this we need a new set of skills, methods and tools.
• People-centred approaches have emerged because it provides us with useful methods and tools to bridge the gap.
  

One of the tools is customer journey mapping.

This allows us to step into the customer shoes. It shows us the customer’s perceptions and the larger context in which we play a part. It lets us be emerged in their world, their reality. Get a deeper insight into customer needs, perception, experience and motivation. It will answer questions like: What are people really trying to achieve? How are they trying to achieve this? What do they use and in what order? Why do they make a choice? What are they experiencing, feeling, while trying to reach the desired outcome?

A customer journey map is built up layer by layer. We start 'above water', with the customer and slowly dive deeper and deeper into the organisational structures and context. The tool can be used with customers or management, employees and other stakeholder or, even better, in a mix.

A customer journey map (e.g. used by front-office employees) in its simplest form will contain the following:

1. Context or stakeholder map. We list all stakeholders and we order the hierarchy in circles of influences around the centre, where you are. When working with customers you’ll have the customer in the centre. Describe all relationships on the map by answering the question: what do we do for them; what do they do for us? This map shows you the landscape or force field you are dealing with. And you can discuss how this influences the quality of your work and how a customer benefits or suffers from it.
2. Persona. We need a rich customer profile or persona. Describe his/her personal and business situation now (present situation) and in the future (ambitions).
3. Outcomes. A description of his/ her desired outcome - what is he/she trying to achieve?
4. Customer journey. We list all actions (as far as possible) the customer has to take to reach the outcome (placed in a horizontal line). Don’t start listing actions when the customer uses your service the first time. Start before the moment he/she decided to use your product or service. This way we visualise behavioural patterns.
5. Touchpoints. Underneath every action we list all channels and touchpoints services the customer encounter. Not just yours! This way you’ll discover the landscape you are in form the customer’s perception.
6. Moments of Truth. Then we identify the moments the customer encounters your touchpoints and channels. We start focus on those (you can move them down a bit). Identify the most important 'moments of truth'.
7. Service delivery. Underneath every touch point, we write down who delivers the service. Who is directly responsible for it (e.g. front office personal)?
8. Emotional journey. Then give every vertical line a grade for the experience (Actions -> touch point -> who delivers the service -> grade). Don't grade the functionality, grade the work. For the emotion, how do you think the customer felt at that moment? Use a scale from 0 to 10. The higher the number, the better the experience. This can be visualised (e.g. by a line going up and down), and is very effective as a conversation starter. It can often be a real eye-opener.
9. Blueprint. Now, to make a long story a bit shorter, we can go on listing the organisation underneath, writing down who supports the people delivering the service (back office), and in turn who influences the back office (we link back to the stakeholders map), until we have a complete organisational blueprint, a complete picture of the working of an organisation and emotional journey, from the outside in.
10. Improve and innovate. Use creative, brainstorming and any other ideation techniques for the service opportunities you identified (low grades) and/or design complete new and ideal journeys or services. This usually is the moment people have the most fun. I have been surprised many times by the talent and eagerness of people to engage in this creative process. People are usual a lot more creative than you think. We just need to put them in the right situation and mood.

Don’t wait until the end to collect ideas. Write down all ideas and insights during the building of the customer journeys. These insights will be a rich source for improvements and innovative ideas. And all you need to start are some large sheets of paper, markers and a lot of sticky-notes.

Great job Arne van Oosterom! I am with you all the way...