Sequencing a powerful Business Performance Strategy
If you want to improve business performance and productivity in 2011 adopting a sequential approach to improving your customer experience performance will be the best investment you can make according to Chris Bell Managing Director of Customer Experiences a company that specialises in the development of high quality customer experiences.
There are two clear areas that are negatively impacting on the ability of organisations to maximise business growth and profitability –
1) The inability of business to capture the right feedback from customers
2) Organisations focusing on areas out of a strategic sequence
Not clearly understanding customer expectations results in wasting time on initiatives that will not deliver the required results and in many cases unhappy customers spreading negative word of mouth far and wide said
The days of just satisfying a customer to gain loyalty are long gone according to
The motivation to consistently exceed customers expectations has never been so compelling, with most businesses very much belonging to the “world of sameness”
1. Committed Leadership
Leaders must commit themselves and their teams to creating a customer-focused business culture. Leaders create business cultures not by what they say but what they do. The single biggest reason customer experience initiatives fail is that employees do not believe management is fully committed to the strategy.
2. A Strategic Vision
Without a vision your business will lack direction and unifying aims. Organisations must have a clear view of where they are heading and how they intend to get there.
3. Customer Experience Statement
A customer experience statement clearly defines the experience you and your team will deliver to customers. This includes both physical exchanges and the emotional experience you want to convey to those who support your business.
4. Identify Touch Points
A touch point is any instance that a customer (or prospective customer) comes in contact with and forms opinions about your business. You must identify those touch points and manage the impressions they create. Along with direct interaction, touch points are as varied as advertising, sponsorships, your delivery van, or a phone call.
5. Writing Service Standards
6. Customer Experiences
Remember the principle 'what gets measured gets done'. It makes no sense to put in place service standards unless you can determine they are being met.
7. Continuous Improvement
Creating a strategy is the first step in an on-going journey. To maintain your competitive advantage you must continue to meet and exceed your customers' expectations. Creativity must be part of your customer experience culture. Encourage everyone in the business to contribute their ideas and reward them when they do.
The key is to realise that in a world of excess, uniformity and repetition, people buy experiences, not products or services. When people feel good about their experience they will not only return, they will tell their friends.
To turn a financial exchange into a rewarding experience, businesses have to be creative and they have to be fully committed to seeing the world through their customers’ eyes.
- Chris Bell is managing director of