The Journey to a Customer-Focused Culture

Guest Blog Author: Michael Bowling, VP of National Sales at ContactUS

When I was at the ICMI Contact Center Expo in Fort Lauderdale, I attended a very interesting session lead by Jeff Toister (ICMI Consultant) who essentially presented three key tips to creating a successful and sustainable customer- focused culture. He provided some examples of engaged vs. disengaged environments, and who advocates that successful organizations align everything they do, around their customer service vision. In short, culture is about “how we behave” and is NOT “words on a wall”.

Customer-focused cultures share the following common traits:

VISION

Customer-focused cultures start with a clear definition of outstanding customer service (i.e. the vision) which acts as a compass to point employees in the right direction. The vision should be (a) simple and easy to understand, (b) customer-focused, and (c) applicable to both the present and the future.

When customer-obsessed RackSpace had their phones go down (with no ETA for a fix in sight) instead of shutting down for the day, their agents decided to release their personal cell phone numbers across Twitter to their customers and handle the situation “as best they could” during the outage.

WHY DID THEY DO THIS? Because their clear customer service vision (i.e. we can’t promise nothing will ever go wrong, but we can promise we will rise to the occasion, take action, and help resolve the issue) provided their employees with a guidebook for taking matters into their own hand to help the customer.

ENGAGEMENT

Customer-focused cultures have employees who (a) know what the customer service vision is, (b) know what it means, and (c) know how they can personally contribute.

Our collective goal in the room is to “help our customers succeed and realize the full value of the products and the brands we represent”. When agents can consistently answer what is our vision, what does it mean, and how can you personally contribute, we know we’re heading in the right direction.

ALIGNMENT

Customer-focused cultures align their (a) goals, (b) hiring practices, (c) training programs, (d) empowerment initiatives, and (e) leadership around their customer service vision.

 When you see an organization effectively aligned, you’ll know it. REI, for example, “exists to help its customers enjoy the outdoors”. Jeff told a personal story of how he loves the outdoors, was planning for a trip, and about his experience at REI vs. a large (but not outdoor specialty) retailer. Non-specialty retailer said “camping gear’s in Aisle 5” but when Jeff approached REI’s store associate with the same question, he got super excited, asked about the type of camping trip Jeff was planning, walked him personally to the area of the store he needed, and successfully geared him up for his trip.

Get all parts of the organization involved to create a clear customer service vision that works for you. Regularly survey your agents (e.g. when customers think about the service we provide, what would they say?). Hire agents who are passionate about your vision. Train them well and empower them to live your vision.

Keep refining until you get it right!

 

About CH Consulting Group

CH Consulting Group is a business management consulting company that is
comprised of a nationwide team of Customer Experience Consultants who
specialize in the Omni-Channel Contact Center. We are Thought Leaders from
multiple industries with more than 250 years of combined industry experience
and a far-reaching network of contacts in the space that can help support all
our clients’​ needs. We help navigate the needs of our clients with a creative,
holistic and collaborative methodology, bringing a proven track record, the
right tools, services, and processes to the table for both immediate value and
long-term success.

About ContactUS

ContactUS Communications is a U.S. based contact center services
organization supporting global brands across a variety of industries. Our
highly experienced management team delivers outsourced customer care, inbound and outbound sales, customer retention and win-back programs, as well as technical support. More recently, we have launched our technologies division focused on value-added integrations to CX Cloud software providers and launching our own software solutions focused on the customer journey.