The 2nd Service Quality Excellence Summit 2017 was a huge success, and focused on the various issues that affect how well a company is able to deliver a superior, consistent experience to remain competitive in a time of digital disruption.
Ameyo participated at the 2nd Service Quality Excellence Summit 2017, hosted by Inventicon Business Intelligence, and networked & participated in interesting discussions with industry leaders at the landmark event. The event, which lasted two days and was held at the Holiday Inn New Delhi International Airport Hotel on 6th-7th July this year, hosted some of the top industry experts and leaders sharing their insights on better catering to customers of the future, and what it takes to stay ahead.
We have 3 insightful lessons you definitely should not miss from the summit –
Focus on Your People for Improved Customer Experience
“Only 17% of the companies have an engaged workforce. Delight your employees to delight your customers.” Prashant Hoskote, Sr. Director of Quality & Service Excellence, Max India Group
To deliver extraordinary experiences, companies should empower their employees and build a culture that is focused on customer experience, and make ambassadors out of them. Happier employees result in happier customers, and happier customers lead to improved business results.
According to a research by Temkin Group, companies that focus on employee engagement are able to provide better customer experience, see better business results, have prompt feedback-to-action implementation, while facing fewer obstacles to improving overall business outcomes.
Starbucks is very good at engaging its employees, and is known for pampering its employees with hefty perks and incentives to build a customer-centric brand experience.
“When we do the right thing for our employees, it’s also the right thing for our business,” says Corey duBrowa, SVP of global communications at Starbucks. “When employees are satisfied and engaged, the result is deeper customer connections and an elevated customer experience.”
Customer Recovery is all about Speed and Timing
“Recovery is all about speed and timing, it’s not about handling the customer queries but how quickly you can respond.” – Ajay Nambiar, CSO, Emaar MGF Land Limited
No matter how hard a company tries to deliver an outstanding experience, there will always be frustrated customers. Why? Because customer demands are more than ever, and no company is ever able to maintain a 100% customer satisfaction rate in today’s competitive times. It could be something as simple as a delivery not happening on time, or an customer email that got lost in the crowd.
Letting such issues pile up can lead to high customer churn rates, which is why customer recovery should be a standard part of every organization’s business processes. Customer Recovery is, essentially, damage control – the process of recovering from a customer service blunder in an effort to gain the customer’s loyalty once again. The four steps of customer recovery essentially comes down to:
- Apologize to the disgruntled customer
- Talk to the customer to find out what went wrong
- Take actionable steps to fix the problem and follow up with the customer
- Offer something in return for their loyalty, such as a discount or free coupon
- Make sure the issue never occurs again by making key process changes
If possible, it is important to avoid such conflicts altogether by taking necessary steps beforehand. Not doing so can greatly impact customer retention, loyalty, and brand awareness.
Beyond Service Excellence: Delivering More than They Expect
“Customer service is all about massaging the egos of people” – Prashant Hoskote, Sr. Director of Quality & Service Excellence, Max India Group
In the past, customer service was all about calling a helpline number and getting an issue resolved by talking to an agent. However, customers today are more demanding than ever. They have a lot of choices in the market, and are always researching brands when they are shopping or while browsing social media. The interaction process has become much more complicated, to say the least!
And, Prashant Hoskote seems to put it perfectly – customer service is all about satisfying the customer’s ego. According to White House Office of Consumer Affairs, it costs 6-7 times more attract a new customer than it does to retain an existing customer. This is why service excellence is the need of the hour, and companies should strive to deliver more than expected of them to stay ahead of the game.
On top of service excellence, delivering an outstanding customer experience will cause a customer to stay loyal in the future. However, one negative experience can cause businesses to lose them to the competition. According to a Parature research, it takes 12 positive experience to make up for negative experience.
Are you delivering more than what your customers are expecting of you? Is it seamless, engaged, and focused on the customer?
