Is Improving Customer Experience One of Your Goals?

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Creating a customer-focused experience isn’t easy.  Here is an excerpt from our latest Winning At Work Newsletter that outlines the 7 steps for making it happen:

The conversation surrounding customer experience has changed significantly over the last 5 years.  No longer are organizations debating the importance of customer experience in their ongoing success.  Most have embraced the reality that consistent positive customer experience is now basic table stakes in today’s marketplace.  The direct correlation between the degree and consistency of customer experience and an organization’s performance is irrefutable.

The big questions people are asking now, however, are the more important and more difficult: “How do we get there?”  “How do we change our culture?”  “How do we shift how customers perceive us?”  “How do we create permanent change in employees’ attitudes and behaviours?”  “What needs to happen so that this is embedded into our DNA?”

These are tough questions.  And because most people don’t fully appreciate how daunting a culture-change undertaking really is, few actually spend enough time or thought answering them.  Nor do most organizations really fully commit to reinventing themselves.  The inevitable, and most common, result is that change doesn’t happen or doesn’t stick; investments in time and money show no return; promises are broken and objectives remain unmet.   

Those companies who are successful in transforming themselves do so  with a combination of solid planning, absolute commitment and patience.  When you study them, you will find a common six-step process.  For those of you looking to change your culture, here it is:

1.  Define It
Clearly define what World-Class customer experience is for your organization.  What does it look like and feel like?  What is the vision?  Create a customer journey map.  Identify all of your core customer touchpoints, and exactly what has to happen in each. 

2.  Communicate It
Make sure that everybody in your organization, from the highest executive to the most part-time employee, understands the company’s objectives, their roles and the expectations you have of them.  This involves consistent messaging throughout the organization.

3.  Tool-Up
Make sure your company has all the tools – both physical and intellectual – it needs to execute the plan. Training is critical… (To see the full text, visit the Winning at Work site.)

Republished with author's permission from original post.

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