Many companies and their leaders make the mistake of thinking that it will cost more money and take more effort to enhance the service and the experience for their customers.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In my experience, service improvement, revenue growth and cost reduction almost always go hand in hand.
Identifying the journeys that matter most can be beneficial even when companies don’t have a nagging customer service problem – the effort can help them find a competitive differentiator.
One car rental agency wanted to improve its already good service and distinguish itself from its competitors in light of the increasingly commoditized nature of the industry. Its investigation into what mattered to customers highlighted the airport pick up, a journey that might take less than an hour but that crossed a half-dozen or more touch points. The most important aspect was the end-to-end speed of service, from bus to rental counter to car to exit gate – but no one person owned the issue.
By focusing cross-functionally on delivering speed at the airport pick up, the company was able to innovate in ways that helped set it apart: It introduced more flexibility in car selection, developed technology to help customers manage their reservations from mobile devices, and installed virtual customer service kiosks at high volume locations to give people the option of skipping the line but still working with a live agent. It also pushed hard to shift the emphasis from “cars available” to “the right car for the right customer at the right time.” these efforts provided a real opportunity to differentiate note just the service experience but the brand itself.
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