Spotting an Eye Roller . . . and Other Negative Cues

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One of the quickest ways you can improve your customer and client experience is by auditing your organization for negative cues. Whether it be negative verbiage on your website, signs in your office or an overflowing garbage can in the lobby these cues can quickly take away from a customer’s experience.

Here are some quick places to audit to see where you can have an impact:
*website
*contracts or agreements
*physical space
*office signs
*verbiage and terminology
*employee actions

When reviewing your organization look for language that puts fault or blame on the customer, use of the word “no” or “can’t”. Any terminology or industry lingo your customers and clients may not understand. Dirty, dingy or broken physical infrastructure will also reflect poorly on your customer’s experience.

It may also be helpful to have a fresh set of eyes help you with this task. As leaders, we can often have blinders on when it comes to our business especially when we are stuck in the day to day actions and become complacent to our customer’s view point. Use a friend or family member to take you through their experience as the eyes of your customer.

When it comes to your employee actions or verbiage here is a great example of how we can change our approach when meeting clients or customers. Think about checking in for a medical appointment. Most likely you will need to ensure the information they have on file for you is accurate. Listen for the difference between “You need to verify your information” and “Would you please confirm we have your information correct in our files.” The latter implies that the office is looking out for your best interest. Just a slight change in language can completely change the tone.

Our employees are key to ensuring our customer’s experience is world class. Do they take the time to listen, are they smiling (a smile can even be heard on the phone), do they engage with eye contact? We’ve all had an eye roller on our team who can’t be bothered to listen or answer customer inquiries or concerns.

This is the time to set standards with our employees and ensure they understand how their actions impact the customers they are interacting with. Make it a team exercise to determine how the employees want the customer to be treated, let them set the standards along with you and your leadership team. Have them share their positive examples of when they have received excellent service and make this the standard. I’m going to bet no one will suggest eye rolling as a world class service standard!

Once you have your standards set, take time to observe your team with your clients or customers. Share your feedback and see how their actions align with the standards that have been set. Customer reviews and feedback are also a great way to reinforce your observations if there is a disconnect. Most importantly, if you have an employee how goes above and beyond for your customers and clients, celebrate them!

Jennifer Evans
With 20 years in customer experience leadership, I’ve managed teams of over 120 employees in a variety of functions including sales, design, and customer service. Additionally, I have facilitated training and workshops on topics including leadership development, sales, business ethics, customer mapping and turning insight to action with customer satisfaction KPIs. Being a CX Coach has allowed me to share my experience and help organizations grow into the brand that their customer can’t live without. I’m proud to be an MBA graduate from Northern Illinois University.

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