Do You Really Care About Your Customers?
Many companies claim to be customer-centric , but in my experience most of the time its just untrue.
Claiming to be focused on your customers and their needs certainly sounds like the right thing to say, and no-one would ever advertise that they don’t care about customers, however in reality there is a world of difference between companies that just say it, and those who live by it.
So how can you tell the difference? If you answer yes to the majority of these questions, then the likelihood is that your company still has a long way to go to be truly “customer-centric”.
- You find yourself working more on cost-cutting and re-engineering projects than long-term investments in improving customer experience and loyalty
- Top executives don’t spend time engaging with front-line employees
- Most people stop caring about customer metrics when conflicts arise (i.e. with sales or other results)
- Executives never speak to customers (applies equally to B2B or B2C)
- Customer Experience is seen as being the responsibility of operations
- Customer-facing non-sales roles pay below market
- People in the contact center spend a lot of time worrying about Average Call Time
- Your top customer complaint is the same for 3 years in a row
- Nobody knows what to do with or how to handle a complex customer problem
- Your employee turnover is high, particularly in customer-facing teams
You may notice that 3 of these have nothing to do with customer management, but instead are indicators of employee treatment and engagement:
- Executives don’t engage with front-line employees
- Customer service roles are poorly paid
- Turnover is high
Hands-down the best way to create outstanding customer loyalty is by having dedicated and motivated employees, who enjoy what they do and who are proud of where they work.
I think this is the one area where I see companies fall down the most, and I am always amazed when I work with people who say they aim to provide the best service in the industry, but are unwilling to invest in hiring the best people.