‘ A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.’ – Micheal LeBoeuf

The Business truly prospers only when employees strive to benchmark a seamless customer experience. And in a digitally savvy era, it is extremely critical that we retain the 'personal humane touch' in every conversation.

On any given day, an organisation revolves around three main pillars – Product, People, and Customers. And even if one of them is out of the equation, the process becomes incomplete. If organisations have been admitting that ‘Customer is King’ then why do customers switch brands? Is it because they found a better value  deal? Or because they experienced a disconnect with the organisational representatives that they connect with?

Despite a meticulously planned business strategy, the right ‘Customer experience’ is delivered through careful packaging of service and apt marketing. Customers are bound to lose their trust in an organisation due to poor customer service experience.

Here are five “I’s” that will empower organisations to build a better customer-centric culture at the workplace. 

Insights: According to Gartner, about 67% organisations compete on the basis of customer experience. Facts driven by data can help analyse where the gap lies. Just as organisations have a 360-degree appraisal system, a pre-during-post survey can be designed to examine what the customers ‘ask for’ and what they ‘actually need’. 

Induction: Orientations on the importance of ‘listening’ versus merely ‘hearing’ is essential! Similar to any other on-boarding process for a fresh recruit, creating a quick checklist or a detailed SOP on the Do’s’ and Don’ts’ while addressing customers would come about as a great asset. A situation-based training on roleplays can help to further engrave the importance of polite conversations. 

Introspection: Rather than chasing the right solution, encourage employees to think of all the possible solutions that can be applied to a given situation. Just as every conversation gets recorded for training purposes, making a list of ‘what worked best’ and ‘what can be worked upon’ will further help understand what the customers really need. During such situations, product/service knowledge can prove to be the best ingredient to fuel the conversation. 

Impact: Mapping customer satisfaction to the service provided is a common practice across industries. Just like any other post sales service, a mechanism that helps employees measure the effect of the solution provided by them must be instilled. Understanding how they have been able to make a positive difference to a customer’s life or add valuable inputs to ease their process of decision making will prove to be a great source of motivation and learning. 

Interaction: Instead of standardised templates for communication, encourage employees to have an interactive conversation. Customers will not remember the amount they paid or the expense they incurred. However, what they shall retain is ‘how they were treated.’

Proactive building of a rapport is equally important. Empathy is key when dealing with customers. This is where aligning the employees with the organisation’s vision comes handy.

 A study by Gallup states that organisations that have a high percentage of engaged employees surpass competition by 147%. Thus, in order to instil a customercentric culture, organisations should work upon their employee engagement initiatives. 

A culture that promotes customer centricity leads to greater employee retention. And today, retention has indeed become one of the greatest challenges confronting HR. It is interconnected and interdependent. And one will always be incomplete without the other. Business truly prospers only when employees strive to benchmark a seamless customer experience. And in a digitally savvy era, it is extremely critical that we retain the ‘personal humane touch’ in every conversation