At-risk customers are the most
dangerous as they are currently large
buyers but something has changed
their experience. Soon, they will
defect. Remember that in contrast to
CRM, CEM is a leading indicator and
if identified early, addressing the
concerns of the at-risk customers
could move them back to being model
customers.
Dangling customers do not generate
much revenue and are going if not
gone already. Unless there is
enormous untapped potential, it
would be wiser to salvage the at-risk
customers than spend much effort
here.
To manage external customers and
give them a memorable and delightful
customers the companies need to give
their employees (internal customers)
a similar experience so that everyone
is charged up and geared up to
deliver a unique experience to their
respective customers. How do you
think companies should go about
aligning the internal customers’
experience with that of the external
customers?
Let me first comment on your use of
the term "internal customer". The
intent in the language is to drive
internal teamwork but the cost is that
it dilutes the importance of real,
revenue producing customers. As you noted when quoting Peter
Drucker, there are "no results inside".
Using the language of "internal
customers" mistakenly suggests the
opposite.
Aligning employees to deliver a
superlative customer experience
starts with empathetic values.
Company leadership cannot lip sync
the importance of customer
experience while handcuffing
employees with alternative, often
contradictory, requirements. Drucker
also said "profit is a cost of doing
business". Too often, we see
companies spend too much effort
analyzing whether serving a customer
need is cost-effective versus figuring
out how to meet it cost-effectively.
Cost analysis is not unimportant but
if not constrained, it displaces
employee initiative and impairs
customer experience.
Next comes information. Information
evokes empathy. People who don’t
know why a customer’s experience is
awful have a hard time being
empathetic. This is an ongoing job
and requires data, videos and face-toface
contact. Leaders in firms who
truly value customer experience
model this by spending more than a
third of their time with customers.
Our rule of thumb is that for everyday
spent by the managers out of the office
with customers, a half day is needed
in the "office" (i.e., in the virtual
office) to drive what they've learned
back into their organization. The latter
point can't be understated particularly
as the firm grows. In large firms,
employees spend more time servicing
each other than real customers. There
is a social dynamic that grows such
that helping each other soon
subordinates helping actual
customers. That's why the good
intentions behind the term "internal
customer" can have negative
unintended consequences.
Third is stimulating intelligent
initiative. The best customer
experiences are never scripted yet
many customer-facing contacts are
script-driven nightmares for
customers. The first question at a call
center should be "How can I help
you?" Of course account information,
model numbers, etc., may be
necessary to help but don’t start with
a one to three minute interrogation.
Have clear goals and boundaries but
then let your people use discretion to
help your customers.
The last requirement is rapidly
circulating evidence measurement.
Just as a company can't improve
customer experience without ongoing
measurement, the same is true with
employees. If your employee's
experience is not good, the chances of
customers' experience being so are
nil. Both need to measured and acted
upon.
