There’s little doubt about the impact the customer experience has on business success. It leaves one to wonder how bad customer experiences still exist, practically everywhere.
Many business owners aren’t interested in looking beyond their financial reports to expose the problems in the customer experience they provide. And sometimes when they do finally see it, it’s too late.
Anyone can gauge how much money a company is making, but that’s just part of the calculation. Companies need to ask the following questions:
- How many consumers walked away from your business last year?
- How many were left frustrated by their experience?
- How many never visited because someone shared an undesirable story about your business?
Unfortunately, these are the questions that most businesses don’t even try to answer, because the answers are almost always much more frightening than they thought it would be. The stream of customers who are leaving is completely hidden to business owners who only acknowledge hard and verifiable numbers. The problem is that if you don’t know that the problem exists, you can’t resolve it.
The 4 Things You Need To Do To Improve Your Customer Experience
Creating a business that delivers consistent outstanding customer experiences can be much more challenging than most people believe. It involves changing procedures, practices, guidelines and, of course, people. Beliefs and traditions need to be challenged, and everyone from the CEO down needs to be onboard. It requires a conviction and clear vision that goes beyond the quarterly report.
The companies that have succeeded in achieving a sustainable customer-centric culture typically have four things in common.
- View your business through the eyes of your customer. The trademark of businesses that effectively create a maintainable customer-focused program is a leadership team who is personally engaged and not afraid to look in the mirror. Data alone doesn’t cut it, so get out in the field, talk with customers and view your business through their eyes.
- Be strategic. A disorganized approach might help to put out fires, but it won’t produce a maintainable culture of customer experience superiority. Look at every procedure, rule and practice through the eyes of your customer. Invest in a customer experience review utilizing expert Mystery Shoppers, and get your company’s leadership involved.
- Devise non-negotiable customer service standards. When it pertains to customer service, you need clearly outlined standards, because without them, there will be no consistency. Make an investment in customer service training to ensure that everyone can adhere to those standards. Educate managers and supervisors to support the standards – both external and internal – and accept nothing less.
- Be unrelenting. A customer-based culture won’t happen overnight. You need vision and tenacity and be willing to spend both time and money. Remember that the road to exceptional customer experience is never-ending – you have to always be looking for ways to improve. Is the effort worth it? Yes.
Video Mystery Shopping
Wouldn’t you like to know for sure how your business is being perceived by your customers? With our Video Mystery Shopping program, you’ll get an insider’s firsthand look at how shoppers respond – or don’t respond – to their shopping experience. Contact Reality Based Group today to schedule a consultation and we’ll be happy to show you how we can help.
The post How Much Are You Losing Each Year To A Bad Customer Experience? appeared first on The Premier Mystery Shopping Company.