Category: Customer Delight

If not why not? Here at Jungle Property we have started recording the colour of our customers eyes! Why would a business want to do that you may ask. This article by John DiJulius reminded me why..

FAB FIVE – I hate platitudes. Don’t tell your employees to be present or to make or exceed expectations. Tell them how, make it black & white, and make it measurable. One of my new favorite systems for making a customer connection are the “5 E’s.”

1. Eye Contact
2. Ear-to-Ear
3. Enthusiastic Greeting
4. Engage
5. Educate

Why? – I love these for five reasons:

1. They are so simple to do
2. They can be effective with every customer
3. The first four take zero time to execute
4. They demonstrate genuine hospitality
5. No one else is doing them

Applies to B2B – Before I lose my professional service providers or internal customer service/support/call centers thinking this is only for retail-to-consumer models, it absolutely applies to you! It’s 100% if you are meeting customers face-to-face, and if (or when) your touch point is over the phone.  Numbers 2-5 should be non-negotiable every time.

Eye Contact – This eliminates the head down, uncaring, robotic feeling when the front-line just asks, “next?”  A great training method for this is to audit the employees by periodically asking them, “What was the color of the customer’s eyes?”

Ear-to-Ear – Smile.  A smile is part of the uniform, and a smile has teeth. Demonstrate a positive attitude and tell the customers that you are happy to serve them.

Enthusiastic Greeting – Your greeting must demonstrate genuine warmth and not just a trained greeting. It should be one that shows enthusiasm in the voice coupled with a smile and eye contact.  You are now giving genuine hospitality as if the customer was an old friend visiting at your home.

Engage – THIS IS THE ONE, the secret ingredient that most companies do a poor job of mandating, training, showing its importance, and hence they provide little direction to employees on how to execute. This doesn’t have to be a ten-minute conversation.  Every single customer can be engaged within the time it typically takes to serve them, be it 90 seconds in the fast food environment or a 45 minute meeting. This action demonstrates that they are not a herd of cattle, or one of a hundred customers.  It eliminates the “too task focused on the transaction” versus having an “interaction” with someone.  In the incidences where you know the customer — make that known.  Utilize any customer intelligence you can, from info in a database to recognizing their name badge, or a picture of their twins on the desk, a hat, college shirt, tie, glasses, or anything else you can point out.

Educate – This is the one that may slightly affect time of service in industries that are built around rapid pace (fast food) and may have to have an above & beyond action when it is warranted, i.e. a new customer unfamiliar with a menu. For the rest of us it should have zero impact on productivity and be demonstrated every single time. Think of companies like Nordstrom and Apple stores. Their employees are brilliant about their products and application.

To find out more about the customer service revolution visit http://thedijuliusgroup.com/

So many businesses I encounter have been designed by people inside the business for people inside the business. They open at times that suit themseleves not ncessarily what their customer’s want and they add steps to their processes that have no value for the customer.
If only somebody would step outside the business and into the customer’s shoes they will see things differently. All too often I see silo organisations where the customer is passed
from employee to employee, department to department or call centre to call centre.

“Sorry you need to speak to the blah blah department’ or “I understand what you want but we cannot do that because it is not our policy”

Design your key encounters to both elate the emotions of your customers and to exhibit operational excellence. Think first, then do. Start with your employees. Do what’s right for them. They, in turn, will be prepared to deliver a better customer experience. When customers tell their friends, a word-of-mouth chain reaction begins and your business
grows.

Design your customer experience around an adaptive system that can adjust to changing customer whims and marketplace demands. If you are still doing the same things you were doing 2 years ago you are doomed to be run over by a fast approaching competitor.

I believe the key reason businesses don’t do this is because it is not easy, it is demanding BUT for those who take the step will embark on a rewarding journey.

Step inside you customers shoes today and begin designing their experience.