Inspiring the Customer Experience attitude, habits, or disposition to engage customers and deliver great service. As the business world has transitioned to a service economy from a heavy manufacturing focus, there has been a lack of understanding in many industries about what is expected or needed. The stakes have also never been higher for service-based organizations. Customers expect more. They care about their experience as much as the actual service. Customers are also empowered to tell others about your company, whether that is good or bad. – Making the Customer Feel Good: The Relationship Perception, SGEi, 2015

have to be able to explain WHY focusing on the customer is so important, and how this is done. Too many companies today deliver poor customer experiences. Now, you might be thinking, “That’s not me, we take great care of our customers.” However, according to statistics from Bain and Co. in the Harvard Management Update, 80% of companies surveyed said that they offer superior customer service, but only 8% of their customers agreed with them. That’s a big difference. Why are we not taking great care of our customers? There are many reasons for this, but the number one reason is that your staff does not have the

There are many things you, as a manager, should be doing to ensure your staff delivers the desired guest experience. You cannot make your staff take care of customers, but you can certainly inspire them to do so. It is a lack of inspiration from so many managers that is causing so many companies to fail in meeting their customers’ expectations when it comes to interactions and experiences. One of the fundamental leadership tasks is to be able to explain WHY something is important and WHAT is expected from your staff. This applies to every industry. When it comes to customer service or the customer experience, you

March Newsletter, Volume 1, Issue 1

Culture Corner:

According to Harvard Business Review, companies with highly-developed cultures spend an average of $350 million less annually fixing mistakes than companies with undeveloped or badly-developed cultures. – HBR, vol. 92, issue 4, April 2014

Limeade, Inc. uses TinyPulse to capture employees’ feedback with a one-question poll twice a month. The results are used to adjust company culture and identify problems. Utilizing this technology, they discovered the number one problem for employee attrition and resolved the issue. Snap feedback platforms are being adopted by many leading organizations. – Business Insider, 2013

A fashion house founded in 1856, Burberry was primarily known for raincoats. In the 1990s it became popular, and was publicly traded in 2002, causing sales to jump 40%, doubling stock prices. However, sales and profits flattened in 2005 and 2006, because plaid’s popularity was waning. In July of 2006, Burberry hired Angela Ahrendts as CEO. She was an admirer of Starbucks and Apple and wanted that staying power for Burberry. Ahrendts decided to keep the core of Burberry about trench coats and “Britishness,” shifting

the company focus to millennial customers. Ahrendts realized that to sell $1,000 trench coats to millennials her new culture had to focus on educating the customer about Burberry’s value and on excellent, personalized customer experiences. She equipped sales associates with iPads for demonstrations and learning sessions about craftsmanship, and retrained her teams to focus on building rapport and developing lasting relationships. Ahrendts connected live with employees via video chat monthly and created a portal

for employees to learn about upcoming products. In the seven years of Ahrendts’ tenure, Burberry tripled business. Stocks rose from 650.50p in 2007 to 1583p in 2014. In 2013, Ahrendt left Burberry to become Apple’s SVP of Retail and Digital Stores. Her successor, Christopher Bailey, studied under her as the chief Burberry designer for seven years. Bailey is committed to staying involved in customer experience, and in engaging employees through direct contact. – HBR, vol. 91, issue 1, January 2013 & Burberry.com

Training Insights: 67% of best-in-class organizations in 2014 have a formal recognition program in place, compared to 58% of best-in-class organizations in 2012. – Aberdeen Group, 2014

Employees who spend the last 15 minutes of training sessions reflecting and writing retain more information. In fact, they test 23% better on the materials than people who did not reflect. – HBR, vol. 92, issue 8, August 2014

13% of employees are engaged at work without training; with training, that number increases to 28%. – Gallup, 2013

ultimately define their reputation for emotional connection. For associates to put in the effort to take care of customers, they need to be engaged and connected to their company and managers. This comes from culture. As Tony Hsieh said, “Brand is the lagging indicator of culture.” In other words, your culture is your brand, so invest in defining how people act and interact; selecting, developing, and recognizing your people; engaging them in the strategy, scores, and plans for your business; and in the leadership of your managers. The success of your brand relies on it.

We work with great brands that have invested considerable time and money defining a customer promise. There’s a lot riding on their ability to deliver on that promise. And yet, when we talk about defining their culture and investing in their associate experience, they push back. Brands must understand that the biggest driver in terms of their ability to deliver on their promise is their culture, because customers want to connect to the brand emotionally. While the product, processes and environment all play a part in that emotional connection, it is the people who will

Burberry Case Study

Somethingto ThinkAbout

A narrow focus on limited customer touch points has lead many companies to believe that their clientele is much happier than it actually is, because these limited findings create a distortion of reality. To succeed, companies must consider the end-to-end customer journey or in other words, the big picture. Companies that successfully map their customer journeys reap rewards such as enhanced customer satisfaction, reduced churn, increased revenue, and greater employee satisfaction. When companies dig into dissatisfied customers’ reasons for defecting, they learn that customers are rarely fed up with

one interaction; it’s never that one bad phone call, field visit or store encounter. What reduces customer satisfaction is the cumulative effect of multiple touch points and interactions over time. As in dating, no one breaks up over a single disappointment. Rather than attempting to create one fantastic touch point, such as a cable installation without issues, companies should dig deeper and unveil the long term possibilities and problems that are in the back of customers’ minds, offering the customer a holistic view of the company rather than a one-off service.

In order to achieve this level of service, employees must be cross trained, or at the very least aware of every department’s offerings and availability. By offering relevant services and solutions before the customer requests them, associates can become trusted connections. Business leaders must take their customers’ journeys first-hand, frequently, in order to discover unforeseen issues and potential time savers. Only by experiencing on-boarding or service upgrades can a person understand the possible shortcomings of the company. – HBR, vol. 85, issue 9, September2013

The Truth About Customer Experience

“Never stop learning. Whether you are an entry-level employee fresh from college or a CEO, you don't know it all. Admitting this is not a sign of weakness.

The strongest leaders are those who are lifelong students.” – Indra Nooyi, Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo

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