11 April 2008
Superior customer service vital during economic downturn
Benchmark study has useful pointers for internal communicators too.
Great customer service is always vital – but how much more so during our continuing economic woes?
Executives from leading companies shared results from recent quality initiatives to improve the customer experience at "Using Quality to Improve the Customer Experience," the 10th annual customer experience conference hosted by Best Practices, LLC's Global Benchmarking Council.
Hot customer issues
Presentations ignited discussion among Global Benchmarking Council members and guests from 36 companies around "hot" issues such as:
There's a greater need for service when there's a downturn.
- customer experience tools to increase advocacy;
- improving the company's website to ensure positive customer experiences;
- creating a distinctive brand to drive financial performance; and
- achieving call center excellence.
One benchmarking manager in new product development said, "There's a greater need for service when there's a downturn."
Listen to customers
The conference report lists many customer-focused suggestions, but these don't only apply to external customers. The Hub believes several are also applicable inside the organization and relate well to employees.
“Observing over time what customers are doing and the patterns of them doing it speaks more than just asking them,” says the conference report.
Spotting an unexpected trend on an employee survey, for example, can create a key avenue to explore. This may mean delving deeper with employees, but the research becomes more targeted than having to sift through lots of general data.
The report also suggests that organizations, “employ a cultural anthropologist to help design manuals.” This researcher will observe why writers create manuals in a particular way and also observes how the manuals work in practice – during machine repairs, for example.
Many companies report that external facing blogs have been effective in allowing customers to speak to each other.
This suggestion could be extended to observing employees when they access internal communication channels, such as the intranet – how they use it and what they do as a result.
Use customer insights and identify unmet needs
External customers often form communities of interest and communities of practice. Here, people are notified about company information, are expected to share knowledge and can also query the information they've received. Could this idea become an ongoing form of focus group related to internal communication?
Many companies report that external facing blogs have been effective in allowing customers to speak to each other. But sometimes getting employees to blog can be difficult. At the conference, some companies said they'd recruited bloggers as a way of initiating the conversation and encouraging others to participate.
Link between customer service and engagement
Download an excerpt of the post-conference report to view presenting companies, their topics of interest and notes from 2 roundtable discussions on creating world-class customer experiences.
Topics include:
- listening to customers to identify their unmet needs;
- using customer insights for growth & performance improvement; and
- innovations in managing & enhancing customer experience.
Hub members can see our article on employee engagement and customer engagement which suggests a clear internal-external link between exceptional customer service and “a great place to work”.
Have your say
Internal communication could get some inspiration from working with customer-facing staff, such as marketers and customer researchers. Maybe there is an opportunity for some two-way dialogue about what works best externally – and internally.
Have you been to see your sales and marketing colleagues recently?
Discuss these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Other recommendations:
How will tomorrow's employee behave?
A cycle of engagement between employees and customers
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