Without a vision you will end up anywhere. A strong and clear vision must drive your customer services so that it can translate into tangible business goals such as increase in customer acquisition, customer satisfaction and customer retentions

Start With A Vision

If the vision is not shared, your team may have a different view or interpretation of your customer service goals. Discuss with your teams so that everyone is on the same page and can work towards your established vision and goals too.

Share The Vision With Your Teams

A lot of customer service issues are attributed to lack of training. Don’t lose customers or staff due to lack of training. Give your staff the knowledge and skills they need to drive your customer services into profitability. See it as a revenue center more than a cost center.

Equip Your Teams With Training

If you’re going to retain any customer you’re going to need to satisfy your customers. Make it priority from the first contact they have with your brand, both online and offline. Track and measure it too, so you can keep your levels within excellence

Prioritise Customer Satisfaction

It’s a great goal to keep your customers happy. But there’s more you can get our of customer services - repeat sales and referrals. Build these goals into your plans so you can drive business growth in your customer services.

Identify Revenue Opportunities From Customer Services

Customer services can be a key driver of your business growth.  Here are a few things you can consider to help you grow your customer base in 2022 and beyond!

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Marketing & Sales

Customer Service Goals

86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. The reason is simple - it comes down to how the customer wants to feel using your products & services and engaging with your brand. Brands that don’t treat their customers well will lose their customers.

Customers Will Pay More For A Greater Customer Experience

49% of buyers have made impulse purchases after receiving a more personalised experience.Think about upselling! Want to boost your upselling opportunities, deliver more tailored and personalised experiences.

Customer Experience Influences On-the-spot Buying

50% of customers will stop visiting a website if it is not mobile-friendly!This makes a lot of sense because billions of users are glued to their mobile phones daily. If you want to gain and retain more customers in 2022, deliver better mobile experiences.

Poor Mobile Experience Limits Visits And Recommendations

67% of customers prefer self-service over speaking to any company representative!There a many reasons to this. No one likes to wait in queues physically, on a chat or on the phone. If customers can get resolutions themselves, why not?

More Customers Are Preferring The Self-service Option

45.9% of businesses identify customer experience as their top priority in the next 5 years.With 20.5% of businesses focussing on pricing as top priority and 33.6% of businesses focussing on product, it’s clear that Customer Experience is taking more importance. It makes a huge difference and is definitely worth the focus and investments.

Leading Businesses Continue To Prioritise And Invest In CX

Customer Experience is not a myth.  A lot of facts prove its importance is building and growing a profitable and successful company.  Here are some stats to help you make better business decisions for 2022!

Customer experience is a top business priority in 2022 Here, we explain why it's become so important, backed by 37 customer experience statistics.

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Entrepreneurship

business

Business

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Startups

Customer Experience Stats to help you win in 2022

The simple reason is that it leads to disappointment. And while you may try to forget, the customer always remembers. In fact, they may just share their experience publicly, and that’s not good for your reputation.

Never Promise What You Can’t Give Or Don’t Have

Disappoint a customer and they won’t be satisfied. Dissatisfaction pushes your customers away from you, and towards your competitors. But not only do they leave, stats show that a dissatisfied customer will share the experience with 10 others on average. Why place the power of brand damage in the hands of your customers? You can avoid it by delivering better customer services.

Customer Disappointment Leads To Attrition

Sometimes, things going out of your control could be the reason for disappointing your customer. When that happens, acknowledge it, and find ways to remedy the situation. Sometimes it may also be your fault! Regardless of what it is, find ways to put it right so you can can turn the situation into a better experience for the customer.

Compensate For Broken Promises

If you promised it, deliver it. Be clear on what you are promising, to who you are promising and how you intend to deliver. Meeting customer expectations is the minimum while surpassing it is great! Whatever you do, don’t destroy the trust your customer has in your brand. The customer’s trust provides a bedrock for future transaction opportunities.

Stay True To Your Brand Promise

Losing hard-earned customers is very costly.  You lose them, future sale opportunities and referrals they can connect you with.  A reason for leaving is due to over-promising and disappointments.  Over-promising is a trap!

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

Over-promising is BIG trap!

When interacting with any brand, every customer has anticipated what they want to experience. This is what customer expectation is really about, and once you fail to meet it, your customer is already on their way to your competitors. It is a competitive marketplace, don’t expect them to hang around for too long if you can’t give them what they need.

Customers Have An Expectation 

When you total all the interactions of a customer with a brand, we refer to this as the Customer Experience. Unfortunately, what a lot of customers experience is far from what they anticipated. Businesses that don’t take this seriously continue to lose customers, sales and marketshare.This is the reason there is a gap between Customer Expectations and their Experiences

The Actual Experience Is Their Truth

There isn’t any point building robust customer experience strategies if they are not customer-centric. It has to be customer-centric from design, from strategy all through to execution. This includes your people and processes too. Misaligned business goals create a gap from the onset that make it a struggle to deliver exceptional customer services.

Align Your Business Goals To Customer Needs

PWC proves that speed, convenience, knowledgable help and friendly support are top priority needs from a customer experience perspective. Product price and quality are already naturally expected so no news there. But perhaps your customers have more industry-specific priorities. Do you know what these are? Ask your customers and pay attention to data to help you discover and prioritise their needs.

Understand Your Top Customer Priorities

The tools, training, education and resources your employees need to deliver great customer experiences must not be taken for granted. This is the reason luxury hotel chain, Ritz-Carlton, gives employees the freedom to use up to $2000 to rescue a bad customer experience. You know why? So they can retain the customer and turn the experience into an unforgettable positive experience with future sale possibilities. How smart!

Empower Your Teams

Now that you know the gap exists, do what it takes to prioritise delivering exceptionally to your customers. But it all starts by understanding your customer needs and aligning your strategy/tactics towards it. Mind the gap and bridge it, and position yourself for success in tmarketplace.

Mind The Gap

The difference between customers’ expectations and actual experiences with any brand reveals a lot about the brand.  But how do we bridge the gap to position our businesses for success?  Here are three areas to look into!

The gap needs closing. On average, there is still a gap between what the customer expects and the actual experience they get from brands they engage with. In a recent study by PWC, the gap exists in…

Bridging the gap between your Customer Expectations & Experience

Poor onboarding, engagement and customer service make up 52% of the reasons customers leave in the first 90 days.

Ever installed a new app or signed up for a new service? We’ve all done that before, and the first thing we need to know is HOW to navigate our way through the service and get the value. But when the initial experience is bumpy, new customers can start to disengage or even unsubscribe from the service, FREE or paid. This is why Customer Onboarding is very important so as to boost customer retention, increase customer satisfaction and reduce customer churn.

The First Few Days For Any New Customer Is Very Crucial

It always excites me when I receive a welcome email from the Founder/CEO of a company whose services I’ve signed up to. Many apps provide welcome emails to new users, but it can be adapted in any type of business, not apps alone.It is such an effective way to excite customers and provide next steps. That way, you start to lead customers through a seamless customer journey they will equally be excited to look forward to.

Start With A Welcome Email

Now that you’ve made your customers feel at home, it is time to get them familiar with your services. This is where introductions and inductions make a huge difference. Consider mini tours, scheduled email introductions and other forms of customer engagement to help them become familiar with your platform or services. Start with a high level overview, then find opportunities later for in-depth tutorials and guidance.

Mini-Inductions & Intro Sessions

Whether you’ve got an app, a software or a non-tech service, wizards and templates are a great way of speeding up setup. An accountant can use a budget template to help a new client create their initial budget. Apps can have presets that automatically configure systems and preferences for new users. Think of ways to speed up the initial setup with reusable wizards and templates so the customer’s setup tasks are fewer and faster.

Speed Up Setup With Wizards & Templates

Bombarding a new customer with all information on day 1 is a recipe for disaster. You will end up overwhelming them, they would forget most of what you said, and they will still contact you for support. A better way is to break up and pace out your content and deliver them to new customers using two types of triggers.<ol><li>User triggers - content released to a user when they take an action. Eg. Display an on-screen tip to a customer visiting a specific page for the first time</li><li>Time triggers - eg. Tutorial content sent to new users over the first 7 days of subscribing</li></ol>

Triggered Content

Customers can’t be bothered with reading pages of text especially when videos can relay the message easier and better. This is why instructional videos are more powerful than text-based user guides. Consider creating an archive of short videos and make them available to customers for reference. Eg. An accountant can create a short video clip showing a customer how to create a budget.

Video Is More Effective Than Pages Of Text

If all the previously mentioned activities are setup properly, you should find fewer customers needing your support during onboarding. That said, let customers know how to reach you for assistance as this gives them the additional confidence, knowing that help is not far away.

Reliable & Reachable Customer Suppprt

Many businesses struggle to keep up with customer enquiries, complaints, feedback and special requests. It is impossible to respond and resolve issues within specific timescales and urgency if you rely on emails only. This is why a CRM like <a href="https://mycentreoffice.com">MyCo</a> is great, for capturing customers, automating customer communication and setting up a Service Center to capture customer requests. It also has a 14 day free trial you may want to check out.

Use A CRM/Business Tool With A Service Center

And don’t assume it’s all working seamlessly once you launch your new customer onboarding process. Pay attention to customer behaviour, get customer feedback and continuously find ways to improve the process.

Don’t Forget To Collect Customer Feedback

Why is the customer onboarding process so important? Very simple - to attract, convert and retain more paying customers. It will help you increase your customer lifetime value (CLV) so you can keep delivering paid services to your customers consistently and get paid continuously. This is how businesses win and retain their deserved marketshare.

It’s All About The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

All the things you need to better the most important part of your customer journey. 

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

communication

Communication

Onboarding Matters

It is so easy to lose a customer just after they’ve subscribed or paid for your services.  When this happens, it is most likely due to a faulty Customer Onboarding process. Here is how to setup a seamless Customer Onboarding process that retains customers.

Customers can become frustrated and leave your services even in the first few moments and days of subscribing to your services. Many organisations have proved this including Business2Community…

A Seamless Customer Onboarding process that sells

“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralising

The moment you consciously or unconsciously become a perfectionist, you may just be running down the road of dissatisfaction. Because, a lot of times you will be disappointed!Doing the best you can, with what you have in the opportunity available is what Excellence is about. It is a more realistic approachPerfection on the other hand is a goal that is synonymous to chasing shadows.

Perfectionism Is Like Chasing Shadows

Perfectionists always want to have EVERYTHING they need before they start. But how do you start anything if you’re always looking for that perfect situation every time? Sometimes, all you have is enough to take the first move. Many successful professionals entrepreneurs will tell you this too. Take action now!

Perfectionism Never Lets You Start Many Things

Beware! Sometimes in the pursuit of attaining perfection, you incur more costs such as spending more money, engaging more resources and entertaining more delay.In fact, perfectionism leads to PROCRASTINATION! Could perfectionism be frustrating the completion of your objectives, goals and tasks? Why don’t you strive for excellence instead, with SMART goals - Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic and within a Time frame. The emphasis on REALISTIC!

Perfectionism Delays Accomplishment Of Goals

Not good enough…..not good enough…..not good enough…..not yet! These words can easily spiral you down the path of perfection. Guess what? It is exhausting, and kicks frustration in!This is why you should define your goals with clear metrics to highlight when you’ve hit your acceptable standard. Again, be realistic. Don’t trade your energy for impossible outcomes.

Perfectionism Wears You Out

Ever tried leading a team and telling team members what they have done is never good enough? You won’t get a better team or better outcomes. What you will get is tension and demotivation.A better approach is to motivate the team with a goal of excellence. That way they are inspired to put their very best in delivering exceptionally and improving at the same time.

Perfectionism Intimidates And Causes Tension

The origin of the word ‘excel’ is Latin and it means ‘out’ or ‘beyond’. It naturally represents forward movement, progression and motion. It is definitely both process and result oriented in its nature and that’s what makes it a powerful word.Let me remind you of this quote by Harriet Braiker, “striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing”.

But Excellence Is Motivating And Yields Better Results

In my experience of business, coaching and leading teams, I find it dangerous to focus on perfectionism. In these ideas, I have collated some thoughts and some tips I’ve learnt from others on the topic of perfectionism!

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Why Perfectionism is Dangerous

Any battle, whether war or business is already lost when approached with complete ignorance and misunderstanding. Should the armies from Winterfell and Dragonstone approach the army of the dead without knowing only fire or dragonglass can destroy the army of the dead, it was a lost battle right from the start.Lesson - do your research, understand your market, know your customer. Use facts (data) and less assumptions in your approach to business or you may be wiped out quickly.

Understand What You’re Up For, And Up Against

Danny and Jon led the armies at the war. Prior to this, they were already dealing with internal and sensitive issues and still had to focus on the mission - to win the war.There were times when both had to fly on their dragons and rain fire from above, but there were moments both found themselves on the ground fighting with swords.Lesson - to lead anything successfully, you must first manage yourself, then lead others. Inspiring your team helps build a collective vision and teamwork.

Leadership Is Important. Lead Yourself, Then Othersi

Everyone in Winterfell had an important part to play. From those gathering food prior to the war, to those making weapons from dragonglass, to actual war frontliners, it took everyone’s effort to win a successful war. Let us not forget those like Sansa who could only encourage the weak, and of course, Mellisandre, the horrible witch everyone disliked - she actually ignited fire on the Dothraki army blades and gave them more hope.Lesson - everyone in an organisation has value to add to the success of a company. Find out how they can value, and let them know how it makes a difference.

Value Team Effort And Contributions

It would be unwise to assume you got it all covered. No! Business isn’t always predictable. Even some the biggest of reputable businesses have faced sudden business challenges, some of then wiped out of existence.During the war at Winterfell, they completely missed a risk - if Khaleesi isn’t able to see their signals from afar, she couldn’t come riding down her dragon to light the trenches and protect Winterfell from the army of the dead.Lesson - have a disaster recovery strategy and plans in place to keep your business in operation. Simulate scenarios and be prepared.

Plan For Disasters, No Business Is Risk-FREE

There were many months leading to the war at Winterfell. The time wan’t just spent talking. A whole strategy was developed for the entire warfare - the armies, the order of approach, weapons, location, formation, feeding and so much more.Lesson - don’t just be in a haste to GO! Have a strategy and tactics to drive your vision. That way you’re not leaving your business success to chance.

Strategise, Plan, Then Go

A lot of things will test you and try to break you in business. Many times, they are unforeseen.During the War at Winterfell, a lot of unplanned events took place. The Dothraki army were wiped out in seconds, the Winterfell gates were breached early, the Night King raised the dead back to life, and it was looking impossible for anyone to protect Bran for much longer, the target of the Night King.But you know what, they fought to the end and it made all the difference.Lesson - don’t be quick to give up. Summon your courage and rise up to challenges. It makes you stronger too.

Don’t Give Up Too Soon

In the wake of your losses no matter how great, never also forget the importance of celebrating your wins too.The war at Winterfell recorded a painful death count, many of the characters who were key players during the war and prior. And after their lives were honoured upon cremation, the celebration of life continued.Lesson - make it a habit to acknowldge and celebrate your wins too. Celebrate your customers, your teams, your progress and your milestones. Let this further empower you to go even further in your business endeavours.

Acknowledge Losses, Celebrate Wins

Game of Thrones is more than a Book or TV Series, but a whole universe of lessons for warfare, strategy, business and life generally.  In the story’s most historical war between the living and the dead, there are a few lessons that can also be taken into business. Here they are!

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Movies & Shows

What Game of Thrones 'The Long Night' can teach us about Entrepreneurship | Rubicon Centre

Silence is often underestimated. Interestingly it serves two purposes in a business discussion. It can allow the other person to talk, or even force them to speak.Regardless of the application of silence, when used with effective listening, you can drive a business conversation into a successful outcome.

Use Silence As A Tactical Tool

Anxiety and excitement can easily drive you down the rabbit hole of offering solutions without having a clear understanding of the business situation/problem. Unfortunately, a solution is only valid if it meets a known problem or business situation.Never be in a haste to speak, listen to understand the business context so you can gather your thoughts and drive the conversation towards a meaningful outcome.

Listen First To Understand The Context

There’s nothing worse than rambling for hours only to realise your audience was completely misunderstood or uninterested. What’s more frustrating is when you’re unable to tell what point the disconnection happened.Find opportunities to pause and ask for feedback. Ask if there are any questions so far, or if clarity is required. Pauses also allow you to get a reaction from your audience and use their feedback to determine your next move, or words.

Pause For Feedback Continuously

When speaking becomes over-speaking, you risk losing the opportunity you have already secured. This is particularly important in sales especially when the prospect has shown interest in buying or made a verbal decision.Don’t talk yourself out of a deal by sharing information that is relevant after a deal is won. Focus on what matters and if there’s nothing else to say, thank them, clarify next steps and call it a day.

Know When To Stop, Especially When A Deal Is Struck

There’s a thin line between speaking and overspeaking.  Sometimes it is best to be the listener. Recognising the importance of silence and how to use it as a tactical tool in business is an art a lot of successful salesman have mastered.  So here are some of the practical tips I have taken into my business that have also worked for me.

Mark McCormack, dubbed 'the most powerful man in sport', founded IMG (International Management Group) on a handshake. It was the first and is the most successful sports management company in the world, becoming a multi-million dollar, worldwide corporation whose activities in the business and marketing spheres are so diverse as to defy classification. Here, Mark McCormack reveals the secret of his success to key business issues such as analysing yourself and others, sales, negotiation, time management, decision-making and communication. What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School fills the gaps between a business school education and the street knowledge that comes from the day-to-day experience of running a business and managing people. It shares the business skills, techniques and wisdom gleaned from twenty-five years of experience.

Mark McCormack, dubbed 'the most powerful man in sport', founded IMG (International Management Group) on a handshake. It was the first and is the most successful sports management company in the world, becoming a multi-million dollar, worldwide corporation whose activities in the business and marketing spheres are so diverse as to defy classification. Here, Mark McCormack reveals the secret of his success to key business issues such as analysing yourself and others, sales, negotiation, time management, decision-making and communication. What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School fills the gaps between a business school education and the street knowledge that comes from the day-to-day experience of running a business and managing people. It shares the business skills, techniques and wisdom gleaned from twenty-five years of experience.

Mark H. McCormack

What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School

Every brand that is serious in securing equity in the market place must leverage every digital opportunity that exists.But it is not just about having a website, it is about having a clear business strategy that leverages online opportunities to maximise sales. Clearly, Toys’rus could have done more with their online game.The reason is simple - more consumers now opt for online shopping, but you need to attract them to your online store.The moment you don’t take the digital space as seriously, you’re already taking major leaps backwards into extinction.

Digital/Online Is The Present And The Future

The summation of all the interactions between your customer and your brand is the overall customer experience.Leave a gap and the customer is already making their way towards your competition.It is no longer about a good product only, there is more focus on how a customer feels through the experience shopping with you.Both in-store and online shopping experiences of the old toys’rus were not as seamless as new decade consumer experiences. This is a major issue that leads to customer attrition in any brand.

Customer Experience Is A Game Changer

Shopping is clearly now an omnichannel experience with customers buying in store, online or switching across both experiences simultaneously.Within these experiences is a huge customer need that must never be underestimated - Convenience.Every winning brand know that it is not enough to have limited options. Customers want the flexibility of shipping choices, quicker delivery, various payment options and much more. At the core of this is convenience.

Convenience Is A Core Customer Need

If data is not seen as gold by any brand, then they are already coasting towards extinction.But data is not just about seeing what is truly happening. It is also about making every attempt to anticipate where the market, customers and the business industry is heading.The key here is to stay ahead of the game by anticipating market changes that can impact your business so you can make data-driven decisions to keep your brand afloat and winning.

Data Reveals More Than You Can Think

The last point is all about being customer centric. If Toys’rus had put just a bit more focus on listening to what their customers were saying, and studying what their customers were doing and not doing, it may have revealed risks and opportunities within the brand.When you ignore the importance of the customer’s voice, you may just end up building a brand without the customers you’re looking to win in the first place.No customers, no business!

Listen To Your Customers

It took me a long time to believe that Toys’rus had truly disappeared from the streets of retail.  While I am glad the brand is making its way back, here are some key business lessons for any brand that wants to stay in the marketplace.

When familiarity is a strategy, you lose market share.

Lessons from Toys R us - How to Remain in Business and not Lose Brand Equity

The natural thing to do to becoming more visible is to promote yourself everywhere. But that can only be effective if you know who you are, what you represent and your WHY!It all starts with a personal conviction of your motivation and awareness of who you truly are. Once you are clear, your thoughts, actions and decisions become more clearer, especially in promoting your self to others.

Start Inwards, Be clear On Your Identity

The moment you start to hover across too many personas of your identity, the more you start to confuse your audience. In the end, you will be noticed with many things but remembered for nothing.This is counter-productive as your intention should be for you to be known for something. What is your niche? What area do you want to be known for? What topics do you want people to associate you with?Of course you can be a generalist that is skilled in multiple areas but be very clear on your specialisation. That is your niche and your voice should be heard there.

Stand For Something, Have A Clear Niche

To stand out in anything you have to build your knowledge and experience in it. Reading books, attending events, participating in activities relating to your niche helps you excel as a subject matter expert in the area.Sometimes you need to invest in training programs too and attend paid events to provide you with additional opportunities. Don’t always wait for FREE opportunities. Invest in yourself too.

Invest Yourself In Your Niche

You can’t be everywhere at the same time. Spread yourself too thin and you may not even be noticed at all. Experiment with platforms but choose where you want to be seen, heard and known.This is particularly important on digital platforms such as social media. Have goals and let them help you decide on platforms that are best for you.

Choose Your Engagement Platforms Carefully

How you introduce yourself, the way you talk, your tone and everything really, is part of your identity.Be very consistent such that your audience can immediately identify you when you show up.Consistency has a way of building credibility too, as naturally people will associate you with trust if you’ve been showing up in your niche area for a long time.Build your personal brand consistently, the rewards may take some time to manifest but they eventually show up.

Be Consistent In Your Messaging

Value attracts people. Value triggers attention. Value keeps people interested.In whatever you do, find ways to continuously give value to your target audience. There are so many ways to do this from writing articles, sharing content, participating in discussions and so much more.Value positions you and helps you elevate your personal brand too.

Focus On Giving Value

One of the questions I asked a recent mentee who was struggling to get visibility was - How do you want your audience to see you? Here are a few tips to becoming more visible

Customer Service Goals

Customer Experience Stats to help you win in 2022

Over-promising is BIG trap!

Bridging the gap between your Customer Expectations & Experience

A Seamless Customer Onboarding process that sells

Sanmi Gbadegesin