The 5 Keys of CX (Caffeinated CX Classic)

 

Summary:

5 keys for memorable positive CX

• - Customer experience extends beyond the contact center to the entire customer journey.
• - Key factors include initial marketing, phone/chat interactions, technician visits, etc.

Poor customer service is a major reason for customer churn.

• - According to Accenture, price is not the main reason for customer churn, it's poor quality of customer service.
• - Bain and Company found that a customer is four times more likely to switch to a competitor due to customer service issues rather than product or service issues.

Positive customer experience stands out amidst competition

• - 85% of people nationwide reported dissatisfaction with phone handling in the industry, creating an opportunity to stand out.
• - Turning the five keys of CX - practicing actual empathy, tone, active listening, sense of urgency, and going above and beyond - can create a positive customer experience.

Empathy and tone are key to customer experience.

• - Empathy is more than just saying okay to their issue; it's understanding and care.
• - Maintain a positive, polite tone to create a favorable impression within 7 seconds.

Listen actively and interact with customers

• - Pay attention to what customers are saying and take notes.
• - Interact with customers in a conversational manner, asking follow-up and probing questions.

The 5th key of CX is going above and beyond.

• - Customers contact us to be serviced, and if our customer service is bad, they won't come back.
• - Customer service and their experience with us keep them coming back.

Customer service approach and responsibility

• - The importance of everyone's involvement in customer service
• - Emphasizing the impact of going above and beyond

Improving CX at every touchpoint

• - Dispatching is crucial in the customer service chain, as it sets the tone for the entire interaction.
• - Customer retention is vital and can be boosted by thoughtful gestures like a thank you card with a discount.

Transcript:

good morning welcome to another episode of coffee with Dave I'm doing something different today with I have a script so that's new so let's get started with the script all right all right so once again good morning and welcome to another episode of coffee with Dave I'm Dave and this is coffee take sip oh take sip oh that's good that's real good okay let's just jump right into this okay on today's episode of coffee with Dave we'll be talking about the five keys that need to be turned to have a memorable positive CX CX just means customer experience now the customer experience and the customer service doesn't start and end with the company's contact or call center right it's the entire customer Journey That Matters from the initial marketing that go that gets the customer to pick up the phone this is the old school way to signify phone now it's this I guess I don't know um or to check them or check us out on Google to the person answering the phone or the chat to the dispatchers who call with the scheduled times and updates on their technicians to the technician and channel leaders out in the field to the operations manager to the follow-up call and beyond all of that is CX every single step of the customer Journey counts and is equal now the the ex and the CX are inherently connected but for today we're going to be focused on the customer to start we're going to go over some disturbing facts some frightening figures some scary stats these are not meant to be a scare tactic but to wake you up and set some context so let's Dive Right into them okay so according to the asent Accenture something ACC n t uh Global customer satisfaction report price is not the reason for customer churn it's because of poor quality of customer service a customer is four times more likely to go to a competitor if their problem is an issue with the customer service rather than an issue with a product or service that's from Bane and Company for every customer complaint a customer gets there are 26 other unhappy customers who didn't say anything according to leave resources in addition 96% of unhappy customers don't complain but 91% of them will simply leave and never use the company again which is pretty scary while I flip the page because just a 2% in customer retention has the same effect has the same effect as decreasing cost by 10% a dissatisfied customer will tell 9 to 15 people about their experience around 133% of upset customers will tell more than 20 in contrast happy customers where everything went right only tell between four and six people about their positive experience and it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience that means it takes 12 five-star reviews to make up for just one onear review that's huge the kicker 85% of all people Nationwide doesn't even matter the company it's just Nationwide industrywide reported that they were dissa dissatisfied with the way they were handled on the phone that's with every company all right sounds like bad news right all doom and gloom and no puppies or rainbows nah this is good news and I'll tell you why okay this makes it easy when all the competition is awful it makes it easier to stand out and to stand above when a bunch of when a bunch of other companies provide more or less the same service as you do the easiest way to stand above is by providing a positive customer experience they won't forget and how how do we do that by turning the five keys of CX so let's go over these Keys we'll cover what each key is and then go more in depth with each one the five keys are practicing actual empathy tone active listening sense of urgency and going above and beyond all are equally important all take great skill to wield and to turn so let's go over each one shall we okay let's go I don't like scripts uh the first key is actual empathy now customers can sense fake empathy easily call any bank and listen to their empathy response I'm sorry to hear that well that's okay dude I was only calling for my balance you don't have to be sorry about that it's okay really really you don't have to apologize for them see it's obvious if you're just spouting off empathy statements because the person hasto customers ain't stupid instead practice real empathy put yourself in the customer's Place Imagine the smell of what they're describing the horror they feel at seeing sewage and their kids' bathtub the pain of unexpected financial burden they are facing the unexpected price of Plumbing gone bad or the fact that they are being called to to delay and even after they've made time for us and plans for the day actual empathy is more than just saying okay to their issue it's understanding and Care must not be given or care must be given to not let empathy slide into his toxic cousin sympathy the second key is tone the tone is the message to be hyper specific it is the positive tone that is the message now customers don't care if you're having a bad day they don't know about or even care about your personal life I'm of the opinion that they should have some empathy too but if wishes were horses we'd all be eating steak it sucks but them's the breaks as they say so if you sound bored disinterested distracted tired sad mad any other negative emotion they're not going to like that you're draining them stop keep your tone upbeat positive polite that nice line between casual and professional customers love that take or make each call as if it was your first make them all count stay positive stay focused and stay awake over the phone whether you're booking calls or dispatching them from the office you have a grand total of 7 Seconds to make a positive impression with that customer so make every second count the third key is active listening there's one simple trick when it comes to actually listening to your customer I'm going to let you in on this little secret one pass down to the ages of customer service wise men and Wise Women a secret guarded behind walls of stone and walls of fire the trick is to actually listening to your customer is actually listening to your customer pay attention to what they're saying take notes a novel concept asking your customer to repeat themselves isn't just embarrassing to you or your customer it's the opposite of good customer service getting their booking or order wrong because you weren't paying attention is a big unacceptable oof interact with the customer the booking call and the dispatching call isn't an interrogation it's a conversation a dialogue not a monologue interact ask followup questions ask probing questions make sure you understand each other the fourth key is a sense of urgency okay get this every call is urgent every call is escalated every call needs to be handled now the best customer service agent the best dispatcher is effective and efficient don't let anyone hang out on hold more than necessary if at all nobody like likes being on hold nobody likes waiting to be answered it doesn't matter how snazzy you think your hold music is everyone hates it don't let anyone hang around waiting for an update on their appointment make contact with them immediately your dispatcher will call you shortly means shortly as in a few minutes not in half an hour an hour 2 hours 3 hours from now shortly like in a couple of minutes the more the customer knows the better we ain't keeping those Secrets come on now would you like to wait no me neither let's not make them wait either even if it's bad news better for them to know than to keep them in the dark giving them enough time to say well I guess they're not going to call me back guess I'll call their competition H for the fifth one I'm going to change things up a little bit thank you for your patience I know that was all right so the fifth and final key of CX is going above and beyond okay so customers call text chat and email us to be taken care of to be serviced what a concept in customer service but if they could do it it all themselves most of them would all right if our customer service sucks if our customer service is even just mediocre why would they come back why would they book a call in the first place or say okay when the dispatcher calls an as sending a tech or decide to go with the options the technician presents if our customer service is bad there are a ton of plumbing companies in California ranging from single Vans to entire fleets they all do the same thing more or less what keeps them coming back to us well it's our customer service and their experience with us their CX as it were let me tell you a story and if you're still here hey how you doing all there was once a company and it still exists where a caller called in for spark plugs now this company doesn't sell spark PL spark plugs nor did they sell anything even remotely close to spark plugs did the person answering the phone tell the caller this yep after they hung up the phone they got to thinking they thought long and hard and they thought and they thought and they thought and then they called the customer back got their City got their name hung up again did a Google search for spark plugs in their area called the stores priced them out had the store with the lowest price hold the spark plugs for the caller called the caller back little did the CSR know at this company everything he did was being recorded by the customer and put up on YouTube with nothing but the actual surprise and praise of the caller the caller initially had called in to basically a sting operation for YouTube right where look at this customer service they said they were going to be above and beyond and they said they'd help us no matter what look at them hahaha and then the customer service all did they they did it um not initially though took them a little bit for that for that click to happen in the csr's head that H it would be cool if I did this but that is the essence of going above and Beyond so let's do our part and make the customer service as great as possible it is not the sole duty of one department or one role or one person it is everyone who interacts with a customer directly or indirectly it is literally everybody even you especially you that that was the script I don't like reading off of script at all mostly cuz I'm like this the entire time and I don't like that I I'd rather be looking at you like I've said before I like you otherwise I wouldn't be making these videos they take these take time normally like 5 minutes of planning and then 10 minutes of shooting but whatever all right so but like I said in the script you're a part of the CX doesn't matter what your role is right you could have literally no contact with the customer and you'd still be a vital role in that customer's experience so think about that what are you doing to improve the CX the customer experience what are some ways we could improve the CX remember this starts all the way back in marketing and then contact then for our purposes dispatching dispatching is just as important in the customer service chain as the initial booking goal if not more so because sometimes in you're dispatching is bad news it's no we can't get out there today no we don't have a technician until this time sorry so then from the dispatcher it goes on to the technician in the chat Channel leader same same level of importance customer experience wise as the dispatcher or the person who took the initial call then after that it's the operations manager or you know gosh forbid our resolution Specialists right um and then after how do we treat them after their bill has been paid what if they have a question after it's been paid do we reach right back out to them and answer that question and then it's the thank you card at the end with a little $50 off coupon those are cool those are cool those help bring them back because customer retention like it said in the script and in that stat well 2% customer retention is equal to cutting cost by 10% that's huge so let's go out there let's get after it finish her coffee I know I will and have a good and productive customer Centric day