Customer Experience Update

What do you fear for business?

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:45:00 +0000

I was at a networking meeting the other week and our host, Mike Stokes, asked us to to share with the group what we fear most. As you would expect heights, spiders, public speaking etc were all mentioned however, when it came to my turn I decided to put across my view on something that really concerns me for the future of business. Communication, verbal communication to be precise, or the lack of it.

I cited an example of this, which I frequently see when having a coffee or meal in a cafe or restaurant, where couples - I was going to say young here but it now appears to be happening with people of all ages - sitting at the same table and obviously together are using their smart phones to either text or communicate on social media rather than talk to each other (could be that they are texting each other!).

In business the same thing is happening, emails and sms messages, which are essential and necessary in business today to confirm conversations, meetings and pass detailed information etc, are being used used as the first choice of communication with colleagues, existing & potential customers and suppliers, sometimes even in the same office, rather than talking to each other. Now I know that an excuse used is that they need a paper trail however emails and messages can be misinterpreted, instead why not pick up the phone or meet with the relevant person and have a conversation which you then know that your message has been delivered and helps to build trust.

In sales and customer service 'Trust' is especially important as it is the main reason that customers give when purchasing goods and services or why they stay loyal to a particular supplier.

People buy from people, so encourage the use of verbal communication along with methodologies, to bring out the personality of your business.

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Paul is a Business Development Coach & Trainer specialising in High Growth Strategy Planning & Implementation. Developing Customer Focused Businesses to Deliver Growth.

Call Paul on 01529 413476 - you can even email him (paul@healdi.co.uk) or send an sms message - to arrange a no obligation review

Should you value customers who complain?

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Thu, 29 May 2014 08:29:00 +0000

Should you value customers who complain and are they always right? Well the answer to the first part of the question is a definite "Yes!" 96% of unhappy customers don't complain, they just don't come back and tell anybody who will listen about their bad experience with your business, so value the customers who complain as they believe that your product or service has not lived up to the promise and they are giving you the opportunity to do something about their concerns and to redeem the situation to the extent that they become raving fans. How you achieve that is another Blog or training programme.

The answer to the second part of the question "are they always right?" is a definite "sometimes but not always!" Should we tell them that they are not always right? NO! Although they may not be correct in their assumptions they are right to expect us to help them and they are right to expect us to listen and discuss their concerns directly with them. So value them and give them your time to address their issues. The outcome will depend on how you handle the complaint but at this stage you are showing that you value their custom and make them feel important to your business. Remember 70% of businesses change their supplier because they don't feel valued!

Paul Clayton is business management & training consultant specialising in creating high performance cultures and helping businesses to grow by improving strategic Sales & Marketing planning, Customer Experience Management (CEM) and communication.

www.healdi.co.uk t: 0845 3081377

How can delivering exceptional customer experiences impact directly to your bottom line?

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 11:44:00 +0000

I was at a meeting of the Nottingham City Business Club the other day and listened to an impassioned talk by Center Parcs UK CEO, Martin Dalby, which answered many of the questions often asked by prospective clients about how delivering exceptional customer experiences impacts directly onto growth and profitability.

Martin detailed how Center Parcs UK has grown year on year despite the recession because of the customer concentric ethos running throughout the business. Figures like occupancy rates of 97% and 60% of customers returning every 3 years with staff turnover at only 25% being the envy of any business in the travel and hospitality sector, all driven by the provision of excellent customer experiences delivered by the total organisation. Martin gave an example by asking the audience "How many litter pickers do we employ?" Answer "Aound 6,000 - everybody in the organisation including himself"

The ethos of making the Customer the centre of any organisation has to be embedded and nutured, it is not a quick fix. The results can be significant:

Brand Protection
Improved customer retention rates
Loyal, happy customers
More profitable business from existing customers
Ambassadorial customers
Extra Referral business
Less selling costs
Reduced customer complaints
Less stressed employees
Highly motivated workforce
Reduced staff turnover
More PROFIT

Improve customer experience to improve growth & profitability.

Paul Clayton is business management & training consultanct specialising in business growth, strategic Sales & Marketing planning and Customer Experience Management (CEM).

www.healdi.co.uk t: 0845 3081377

Customer experience is emotional and different for every individual.

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:04:00 +0000

Customer experience is emotional and different for every individual. What one customer might find really good another might class it as just OK!

It's all about communication and unfortunately to date I haven't come across a proven, affordable methodology that can respond to emotion except for people who have empathy and the ability to build rapport.
So how do organisations that really care get the balance right between the use of people and software to deliver exceptional customer experience?

The organisations that I work with believe that human reaction is the best at interpeting the needs of the customer and embed it throughout their businesses. Yes, we need software to handle, measure & track customer interaction and for the customer to be offered the alternatives. Unfortunately, as I wrote in another post, a lot of the software guys seem to think you can get away with 'chat', social networking and email responses alone to keep down costs and really don't take into account the human element of actually talking with the customer and the finacial implications if this isn't what the customer wants - it's not what you say it's how you say it that makes the difference in interpretation.

Exhibition Leads - Top Tips to Improve Lead to Sales Conversions

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:55:00 +0000

I was talking with an exhibition stand contractor the other day and I couldn't believe it when he told me that on several occassions over the years, when breaking down his clients' stands after a major event, he had found all the visitors business cards - leads with the potential to turn into orders - left in the rubbish to be discarded! Can you believe it? Well it's true, but I'm sure that's not you.

You've just invested a great deal of time & money on a great exhibition and now the orders will start pouring in - or not. For every lead that you have gathered, business card, completed info request form, enquiry etc., your competitors will probably have gathered the same. Potential and existing customers are now making their decisions about which product/service they may like to purchase. To make that decision they will probably need to speak to the potential supplier - but which one? It may well be decided by the speed and professionalism of the follow up response. Make it your Company.

Tips to gain maximum conversions from leads to sales:

Enter leads onto a database
Prioritise leads into existing & potential customers
Allocate who will handle the follow up for each lead
Acknowledge & thank every lead within 3 days of the event.

This can be by email or phone call according to priority.
At this stage it doesn't need to be the sales person responsible for that lead to call as this is an acknowledgement, so involve other members of staff.

Plan the acknowledgement and, if possible, include a call to action - special offer or diarised appointment for sales person
If there are more leads than can be acknowledged in that timescale consider using an outsourced telemarketing company
Measure the results

Make every event a great experience for your existing and potential customers, which will make more profit for you.

www.healdi.co.uk

Events & Exhibitions - An opportunity to give great Customer Experience!

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:20:00 +0000

This is your chance to showcase your business so communicate your objectives to your team. Brief them at the start of each day about:-

The products/services on display

What information they need to capture from visitors

Staff rotation to ensure that the stand is always manned

Who is the stand manager for the day/period?

Who is responsible for gathering and collating orders/information?

Debrief at the end of each day.

This will be the first time that many potential customers have personal contact with your business. 1^st impressions count and how your team act will be more important than your impressive stand. Impress on them that their behaviour and attitude are on show to prospective and existing customers as well as suppliers and competitors:-

Appearance

Do they represent the image that you want your company to be recognised for?

Is it the same at the end of the day as at the beginning?

Professional

Total knowledge of products/services on offer – visitors will not be impressed if they have to wait while information sought from another member of the team

Knowledge of competitor products/services

Do they have pen & notebooks to take details?

Welcoming

Smile

Ask questions about the customer’s needs – people do not like to be sold to, they like to buy.

Give your visitor your undivided attention

Don’t stand in groups – it can be intimidating to new customers

Don’t email or use phones while manning the stand

Visitors have invested time and effort to attend and nearly 80% will have a plan – ensure that they are impressed with how they are treated when they visit your stand.

Paul Clayton is business management & training consultant specialising in creating high performance cultures and helping businesses to grow by improving strategic Sales & Marketing planning, Customer Experience Management (CEM) and communication.

Are soft skills really essential to business success?

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:46:00 +0000

Why are ‘soft skills’ – communication, building rapport, questioning & listening skills etc. - seen as nice to have and non essential when they are in fact fundamental and crucial to building strong business relationships?
If employees in all departments are not provided with these ‘soft’ skills in the stressful and pressurised world we call business, then how can we expect them to answer customer queries, identify and exploit additional sales opportunities while building those business relationships essential to the survival and prosperity of business today?
Soft skills are as important, and just as hard, as any other business skills such as sales and negotiation, and need to be learned. Your people need to achieve effective communication, call control, building rapport, phone etiquette & techniques, problem solving, and objection handling to continually improve your business. Having a strategy to improve those skills in communication and the use of the telephone will gain you new customers, boost business with existing accounts, increase service levels from suppliers and strengthen internal team cohesion and motivation; increased sales and profitability! http://goo.gl/WAtgr

Contact the Author - Paul Clayton for more details

Fuel Shortages Contingency Planning - Part of the Customer Experience

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:41:00 +0000

Do you remember the fuel shortage in 2000 when lorry drivers and farmers blockaded oil facilities and caused widespread disruption? The country almost ground to a halt. Businesses experienced problems of one sort or another including staff having difficulties getting to work, shortages of essential services and products and manufacturing slowing down due to lack of raw materials.

How is your business geared to cope with the possible shortages brought about by the threatened tanker driver strike and how will it affect your customers?

So what will you do to minimise the risk to your business and ensure that your customers are inconvenienced as little as possible? Regardless of the size of your business, putting in place contingency plans to mitigate the impact of any disruption to your business makes economic sense.

All businesses are different and it is impossible in this short article to answer the question, indeed the options may be limited but that is no reason not to plan. Take 3 possible scenarios.

1. Manufacturing grinds to a halt due to lack of raw materials. If you are in manufacturing or supply goods to manufactures is it possible to arrange for consignment stocking to ensure that once supplies return to normal there is sufficient finished stock to cope with back orders?

2. Communication systems, IT & Telephones, can be diverted for home use in many instances which can mean that essential workers can operate effectively without the worry of finding fuel to get to work.

3. For businesses with external sales teams and advisors should ensure that every face-2-face meeting, where travel is involved, is essential to the business and that it cannot be handled by other communication methodology, especially the telephone.

Be prepared! Haven’t I heard that before? Let your customers know in advance about the contingency plans that you are preparing to keep their businesses running in case the strike goes ahead and ask for their comments & suggestions. This action will prove to your customers that you care about their business and value their opinions as well as their custom.

Along with protecting your business by putting in place a contingency plan what actions are you taking to develop your business at this time? The contingency plan should also include how to gain & retain business from your competitors who have not taken action. Develop your customer facing people’s skills in sales, communication, negotiation, customer service and the use of the telephone in business now. http://bit.ly/hONruM

Paul Clayton

http://www.healdi.co.uk

Is the data on your company smart phone protected?

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:03:00 +0000

We are all aware of the need to keep data on PC's and laptop computers protected , but are your company smart phones and tablets secure and can you guarantee that if lost or stolen the data cannot fall into the wrong hands?

European and English legislation on data and telephone compliance is there to protect consumers against misuse of data, ensuring that it is kept safe and is not used without consent.

A snapshot on some of the issues involved is freely given below.

Mobile Phone Security

Mobile phones make life very easy on the one hand, and very difficult on the other.

A study by TAXI, the magazine for the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, revealed that during a six-month period a staggering 63,135 mobile phones were mistakenly left in London cabs. If they contained customer data and information that was not secure, then their owners could find themselves in breach of the Data Protection Act.

Mobile Phone Data Security
Mobile phones are common tools of the trade now for many businesses. However, in recent years these devices have become much more sophisticated. Many have the capacity to store over one million emails, as well as contact details of an entire customer base and other sensitive information, such as word documents and spreadsheets.

Awareness
Think how important the data on your mobile phone is. Be aware, too, that if your employees have a company mobile phone, they must similarly be conscious of the importance of any stored information and contact details. We strongly recommend that you look at your own mobile device security strategy, and that of your company.

Precautions
As a first step you should note down your mobile device’s IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number. This is often found underneath the battery and your mobile provider will require it when you report the loss or theft of your mobile. This should be a mandatory safety measure for all staff with company mobiles.

Action Points
Here are action points you should consider when formulating your mobile security strategy:

Enable the “Automatic Lock” function on your device, and set the lock period to the minimum time
Enable the “Require Pin” function or, if the option is available, the lock device on SIM card removal
If you use memory cards, enable the “Encrypt External Storage” option if supported by your device
Only store essential names, numbers and documents on your mobile phone
Check with your mobile provider if your device supports “Remote Wipe”, and know how to implement this
Keep your mobile provider’s number handy as they can disable your phone when you give them your IMEI
Be prepared to notify the Information Commissioner and your customers if a mobile device with customer data is lost/stolen
Further Action
There may be other things specific to your business that you need to think about, and you may need to create a mobile telephone policy and include it in your Company Handbook to ensure all staff are aware of the implications of storing data on mobile devices.

Contact the Author - Paul Clayton for more details data & telephone compliance

Managing Customer Experience

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:19:00 +0000

Customer Experience Management

The ability to build business by gaining and retaining customers - consumers, end users, retailers, distributors or wholesalers - is often the greatest challenge for both new and established companies. Successful businesses understand that every time there is an opportunity to interact with a customer there is a chance to win new business and build better relationships.

Customer Experience Management (CEM) is the process of understanding and managing customers’ interactions with, and perceptions about, the supplier company. The most successful companies analyse every possible contact point and interaction, putting in place processes and promoting attitudes to deliver excellent “Customer Experience” constantly and consistently.

CEM is being used increasingly by businesses from all sectors whose objectives include:

Improving PROFIT
Gaining new customers
Boosting sales through existing customers
Building outstanding customer relationships
Increasing customer retention rates
Improving supplier service levels & loyalty
Raising Brand image and awareness
Strengthening internal team cohesion and motivation
Staying ahead of the competition

What is Customer Experience?

A customer experience occurs every time a customer interacts with a supplier. “Customer Experience” is the sum total of the interactions a customer has with the supplier business or brand and can be a one off contact or multiple contacts. The result is the perception that a customer has of a supplier’s business and will influence and ultimately determine the business relationship between the customer and supplier.

What is an Interaction?

An Interaction could be by telephone, letter, email, promotional literature, instructions for use, website, social media, face-2-face etc, singly or a mixture.

When does an Interaction Occur?

Interactions come in many formats from contact with any department or methodology from Sales to Accounts and IT Departments to telephone answering systems to engineers and delivery drivers, to name a few.

Customer Experience Management (CEM)

CEM is NOT Customer Resource Management (CRM) which is data driven, emphasising and requiring regular contact, human and systems, to increase sales.

CEM is NOT Customer Service Management (CSM) which concentrates on raising customer service levels from the supplying company’s perspective.

CEM focuses and redefines your business from your customers’ perspective and involves all aspects of the business. The objective of CEM is to create sustained customer loyalty and to optimise the derived benefits:

· Happy Customers

· More profitable business from existing customers

· Ambassadorial customers

· Extra Referral business

· Less selling costs

· Reduced customer complaints

· Less stressed employees

· Highly motivated workforce

· Reduced staff turnover

· More PROFIT

Implementation to a full CEM system can mean a re-think of how internal departments interact & communicate with customers as well as each other. It is not a quick fix and needs continual appraisal of processes and communications.

Contact the Author - Paul Clayton for more details of implementation of CEM into your organisation

Winter Contingency Planning - Part of the Customer Experience

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:39:00 +0000

Where has 2011 gone? Do you remember December 2010? The country almost ground to a halt with snow covering most of the UK.

A YouGov Omnibus SME survey, which found that 37 per cent of small businesses said they had experienced "weather-related problems of some sort" and that 34 per cent of staff had difficulties getting to work.
Among the recommendations were ensuring that adequate insurance is up-to-date, winter-proofing the premises and devising a contingency plan - in case staff are unable to reach the workplace.

From what I remember the 1^st week of January was as bad as December and things never really got going until mid January at the earliest, meaning that UK PLC was shut down for nearly 7 weeks. Can your business survive those conditions again? No wonder most businesses have been playing catch up time through 2011 and hasn’t time just flown by?

So what will you differently do this year? Why should it be any different this winter? Regardless of the weather and regardless of the size of your business putting in place contingency plans to mitigate the impact of severe weather makes economic sense.

All businesses are different and it is impossible in this short article to answer the question, indeed the options may be limited but that is no reason not to plan. Take 3 possible scenarios.

1. Manufacturing grinds to a halt due to lack of raw materials. If you are in manufacturing or supply goods to manufactures is it possible to arrange for consignment stocking to ensure that once deliveries can start there is sufficient finished stock to cope with back orders?

2. If your business is seriously affected when power supplies fail (and whose business isn’t) think about hiring/buying a stand by generator and make sure that oil supplies are topped up before the onset of winter.

3. YouGov figures also showed during winter 2010 that 34% of workers experienced ‘significant problems' getting to work, with 10% unable to get in at all at some point. Communication systems, IT & Telephones, can be diverted for home use in many instances which can mean that essential workers can operate effectively.

Many businesses are highly vulnerable to the steep drop in turnover which often follows bad weather as customer records can be lost in flooding, phone calls and emails go unanswered and clients take their custom elsewhere.

Be prepared! Haven’t I heard that before? Let your customers know in advance about the contingency plans that you are preparing to keep their businesses running during the winter of 2011 and ask for their comments & suggestions

Along with protecting your business what actions are you taking to develop it? Before winter sets in put a contingency plan in place to gain & retain business for 2012. Develop your customer facing people’s skills in sales, communication, negotiation, customer service and the use of the telephone at a venue near to you in November. http://bit.ly/hONruM

Have a great winter 2011

Paul Clayton

http://www.healdi.co.uk

Telephone Contact - The Real 1st Impression

paul@healdi.co.uk (Paul Clayton) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:37:00 +0000

Many great articles have appeared over the years dealing with telesales and customer service and we all know that new sales and customer retention is essential for companies to survive and prosper in today’s competitive market.

Today I want to explore the use of the telephone in business and how its use in your business can have a beneficial or negative outcome on your business.

The telephone is an essential and, allegedly, the most widely used communication tool in all businesses and organizations to communicate on a personal basis with existing and potential customers, suppliers, consumers, media and other organizations & individuals to improve business.

Improving communication at all contact points with customers and suppliers will boost sales, build customer & supplier loyalty, enhance Brand value and increase profitability

The majority of potential customers looking for a new supplier will make the 1st personal contact by phone! So no matter how brilliant your initial marketing initiatives – e-mail, brochures, mailers, advertising or social networking - how that first call is handled can have a huge impact on the outcome for your business.

In a recent seminar to a group of business owners on ‘How the use of the telephone can improve Business’. Prior to the event I was given a list of the companies sending delegates which we rang to see how they performed in answering their phones

45% Answered within 3 rings

75% Answered within 5 rings

65% of All calls answered by a Person

15 Companies Could Lose 20% of Sales (more than 5 rings)

14 Companies Could Lose 70% of Sales (answer phones)

How do you compare and are you confident that every telephone contact point in your organization is 'on message' with your core values and objectives?

Customer Experience: Test the customer experience yourself by calling your company as a potential customer or as an existing customer with a query - don’t use your own phone which may be recognised by your telephone system or get a third party to do this and record the calls – then take action.
How Inbound Calls are Answered

Time Before Call Is Picked Up: Aim to answer calls within 3 rings and no more than 5. The time between standard BT rings is approximately 3 seconds. 20% of all callers to businesses hang up after just 5 rings!*Source Onetel business Survey. (15 seconds)
Answer Phone: 79% of people will not leave a message on Voicemail/Answerphone if they are calling to place an order for a product or service * Source Call Centre Helper. Customers will use Voicemail and Answerphones if they are confident that messages will be picked up and actioned. Change the message on a daily basis with the message including the day and date and when the messages will be actioned
Answered by Automatic System: Automatic systems will usually be set to answer within 1 ring, however the average time that an automatic system will direct you to a real person is 32 seconds (>10 rings). If you have to use and Automatic System keep the number of options on any menu to 3.
Answered by Person: The majority of people prefer to talk directly to a real person. Larger businesses usually direct all inbound calls to a dedicated reception which should have sufficient trained personnel manning the phones at peak times to achieve a) above.

Where there is no dedicated reception area it is essential that whoever takes answers the phone takes ownership of the call and understands the caller’s requirement before forwarding to another department. Ownership means retrieving the call if it is not answered by the intended recipient and taking a message – name, nature of the call and contact number – and giving the caller a time that he/she will be called back and then ensuring that this happens.

Many customers will need to deal directly with contacts in your business other than those in Sales or Customer Services such as IT, Credit Control, Distribution etc. It is these contact points which also need to be Customer friendly.

Greeting - is it the same every time? Everybody answering in the same style will strengthen the Brand and professional image of the Business.
On hold - silence/music/update/information etc. One of the most frustrating experiences encountered by customers is being put into a queue or on hold. It is not good enough for callers to be put on hold and then told that at number 35 in the queue that the Company values their business. If the customer is valued then either the business should have enough operators so that waiting time is less than a minute or the caller should be given the opportunity to leave a message and that is acted on within the hour with a return call.

It is expensive to gain new Customers, make sure that the use of the telephone in your business helps to keep them.

Paul Clayton
http://www.healdi.co.uk