CONSUMERS and businesses have never had so much choice, be it products, suppliers and channels for distribution and promotion.
Given all these choices, the former buzzword “customer satisfaction” is not enough. Businesses must be able to deliver their unique proposition through every sales and service transaction.
The challenge for organizations therefore is to make their brands felt by the customers in the most effective and unforgettable manner.
Here, Hernan Espiritu, an expert on sales management who specializes in life orientation, sales and organizational development, customer service excellence and values enhancement, shares insight on managing customer experience.
Question: What are the challenges that businesses face given the needs of today’s consumers?
Current customers are up to nine times as profitable as new ones, but keeping customers has never been tougher. Organizations must develop a customer-defined customer experience in their business.
Organizations are challenged to go against the “Battle of the Bland.” Customers are faced with a gray wall of choices. The only real competitive edge is in the area of customer experience.
Q: What are the qualities of an excellent customer experience?
Building a memorable customer experience that genuinely creates loyalty is the most effective but the hardest battleground businesses have to face. A great customer experience is simply a consistently delivered promise that considers the customers’ physical expectations and the emotions these evoke. The experience becomes great largely because it is based on knowing one’s customers and what they want, as well as what they need, what choices they can have, what other things they may enjoy together with meeting their needs, and what organizations can do to “surprise” them.
Q: Why is it important to learn to manage customer experience?
Every organization has a customer experience. It is what happens to your customers as they learn about your company, try and then buy your product or service, get help, and share ideas. What is your customer experience today? Is it working for you or against you?
Most organizations do not appreciate their customer experience. Neither do they proactively and in detail manage the customer experience throughout the cycle of service. Successful customer experience management starts with mapping and detailed analyses of all customer contact points or “moments of truth.”
Learn how organizations can define, analyze and reshape customer contact points, or “moments of truth” at the upcoming Professional Workshop in Managing the Customer Experience on Sept. 22-23, 2015. Workshop participants will be able to identify innovative and breakthrough service ideas, develop customer friendly business processes and be familiarized with the framework for service leadership, service management and coaching.
Hernan Espiritu is the resource speaker for the professional workshop on “Managing the Customer Experience” on October 13-14, 2015 at the Inquirer Academy Building, Chino Roces Avenue corner Ponte Street, Makati City.
The professional workshop is spearheaded by the Inquirer Academy and is ideal for team leaders, department heads and supervisors, customer service representatives and managers, sales and account executives, sales managers, freelance professionals and entrepreneurs.
To know more about the workshop or the resource speaker, please write to ask@inquireracademy.com or call 8341557.
Inquirer Academy is the learning center for professionals who want to get ahead, be ahead and contribute to society.