Simple Tips To Improve Transparency

A company's brand is constantly in a state of flux impacted by the reviews customers and shoppers leave on Social communities. Today everything else about the brand is chalked up to company spin and takes a back seat to your customer reviews. While it may be true that no single customer engagement will make or break you, a video or a poor review history certainly can.  

Despite the fact that most companies agree that the cost of maintaining an existing customer is much less than the cost to acquire or regain a customer, few companies are doing all they can to improve their standing in the transparent economy.  A great example of a company who does well with transparency is Amazon. It’s not a coincidence that the customer experience /satisfaction is their primary focus. Transparency is not rocket science but it does mean your company has to walk its talk. 

Here are some quick tips on how to make a customer love you so much that they cannot help but say so and the results are guaranteed to improve your transparency.

1. Keep the main focus of the company on the delivering a great customer experience. Make this is your first and over arching focus of the entire business. 

2. Identify key customer touch points and ensure that the customers experience is stellar. This means that product development; delivering a great Customer experience drives all design, UX, Service, Fulfillment, Sales, and Partner selection first and foremost.

3. Commiserate with the customer's feelings. Let them know you understand their issue and their feelings and that you are going to do everything you can to address the issue. Example: I understand how frustrating that must be for you. This does not mean transfer their call and require then to recount the issue to the next rep. A properly aligned company realizes that every transfer point and recounting of the issue worsens the CX. A customer-focused company does their absolute best to offer a one-and -done experience.

4. Let the customer know that you've heard their needs and that they matter. List out each need and discuss what you can or cannot do. I recently attended a Skydiving fundraiser for ALS. The key skydiver, a woman with ALS, had a list of concerns for her tandem partner. These were obviously important to her. He read each one back to her and looked at her and explained what he could and could not do. While not all her needs could be met, in the end he assured her that her safety was his main concern. Let the exchange with the customer say, "You matter to me." Simple Eye contact and smiles go a long way even if the exchange is fast passed and transactional.

5. Review all the major Social communities where your customers are on a regular basis. When issues arise do your best to listen, acknowledge and repair.

6. Make sure that customer experience is your main focus and that all operational requirements that impact that experience are congruent with that primary goal (review number one on this list). Support structures such as commission structure, return policies, warranties, employee empowerment, and delivery policies should support not compete with a stellar customer experience. When the customer experience is your goal all else takes a back seat. I once worked with a company that wanted to make hunters out of a farmer sales force. This company raised their sales quotas and asked sales to offer outstanding customer experience with every engagement. The higher quotas were inconsistent with being able to offer a stellar experience. A company whose main focus is the customer should never risk a workforce whose focus is only on the next sale to engage with a customer. 

Companies that are truly committed to the customer understand that the customer is the only reason they have a viable business. 

7. Always reward employees for keeping the customer the primary focus of the business. A company should never risk passing the cost of a great customer experience on to their employees. Never make an employee choose offering a great experience at the risk of a smaller paycheck. 

If you do right by the customer every time you have the opportunity, transparency will take care of itself. 

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