The age-old handshake needs to be reinvented. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shaking hands or giving hugs when you greet someone is likely a thing of the past. This pandemic has accelerated and intensified the need to reinvent the customer experience, too. We need to reinvent the handshake and CX – and we need to do it right now.
With the first customer came the first customer experience. While the early purveyors and customers didn’t know it, there were rational, visceral, emotional, and even spiritual components to that experience. Everything during that interaction culminated in one thing: whether that relationship would continue…or not.
Today, you and your customer experience team members are in the driver’s seat of that relationship. But you can’t do things the way you were doing them before. This pandemic has dramatically changed the needs and expectations of your customers. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C organization, consider the possibility that things won’t return to how they were just a few months ago. I believe things have been forever altered.
Ask yourself: How well will my customer experience strategy fare in this new world?
The CX Must-Haves
To help you adjust to the new normal, I’m sharing my three key customer experience must-haves. Spoiler: The CX must-haves are the same as your employee experience must-haves! But the details are different.
Must-Have #1: Flexibility. Empower your team members to focus on the customer, not on enforcing policies. Enable each team member with the knowledge, the technology, and (most importantly) the authority to enhance the customer experience without having to call the manager, transfer the customer, or put the customer on hold.
Must-Have #2: Humanity. Help each team member view each customer as a human being and respond to their feelings and emotions. This is where loyalty is built. Enable them to build a relationship with each customer by treating them like a treasured friend or family member.
Must-Have #3: Accessibility. Make sure you’re providing your customers with access to information, expertise, and the appropriate help – when, how, and where they want it.
Many of you are doing all of these already. For others, you should start working on these three must-haves right now. Think about how you can deliver flexibility, humanity, and accessibility and if can you do these things virtually, telephonically, and in person, when necessary and when allowed.
How to Engage Your Employees in the New CX
As you create a customer experience that meets the new needs and wants of customers, you must also reframe your employees’ experience. Leaders, this is your opportunity to reengage your team members in your business purpose and connect that purpose to your employee and customer experiences.
Ask yourself:
- What experience are we creating for our customers, and how does this experience create loyalty?
- How does our customer experience differentiate our business and allow us to thrive in this new world?
- How does each one of our employees play a role in delivering this customer experience?
Give some thought to how flexibility, humanity, and accessibility can play greater roles in your business and how your purpose catalyzes your employee and customer experience. These must-haves are critical to ensuring your organization will continue to find success as we move into a new normal.
If you’re not sure how you’re doing in these three areas, take this short survey and see how you rank. If you’re doing well, I applaud you – keep up the good work. If you need help, give me a call at (419) 725-1025 or send an email, I’m here.
Missed Part 1? Read Part 1 of Shaking Up the Handshake >>
