CUSTOMER INCLUSION: EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
Every business, in essence, has two sets of customers- internal and external and while they may seem opposite they both need to be heard and incorporated into your corporate narrative. Your internal customers are your employees and the external are your customers and other stakeholder publics.
While many employees see the internal customer as staff or an expense line on their balance sheet, how the employee is treated has a lasting effect on how well a company performs. Successful companies invest heavily in their employee’s well-being with the knowledge that a happy employee is a powerful ambassador not just towards external customers but also in attracting top talent into the organization.
From training to paid leave, reward schemes, work-from-home, and in-house daycare centers some employers are creating the most conducive environments for their employees to work in. These employers are cognizant that their employees are client-facing and their happiness, attitudes, and competency have a direct impact on the quality of service and products their external customers experience.
Further, employees must also see each other as their internal customers as the quality of interactions internally affects the external output; from how employees address each other, their accountability to each other on shared tasks must be looked at with a customer experience lens as collectively front and back end employees ultimately contribute to the external customer’s experience.
Indeed studies show what employee experiences in their workspace greatly affect their interactions, and emotions and influences their job performance and overall corporate outcomes.
The same is true for the external customer, their experience with your organization greatly influences the kind of relationship they will nurture with the said entity; thus corporates must ensure their employees are empowered to offer the best service to their customers.
To bring out the best in your employees and customers successful companies have embraced a formula that has successfully worked across the board. These entities are very interactive- they engage their internal and external customers with stimuli that they best relate to and that address their pain areas and allow for their thoughts and suggestions to be incorporated into the corporate agenda.
Through these interactions, the organization humanizes its internal and external customers; it has sight of their emotions and perceptions and ultimately creates value propositions that their diverse audiences will ultimately care about. Indeed history shows us your stakeholders will not care about what you do unless they know that you first care about them.
This journey to caring must be carefully structured and gradually implemented if the aspiration is to succeed.
- Core purpose
What are the mission, vision, and value of your company?
- Translating this to action
Your mission vision and values must be translated into action; what does your company need to do to live its mission and vision and how does it manifest its value system through its corporate culture? Further having a mission and value statement is not enough, your employees and staff must also know what you stand for and feel it in your actions, words, and products- there can be no disconnect as it distorts the perception created.
- Verification
Can your stakeholders relate to your actions, do they know what and why you are doing what you are doing? Verification thus moves you from words to action.
- Alignment
In your strategy, if there is deviation how do you align to ensure we deliver what we promise and attract and wow our customers? Alignment thus asks what we want our experiences to be based on our corporate strategy.
To successfully execute the above, the organization must always listen to its stakeholders- open lines of communication for feedback and suggestions are critical as they move your organization from operating in a silo into a co-creative ecosystem built on the thoughts and suggestions of your stakeholders. Indeed when your stakeholders see their suggestions considered and incorporated, it gives them a sense of belonging alluding towards their thoughts matter.
Collecting feedback is one thing; separately making it actionable and quickly so creates room for more suggestions to improve from your stakeholders.
Why does this matter?
Engaged employees are more productive, miss work less often, and are happier at work meaning they deliver better quality service and products. On the flip side, disgruntled employees are a drain on corporate resources with the potential of damaging the reputation and existence of your business. Externally, delighted customers have higher repeat purchases; they offer more recommendations to your business and or will defend your brand in your absence.
These invaluable nuggets demonstrate the importance of investing in customer inclusion and customer experience. Success in this regard has been known to reduce employee turnover, reduce the sales cycle, and guarantee incomes for your business and through including and engaging your stakeholders a business can stand out and thrive even in times of adversity.
Should you wish to learn more about how to invest in customer inclusion and customer experience, contact Springboard Capital at 0700 944 444/WhatsApp Us through the button below or email us at info@springboardcapital.co.ke.
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Article based on Julie Tano-Lawson Webinar Presentation – Julie is a Senior Consultant at Cabinet-Conseil CX, where she assists companies in the development and implementation of customer-focused strategies. As an experienced trainer of employees, she makes them an important pillar in achieving results by developing their sense of commitment and quality customer care.Follow us on our LinkedIn Page: Springboard Capital Ltd
Follow us on our LinkedIn Page: Springboard Capital Ltd
