My Yearly Word

Every year I pick a word.  I typically pick the word in September so to avoid the pressure of the New Year Resolution.  My word is not a resolution, it's a guideline.  It's a suggestion that I give myself.  The word guides me in some of the more difficult decisions but has never been a hardcore rule. I love the process of picking a word too! As it can be quite daunting, I'll give you some examples of my past words..

Last year, my word was Spark. Whether that meant to spark the conversation, to open my mind to a different idea or to light the fire under my ass and get to the gym!  It definitely pushed my comfort zone and helped me through some decisions that I typically would have avoided.  Spark probably was the one word by which I noticed the biggest shift in my thought processes and my stand on particular subjects.  It was a truly self defining year.

The year before, my word was Beauty. Oddly, one of my favourites. I focussed on photography which led to a little game, a friend and I still play to this day.  Everytime we see each other, we pick a theme, for example - red.  As we went through our hectic lives, we would send each other pictures of red things we would see like a red hat in a sea of black overcoats or a shot of a red tree.   Three really neat things happened with this project.  One - I started to notice my surroundings more as I began to live more outward, searching for the next best shot. Secondly - as life took over, I forget about the project until I received a picture text from my friend and instantly, I am back to living outward.  Another cool result of the word, is that we now know it has been too long between visits if the theme is getting old.  The visits result in time spent not griping about family and work, but focussed on a new theme.  It was a great year!!

My 2014 word is Health.  I think its a good one and I'm excited!  It can cover off so many important things- my family, community, my personal health, work health, the list goes on.  To me it means not necessarily growing in the sense of expansion but perhaps looking inward to improve what is already there.  A family membership at the YMCA?  Ski lessons? A cooking class? The possibilities are endless.  

How apropos to have this posted on Black Friday! Instead of looking for the next deal, maybe it's about taking the dog for a hike, sewing a button back on a winter coat or even going to the spa! 

  

Compensation vs.Change

Many clients I consult with have programs in place already and are using their programs more as a compensation tool.  If your NPS is good, everyone get bonuses and if the score is subpar - well the pool will have to wait until next year and bring on the jelly of the month club (Christmas Vacation Reference).

It does however put a small glitch into the experience improvement process.  If your customer experience program really is about improving the customer experience there may be some downward spirals before the scores level out. 

What does that mean?  Outside of management not receiving as much bonus as they did last year, it makes the next year a tough ecosystem.  How do you handle the pressure from above to get the scores up in time for bonuses and actually effect change within the organization?  Please don't say contest (I beg) - that is saved for another post.  

Our goals should be compensation because of change!

Hopefully, you have a dreamy executive team that understands the importance of the experience and that real change will mean that the bonuses actually mean something (like real bonuses should).  This education process mostly results in the NPS metric taken out of bonus programs until they are stable.  In a perfect world, NPS is tied to bonuses with the launch of the program.  

With the ultimate goal of perfect NPS (lol), there is some key take aways for the messaging of a compensation program.  If you want to see an engaged culture, reward on perfect.  

There is something to say about how that message is relayed that affects the type of change you will see.  as an example:

If you tell an agent that their NPS last week was 65 and that they will receive a bonus if they increase their NPS by 5%.  Then that is what you will get.  An agent NPS of 68 (ish).  If you tell that same agent that the goal is 100% and the closer they are to that, the bigger their bonus will be, good things happen!  For one, you have an agent always striving to do better (hopefully) and secondly, you can quickly weed out those that just don't give a hoot.  Also, you have an executive team who doesn't take such a significant hit.  A much easier environment to live in if you ask me!

Have you seen this challenge within your clients and/or company?  

Is there such a thing as a Customer Experience Ceiling?

Having been to my share of industry events over the past year, one question keep coming up.  How, when you are already winning awards for your customer experience, do you take it to the next level?

Good question.. is there a ceiling? Can you truly look up one day, dust your hands off and say "well that was fun!  What's next?"  I don't think so and it's not just for self preservation reasons I say that.  I really believe that we can always be tweaking, improving, and expanding.  Here are a few things that I see some of the seasoned customer experience teams focus on.

Rewarding Extraordinary

A sure sign that your customer experience program has become first nature is that you are not rewarding on being great but that you are rewarding on being extraordinary!  You no longer have to show people how to give great service. It's part of the hiring process, it's part of the culture, and frankly, it's a very basic expectation from each person in your company. The cultural revolution has happened- Congrats!

Empowered Employees go rogue - in a good way!

So you have a bunch of wonderfully empowered employees running around turn everyday things into memorable experiences and a few are going rogue!  You've heard through the grapevine that Rita used her lunch hour to drop off a customer's power brick at their office.  Or that Jim serviced a dishwasher on Friday night because the customer was having a huge part on Saturday.  Awesomeness is percolating to the top! It's pretty freaking exciting!

But is there a next level?  Could there be a holy grail?

Your Customers are now your Virtual Sales Team!

I definitely let people know when I have had great service and I am none to shy to let them know when I have had crap service.  Yes, social media makes this easy and it also speaks to the success of Amazon Reviews. However, if my girlfriend had a wonderful experience at a particular restaurant - I want to go, with her!  Let's make a date of it.  This is where the true power of your experience program speaks volumes.  

How many of your Promoters are actually promoting?  Still trying to figure out who your promoters are? Software Companies should look to their beta testers, Service Companies to their customer tenures, Customer retention programs?  Loyalty programs?

The ultimate priority could be "What do our advocates need from us today?"

Thank you for your feedback...

There is absolutely nothing worse, for you as a customer, than having an experience with a company that was so horrid you are just waiting for the survey to arrive.  It's your duty to tell them because surely, an all hands meeting is required to undo the injustice! The survey arrives the next day and find yourself looking forward to telling them exactly how you feel because, they do care, they are asking!  There is hope yet!

You spend 15-20 minutes filling out the mandatory questions, and as a reward, you get to the open comment.  Alas, the holy land of the survey!  This is where you finally get to tell them just how crappy they have been. You've read it over, it's well crafted, it gets the point across without being abusive and you submit. The wonderful pop up screen thanks you for your feedback and reiterates how much you matter.

For some strange reason, you think you can hear the distress signal going off as you hit submit.  The red phone must be blinking and perhaps the reason they haven't called you back yet to offer $5 off your next bill, is because your valuable feedback has Jimmy running to the Office of the President and she will be calling me any minute now...  

This is when a customer experience professionals worst nightmare comes true...radio freaking silence. Seriously!?! No one responds!? Not even an email?!  

So let me get this straight - I'm giving you my lunch money everyday so I don't get beaten up by your competitor. When I call you to offer you more money, I get punched in the face and then when I tell you that you punched me in the face and your competitor is willing to do it for cheaper..you ignore me.

A little drastic, yes, but kind of true, no?  If you are going to ask for feedback and they provide you with data that justifies your programs existence, please, at least respond to the really, really angry ones!

You don't even need to fix it!  Companies just need to acknowledge their crappiness.  If you respond to a customer, tell them, how horrible it was that they were treated like dirt and that because of their feedback, actions have been taken internally towards ensuring that it won't happen again.  The end! It doesn't need to be fancy - it just needs a nod, a yes we are listening and we are working on it. 

Even a pat on the back is better than a punch in the face..

Inaugural Customer Experience Event in Ottawa Today

I am so jazzed about being part of the first Customer Experience Event in Ottawa. Organized by the CXPA and sponsored by ResponseTek. Fresh perspectives from different industries are definitely a resource that shouldn't be passed up!

We are fortunate to have John Jarvis, General Manager and self-described "Chief Experience Officer” of The Westin Ottawa.  He was recently recognized by Starwood Hotels & Resorts with the Chief Sales Officer Award for 2012. This is the first time a Canadian General Manager and hotel team have received this prestigious award. The award recognizes the team from among 60 Canadian hotels and more than 550 North American hotels across Starwood’s nine distinct and compelling brands: Sheraton, Westin, Le Méridien, St. Regis, Luxury Collection, W, Aloft, Element and Four Points by Sheraton.

Tonight we are going to learn more about The Westin Ottawa’s guest experience program.  We will learn how they motivate employees to create memorable guest experiences every day and how they have pulled together this program with so many moving parts!

Not in the hotel industry?  Who better to learn from, I mean, really, travellers are some picky people!  Let's see how a best in class operates in one of the most demanding of industries!  

Look forward to seeing you there at the Westin Hotel at 5pm October 15th.

Team Goals Explored

Way too often, Corporate Goals get in the way of making true inroads in your VOC program.  I recently worked with a client team who were stuck on trying to make the Corporate Vision fit into their Customer Experience Model. They asked if I had any recommendations on how.  My answer?  forget about it.. maybe one day, we will see it  but it doesn't help you today.  Many leaders in Customer Experience have horrid Mission Statements. Take a look at Apple for example.  Probably the worst Mission Statement in the world and it doesn't even remotely reflect what they are in the eye of the customer.

Here is what I think you need instead.  You need a team goal.  The CX Team, whether that is a party of 1 or 20, needs to come up with a goal that they can measure at the end of the year.  Ensure that it is a broad stroke type goal but make sure that everything the team does for the year is for the sake of that goal.

What would that look like you ask?  Well, let's think of a couple great Goals for a CX Team for 2014.

• Engagement
• Empowerment
• Churn
• Value
• Accountability

As you can probably guess, these goals are not just about what your customer experiences but also your employees. Think of your retail stores or call centers - the same goals can be set for improvements within these teams as well. 

It's time to start looking forward into 2014 and pick up on what your program needs most. What will your teams Buzzword be for 2014?  What will be the secret password for all decisions? When someone asks you "for the sake of what?"  you can answer with the buzzword.  Think of it as your teams tracking device...

It's a wonderful exercise to engage, empower and create accountability within your team (are you seeing a pattern?).  Go forth and prosper.. or get some t-shirts made with the buzzword on it.  If you start internally the rest follows.  

Call your buzzwords out and share with the rest of us!  We are on your side!

Understanding the Gap

We are constantly inundated with "improving the customer experience" and frankly, it's overwhelming.  Some advice is extremely philosophical and others try to be more tactical.

I want us to back away from the mountain, walk away from the Soapbox and regroup around the reality of what the customer experience is..  

Customer Experience is really about managing the gap between the reality of today's experience and what our brand promise is.

There are 2 pieces we can move - the "experience today" and the "brand promise." As our marketing folks go through the 5 stages of loss, let's look at the Brand Promise quickly.

The Brand Promise is what your company should strive for. It's where we need to go all the time.  It needs to become a standard, where every customer would nod their head and give you a 10 out of 10 on that promise. It is key to understand, that as you start out, you have to hit this promise most of the time in order for it to be "promise-able."  Most of the time means that your score out of 10 is above a 6 (technically speaking of course).  

This of course means that your employees and customers know what your brand promise is.  If your employees don't know it, I'm sure there is an intern in your marketing department dieing to test out their freshly found skills and develop an internal brand communication plan.  This is a completely different post that one day I'm sure I'll get too.  

If your brand promise however, is significantly failing your employees and your customers, guess what?!?!  You can have a do over!  Please stop beating a dead horse because you have some magnets left in the chachkey cupboard. Maybe it doesn't need an overhaul just a refresh perhaps?  As always, easier said than done (denial is the first stage of loss).  How? is always the next question we get..

The Experience Today

How to get a good hold on your brand perception?  Your loyal customers hold the key.  Whether or not, you have tools in place to do so, listen to what your advocates are saying.  Calling them is the best.  People love to know that their opinion is valued.  As long as you are listening and being authentic. Understand why they love you so much.  This does a few really cool things that we can dive into again at a later date, but it pulls out some great nuggets you may never have thought of including!  It will be the launchpad for a great brainstorming session (which BTW, should include different departments, not just marketing).

So now after adjusting the goal posts you now should have a pretty good understanding of what "the gap" really is.

Follow me on this journey of gap closing advice.