We’ve all heard how 2020 is the year everything changed. Well, what if a story about a Tex-Mex restaurant in Dallas highlights how NOT everything changed? In a recent CCNG Town Hall, Rick Denton helped walk the community through key elements of customer experience that were fundamental pre-pandemic as well as during the pandemic, and will remain fundamental post-pandemic.
Three key themes did not change:
1. Companies need to continue to amplify their Total VOC (Voice of the Customer) approach, moving away from “Survey and Score” into “Listen and Act”. For those already there, this is a good time to ensure you’re focused across all elements of Total VOC “Act” including Closed Loop Feedback (both internal and external), Employee Engagement and cementing the Customer as central to a company’s decision making.
2. Companies need to rely on their front line to both systematically gather customer experience insight AND co-design/co-implement great experience solutions with the front line. Too often the first is either non-existent or ad-hoc, and frequently the latter is forgotten.
3. Remember…the Customer Does Not Care About Your Excuses…and more specifically, the Customer Does Not Care About Your COVID Excuses. Be transparent and honest with the customer. They will no longer tolerate your excuses and will vote with their wallet towards your competitors who have solved the challenges.
Why should we care? Because things WILL get better. While this is a crisis we’ve never experienced before, we have experienced crises — including the tragedy of 9/11, various global medical events such as SARS and MERS, and other major financial crises. Each of those saw a dip in the global economy, but each was followed by a roaring back of that same economy. Companies who fail to recognize that NOT everything changed and that customer experience remains as (or even more) important as before will fail to succeed. Use this time to double down on CX and emerge stronger tomorrow.
Rick Denton is a CCNG Academy member, podcaster, speaker, consultant and principal at EX4CX, focusing on transforming Contact Centers from Cost Centers to Customer Insight Centers.
