Commentary

How to deliver a customer experience that is second to none

Jim Perry, director, performance management practice at Infor, provides insight on a customer-centric company culture and why it requires a work environment where employees fully embrace the core values of empathy and servant leadership.

Photo by iStock.com

March 11, 2019

By Jim Perry, director, performance management practice, Infor

A relentless focus on the customer is not just an important strategy, it is mission-critical for companies to survive in today's retail climate. When it comes to delivering the best customer experience, it is what is on the inside that counts: the retailer's people and its company culture. So, how is a customer-centric company culture built? Experts agree that a customer-driven culture results organically when employees individually and collectively prioritize customer needs above all else. Ultimately, being customer-centric requires a work environment where employees fully embrace the core values of empathy and servant leadership.

Recently, McKinsey & Co. studied the relationship between customer centricity and revenue growth. They concluded customer impact — the empathy to recognize and act upon the needs of customers — led all leadership competencies. Not only that, but the degree of customer impact also correlated with respondent company revenue growth. While the customer may not always be right, they are certainly always valued in high performing organizations.

Turning employees into brand ambassadors

Shifting customer demands are quickly changing the role of a retailer's employees. As the person who interfaces with customers, employees are now the face of a brand. While measuring customer satisfaction is certainly a priority, so too is measuring employee satisfaction. Nurturing highly engaged employees will lead to more efficient business performance, which will lead to greater customer satisfaction. Retail leaders can drive employee engagement by driving experiences in which employees feel valued.

Here are some ways in which employers can build this relationship with employees:
•   Be accurate: Make trust and loyalty a top priority. Employee communications should be accurate, consistent and timely.
•   Be responsive: Recognize that high levels of turnover will have a debilitating financial impact on the company. Be responsive to employee feedback and commit to continuous improvement.
•   Make it easy: Make it easy for employees to share their feedback openly and without fear of repercussions. Turn to software solutions to help turn employee feedback into actionable insights.
•   Value employees: Clearly and consistently share your commitment to making employees feel valued and appreciated. If this is done successfully, employees will pay it forward to the retailer's customers.

Building a customer-centric culture

It is no surprise employee engagement and favorable business outcomes are closely correlated. Companies with high workforce engagement tend to see less talent turnover, lower rates of absenteeism, and increases in customer service ratings, productivity, and sales. When employees feel engaged, trusted and valued, their work ultimately results in greater customer satisfaction. Talent experts agree that customer-centric organizations espouse the following attributes in teams:
•   A clear focus on customer experience as a top priority.
•   Processes in place that create best-in-class experiences with customers and partners.
•   Accountability to the core values of the company.

This has been the case for theWest Coast burger chain In-N-Out, which was recently ranked fourth in Glassdoor's 10th annual best places to work list. In-N-Out is well known for offering employees good pay, free meals, medical benefits, and flexible work schedules, according to Glassdoor reviews. For the company, these benefits are key to driving employee commitment and satisfaction. That is why the key to delighting customers at In-N-Out is to focus on employee happiness first.

On the flip side, if employees are not engaged, they will do little to contribute to their company's success. A lack of personal or professional satisfaction with an employer will result in a lack of incentive to help the company present itself in the best possible light. That is why companies that want to deliver best-in-class customer service must provide a high level of service to their own employees and should empower them to succeed first and foremost.

Managers must actively foster an environment in which employees feel committed and recognized for their efforts to help their company meet its goals. Employees must know that they are valued, and they will offer the same level of support to customers. Luckily, there are digital tools that retailers can adopt to help facilitate not just their products, but their employee's productivity too.

Implement tools devoted to talent, not just inventory

Customer expectations are changing at rapid speed. It is no longer just about finding the best deals for the best price, retailers now must account for a variety of factors, from conversational commerce, to providing the best in-store experience. While the best retailers are already identifying and implementing the right software solutions to optimize their inventory supply chains, leveraging digital tools to power their omnichannel strategies and are adopting machine learning to understand their customers' preferences, they must also identify the right tools to help them hire, develop and retain the right talent for their brands.

While it may come as a "no-brainer" to measure important aspects of the business such as sales quotas, or to collect data that can help the retailer better understand when and how their customer is shopping, there has never been a greater need for retailers to measure the growth of their most valuable asset: their people. With the right software solutions, retail leaders can keep a close pulse on their talent's performance, development, productivity and staffing effectiveness.

Additionally, retailers can also adopt human capital management analytics that help managers make data-driven decisions when it comes to setting employee goals, implementing training initiatives or identifying the best organizational structure. High performing organizations recognize and reward cross-functional collaboration because they understand that inter-company communication is a prerequisite to delivering customer value. Likewise, the employee experience also reflects the level of customer care that an organization creates for its employees, making it a critical component for creating a customer-driven culture.
If businesses want to truly deliver a customer experience that is second to none, they must first look internally. When employees are happy, they will go out of there way to prioritize making their customers happy. When it comes to customer experience, the best retailers ensure outcomes are measured, remeasured, shared, and tied to individual performance ratings, making it an integral part of a company's performance evaluation. When customer experience becomes a top focus for a business, the company will prosper from the inside out.