Up until now control has been the number one tool for most managers. Managers have been using processes and procedures designed to control employee’s performance. This has given managers the ability to hold employees accountable and control performance uniformity.

In a customer focused culture a clear shift of power takes place if a consistent quality customer experience is going to be delivered. That doesn’t mean that processes and systems are thrown out the door. What it means is those processes and systems are used to enhance the experience delivered to customers. Currently most are used for the benefit of the business.

Delivering a consistent quality customer experience is the result of a choice and that choice is made by the people delivering the experience. They have all the power. Everyday your people make choices that determine the experience your customers have with your organisation and the results of those choices directly impact your bottom line.

When the main goal of an organisation is to deliver excellence across all customer touch points, procedures and process need to be flexible. The days of a business delivering a one size fits all model, have gone. Customers now want to accentuate their differences and are demanding a more individualised and tailored approach. This can only be delivered where high employee empowerment exists.

Creating a culture that invites, motivates and supports such performance is the way to deliver great customer experiences, experiences that then become the everyday behaviour throughout the organisation i.e. “the way we do things around here”.

It all starts with an inspirational and motivational vision, a clear understanding of how a customer experience strategy will move the organisation towards that vision and most importantly the vital role everyone within the organisation will play to ensure it is consistently achieved.

Gaining commitment to a customer experience strategy and ensuring total engagement happens is the result of this statement – “your people support what they create”. Your people develop the strategy not management. This approach ensures not only support and commitment but the on-going development of the experience to ensure it continues to surprise, excite and add real customer value, resulting in greater customer loyalty and advocacy.

What managers can do to enhance this process is provide the resource, leadership, support and ensure they have the right people on board and then step back and let them deliver the magic.

END

Customer Experiences is a NZ based organisations specialising in the developing of high quality customer experiences. For further information – contact Chris Bell Managing Director Customer Experiences Ltd email chris@customerexperiences.co.nz www.customerexperiences.co.nz

High employee disengagement, low productivity, declining customer loyalty, little innovation and creativity, a lack of leadership skills, the continual focus on price, the inability to add real customer value and a operational focus over a customer focus are just some of the areas of business performance that are directly linked to the lack of a customer experience strategy.

A lack of knowledge and skill to develop a long-term customer experience strategy are two of the reasons behind the reluctances to address this critical situation according to Chris Bell Managing Director Customer Experiences www.customerexperiences.co.nz a company specialising in the development of quality customer experiences.

A recent Temkin Group customer experience survey found that 80 percent of respondents from corporate organisations understood the benefits of a customer experience strategy however only 13 percent knew how to develop such a strategy within their organisations.

The result is a tourism industry that is struggling to meet visitor’s expectations, a retail industry struggling to come up with competitive advantages other than price with the resulting negative impact on margins and profitability and our largest Telco recently reassuring us that one day it will be a customer focused organisation.

A recent iStart- Microsoft survey found that 80 percent of us have taken our business elsewhere because of bad experiences and a third using social media to vent their frustration.

And from the same survey 80 percent of business leaders surveyed believe that NZ business had an average to poor approach to customer satisfaction.

Bell said we continue to waste money on research to determine how customers feel about the service and overall experience they receive, workplace research that repeatedly shows the increasing levels of employee disengagement and the reasons for it and still we do very little with the results to improve the performance in these areas.

Retail is one of many industries that would stand to make substantial gains if more were to adopt and develop a customer experience strategy. As customers we are bored with the majority of retail experiences currently being delivered and we see little action to change. It is time to stop complaining about the state of the economy and to start thinking creatively about the value that could in many cases be added to enhance the customer experience.

Right now Customer Experiences is making available a free Customer Experience Development guide download to encourage business to adopt and develop this vital strategy in 2012.

END

Customer Experiences is a NZ based organisations specialising in the developing of high quality customer experiences. For further information – contact Chris Bell Managing Director Customer Experiences Ltd email chris@customerexperiences.co.nz www.customerexperiences.co.nz mb 027 2792360

.

It’s not your products or services

It’s not your management

It’s not your rules & regulations

It’s not your processes & systems

It’s not defined job responsibilities

Its not financial rewards

It’s the choice your people make every day regarding the quality of customer experience they deliver.

Everyday your people make choices that determine the experience your customers have with your organisation.

You can’t make your people smile

You can’t make your people care

You can’t make your people be more helpful

You can’t make your people be more welcoming

You can’t make your people go the extra mile

Only your people can make that choice.

What you can do is provide quality leadership, a people & customer focused culture, and ensure you have the right people onboard……

Then let them deliver the magic!

Chris Bell – www.customerexperiences.co.nz

Customer Experiences

My answer is that there is rarely one thing but if I was pushed to think of just one it would be our lack of understanding regarding this – “Your people support what they create.”

The number one reason you and I are not having more great customer experiences is the lack of support for strategies aimed at improving customer service by the people within an organisation. The number one reason for that lack of buy- in is the fact that there has been little or no involvement by the people responsible for delivering the experience.

Every year significant amounts of resource are wasted on customer service training workshops and other initiatives in an effort to improve the service experience within an organisation with very little long-term return.

The result is business is becoming frustrated with the lack of pay- back on their investment and customer loyalty continues to decline along with the reluctance to recommend a business to others.

The fact is that front-line people know what they need to deliver by way of service and experience; they are listening to customer feedback but have little input into processes and systems and the development of the culture that is required to deliver quality service experiences, the key is involvement and involvement leads to engagement and greater commitment.

There are two significant actions business can take to grow in 2012. One is to gain the knowledge and expertise to develop a unique customer experience for their business and two- ensure they involve their people in the process.

When business understands that everyone within the organisation has a role in the eventual experience customers receive, not just those with the responsibility of delivery, a number of key things happen that create a more customer focused culture including increased productivity and a flow of creative ideas that add value and keep the experience fresh.

This approach of total involvement plays a major part in breaking down siloed cultures commonly found within many businesses, especially larger organisations and local and central government departments.

Developing a customer experience strategy that focuses on “enriching the experience of those delivering the experience” will play a major role in increasing employee engagement and productivity, two areas holding business growth and profitability back in this country.

END

Chris Bell is the Managing Director of Customer Experiences a business committed to building successful businesses through the development of high quality customer experiences and co-founder of cemNZ www.customerexperiences.co.nz chris@customerexperiences.co.nz www.customerexperiences.co.nz 027 2792360

Silly question, I know. There is plenty of evidence to show that we are far more likely to support an initiative where we have had input.

The problem is that if the answer is so obvious why is business not involving their people in the development and implementation of their customer service experience strategy?

The answer to this question is not clear; however, what is clear is that very few businesses have a customer service experience strategy. The reason is very few organisations’ have the knowledge and expertise to develop such a strategy.

The result of this lack of understanding is producing inconsistent customer experiences that frustrate and annoy, driving high employee disengagement resulting in low productivity, declining customer loyalty and a reluctance to recommend a business to others and that’s just the tip.

We are trying to do businesses in a “world of sameness’” where there is little difference between businesses both in the products and services they offer and the experience they deliver. All this is driving an increasing focus on price as the only competitive advantage a business can come up with and we know the impact this is having on margins, driving businesses to cut even more costs including their commitment to the development of service.

Research confirms that companies that provide exceptional service have a strong competitive advantage. Customers are prepared to pay higher prices, make additional purchases, are more loyal and recommend the business to others. All of this can be worth millions of dollars to the local economy.

Exceptional service is harder to attain than ever before. Surveys show that customers expect better service from the companies they deal with yet overwhelmingly believe they are getting service that is no better, or even worse.

Of course, organisations that understand this see a huge opportunity and are taking advantage of it by developing a quality customer experience that stands them out from competitors and gives them a sustainable competitive advantage.

One of the key reasons these customer experiences are so successful is they include all their people in the development process because they understand that all their people have a role in that experience and without their support and commitment the experience would be nowhere near as successful.

A 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek survey revealed that “delivering a great customer experience” has become the new imperative: 80% of the companies polled rated customer experience as a top strategic objective.

The key message for those businesses that would like to adopt a greater focus on their customer experience as a way of differentiating themselves from competitors and growing profitability in 2012 is that they involve everyone within the organisation and seek advice on how to develop the key sequential development steps.

END

Chris Bell is the Managing Director of Customer Experiences, a company committed to building successful businesses through the development of high quality customer experiences and co-founder of cemNZ www.customerexperience.co.nz chris@customerexperiences.co.nz www.customerexperiences.co.nz 027 2792360

Chris Bell Managing Director of Customer Experiences a company that specialise in the development of quality customer experiences said he was increasingly concerned for many organisations that understand the value of growing customer loyalty and customer word of mouth but had little idea as to how to go about it.

From recent research carried out by Customer Experiences it was clear that many businesses saw the development of their service experience as a daunting and expensive exercise, clearly showing that businesses has a distorted understanding of what’s required and just how easy changes can be made once a long-term commitment is made.

Bell was involved with New Zealand’s first Customer Experience Management conference earlier this year and is the co- founder of a new organisation Customer Experience Management NZ www.customerexperience.co.nz that has been formed to bring together the business community and those working in this area of business to share information and access advice from experts.

A 2011 Bloomberg Business week survey revealed that “delivering a great customer experience” has become the new imperative: 80% of the companies polled rated customer experience as a top strategic objective

However, only 20% of these companies believe that they, themselves, are actually doing a good job.

We believe that New Zealand business should adopt the same focus for 2012 if they want to get back to growth and increased profitability.

END

For Further Information chris@customerexperiences.co.nz mb 027 2792360 www.customerexperiences.co.nz

The novelty of retailers trying to get customers in the door with just the offer of a deal has truly worn thin as customer expectations continue to rise.

Retailers will suffer this Christmas unless they offer a quality customer experience along with the deal according to Chris Bell Managing Director of Customer Experiences and Co- founder along with Dr Ian Brooks and Paul Linnell of Customer Experience Management NZ

cemNZ www.customerexperience.co.nz has been launched to bring together the business community and those professionals working in business development, to offer advice and information that will assist business with the development of a quality customer experience.

Bell said that in today’s tough business environment organisations must capitalise on every opportunity to not only make a sale today but deliver an experience that will encourage customers back and motivate them to recommend the business to others.

Those businesses that are not acting this way are suffering from both decreasing margins and increased marketing costs due to a single visit.

Bell said there are three key areas that businesses need to focus on. leadership, culture and the right people delivering a defined customer experience. Too many business leaders lack long-term commitment to service within their organisations. This results in the creation of a business culture that does not take service seriously

CemNZ is free to join and will be providing customer experience development seminars around the country early in 2012.

For further information:- chris@customerexperiences.co.nz mb 027 2792360

Seven years on and that organisation Customer Experience Management NZ (cemNZ) has now been launched. www.customerexperience.co.nz

Started by three of New Zealand’s leading experts on customer experience management Dr Ian Brooks, Paul Linnell and myself. cemNZ brings together customer service professionals and business leaders and delivers quick and easy access to the information and tools necessary to turn customers into loyal raving fans.

cemNZ is free to join.

It gives you:

• Access to fellow customer service professionals.

• A directory of providers of products and services to the customer care industry.

• Information about upcoming events in the field of CEM (What’s on?)

• Access to a library of relevant articles and papers.(knowledge Bank)

• Access to free expert advice (Ask an Expert).

• The opportunity to join discussions via LinkedIn

• An inspirational quote to start your week (Think about it!).

• Regional seminars*

• An annual conference*

• Opportunities to advertise relevant products and services*

cemNZ is committed to bringing the business community together to build more successful businesses through a better understanding of the customer experience discipline.

I personally invite you and anyone you may know that would be interested in joining us at cemNZ by visiting www.customerexperience.co.nz and let’s start turning more customers into loyal raving fans.

The question therefore is why aren’t more organisations focusing on a strategic approach to the development and management of their customer experience? And the answer to that question once again backed by research is “they don’t have the knowledge and expertise to do it.

So let me start to help with that by firstly highlighting seven questions a business must answer before embarking on any journey to put in a place a long-term customer experience strategy.

The 7 Questions you need to answer

1) Am I 100 percent committed to a long-term journey that will see the consistency and quality of our customer experience as a clear and sustainable competitive advantage?. Understanding that without my total commitment I am unlikely to get total commitment from my team.

2) Do we have a clear will communicated company vision that has total commitment from within and is clearly aligned with our customer experience strategy?

3) Do we have a clearly defined customer experience statement that describes exactly what we will all strive to deliver to every customer, every time?

4) Do we have a clear understanding of every “touch point” and its priority from your customer’s perspective?

(A touch point being any point where a customer touches your business and from that touch forms an opinion of your organisation and the quality of its customer experience)

5) Do we have a service standard for each of those touch points to ensure the quality and consistency of the experience and its alignment with the overall customer experience? AND is everyone with the responsibility for delivering that standard capable of performing to that standard or better.

6) Do you have effective measurements in place to ensure everyone knows how they are performing against their defined customer experience?

7) Do you have a system in place to capture and development ideas from our customers and team as to how you can continually improve our customer experience to ensure it stays fresh and valuable to our customers?

How you answer these seven questions will determine where and how you embark on any customer experience improvement journey.

But please do me a huge favour, don’t start the journey until you clearly understand how those seven key customer experience development steps work and where your organisation is based on your answers.

I can ensure you that you will waste a lot of time and resource and do significant damage to your business culture as a result. And if you then call me, you would have just made my job much more difficult.

END

Chris Bell is the Managing Director of Customer Experiences a business committed to building successful businesses through the development of high quality customer experiences. chris@customerexperiences.co.nz 027 2792360