Employees First, Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, claims that his customers always come. This might sound strange considering that Virgin Group is built on customer-facing businesses. Isn’t it true that the customer is always right? Branson says so.
He stated that his philosophy was to put employees first, customers second, and shareholders last. “In the end, shareholders do well, customers do better and you are happier,” Eric Schurenberg, Inc. president, said. This philosophy has served him well. The business mogul created a multitude of niches in the economy, including travel (Virgin Atlantic), trips (Virgin Holidays), and sport (Virgin Racing). He also put his customers first.
Branson stated, “It should be obvious that the person who works for your company is 100% proud, and you give him the tools to do a good job, and they are treated with respect, Employees First then they will be happy.
This idea is spreading. Businesses understand that customer experience cannot be created by itself. Every service depends on engaged, motivated, and happy employees. This article will examine the interplay of both concepts and show how organizations can improve their service while driving growth
How important is customer experience? ( Employees First)
A poor customer experience can be a major problem for a company. A recent survey found that more than 40% would not use a product or service again if they felt they were being repeated or passed from one rep to another. However, 60% of those remaining are unhappy. Most of those who said they would stay put would not like the feeling of being passed from one rep to another or having to repeat their mistakes. Even if poor customer service doesn’t drive customers away right away, it will eventually.
Remember that most customers will not say goodbye. It’s easy to underestimate the impact of customer experience on your business. One lost customer could be the tip of the iceberg. This could lead to more problems than you realize.
What is the cause of a poor customer experience?
When people discuss poor customer service, they tend to focus on agent behavior, culture, and system design. While these factors play a part, it misses a huge part of the equation–technology.
Two different dynamics are needed to understand the role of technology in customer experience. How do you interact with your customers? Agents cited this as their biggest frustration in a recent global study:% of customers is not able to communicate with them via their preferred channel.
Force agents to switch between applications 7:
These are just a few examples of the bad interactions customers can have with employees. If someone complains to you via Twitter, will your social media team send the complaint to customer support in an additional email? Is it possible for a support call to take several hours to complete because the agents lack the tools and are unable to track down the answer?
This customer-agent interaction was until recently the only focus of companies when designing contact centers. Branson knows that focusing on customers alone is a mistake.
The second dynamic, which is equally important, is how agents interact with their coworkers. This is particularly important for large organizations with complex agents who often require support from other employees to solve problems and answer questions.
We found a variety of new frustrations here:
Jon Arnold, principal at J Arnold, Associates technology research and analysis consultancy, says that if employees are unhappy with their work it will eventually impact customer satisfaction. Customers will not do business with companies that can’t solve their problems. It doesn’t have to be that way. There are new technologies and approaches to customer experience and employee experiences that offer a path forward
Your employees are the power you need:
Businesses are increasingly realizing the benefits of integrating unified communications as a service and contact centers. This unites previously distinct technologies to improve customer and employee engagement.
Imagine how a legacy call center could handle an unhappy cable customer. The customer calls to complain, get a refund, or reduce her subscription. To request a refund, the customer must first contact billing to discuss it. To downgrade her package, she should also contact the subscription team. She must also contact customer service to make a complaint.
Consider how a modern collaborative contact center would function. An agent then picks up the message and uses the platform to reach colleagues from different departments to solve each problem. They can use a backchannel to quickly get information and answers.
It’s not only a better experience, it’s also a better experience, both for the customer and the agent. They feel empowered to solve problems. However, autonomy is only the tip of the iceberg. Legacy contact centers used to have agents spend an hour per day switching between different communication apps. This adds up to over 32 days a calendar year. Agents can now interact with each other via one platform. My Country Mobile allows them to make calls, email, SMS, and message from the same place. It makes it easier and more manageable.
- These are just a few of the many benefits that integrated UCaaS/contact centers can offer.
- Disjointed communication technology has a negative impact
- Employees are negatively affected: 90%
- Customer satisfaction and the bottom line were negatively affected by 89%
88% – Negatively affects job satisfaction and workflow:
- The impact of integrated communication technology
- Improve customer satisfaction scores by 92
- Employees would be able to retain customers happier with 92%
- This would improve the customer and employee experience by 92%
- You can create a holistic experience:
While businesses can evaluate each problem–agent-customer and agent-co-worker dynamics–independently, the cloud allows them to consider integrated solutions that transform both dynamics at once. Virgin can help you to create a customer-centric company by improving.
Unifying your contact and communications centers is the first step to helping your business grow and become more strategic. You can make it easier for customers to view one company and not a series of small businesses by removing the barriers between them. Achieving this unified structure is immense. Customers feel valued and heard. Employees feel valued, empowered, and trusted. This creates a better service experience for all, which ultimately improves overall customer satisfaction. Know more about 10 Open Source Solutions For Your Business. Read more about Traditional Fax Machine.
