How to Easily Build Rapport & Engage with Every Customer

5 Quick Tips to Help you Make Price Irrelevant

1. Customer Service Feature Story

How to Easily Build Rapport & Engage with Every Customer

By Jess Pischel, Customer Experience Consultant and Dean of CXE Academy

Many experts have been predicting that we are seeing the “End of Retail”. Someone has forgotten to tell Alpin Haus, one of America’s largest RV dealers and 

has been named “Top Five RV Dealer” by RV Business Magazine. As a result of their rapid growth over the last several years, they wanted to ensure they don’t lose the personal touch that made their business stand out early on. In order to do that, they have embraced and implemented the FORD concept to build stronger relationships with their customers at scale. To create customer relationships and keep them strong, you must do all you can to engage customers and make them feel valued. 

How to Scale your Customer Service

Sometimes, training FORD can be challenging. When I introduce the concept as a consultant, I always get push back because some people are not comfortable asking and engaging in personal conversation. Some think FORD will require their employees to sound too pushy by asking questions in a checklist-style format. However, that is not the case. FORD can (and should be) collected naturally and organically in conversation. It is a tool to indicate if you are LISTENING for their FORD information and using it as an opportunity to engage. Many times you don’t need to ask, people are willing to share. If you want to build better relationships with your customers, you have to have intentional conversations.

The Relationship Economy in Action

Alpin Haus created a fantastic training video to train their existing and future employees on how to use FORD. This training video is such a great tool to coach your teams to look for opportunities to engage. 

Get to know your customers not only professionally but also personally. Know their FORD by making an emotional connection with them that eventually builds into an unbreakable relationship.

Andy Heck, President of Alpin Haus, will be the first one to tell you, being a world-class customer service organization isn’t easy, but it is worth it. “When you are trying to compete on experience and bring value in retail, which keeps getting disrupted, how can you survive and excel and grow in today’s environment? It is by delivering unbelievable customer service,” says Heck. “It is a lot of work; it is not just about being friendly. We rolled up our sleeves with a lot of people in our organization to create systems and processes. We have come up with a customer service playbook. It is an ongoing process and journey.”

*Related – John’s TED talk – Meet as Strangers Leave as Friends

2) Episode 36 of The Customer Service Revolution Podcast

In Episode 36 of The Customer Service Revolution Podcast,

Chief Revolution Officer John DiJulius of the DiJulius Group brings back Arnie Malham, an experienced entrepreneur with a culture-first mindset. Arnie has had 3 successful business exits, has written a best-selling book on culture, and has delivered his sometimes-uncomfortable message on leadership to thousands of entrepreneurs.

Arnie is an expert practitioner, and now speaker and consultant in creating world-class customer service cultures. Arnie is the founder and CEO of BetterBookClub where he helps companies, leaders, and individuals build a strong culture that attracts people and rewards those who seek personal growth in organizations. 

Learn:

• If it is worth doing, it is worth doing wrong
• Give yourself and your employees permission to fail
• How to find your culture
• If it is going to be successful, it has to be sustainable, scalable and personable 
• If you don’t grow the team, you can’t grow the business
• Upstream Communication is as important as Downstream
• If you don’t celebrate your milestones, neither will anybody else
• The best Culture Programs aren’t led by leadership, they are led by champions

3) Must watch short video

Watch this 90 second video on why we are in a Relationship Deficit today and how to fix it.

4) Quote of The Week 

“When communicating digitally, often it can lack a human touch, which creates a sterile transaction and lack of emotional connection. Today being forced into a virtual world is adding to these unintended consequences, which we call a relationship deficit.”

5) Only 5 Spots Left in the April CX Coach Camp

Are you waking up before your alarm goes off, throwing the covers off and jumping out of bed because you are so excited about your workday, your career, and the impact you are having? Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who do feel like that. Maybe it is time you become one of them. Become a licensed Customer Experience Coach—register for April’s Coach Camp. 

In April, The DiJulius Group is holding their second CX Coach Camp, training passionate CX (Customer Experience) Coaches. These entrepreneurs are now licensed to train businesses on the exact same methodology that has been used with the best customer service companies from all over the world.