Want to transform your customer service? Do this first. We lost a true Legend of CX

4 Quick Tips to Help you Make the Pandemic Irrelevant

 

1. Customer Service Feature Story

Want to transform your customer service? Do this first

By Dave Murray, Senior Customer Service Consultant

 

As a customer service consultant, I repeatedly get asked, “When wanting to substantially improve your company’s customer service, where is the best place to start?” My answer is always the same, “Every great customer service company does this first—they create a Customer Service Vision statement that serves as their company’s true north. Which is exactly why the Customer Service Vision Statement is the first commandment of The DiJulius Group’s Ten Commandment Methodology. It helps get the entire organization on the same page and bought into transforming their culture.

 

Why do you need a Service Vision? It comes down to The DiJulius Group definition of Service Aptitude. Service aptitude is a persons’ ability to recognize opportunities to meet and exceed a customer’s expectations, regardless of the circumstances. One really important thing to know about service aptitude is that it is up to us to create it and train our teams on our organization’s service aptitude. If we don’t, we are basically relying on the former employers of our team for service training—and that is pretty scary.

 

Let’s do a quick breakdown of two key points of this definition. First, meeting expectations. Ask yourself, “do all of your team members have the tools they need to meet customer’s expectations consistently?”  If not, that is an important place to start.

Then, let’s talk about exceeding expectations. Do your team members even know where to begin when it comes to exceeding a customer’s expectations? Do they know what options they have to execute consistently?

A Customer Service Vision statement helps us begin that journey. It actually helps us start to take action to be more consistent. As a matter of fact, we could easily change the name to a customer service action statement!

 

A Service Vision statement truly serves as a rallying point across an entire organization; it does not matter your role or your tenure. It connects us all. Here is how we define a Service Vision.

It is a clear call to action of what each and every employee should be intentionally trying to achieve every time they interact with a customer. It is different from a mission statement, a purpose statement, core values, or other tools you may already have.

 

*Related – Creating the Starbucks Customer Service Vision Statement

 

Now I know some of you are out there saying: “We have a mission statement, and I can’t even tell you what it is…and now you want us to know another statement?” Well, this statement is truly different and impactful. I will

 explain. 

 

While mission statements are very important to an organization’s health and growth, at the end of the day, they are really “who we want to be” as an organization. Likewise, purpose statements are equally important, and are “why we exist.”  

 

The Service Vision is different—it is what we have to focus on achieving every time. Mission statements are great, but they are not actionable; purpose statements are also not actionable.  Conversely, our Service Vision is actionable…and those actions produce results. Those results help us achieve all of our goals more quickly. A Service Vision is truly another tool in the toolbox designed to make all of our tools better.

 

Let’s look at examples of some organizations and the Service Visions that work for them. First Starbucks, with “We create inspired moments in each customers’ day.” Each team member is trained on how to bring this statement to life.

 

*Related – Watch our webinar on creating a Customer Service Vision statement.

 

Our sister company, John Robert’s Spa, is a chain of high-class salons and spas in Cleveland, OH. Their Service Vision is “To be the best experience of our guests’ day.” You might be thinking, if they are going to the spa, it better be the best part of their day!! But this Service Vision serves as a reminder of how easy it is not to be the best part of their day. How the team needs to be focused on delivering the best appointment booking, the best welcome, the best good-bye our guests have had all day, all week for that matter!

 

Here is a newer Service Vision that I just love. It comes to us from Flagler Health Plus, a hospital system based in St. Augustine, Florida. The Service Vision is “Provide Clarity, Kindness, and Peace of Mind.” Providing clarity is so important, especially in healthcare. So often, the customer they are assisting may be overwhelmed. It is a reminder to be transparent and ensure there is understanding. Next, be kind. This on the surface is simple but serves as an important reminder that we can become busy, distracted, or transactional. Finally, peace of mind. Very often their team members are faced with questions they just do not have the answers to yet…and this serves as a reminder to focus on what they can in the moment to provide calm and reassurance.

 

One other Service Vision example I’d like to share also comes with a story I referenced earlier. How a Service Vision can be so much more than just service. Call One, a communication solutions company based in Chicago created their Service Vision over the winter. The grand reveal that was slated for spring was originally postponed due to COVID 19, but then happened virtually. The rollout served to reconnect individuals and departments that had become a bit disconnected by offices shutting down and teams working from home. The Service Vision played another role to rally the entire organization when a senior leader moved on. The Service Vision became the focus and turned what could have been a morale problem, into a point of unification for the organization. Their Service Vision is quite simple, yet effective: “Create great experiences one interaction at a time.”

 

One of the exercises we focus on in the Service Vision creation workshop is to create a day in the life of a customer. This exercise focuses on compassion and empathy for our customers, and really has us walking in their shoes.

 

In the Service Vision creation workshop, we spend time focusing on our customers’ day in the life, and actually start writing a script. Many of our clients go on to create a day in the life of a customer training video that is part of onboarding and used in other training across the organization.  

 

If you don’t have a day in the life video at your organization, but you need to focus on empathy, here is how you can start. Get your team together for a creative meeting. Identify some of your primary types of customers, and then break into smaller groups and have each group write a script of a day in the life of your customers. Give them some time to work it out, and then have them come back into the room and act it out. This exercise will get your teams to be more empathetic and will start the script writing process for your own day in the life video.

 

If you are truly committed to transforming your company’s customer service in 2021, you need to start with creating a Customer Service Vision statement. 

 

2. The World has Lost a True Legend of Customer Experience

I was saddened to hear about the unexpected passing of Tony Hsieh, the former head of Zappos. In a strange way I feel I lost someone close to me. Besides a few email exchanges every so often, I didn’t know Tony personally.

But I was a huge fan of him as an entrepreneur, visionary and someone who redefined customer experience in the ecommerce space, that as a result, has since been replicated in all industries. Back in 2018, I wrote a blog titled The Mount Rushmore of Customer Service Leaders, which featured the top four most influential customer service business leaders of all time. Tony Hsieh was #4.

 

 

 

 

3. Episode 29 of The Customer Service Revolution Podcast

In Episode 29, Chief Revolution Officer and best-selling author John DiJulius shares what your organization needs to do to Reimagine your business model to help make 2021 your best year ever.

 

You will learn:

• Understand the irreversible impact of COVID-19
• What are the best ways to Reimagine your business model
• How COVID is not changing the future, it is accelerating it
• The COVID business mortality rate will be significant for the companies that don’t make the adjustment
• What the #1 cause of anxiety is
• How to help your employees focus on the right mindset during this pandemic
• The #1 Attitude hack
• The 3 certainties in life
• Meet your customers where they are going
• What “vuja de” is

 

4. Start the business of your dreams as a CX Coach 

Are you passionate about customer service? Have you ever considered owning your own business?

 

We are thrilled to announce our new brand, CX Coaching, powered by The DiJulius Group. CX Coaching provides motivated people with the tools you need to start your own business as a customer experience (CX) expert who guides companies in designing 

world-class customer experiences. With our step-by-step plan and ongoing support, you’ll save time and resources, have the confidence to transform the businesses you work with, and the freedom to enjoy the rewards.