HOW CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TRAINING

BOOSTS VALUE AND PROFITABILITY

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INTRODUCTION 3

WHY IT’S TRENDING 4

WHO’S LEADING THE WAY 5

HOW TO IMPLEMENT 7

CONSISTENCY: 11

BUILDING AN ORANIZATIONAL CULTURE: 12

CONCLUSION 13

CONTENTS

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INTRODUCTION

“The customer experience has emerged as the single most important aspect in achieving success for companies across all industries.”[1]

If you haven’t yet heard, take note: customer experience is the marker by which nearly every business today should be measuring its success. Now more than ever, your ability to set your company apart in the eyes of your customers is paramount to progress.

In virtually every industry, a differentiated customer experience has the potential to drive value and lower costs. Unfortunately, this strategic imperative doesn’t happen on its own. It requires an investment in staff development to create highly engaged, effective, and customer-focused employees.

Customer experience training is defined as “the discipline, methodology and/or process used to comprehensively manage a customer’s cross-channel exposure, interaction and transaction with a company, product, brand or service.”

This type of training helps you leverage one of your most valuable assets - your employees. Getting them to master this crucial discipline can help your business grow. It can also significantly improve customer loyalty and retention.

“Loyalty,” says Jessica Sebor, “is now driven primarily by a company’s interaction with its customers and how

well it delivers on their wants and needs.” [2]

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WHY IT’S TRENDING

We already know that individuals are willing to pay more for a customer experience that goes above and beyond other companies. In fact, customer experience has been shown to be twice as important as price in influencing customer choice. This means you can charge top dollar for your product or service, as long as you also have top-notch staff.

Some of the world’s most successful companies are adopting this approach and prioritizing customer experience training over traditional strategies like marketing. Take Starbucks, for example. From 1987 to 1999, the company’s advertising budget was less than $10 million; yet, in the same 11-year period, they managed to exponentially increase their demand and add 2,000 new stores across the globe. Why? Because of high-quality, consistent customer experiences and well-trained employees.[3]

The equation for success is simple: invest in staff training, experience a growth sales. Research by HBR revealed that companies who skillfully manage and execute customer experience strategies reap enormous rewards – including reduced churn, greater revenue, and more employee satisfaction. From industry analysts to multi-million dollar utilities companies, business leaders everywhere are recognizing the importance of delivering the right staff training to keep consumers happy.

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WHO’S LEADING THE WAY

Though it may seem like a trend, the idea of embracing a company culture built around its customers is nothing new.

Disney was championing this approach as early as 1955 when the very first employees of Disneyland were required to attend a staff orientation that emphasized the importance of customer service and preserving the heritage of what was then Walt Disney Productions. “We Create Happiness” was the vision and slogan that would lay the groundwork for Disney to become the benchmark for excellence in customer experience. Today, no one leaves Disneyland underwhelmed or unsatisfied, and they keep going back year after year. Having stood the test of time, Disney proves that growth and sustainability depend on a culture that’s dedicated to its customers.

More recent pioneers in customer experience include companies like Southwest Airlines, Goldman Sachs, In-N-Out Burger, Google and Zappos.

Following Disney’s lead, Zappos brand instilled a culture of stand-out customer service from the very beginning, when the company was founded in 1999. Their strategy included – and still includes today - a mandatory five-week training course for all new recruits that includes two weeks of practice in one of their call centers, speaking to real customers. After representatives complete the training and are hired full-time, they are empowered to do whatever it takes to make their customers happy. By design, there are no restrictions or expectations around call times or traditional KPIs. Instead, employees are given the education they need to succeed from the start, and then offered the freedom and encouragement to manifest the company’s customer-centric culture thereafter.

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This approach has resulted in significant dividends for the company. So much so that customer experience has become a huge competitive advantage for Zappos, and their customer loyalty is one of the highest in the industry – Impressively, 75% of their purchases come from returning customers.

Another, perhaps unlikely, brand that’s reinforcing the importance of staff training is QVC. They placed third in last year’s customer excellence rankings. Much of their success can be attributed to the fact that the company allocates a generous portion of its budget to staff training, and sets clear objectives for ongoing employee development.

“Theoretical and practical training, and investment in our leaders and coaches, means that success is sustained over a long period

of time,” James Keegan, director of customer services at QVC.

With so many clear examples of success in today’s market, it’s hard not to see the value of training your employees to connect with, guide, and retain customers. Companies who don’t take notice of the trend shouldn’t be surprised when they start to lose business to competitors who do.

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HOW TO IMPLEMENT

At its most basic, customer experience training is designed to cultivate strengths like empathy and adaptability and teach individuals how to listen, influence, and understand customer interactions with their brand. Training programs are often tailored for employees at different levels – from customer-facing staff to executives. The elements and ways in which each training program is delivered can also take many forms. So, which approach is right for your business?

Here are a few of the most common:

E-learning - Online programs are one of the easiest ways to provide dynamic, ongoing training for any number of employees. There are a wealth of sophisticated tools and approaches currently available, with more being offered each day.

PROS: Online programs offer more flexibility than in-person trainings, allowing staff to complete modules at their own pace and wherever they have connectivity. This can be particularly helpful for employees who travel often, or organizations with staff in multiple locations. Online customer experience training is also, generally, the most cost-effective. If you’re affiliated with a school, non-profit, or government agency, plans can be even cheaper.

CONS: One downside of online trainings is keeping your employees engaged. Though most programs are well-designed and easy to use, the nature of the tool itself makes it a less personalized and engaging approach. Ensuring that staff members stay on track with e-learning programs may require incentivization.

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EXAMPLE: Though there are literally hundreds of options for online staff training, Grovo is unique in that its modular platform allows you to customize your training. Choose from more than 4,500 multimedia tools and other materials across 130 different areas of focus. Applicable for a variety of industries, the online tool offers ready-made video courses on topics including project management, professional skills development, online marketing, social media and more. Grovo also allows users to manage assignments, as well as track performance in real time. This allows administrators to identify strengths and weaknesses, or modify training material as needed throughout the learning experience.

In-Person Training – Hiring experts in customer experience to host live trainings. Perhaps the most common approach, inviting professional coaches to teach and interact with employees is a great way to improve skills and foster a sense of shared experience among customer service staff.

PROS: This hands-on option is good for large groups. Instead of independent, online trainings, employees come together to learn as a unit. This more personalized approach has the potential to foster camaraderie, team-building, and collective motivation. Businesses can also develop and maintain relationships with specific consultants for future tune-up trainings as part of an ongoing customer experience strategy.

CONS: Upfront costs are greater than online training programs. In-person trainings also require staff time away from work. In addition to the price of the consultants themselves, other costs include meeting space, scheduling, meals, supplies, transportation, etc.

EXAMPLE: World Class Benchmarking offers customized group programs across the country. They’ve worked with companies including Wynn Hotels, McDonald’s University, Rackspace, and Mayo Clinic. Their single or multi-day group events use team-based strategies to take customer experience to the next level, while building staff camaraderie.

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Accredited Training Institutes – Early customer experience leaders have created entire institutions dedicated to employee development and education. With tools and tactics proven by the reputation of the companies that back them, these trainings offer a treasure trove of industry knowledge on customer experience for businesses looking to learn from those who’ve done it so well.

PROS: Traditionally considered the very best of employee training options, this approach offers an immersive, on-site learning experience taught by highly-decorated professionals. It also provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at the operations of successful multi-million-dollar companies. Given the format, it is best-suited for individuals or small groups.

CONS: Not only is the training itself costly – with fees ranging from $900 a person for a one-day workshop to hundreds of thousands of dollars for more intensive work – because the trainings are only held in specific locations, there are additional travel costs involved.

EXAMPLE: Disney’s “Approach to Quality Service” training is offered in one- or multi-day trainings at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort. Time is spent in seminars on topics like “purpose before task” as well as in-action during a tour of the parks where Disney managers can demonstrate tricks and approaches. The Institute’s clients range in size from

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Häagen-Dazs and United Airlines to companies as small as a local Subway restaurant in Maine, a Michigan hair salon, and a Boston youth-counseling center.

Customer experience training can take many forms, and often includes a combination of the eLearning and face-to-face activities described above. Recently, some companies have even begun developing certification programs and are pushing for the “customer experience professional” to be its own professional qualification.

Regardless of the approach you choose, making the investment in the first place is a step in the right direction. The rest of the road to customer service excellence depends on continued commitment.

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CONSISTENCY:

In addition to staff training, consistency is what’s needed to translate remarkable customer service into long-term customer loyalty. Developing quality relationships and offering a consistent positive experience will ensure that your customers keep coming back, time and time again. If an employee was trained long ago, their skills and/or motivation may need a boost. Incentivizing employees to continue learning and embodying the values of customer experience is worth the additional investment.

Consistency is also critical to reputation. If you can ensure a unique customer experience that results in rave reviews, you’ll have an army of brand advocates spreading your praises online. In the age of Yelp and social media, every customer interaction has the potential to reach broad audiences. As the internet continues to amplify word-of-mouth, a good reputation online starts with a solid, and consistent customer experience offline. Given that your sales employees represent your business on a daily basis, supporting their customer experience skills in an ongoing way can help secure your companies’ positive public reputation.

In addition to culture, failure to reasonably empower employees will hamper continuous achievement in customer service. Developing a supportive organizational culture that provides space and opportunity for ongoing learning and creativity can help reap additional, long-term benefits from employee training.

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BUILDING AN ORANIZATIONAL CULTURE:

Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh believes “training is one piece of the puzzle, organizational culture is another.” Companies like Disney and Zappos have been so successful because customer experience isn’t just a program or tactic, it’s a value in everything thing they do.

Once you’ve trained your employees, reinforcing the values of customer experience in a meaningful way is just as important. From the executive level to entry level, establishing an organizational culture that’s focused on exceptional customer experience is what will reap real long-term results for your business.

Olivier Mourrieras, Vice President of Customer Experience at E.On, one of the world’s largest utility service providers, says “The importance of culture is always under estimated: We now make more use of customer listening sessions to increase empathy and bring an emotional response and urgency to top customer issues.”

When an organization – and everyone in it – is aligned culturally around customer experience it becomes an ongoing practice, not just a function. Moving from simple customer service to true behavior- and cultural-change will make your business stand apart from the rest.

To create and sustain an organization in which exceptional customer experience is an embedded value, businesses must approach it as a core competence. Many lessons and approaches have emerged to help guide the development and maintenance of a customer-centric culture.

MEASURING IMPACT:Quantifying the effect of employee training is difficult. However, there are tools that can use to track and measure your growth in customer experience. Check out Net Promoter Score or another customer satisfaction tool that can be synced with most CRMs to view and analyze the efficacy of your customer experience strategies. While customer feedback is critical, it’s longer-term organizational outcomes that will more effectively demonstrate the impact of employee training programs.

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CONCLUSION

Learning how to differentiate your brand through great customer experience is a process. We hope this guide helps to clarify and illuminate the road ahead. In an era rife with trends, investing in your employees is one of the most basic and promising decisions you can make.

The result is not only better sales, leverage, and visibility; supporting your staff to become customer experience experts can enhance your competitiveness and longevity in the market. As Mercedes-Benz President and CEO Stephen Cannon has said, “your customer experience follows your employee experience.” Training and trust won’t shift your entire ecosystem, but it’s a solid place to start.

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