egyii blog

Customer experience is comprised of three things: the Technology, the Design and the Connect.

But why does “customer experience” seem only to be emphasized in the mass market such hotels, airlines, retail banks and stores and telephone companies?

Shouldn’t it apply to every business encounter or client facing scenario?

Of course.

Let’s look at  the area that is most overlooked-the “Connect,” which is the face to face encounter and where real relationship and business building opportunities exist.

When I personally operate, I look at every face to face encounter as an opportunity to connect and create a great personal experience for the person I am connecting with.

Think about it.

Whether I am calling on a CEO, a Managing Director, a Human Resource Leader or a Learning and Development Officer…..it doesn’t matter.

If you don’t create the right experience, you lose the opportunity. Period.

Let’s look at the reality of it all.  When you walk into a retail store do you like being harangued by the retail clerk? Followed after when you need no help at all. “This would look good on you.” Who asked for your comment?

Or in a restaurant where the waiter obnoxiously starts recommending dishes-without asking what you like or what you might prefer.

What is the difference between the retail and restaurant scenario and a larger, complex, more expensive business to business or business to client sales scenario where the product portfolio-bits/bytes, features/benefits-is the focus?

There often is no difference. In both instances the encounter lacks sensitivity.

Why does it lack sensitivity? Because the encounter is all about the company and/or the intent of the deliverer. It is all about YOU and not the client.

In both instances, if you add sensitivity, real client focus (and a little bit of empathy), you will see amazing results.

Focus on the client.

Put yourself into the client’s shoes.

You are the front to your company, your product, yourself.

Think GREAT PERSONAL EXPERIENCE!

Everytime.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, HOT HOT Singapore

Products aren’t the only things that need marketing. People do too. How do you build your presence for your clients- to market yourself and your company?

In a world where millions, if not billions, of people converge on a digital platform, communicate via mobile phones and meet face to face, to really establish a presence, a salesperson should create his own personal brand.

Twitter. Facebook. Linked In. Blogs. All free ways to create your extended presence.

Your extended presence  is a great way to add value to your current relationship. Post and share your content and others’. Build upon subject matter that is relevant to your clients’ needs. Base it on the last conversation you had with your client.

A few helpful hints…peruse the following; Dan Schawbel’s articles as he is the personal branding expert who pens Personal Branding Magazine and, of course,  the business guru Tom Peters, whose  article The Brand Called You was originally written in 1997.

After all, the client’s relationship and loyalty is with the salesperson, not with the company.

Heat up the branding iron.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Welcome, Andrew, to Team Egyii.

In a nutshell, Andrew brings to clients years of hands on experience in the call centre space and in the learning and development arena, working with major banks, insurance and technology companies, to name a few.

Andrew helps clients with the effective sales conversation and the reinforcement behind it. His focus is on solutions for front line service, sales teams and management:

Frontline sales and acquisition

Frontline customer experience

Leadership and coaching development

For more on Andrew, see Andrew Sidwell and for more on the programmes he has delivered to banking, finance and the tech sector, see the following.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Customer Experience and Loyalty

The main driver behind customer experience for companies is building and maintaining customer loyalty. Happy, loyal customers tend to buy more products at higher margins with less associated costs (vs the banks’ cost acquisition of new customers). Loyal customers are also great marketing channels for the banks- word of mouth marketing (and therefore referrals) are the best way to attain well-qualified prospects.  

Customer Experience and Loyalty in Banking- 5 Key Factors

“In banking, every 1% increase in loyalty is associated with a 17% higher likelihood of repurchasing. “ (Lariviere, 2008 banking study)

According to Market Force Information Inc, there are 5 contributing factors that enhance the customer experience and therefore loyalty in banking :

Efficiency

Problem Experience

Knowledge

Relevancy

Trust

(Efficiency and Problem Experience are “the critical and necessary factors,” and Knowledge, Relevancy and Trust are “the factors that drive truly loyalty”)

So what is it that bank clients want?

The Market Force studies showed that customers wanted a knowledgeable banker (“value”) who is engaging (“relationship”).  “Being enthusiastic, sincere, and having a good rapport with customers has the highest impact on customer satisfaction, reinforcing the need to build knowledge, relevancy, and trust.” (Why the Bank Customer Experience Matters. Market Force Information 2008) This will help drive loyalty.

Building Trust to Build Loyalty- One Piece to the Customer Experience Puzzle

There is a lot of talk around building trust, but there is very little action. How to build trust and trustworthiness? It is not simple and it takes time.

Trust in banking needs to be inherently absorbed both internally and externally. Internally is within the organization- front office, back office and management. Externally is between the customer facing individuals and the customers. Without both forces at work, trust does not work.

Trusted Advisor Associates uses the Trust Equation, which consists of building trustworthiness:

Credibility

Reliability

Intimacy

Self orientation

So building trust and trustworthiness is one of the key factors in customer experience and therefore customer loyalty. Live it and breathe it to increase your business.

For more information on trust, see: Egyii- trusted advisor edge and Egyii’s partner in crime-Trusted Advisor Associates

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Let’s simplify an overused, sometimes “overcomplicated” term: customer experience.

There are three important drivers of customer experience:

Technology: Technology is the IT systems in place to track and gather the data that is necessary to understand who the client is, the client satisfaction points, their history, Etc. This would be CRM systems, call centre operations and unified communications as examples. Often companies rely too much on this driver- it cannot stand alone.

Design: Design gives us the “look, smell & feel” of customer experience. We leave this to the web designers, interior and industrial designers who enhance the “click,” the bank lobbies and the Apple iPhones.

Connect: This is the interface to the customer and the most difficult of all three, as it involves direct contact with “fickle” humans and requires a behavioural change in the company delivering the experience, to be effective.

Both Technology and Design play an important role in Connect and without Connect, you lose  the overall customer experience.

Customer service, ease of use on the company’s website and face to face interactions are the heart and soul of Connect and customer experience. It is where most companies fail and where they should be focusing,

Overall, if you use Technology, Design and Connect you will deliver great customer experience, which  drives…

word of mouth marketing

loyalty

higher profits

…and more business.

Do or die.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Some Get it and Some Don’t. Why?

There has been  a lot of recent news and write ups of success (and failures) on retail customer service/experience programmes. 

A few success stories:

Tony Hsieh of Zappos (of course!).

Nordstrom’s department stores.

Wegman’s supermarkets.

Why are some retailers more successful than others and generally more successful than other industries at customer experience?

Because the successful ones focus on and reach out to the customer. The customer is King. The service culture is instilled in the business and comes from top down.

They engage and focus on the client and all aspects around the client.

To back this up, a recent retail survey by the Retail Council of Canada (along with Wharton and Verde) titled “Discovering WOW,”  shows that, of the top five categories of great shopping experiences, the top priority for loyalty and customer experience is ENGAGEMENT.

Statistics and Gaps 

The following statistics and information from a CMO Council  study tells us something….

“38 percent said their companies have no programs in place to track or propagate positive word of mouth among customers.”

“Only 31 percent rate their company’s commitment to customer listening highly.”

“Many companies have are discovering that they have no idea what their clients’ real customer experiences are. ”

It tells us that there are a lot of gaps when it comes to customer experience.

Filling the Gaps: Success in the Insurance Business Through Engagement and Client Focus

One insurance company has filled the gaps and understands why it is important..

Aviva (Norwich Union) are the fifth largest insurance company in the world and the largest in the UK. They deal with “real moments of truth”- floods, fires, accidents, death- and need to get customer experience right.

Aviva’s worldwide mantra is  ”Prosperity, peach of mind, health & wealth. ” They need to live up to this to survive. And during these tough times it is even more important,  since the insurance industry’s reputation  is jaded and there is lack of trust overall.

Darren Cornish, Director Customer Experience, Norwich Union, worked with Beyond Philosophy (a leading customer experience consulting firm in the UK) to help them fill the gaps.

Quoting Mr. Cornish on his work with Beyond Philosophy:  ”The best thing to do before designing any form of startegy is to go out and talk directly to the customers (and to the staff)- the front line.”

He found out that there was a degree of disconnect and it all distilled into two principles- customers want to trust us and want Norwich Union to “do what we say we do. ”

He also discovered that Norwich Union (and the insurance industry in general ) did not seem to demonstrate  that they cared- they were not interested in “me  (the client) as a person”.

Customers were often seen as a number. Customers felt like THEY were the victim. This killed the trust factor.

So what were the first steps? Engage senior management- work it from the top.

He discovered that “Our processes have been designed from the inside for efficiency and not with the customer in mind. The measurement and the incentives in place were damaging the customer experience. The IT systems needed to be shifted towards the customers. Marketing and communications were all about acquisition and not  customer connections.”

Norwich Union went on to build a successful customer experience program through engagement and client focus.

“I am a broken record when it comes to saying, ‘We have to focus on the consumer.’…I don’t think the answers are just in the numbers. You have to get out and look.” - A.G. Lafley, former CEO, Procter & Gamble

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

The Egyii team recently attended a financial services briefing in Singapore, hosted by Gartner, one of the global leaders in research and analysis.

The following is some of the advice offered to the Singapore and global banking community.

(Highlighted in Bold Italics are quotes from the analysts. The rest  are comments from Team Egyii)

Technology can help but it’s not the be all to end all. CRM systems, online support, Etc are important, but facing the client (face to face), is more important.

Banks going back to basics- focus on core business away from the peripherals. Too many complicated programmes were rolled out over the years. This caused too many problems and contributed to the  collapse. Keep it simple moving ahead.

Be more inclusive with clients as they have lost your trust. Remove yourself from siloed thinking and involve the customer in more decisions.

Best innovations come in time of bust- don’t stifle innovation. If you wait you will be left behind- you will never catch up. Be  bold- try new things, otherwise someone else will beat you to it.

Life goes on (during the crisis) so understand what your customers are doing.  Don’t put everything to a halt as business continues- keep client focused.

Internet usage and popularity in Singapore facts and stats: Facebook ranks 4^th, users spend avg 23.2 mins. DBS ranks 17^th, users spend avg. 4.1 mins. Times are changing.  How do you engage and listen to the voice of  your clients in these times?

Customers  say- “It’s my money, so listen to me.” Retailers get it & respond. Banks don’t. How do you respond to your clients needs?

Banks need to get more advice from peer groups. The web community is one way…face to face is another.

Know me (the client). Know my life. Retailers know it & get it. Banks don’t.” retailers engage well with clients why don’t financial organizations?

The client is pleading…”Please. I need a helping hand. Help.” They are calling for you- respond please.

How many helpful and meaningful  messages have been sent to customers during the crisis about what is really happening (and what to do about it)? 0- zero.” (from research of 25 major banks) Banks need to communicate better, not just from a broad sense but from a personal sense.

Customer experience is about building trust and understanding the entire customer experience process. Don’t segment it- look at the whole experience and the different ways of delivering it.

Customers want help. The financial organizations are not there- they are too internally focused. How do you focus on the client when he is crying for help?

Your customers have interests outside of banking and insurance. Look beyond the immediate financial services relationship. Look at building personal relationship where you can…

In conclusion, times are tough but you must forge on. Don’t sit back- take advantage of the situation as you will benefit long term. Keep it simple and focused on the client..

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Independent Research Firm Forrester cites Egyii in latest “Hot Banking Tech Companies to Watch in 2009: Q2 Update” report.

Senior Analyst and author, Ellen Carney, is part of  the technology industry strategy team and focuses on Product Management and Marketing professionals in banking, insurance and securities industry.

Egyii’s role in customer experience programmes played an important part of this recognition.

For more, see Forrester’ “Hot Banking tech Companies….”

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Banks just don’t get customer experience. Why?

  Hotels get it.

  Umpqua Bank in Oregon, USA gets it. But only partially…

Bank clients clearly are not happy. Banks continue to operate in the same manner.

So what are they missing?

The true client relationship. A genuine, authentic interface. Bankers are too busy pushing products, too pre-occupied with short term bank and personal results. They are too focused on the bank and the bank’s operations.

CRM, processes and the bank’s physical environment all help- but they don’t go far enough.

Hoteliers focus on the client - not the company.

That is the difference.

I spoke with the head of Customer Experience at one of the major Singapore banks the other day and she said that the banks’ staff ARE too focused on THE BANK. They are are tied up with too many regulations, compliance, rules, Etc.

Banks need to start focusing more on the personal side of the client, the relationship (the real experience),  to really add value and capture the audience.

Customer focus. Customer value. Customer Experience.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore.