This article first appeared in Management Magazine September 2014- a Publication of Kenya Institute of Management
Management and service experts alike have for a long
time believed that customers define brands. But things have changed. According
to Shep Hyken, customer service expert, business speaker and New York Times
bestselling author “Customers may define
your band, but employees are your brand.”
Powerful brands are so because they consistently keep
their promises to their customers. And very simply put - that’s what customers
like – unfailing consistency. That they will beyond any reasonable doubt find
the same product they have always found or the same service they have always
enjoyed in the same way every time. That's
what customers get emotionally attached to. The UK Intellectual Property
Office, charged with keeping custody of brands’ rights, indicates that a brand
is much more than a trade name, symbol or identity, but can also be a ‘promise
of an experience’ that conveys to consumers a certain assurance as to the
nature of the product or service they will receive and also the standards the
supplier or manufacturer seeks to maintain.
The common thread running throughout all these
definitions and statements revolving around brands is that consistency and
maintaining standards is the name of the game; service excellence consistency
and service excellence standards – and there’s no doubt about that. It
therefore follows that the all-important question to be answered is -
What would it take towards purposefully
and intentionally creating a winning brand on service excellence, that would
have an organization’s name associated with the value its customers derive from
it consistently?
Formidable brands are created by people.
Brand promise delivery is through excellent customer
service. A promise is made and customers’ expectations are raised, that the
particular product or service will deliver on this promise. What’s relevant to
a customer isn’t what the organization values about its products or services,
but what the product or service can do to solve the customer’s problems. Understanding
customer needs, anticipating their objections and exceeding their expectations
are the key tenets around which exceptional service excellence revolves. Dynamic
brands that have latched onto this formula think about their customers as the
center of their focus and rally their product development and service
enhancement teams around delivering first class experience. Many an
organization has succumbed to the folly of reflecting inwards to provide to customers outputs based on what they think the customer
wants or needs to know, rather than
packaging their givings as winning ‘solutions’
·
Emotional decision
making
“What people want is the extra, the
emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love” This quote by Seth Godin - author,
entrepreneur, marketer, and public speaker points directly at the irrational thoughts that make brands what
they are. Warm feelings towards brands are created by; the people that deliver
the brand promise; actualization of the brand messaging that promises to
provide the customer the solution for which the brand was created; and interaction
with the values that the faces and hearts behind the brands epitomize. Winning
brands get that way by decidedly worming and working their way into the hearts
of their customers. They aim for the effect that when the brand name is
mentioned, it evokes a feeling of friendship, warmth, value and partnership.
The 2013 research ‘From Promotion to Emotion’ by The Corporate Executive Board
Company reveals that despite our(customers) attempts to make purely rational
decisions, we are primarily driven by emotional motivations. Dynamic brands
have tapped into servicing these emotional needs with excellence.
·
Customer centric processes and systems
A brand’s continuous improvement is dependent on
customer feedback that directly feeds into innovation and dynamic structuring
and restructuring of business procedures, policies and practices. Listening to
the voice of the customer (VOC) and using the inputs to tweak operations is the
secret ingredient to successfully delivering service that wows the recipient.
Wow service produces great brands.
Apple-Apple Inc. - the world's most
valuable brand in the Omnicom Group's "Best Global Brands"
2013 report declare “We are at our best when we deliver enriching experiences.
What we tell our staff: Approach customers with a personalized, warm welcome:
Make sure customers are greeted by a friendly smile, Probe politely to
understand the customer’s needs (ask closed and open-ended questions), Present
a solution for the customer to take home today, Listen for and resolve any
issues or concerns: By truly listening and acknowledging the needs of your
customers, you make your business an oasis of encouragement, empowerment, and
excitement. End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return: There is a
direct correlation between how people feel when they leave your business and
how likely they are to return or recommend the experience to someone else.”
Tucked into this philosophy is a
clear customer focused system to listen, understand and act accordingly. The
process for handling customers has clearly been outlined to staff who know the
what, where, how, when and why enriching experiences need to be created. Walking
in the customer’s shoes spurs system audits to observe the customer experience
whilst interacting with the organization. If customer excellence temperatures
are measured at each customer touch point in the customer journey as they
engage with the brand, it is inevitable that enhancements will be made to optimise
the experience.
Tied closely to this is the emphasis
that international quality management systems place on the customer. The most
popularly implemented 1SO 900:2008 Quality Management System has an entire
chapter clause 5:2 dedicated to focusing the organization’s quality processes
towards serving customer needs.
“Quality is never an accident, it
is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction
and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives”.
William A. Foster
