Have you ever talked to a sales associate that seems unhappy or even opens up to you as a customer about how crappy their work day has been? How did that make you feel about your experience? A little uncomfortable? A little less impressed with the store? A bit disenchanted with your shopping experience? Or on the flipside… Have you ever had a really bad day and taken it out on a customer? Personally, I know I have and it doesn’t make for a promising rest of your day either. Once you’ve had one bad experience, it can just snowball until you just want to put your head down on your desk.
In my previous blog “What does it mean to be customer-centered?” I talked about Amazon and some of the practices they use to create a customer-centric atmosphere, which includes creating a company culture that revolves around customer service. I don’t think that this just means that we need to think about the customer when the situation involves the customer. It means that we need to think about how our actions and the actions of others directly reflect onto the customer and their experience. So, where do we start? Our employees.
Engaged and happy employees are a lot more likely to create satisfied customers than unhappy ones due to our nature as human beings. We pick up on negative vibes and react appropriately. All we truly want as customers is to feel respected, comfortable, and understood, but that is not possible when our employees are disengaged and unhappy. So how do we create employees who are passionate about creating positive experiences for our customers?
- Create a professional but encouraging environment
- Listen
- Treat everyone with respect, even when stakes are high and times are tough
- Understand how your actions affect others
- Encourage passion
- Make work a place that people want to be, rather than have to be
- Invest in employee experience
- Allow employees to try new things and find what interests them
All of these things and plenty more can contribute to how your employees can create the best relationships and experiences for customers.
Please leave me a comment below and tell me how you encourage strong relationships between your employees and customers. I am interested to hear what you find successful and what you don’t!
Samantha S. Simpson 