It starts with you and your team
There are many areas to consider when you are looking to make the customer experience as good as possible, but what you must not overlook are the team involved.
The one thing that can be said for certain is that it’s easier to take a good ‘people person’ and to train them in the elements of optics that they need for technical knowledge than it is to take an experienced optical person who may not have the best people skills and try to improve those.
When recruiting, hire people with a service attitude. Simply put, recruit people who love to serve your customers as part of their natural personality.
Train your team well. You should never put an untrained or inexperienced person in front of a customer. It’s not fair on the member of staff and not fair on the customer. Worse still, they are representing you, your business and your brand and if it results in a bad experience for the customer, it may affect the possibility of them returning to you in future.
It’s about having the right people, with the right skills, in the right place and at the right time!
The better the team are treated and developed, the happier they will be. This will in turn reflect as a great working environment and atmosphere that will be perceived by the customer as a pleasant place to visit.
Communicate, communicate, and communicate
Regularly inform your team of what’s going on in the business. This may be new products, new equipment, new services, new promotions, and when these things are going to happen. You may choose to communicate on a one to one basis, through team meetings, through a daily huddle, through a staff newsletter. The more the team know, the better they can serve the customers.
Make customers and customer service an agenda item at every team meeting. It’s an opportunity to share customer feedback (both good and bad) and discuss how it may influence the customer and work to improve the customer experience. You can discuss ‘What would the customer think in this scenario?’ ‘How can we serve customers better?’ and don’t forget to celebrate the great feedback and build on the actions that delivered it.
Seek customer feedback
If only you knew what the customer was thinking… If only you knew what would delight them…
Your business may think it is doing OK in terms of customer service, but can you be sure without asking the customer? Whilst it is difficult to anticipate the needs of a customer, you can ask them about their experience, what they enjoyed/liked and what you could do differently/better the next time.
There are various ways in which you can seek feedback. Whichever you choose – act on it!
If you are asking for feedback, people expect things to change as a result.
Here are four quick wins for dealing effectively with customer feedback:
- Understand why you are seeking customer feedback – this will help form the focus and the questions to be posed
- Seek professional help when forming the feedback process. Poorly designed questions written in language that customers don’t understand will defeat the purpose of the feedback process
- Whatever results are returned, good or bad, make sure that they are followed up. If not, you risk alienating customers who are expecting change
- Bring staff on board from the very beginning of the process; it creates a sense of involvement and allows them to help shape the process. Considering that they’re customer facing, their input is critical
Be customer centric
Make every decision with the customer in mind. We often forget that our priorities may differ from those of the customer. Make your customers feel appreciated and important. You may think that this already happens, but is there a risk of the customer journey being carried out on ‘auto pilot’ with things said by rote?
Treat them as individuals. We hear that we should treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves. I would argue that we should treat others how they wish to be treated!
A great way to think about how you can make each customer experience unique and special, is to ask the team how they act when a member of their family or a close friend comes to the practice.
Without doubt they will make them feel important, they will have some prior knowledge of what they may need through knowledge of products they have bought in the past and if they liked them. Your team members will show empathy, be persuasive, use positive language, show patience, be adaptable, be truthful and finally yet importantly – use clear everyday language. Drop the jargon!
Don’t talk about the features of a product (even if that is what gets us optical people excited), explain what benefits they will deliver to the customer and how they will meet or even exceed their needs.
If the team can do the above with their family and friends, then why not with every customer? The customer’s record card or some simple questions can help you to establish what products they have used, how they liked them, and what issues they may be looking to find a solution for. Make the most of those few short moments you have with the customer to mine the important facts.
Lasting Impressions
First and last impressions can be so important.
How do you make the right impression at the first point of contact, be that by phone or when the customer arrives in the practice? Arguably you’d want your most experienced and customer friendly staff in this role. Answer the customers’ questions, dispel any worries, promote new products and services, but most importantly make them feel valued and welcome.
But what about the last impression?
The collection of a new pair (or several new pairs) of glasses should be your opportunity to really ‘wow’ your customers. Moreover, don’t forget, this last impression may be what they have in mind in two years’ time when they are due to visit the optician again.
Many practices have moved away from the ‘call in in 10 days’ approach to a customer collection and will instead make a collection appointment. The benefits to the appointment route are many:
- Ensure that glasses are ready on time by checking ahead on the next 1-2 days collection appointments
- Call the customer the day before the appointment to advise that everything is ready for them and to check that the appointment day and time are still convenient
- A member of the team is scheduled and dedicated to deliver collection appointments. The customer is not left waiting for a team member to be free. They know that it will be Mr Jones at 2.00pm and Dr Foster at 2.30pm
- The team member can be prepared for the appointment by reading through the customer record before they arrive to establish the important facts such as first time progressive lens wearer, first time in thinner lenses, glasses for a special purpose, glasses for a special occasion. These will all help to make the customer feel like they are the centre of the collection activity and that they are being treated as an individual.
- Last impressions count!
Comparative shopping
Do you know who your competitors are and what they offer? How do they operate, how do they ‘wow’ the customer, what products do they offer and at what prices?
If you and the team don’t already do so, visit your competitors to find out as much about them as you can. See if they do anything that you don’t. See if they do anything better than you do.
Continually look how you can improve and add value. If you do not keep asking and pushing yourself, you will start to slip behind the competition.
Without doubt, your customers will be checking out the competitors and doing the same comparisons.
What can you give customers that they cannot get elsewhere?
In summary
This article only touches on many of the ways that you can measure and improve customer service and experience.
Customers are more likely to feel loyalty towards, and return to, a business that has exceeded their expectations.
Read more in the ABDO Business Hub around customer experience.