Enhancing the customer experience (CX) is an ongoing goal and focus of businesses as they mature, grow, and evolve. Creating seamless and exceptional service interactions with consumers is an important goal for any business to be sustainable. CX touches every part of your organization, whether you realize it or not, and implementing streamlined processes and best practices ensures customer satisfaction and encourage customers to come back time and time again. Your CX is something that needs to be consistently evaluated and cannot be neglected without a negative impact on the business. When we examine the key factors in enhancing the CX, one area that is often overlooked, but plays a vital role is that of Human Resources. Although the connection between HR and the CX might not be obvious, connecting the two through employee engagement is critical.
At Crosworks, we monitor HR trends within organizations. When done right, HR can be the backbone of a company and impacts many facets of production and process and ultimately the customer experience. Our career counselors and talent strategists are educated on the importance of CX and what it takes to keep employees engaged and customers coming back for more. HR is where we begin on our roadmap to a positive CX.
The Road Map
Fundamentally a support role and key internal function, HR plays an enormous part in the outcome of the CX. Customer engagement and customer connection are changing, requiring employees to alter their approach to managing customer relationships. At the beginning of the roadmap, HR drives its traditional functions but with the end CX in mind. When hiring employees who do not directly interact with the end customer, it is still important that the candidate is focused on the CX and when performing their tasks and managing their responsibilities. All employees require certain traits, skills, mindset, and values to ensure customer satisfaction.
With the support of HR, management can apply a foundation for CX-driven goals to drive their teams. Creating a customer-focused mindset leads to well-thought-out decisions and execution of projects. To develop raving fans of your product or service, it all starts with our HR function demonstrating a commitment to hiring and developing people with an eye on your CX.
The Journey to a Positive CX
When we look at our roadmap, it seems simple enough. Hire the right people for the right job, encourage a focus on the customer, enable management and employees to develop and maintain a customer-focused mindset, etc. However, there are many stops along the way for HR to affect customer reviews and retention, and those pitstops are focused on the employee.
“Highly engaged employees make the customer experience. Disengaged employees break it.” -Timothy R. Clark.
When we provide a positive company culture, fair wages, rewards and recognition, and employee engagement, our employees enjoy their job, want to perform well, and want to come to work every day. Human Resources is essentially a function for the employee, and therefore, a wonderful place to start when we think about developing culture, retaining talent, and creating a fulfilling work environment.
Here are some things HR can do to help ensure happy employees and therefore satisfied customers:
- Focused Training | Going beyond the new hire training and offering targeted or focused training for specific areas with the CX in mind and implemented into the training. Providing employees with all the tools and answers to all their questions so they gain confidence in their position. Diagnose issues and re-engage in training if necessary, and always offer support and guidance.
- Peer Mentoring | Having a peer that is seasoned in the position take a new hire under their wing, can give them a person to go to in the moment if there is an urgent need pertaining to the CX and the business. Another way of showing support and fostering education, a peer mentor can reassure confidence and best practices.
- Hiring the Right Candidates | Looking beyond the resume and really getting to know your candidate can help place them in the right role. When improving CX, hiring the right person for the right job is key. Remember, even employees who do not have direct contact with the customer, influence the CX.
- Make Employee Satisfaction a Priority | We want our employees happy and engaged and providing them with reasons to like their job will go a long way. Offer competitive wages, flexibility when appropriate, and listen to their needs and their problems. Caring about the employee will make them care about the customer. Conduct surveys regularly and re-visit benefits and incentives. And, consider their long-term interests by providing tools and opportunities for growth. Engaged and fulfilled associates become the most valuable to your organization and allows you to maximize your talent.
- Recognition | Showing employee appreciation goes a long way. Whether it is a shout-out in a meeting, a monthly award, or a kind email copying key players, showing someone, they did an excellent job is important and uplifting. Giving employees who consistently go above and beyond opportunities to grow, keeps them engaged and focused on the CX.
- Creating Performance Standards | Regardless of whether the department is customer-facing, implement consistent performance standards and practices across the board. With everyone on the same page and working toward the same goal, the experience given to the customer will be seamless and flawless.
To learn more about how Crosworks can assist your organization in optimizing talent and employee engagement to directly result in an exceptional CX, contact us today to start a conversation. We can help your HR adapt to the latest trends to promote success and stability within your business.