Customer Engagement: One Second to Success

Customer Engagement only takes a second to create or improve

Customer Engagement

Someone in a corner office somewhere will be crawling up the walls over this blog post, because they've spent millions of dollars in payroll, research, and advertising to try and create or raise their customer engagement scores. Customer engagement and customer satisfaction leads to improved retention, capture, and ultimately revenue. This isn't anything you don't already know. So what is it that only takes a single second to accomplish, yet can't be harnessed by some of the most powerful companies in the world? It really boils down to one thing really, and some companies are literally one second away from success.

Identifying the Shortfalls of Customer Engagement

Typically, upper management stares at a sheet for their business or a group of locations and calls out to someone in Human Resources, or even worse their VP of Sales, and demands they push their client engagement scores in a positive direction. Whomever their target is, the person agrees and accepts responsibility for their assigned task, then scurries off to their office to "make a difference". This is the primary shortfall regarding customer engagement, as this person is going to do some internet research that will tell them pretty much the same thing we've heard over and over again...STOP!!!

Is this person even qualified to create an action plan regarding customer engagement? Do they even deal with customers...ever? The answer, surprisingly is yes. They are the perfect person for the task, however they will go down the tunnel to failure and struggle quite quickly, as they will fail to identify the customer properly. It all begins with the picture above. What is wrong with the picture? What's missing?

The "Face" of Customer Engagement Revealed

The customer has many faces, both internally and externally for every company. If you are upper management, your customer is quite different than the sales rep in the field or the customer service rep at one of your retail locations. Your customer is the sales rep or the CSR. You've heard this before, however you haven't heard it simplified this way. Your customer has a face, a life, issues, successes, and most importantly...a family. Their family loans their loved one to your company, in exchange for a paycheck to support their life. Have no doubt that the family is the largest factor in the success or failure of achieving ultimate customer engagement, as the career path of this customer is influenced greatly by their family.

The face of the end user client or customer should be handled the same way I will describe below, as both customer types require the same one second solution for success. Make no mistake that both faces are equally important, and will be brought together shortly.

Customer Engagement through consistent Marketing

Think about this for a moment. What does a marketing company know about customer engagement? After all, our job is to make your phones ring, right? We use customer engagement every day. We understand our clients, and our clients' client, is looking for two things to make a decision and be happy about it. They need product information to make a better informed decision, AND a warm feeling they are choosing the right vendor for their purchase.

Your employees are looking for the same two things everyday. They seek knowledge to make better informed decisions regarding your clients, and they need to achieve a warm feeling from their superiors regarding their efforts, regardless of their shortfalls.

The One Second Solution to Customer Engagement

The secret behind the one second is engagement. Engagement with your client, be it they are an employee or an end user at a retail location. By engaging your customer, you are spending the most valuable second to raising your customer engagement scores and results. Get to know your customer by engaging them for only one second. If you are in a retail environment, it is as simple as asking this one simple question...How can I make your day better today? There are companies that attempt this question with some form of branding spin, such as Walgreen's. Their version involves a long and tedious "Welcome to Walgreen's. How can I help you be well today?". Great effort, but failed approach on many levels. First, the customer doesn't need a reminder they are in Walgreen's, unless they have Alzheimer's. Secondly, they may have just been diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer, only to make their way to Walgreen's for their prescription. Are they going to "Be Well", regardless of your engagement with them?

How can I make your day better today?

Practice saying this with me...How can I make your day better today? There are some keys to this question.

The word I takes ownership and assumes responsibility for the engagement.
The word your allows the customer to safely assume they will benefit from the engagement.
The word better helps ease the customers mind regarding the interaction.
The word today works on so many levels:

If you are in a sales position, you are allowing the customer to identify themselves as a buyer.
The customer assumes they will receive similar engagement on return visits, which will lead to increased capture.

Got it? How can "I" make "Your" day "Better" "Today"! Four out of six words in this question are action words that engage the client. Most importantly, you aren't asking your customer a question that can be dismissed with a simple yes or no answer. Tah-dah...you just raised your customer engagement scores, which will lead to better revenue streams through customer retention.

Making your employees' day better today

The same holds true as to the paragraph above regarding your employees. EVERY employee should hear this question in some form from their direct supervisor...EVERY DAY!!! It's tough, I know. This is something I need to remind myself of daily to do. However, I always ask this question in one form or another. Sometimes, I ask a person about a recent family event they had mentioned, and sometimes I ask the person about plans for the weekend or their thoughts on a specific company matter. Regardless, I am engaging the person in a way that allows them to feel important and part of the solution or greater good.

Another fun way to engage employees is something I learned from the owner of PlasticPrinters.com, Luke Lingle. When I hired in at PlasticPrinters.com, I was required to fill out a form that was completely optional, but had questions regarding my favorite candy bar or chips, etc. The idea behind this was for senior leadership to be able to create an opportunity for customer engagement. Before dismissing this blog as remedial or lacking value, I would ask this question to you...What is your favorite candy bar, and do you know the answer for each one of your subordinates?

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