It’s become harder to differentiate your business from others. Customers are tired of hearing businesses mouth off about how wonderful they are. Consumers have reached a tolerance level where they now demand that businesses stop over promising and start over delivering.
We will show you how to grow large sales teams made up of your own delighted customers. If your customer has an experience with your business that surprises and delights, they will immediately become loyal ambassadors who will happily sell on your behalf.
Dialogue set up the CX Academy to deliver insights and practical tips to help owners and managers sharpen their CX excellence. We have gathered re-markable stories from local and international CX champions that clarify what CX excellence and complete disasters look like.
We’ve packed this all into a concentrated 3 ½ hour evening session. We will discuss how SMEs can differentiate their business without additional cost by locking in your their best customers. Find out how their business compares with Irish and global CX champions. We discuss how to implement organisational change so staff members welcome a new CX culture. And most importantly, we share examples of how to persuade current customers to amplify their message amongst friends, family and colleagues
The Masterclass is taking place in the National Concert hall on June 15th 2017.
If you or anyone you know could benefit from the CX Masterclass, we would appreciate it if you would pass this on to them. It’s interactive, full of re-markable stories and tips to activate in their business the next day.
Visa have been given exclusivity for payment during the Olympics in Rio at official venues. They’re using this opportunity to introduce their newest payment method ‘The Payment Ring’ by giving one to each athlete to use during their stay. They simply need to wave their hand over a wireless card reader and it will make the transaction.
If this receives a positive reception, the Smart ring idea should definitely catch on.
The Visa payment ring could be the game changer as a new quick payment method, allowing customers to make purchases without even taking out their wallet.
Removing unnecessary obstacles to enable the customer to achieve their objectives quickly and easily has been proven to increase loyalty. Time & Effort must form a crucial part of any brands CX strategy, as focus on this key pillar has been proven to increase customer loyalty.
Empathy is about responding deeply to each customer’s immediate circumstances. Freestyle Libre have shown this by changing the way diabetics check their glucose levels. The current daily routine involves taking a blood reading at set times during the day. With this new piece of tech, diabetics can now get on demand glucose readings and view trends in their blood levels.
Freestyle Libre are saving parents a large struggle by making blood level reads simple for their kids.
All that is required is a single pin prick attached to a reader on the users arm once every 14 days, and they will have on demand access to their glucose levels.
This product is definitely made by diabetics, for diabetics as it takes a new empathetic approach to a daily routine in the life of someone with this disease.
When businesses speak about building ‘brand loyalty’ and ‘brand relationships’, it is empathy that remains a key factor to making these objectives achievable.
Boots introduced a new app called the ‘Sales Assist’ which is the first of its kind in the retail sector. Its sole purpose is to make their customers purchasing as easy as possible. The app gives customers access to its 2,500+ stores inventories, allowing them to make recommendations and check product availability. And if what they want isn’t currently available, they can order it and pick it up at their nearest boots retailer. One of the apps key features is its ability to learn about its user through their purchase and viewing history. With the data, the app can personalise all recommendations and offers to the user’s preferences.
Boots’ app makes it easier for customers to get hold of the products they need, so this is another example of ‘Time & Effort’ Excellence. It also offers very relevant product recommendations depending on customers’ interest so that’s another key pillar; ‘Personalisation’ addressed. Boots featured in the top 10 of Ireland’s 2015 CX table and are showing no signs of slowing down their sector topping CX.
Zara are looking to change the checkout process in the retail world. Will it be a success or a failure?
On the one hand, introducing a self-checkout system in their stores allows their staff to focus on more important things like customer facing jobs and stock taking. But on the other, it takes the friendly face out of making a purchase and could be a negative factor in shop choice for the non tech savvy, or for someone who would rather a human make their transaction for them.
It’s no secret that there is an issue with line times at Zara shops. This could be due to their laid back staff or their lack of tills. Zara are leading the curve to solve this issue and it shouldn’t be long before we see other retail brands follow suit.
It’s up for debate on how self-service in the retail space will be viewed, but there is no argument to the time and effort benefits for both Zara and its customers. Lines will move faster from lack of human error and customer focus on shop floors will rightly become priority.
A few weeks ago we talked about Chick fill A’s ‘Phone Coops‘. Well, KFC in India have taken a different approach to phones by giving their customers a portable charger. The ‘Watt A Box’ has the power to charge two phones to full and doesn’t cost any extra to the meal deals. If the idea catches on we can definitely see it spreading to chain’s across the world just like it did with the phone coops.
The ‘Watt A Box’ is a great amplifier for KFC and because it can be taken out of the box and recharged for personal use and means that customers will be using it even after they leave the building. KFC have stepped into their customers shoes with this, understanding that mobile phones are an important part of their customer’s lives. The ‘Watt A Box’ isn’t just a nice addition to a value meal but something that can allow customers to take their time and enjoy their meal without panicking about a low battery.
The 1916 celebrations have received more stick then credit over the past number of weeks. I personally had a number of great experiences from a Saturday stroll through Stephens Green among many fine actors who brought to life, events of the rising as they unfolded, in utter confusion. The RTE centenary extravaganza in the Board Gas theater was a perfect example of under promising and over delivering, something we don’t do too well in Ireland. That said, I also had my first ever ‘Remarkable’ Dublin experience during the week and I want to share it with you in an unbiased way.
For those of you who missed school on the week they covered the 1916 raising, the rising walking tour is unbeatable. Check out http://www.1916rising.com/. Don’t just check it out, book it! It is absolutely unique, remarkable and will sell out for the summer. It is also undeniable proof that world class story telling can make walking outside on a pissing wet day enjoyable!
Lorcan Collins and his partner, Conor Kostick taught me more in our two hour jaunt then I learned in 16 years of school. He is the total package. Think Ted.com meets National Geographic meets Daragh OBriain. We met in the International bar, thankfully too early for a scoop. During his intro, Lorcan very cleverly takes the time to get to know his audience in a way that lifts the tour. His empathy is world class and he uses what he learns in that first 10 minutes throughout the tour with welcome wit and light hearted jabs. He brilliantly engages both young and old, local and tourist, republican and loyalist, socialist and capitalist.
The tour consists of approx. 20 members for up to two hours. Its fast paced but Lorcan finds a way to chat with each member of his group as we walked from one great story to another.
I talk about CX quite a bit and one question I always ask is who in Ireland has given you an amazing Customer Experience. This questions always leads to discussion on lousy experience rather than great. However, in the last number of weeks, four different people mentioned the 1916 rising walk. And I agree and am very happy to recommend it to anyone seeking a great day out in Dublin town, to give it a shot. The worst that could happen? You might make some new friends for life.
If you would like to explore how your company can deliver CX excellence e-mail Michael Killeen to discuss further.
Brands now have the ability to remind us of their existence through phone notifications. When a recent mother of two twins received one of these from Hailo she sent them a unique letter explaining her absence. Hailo loved this so much that they topped up her account and offered a €100 voucher to her favourite Dublin restaurant, with a free taxi service of course! Going the extra mile for your customers is key to retention and your actions will differentiate you from your competitors.
One of the biggest challenges in retail has been making the shopping experience faster and easier for the customer. Some companies, like Ikea are introducing a virtual shopping experience to their website while others are looking to upgrade their in-store experience. Ralph Lauren are testing ‘connected fitting rooms’ that merge digital technology with in-store retail by using ‘Smart Mirrors’. These mirrors can show clothing stock with sizes and colours and can even communicate with staff, letting them know if a customer needs assistance. Using these mirrors allows the fitting process to run very smoothly for customers which shows that Ralph Lauren have their customers Time and Effort in mind.
It’s not every day you hear about a plane making a U-turn back to the terminal from the runway. Etihad Airways did just that for two of their customers after they found out that their grandson was in intensive care. The couple had their luggage retrieved from the hold, and the quick-thinking Etihad staff even had their car waiting to expedite their journey to the hospital. This amazing act of kindness shows that Etihad Airways view their customers as more than just passengers, and are willing to go above and beyond to show that. What an amazing showing of Empathy!
Humour in Customer Service can be a very risky strategy, but customers appreciate the effort when used well.
Jet Blue and Amazon have found a great balance between professional service and simple ‘human response’ when communicating to customers about issues. A bit of empathy can go a long way in customer service and can make the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.
Dialogue have created thousands of amplifiers for our clients over the years and nothing beats a good old fashioned umbrella.
When a New Yorker, stuck in the middle of a rainstorm with a 15 minute walk ahead of him was given a $130 umbrella for nothing, what did he do? He only went and told his thousands of followers on social media about it!
Invest in customer amplifiers so it’s easier for them to sell on your behalf.
