Lifestyle: Business - The 6 DOs and DON’Ts for Improving Customer Service through CEM

If you’ve decided to get CEM (Customer Experience Management) for your brand, then I’d like to congratulate you on taking the 1^st step towards the growth of your business. CEM is definitely a worthwhile investment but be forewarned: it isn’t a silver bullet that will magically improve your brand’s customer service on its own. For CEM to be effective, it requires a close collaboration between you, your stakeholders, and the CEM Company you’ve hired. In light of this, I’d like to mention 6 simple Dos and Don’ts that will guide you and allow you to get the full benefits of CEM.

DON’T Dwell on the Negatives

There’s a high possibility that you’ll encounter a lot of “misses” in terms of your operations and how things are being executed. While it’s important to be aware of them, you must not fall into the trap of dwelling on them. Take all of the negatives and look at them as a whole. Start looking into how they factor into the big picture of your business’ customer service. Don’t turn this into a blame game that turns into a witch hunt on who should take the blame on what’s happening. Always remember that these negatives usually are rooted into something deeper. Focus more on finding the cause rather than searching for someone who will take the fall for them.

DON’T Fire People based on the Findings

While you may find certain people underperforming from the CEM report, resist the urge to fire them on the spot. How a certain person behaved that day could not be the only reason for firing him. On another note, you also don’t want people to become defensive and be afraid of CEM because their jobs may be on the line. CEM works best when embraced by the whole company as a way to improve their work lives and the business.

DON’T Make Excuses

Keep an open mind. The criticisms and builds that come from the CEM report are designed to help and not bring anyone down. Being defensive will do nothing but keep everything the way it is, which is good if you are operating optimally in terms of customer service. Otherwise, it will merely hinder your growth and waste your investment in the process. Was a certain mistake called out? Don’t make excuses for it and just find out why it even happens. Is there a deeper factor involved in why this is happening? Keep your focus on what can be done rather than be concerned with how bad the feedback makes you (or anyone else) look.

DO Align with Your People

The worst thing that you can do is not align with the whole company on why you’re doing CEM. Set their expectations. Bring their guards down and reassure them that this for the growth of the company and isn’t an audit. Get them to embrace the process and get them in the mindset that “yes, we are making positive changes to the company and, yes, we’d love to hear what you have to say”.

DO Encourage Positive Behaviour

Remember to cite the positives that are found in the CEM report. In line with what we said about dwelling on the negatives, citing positives not only gets people on a less defensive stance, it also ensures that anything your business is doing right is continued, encouraged, and reinforced. Be sure to give credit to the people who are doing things right.

DO Focus on Improving Customer Service

Once you have all of the assessments, analysis, and plans from CEM, don’t think it ends there. The drive for excellent customer service is constant. Use the results to guide you in your plans on how to create that memorable customer experience. Always be on the lookout for more ways to make your service better. Remember that a business should be treated just like a relationship. It’s give and take. Show customers that you value them and they will reward you with loyalty and revenue.