5 Ways to Encourage a Greater Customer Experience

The other day I walked into a large home store. This store wasn’t located in “small town America.” It was located in one of the most populated areas in the United States. I assumed I would walk in, hunt for what I was looking for, walk to the checkout, stand in line for a VERY long time and then be on my way out the door without so much as a greeting from anyone. Boy, was I ever wrong! The customer experience was OUTSTANDING! So outstanding, in fact, that I will go out of my way to go back to this store each and every time I’m in need of anything it could possibly provide.

Why was the customer experience so different from that of many other stores? I asked one of the employees in the parking lot, who came over to help me load my items, why everyone was so incredibly happy and helpful. Her response was, “I love working here! This is absolutely the best company to work for, and I’m so fortunate to be a part of this team.” Wow!

How can you create a similar customer experience in your financial institution? 

1. Adjust Attitude

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

--Thomas Jefferson

Your customers can feel the energy the minute they walk into your business. If you or your employees have a less-than-enthusiastic attitude, the energy of your entire company will feel negative to your customers. If you are upbeat, your team will follow your lead and provide an outstanding customer experience. If you have a negative attitude, your employees will follow your lead and communicate this negative attitude to the customers they serve.

2. Give Incentives

Motivate your team by giving incentives based on your financial institution’s mission, goals and values. Be sure to ask your employees what they would like as incentives. Investing thousands of dollars in incentives is not worth a penny if they are not the right incentives to motivate your team.

3. Show Your Appreciation

Showing your appreciation to coworkers and your employees need not to be expensive or time consuming. Appreciation does, however, need to be shown in a timely, sincere, fair and encouraging way. Stretch your imagination. Showing your appreciation will bring you success in motivation, employee recognition and building a positive and productive working environment. Use every opportunity.

4. Provide Ongoing Learning

Not only is training necessary to stay on top of ever-changing policies and regulations, but it is also necessary for providing a top-notch customer experience. One of the simplest but most often neglected avenues for training and learning is to ask the employees themselves what can be done better as a company or how the company can be more efficient when serving customers. Be sure to have a method in place to continuously track this feedback and use this information in ongoing training for all employees.

5. Support Outstanding Customer Service

Support and motivate your coworkers and employees by keeping standards high for each and every customer experience. Bottom line: Treat everyone the way you would want to be treated and expect the same from your team. Meet the same expectations you would have if you were the customer. Remember, great customer service begins with you.

For more great info on providing a greater customer experience, sign up today to hear from industry experts speaking on these topics at the M³F Marketing Forum. This is a working forum with interactive sessions and will enable you to develop a plan to implement the following Monday morning. Click here for a complete agenda. Be sure to register no later than Thursday, February 28^th to save on registration.

Make it your goal where you, your coworkers and your employees will all say, “I love working here! This is absolutely the best company to work for, and I’m so fortunate to be a part of this team.”

Until next time,

Melissa

Melissa Worrel, CFMP

VP, Client Manager
MarketMatch
mworrel@marketmatch.com
Ph: 937.832.7894 X105
Direct: 937.402.2076
Cell: 605.290.4351

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