In-person events means in-person customers
Jimmie Singleton
So we have gone a whole year without daily in-person interactions with customers and when people return it will show. I think part of being virtual is coming to the realization that you are okay with not having as long of conversations. Virtually, we have to be very intentional about our conversations and we generally set a time limit on those conversations. We don’t get quite the same interaction as walking through the hall and running into a customer where they tell you what they are thinking. Not to say that this is impossible virtually, but it is generally just more structured. So here are some tips for adjusting back to in-person customers.
Have Conversations
An often misunderstood part of successful customer experience is taking the time to talk with customers. From the outside lens this can look like you are just chatting people up and not “working”, but the value these conversations hold is much more important than any slide deck you put together. When you focus only on data you are only getting the opinions for the questions you ask and not the same value you would receive from hearing someone vent about their experience. This helps your customer know that they are being heard as well as gives you true insight into what your customers are feeling.
I also probably sound like a broken record telling people to have conversations with their customers, but I will always say this until I see that everybody is doing it successfully. I sit in a lot of meetings discussing the data behind tickets which can be insightful, but to understand a situation better it is worth your time to have an in-person conversation. Also buying a customer a coffee helps.
Understand your service limits
Over the last year, we have all probably had less in-person customer interaction. Because of that, we probably offered a more white-glove service than usual. This was probably great for that limited set of customers and a great way for us to continue our service practice, but how do we take that same service and expand it to a wider set of customers? With more people returning to in-person events it is important for us to understand our service limits. We must understand that we are probably not able to offer that same service level that we had with ten customers to 200 something customers. We must also let our ten customers know that we are not going to have the same level of availability. Obviously, we should aim to provide white-glove service to all of our customers all of the time, but as we all know this is no small task. Reevaluate your SLAs now and make sure that you are still able to achieve those or maybe you can even think of ways to make them better. With the plan for most universities to return to campus in the Fall take the Summer to really look at all of your current operations and relearn how to have customers.
If you need help with this or just want to chat more I am always happy to have a conversation! jimmiesi@usc.edu