Is it easy to do business with your organization? Know Me. Help Me. Value Me.

Many years ago, I listened to a presentation at a conference about 3 simple, yet powerful values that can help organizations improve their customer experience.  While, unfortunately, I don’t remember the presenter’s name, I do remember the values he presented and the impact they had on how I changed my approach to experience design.  Over the years, I’ve applied my learnings from implementing these values to enhance and expand them to both customers and employees. 

These powerful values, when executed effectively, can dramatically improve an organization’s reputation as efficient and easy to do business with whether you’re a business to consumer or business to business organization.   As customers put forth more effort to work with an organization, so does their frustration with it.  Similarly, employees who are unhappy with an organization that doesn’t value their time, talent, and career, will choose to look elsewhere for new employment opportunities. 

The tried and true statement, “Happy employees make happy customers” perhaps doesn’t do justice to the complexities of achieving both of these happy results!  By breaking down the needs of each, we can better define what happiness is and ensure we are designing experiences that align to those needs.  The beauty of these values is that they can be varied and aligned to your particular organization’s culture and values to create a cohesive environment of success. 

As Stephen Covey said in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind”.   If the outcome you desire is an organization that customers view as easy to do business with, then these values can help you achieve that desired outcome!

For Customers:

Know me:

·         Acknowledge me as an important customer of your organization.

·         Recognize me as having a long-term relationship with you.

·         Greet me personally – and then gather the specifics.

·         Acknowledge the nature of my reason for calling.

Help Me:

·         Provide a seamless experience regardless of who is handling my inquiry.

·         Keep me posted on the status of my inquiry during each step of the process.

·         Minimize the amount of effort required by me to resolve my issue.

·         Get me to the right resource to assist me (the first time).

·         Proactively resolve my issues; follow up to ensure I’m satisfied.

Value Me:

·         Recognize that I have a lot of buying options and choices.

·         Treat me as a relationship when I need it; an efficient transaction when I’m busy.

·         Show genuine compassion and empathy for my situation.

·         Value my time and answer my call promptly.

·         Treat me as a customer and not an account number.

 For Employees:

Know Me:

·         Acknowledge me as an important contributor to the organization.

·         Recognize me as an individual with both personal and professional needs.

·         Call me by name and get to know me on a personal level.

·         Ask me what matters most to me be it rewards, compensation, recognition, career path making and the like.

Help Me:

·         Give me the tools I need to be successful at my job.

·         Create a safe and healthy work environment regardless of my location.

·         Develop a diverse, inclusive culture that permeates every aspect of the organization.

·         Trust me to balance the needs of the organization, myself, and my customer.

·         When I need help, get me to the right resource quickly, the first time.

Value Me:

·         Recognize that I have a choice of employers.

·         Celebrate my loyalty.

·         Help me achieve a proper work-life balance.

·         Provide effective onboarding, training, and career-pathing processes.

·         Provide a safe and secure working environment.