Top Tips for Nurturing a Stellar Customer-centric Team

The Power of Service™ is the theme of the International Customer Service Week celebrated from 04 to 08 October 2021 across 60 countries worldwide. Power indeed these heroes conferred to businesses across the globe, especially at a time when we all were dealing with forces beyond the control of humanity. At Edcor, we had week-long celebrations honoring our Customer Service and customer-facing teams in our special way. Each day was marked with a different goodie. Baked treats throughout the week made the days sweeter. There were riddles and giveaways. On the last day, when we traditionally do lunch, this year we did a lunch bag with packaged food considering health and safety guidelines. Foremost, we celebrated coming out of the pandemic as a success story. Together, we did it!

It’s noteworthy that we kick-started the International Customer Service Week this year commemorating the 40^th Anniversary of Edcor. We have come a long way, and we believe that we still have a long way to go. The way ahead is with exceptional Customer Service, not just from a department but from each individual in the Edcor family. Customer service is ingrained in our brand personality, which differentiates us from competitors. It’s a sentiment that runs through each vein in the organization.

“Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.” I concur. Among others, some top qualities lead to success in any service-based organization. Here are my picks.

Top Tips for nurturing a stellar Customer-centric team:

Beliefs are the key:

Instilling the belief in frontline teams that customer service is deep-rooted in the culture ensures that it flows intrinsically and organically. Rather than putting too much focus on the scripts, train people on the essence of customer-centricity. Believe in them to bring their best to the fore.

Empathy is crucial:

The biggest differentiator for businesses these days is the customer service they provide. Most certainly, empathy is the holy grail of customer service. While customers don’t expect a brand to be perfect all the time, they do expect them to solve their problems. Positive brand associations are a result of a brand delivering responsiveness with empathy. According to an HBR study on Customer service, even engaging angry customers can lead to positive effects on brand loyalty.

Terry Lang, Director of Customer Experience at Edcor, leads his teams with an empathy-based business philosophy. Also, perfectly outlined in the quote by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos “At the end of the day, it’s not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most.”

Terry has been a thought-leader in the realm and will be sharing his Big Ideas: How to Use Artificial Intelligence Tools to Optimize the Effectiveness of Human Agents at the Customer Contact Week (CCW) in December.

Train for success:

Intensive technical and on-the-job training are imperative before customer-facing teams go live. They need to understand the nuts and bolts of the business to be able to communicate the same values to the customer.  Businesses need to be heavily involved in providing these teams with the support they need and arm them with tools that help them enhance customer satisfaction. Just reading from the scripts won’t do anymore because the competitor is just a mouse click away.

Treat employees as internal customers:

Whoever said ‘Happy employees lead to happy customers’ hit the bull’s eye. Employee-focused companies have customer-centric teams. Period.  Employees are the organization’s internal customers, who interact with the external world. An equitable and inclusive workplace, where all employees feel valued, has an 83% uplift in responsiveness to changing customer needs according to a Deloitte study.

Nurture your human capital:

As an extension to the sentiment above, companies that are invested in the development of their employees are companies that have employees committed to their growth. The best practice in this realm has always been to provide Education benefits to upskill employees. These benefits lead to engaged, motivated, and long-term employees who positively impact the bottom line. The cherry on the cake is that ROI on these benefits is pegged at 129%.

Edcor has been a leading provider of Education benefits administration services to Fortune 500 companies for the past 40 years, growing from strength to strength. Together with our valuable employees and partners, we have empowered companies to gain a competitive advantage by developing, retaining, and nurturing their most valuable asset – their human capital. I take this opportunity to thank each member of the Edcor family who has been a part of this journey for their contributions.

Let’s Future Together!