Customer Service is not Customer Engagement - know the difference
We were nailing it.
Our team had created a stellar customer experience our competitors admired & aspired to.
Carefully curated habits based on what we stood for, addressing all we knew was important to our customer about our specific service delivery. Our repeated habits created standards & those standards when consistently met, set expectations. Those expectations offered security to our customer & kept them coming back.
For 12 months we didn’t miss a beat.
The 13th month, we lost the business.
Ouch. A bloody big ouch.
Our ego reacted. Surely months of going above and beyond was enough? We deserved loyalty, or so we thought.
The moment you believe you deserve your customer’s loyalty, is the moment you create blind spots in your partnership.
It’s time to administer yourself a dose of humility.
The reality of business is at some stage, there will be loss. Sometimes for reasons outside our control. Other times, we have some sort of role to play.
In this particular instance, I thought delivering exceptional customer service was enough. It wasn’t. I’d taken my eye off the selling conversation & totally missed the new direction my customer wanted to move in. I’d effectively rolled the red carpet out to my competitor waiting in the wings. They were having the conversation that I wasn’t.
The balance between customer service & customer engagement is delicate & important to recognise.
I liken it to the accelerator & brake pedals when driving a car. You’ve got to know when to put your foot down on one, & back off the other. Then vice versa. It’s intuitive.
Customer service is the interface between brand & customer.
Customer engagement represents the developing selling relationship.
Both are effective commercial growth strategies in their own right. Both build trust. Both are important & mutually exclusive.
High performing sales professionals recognise the difference.
They recognise customer service on its own, is not enough.
They understand it’s customer engagement that changes the Customer’s language from “I” to “we”
Healthy customer partnerships are not static beasts. They evolve with our changing environment & must keep evolving to maintain alignment of both parties.
In our situation, it was too late. We’d totally missed a blaring opportunity due to our neglect in curiosity. We were too busy “doing” & forgot about the “learning”.
We missed the shift in what was important to our customer & why it mattered to them.
Delivering great customer service makes you feel good. It fills your diary & easily justifies your time. But don’t forget, a full diary isn’t necessarily effective for business innovation & growth.
While quality service puts a smile on your Customer’s face, it can tip you down the slippery slope of people pleasing - if you are not careful. (and there’s another blog!)
And lets not forget, to “service” is to “transact” or “supply”, something that can be easily replicated by a competitor.
To engage means to pledge.
Customer engagement is the pledge or commitment we make to work with a customer towards a mutually beneficial collaborative vision. One offering success to both parties, based on connection & curiosity.
Both parties standing side by side, stepping into the future together.
Leading each other towards success
A collaborative inspirational vision, that’s often up to us the sales professional, to create. Remember, not all Customers are innovative in their thinking. It’s a case of - they don’t know what they don’t know.
How can you maintain balance between customer service & engagement?
Here are eight tips to consider:
Intentionally assess your diary activity for service versus engagement commitments
Highlight service activity & engagement commitments in different colours
Delegate service when the load is overwhelming & you are cancelling engagement commitments as a result
Schedule regular customer service audits to maintain service standards
Delineate conversations & schedule engagement conversations in a different environment
Keep engagement out of the service delivery experience unless raised by the customer
Ensure you have a mutually beneficial collaborative vision for engagement based on value & talk about this regularly
Customer engagement is a high performance selling skill, continually invest in your professional development to advance your “A” game
With the end of the year fast approaching, I challenge each of you & your teams to explore your own diaries & see what you can do differently moving into the new year.
Remember, routine for you means routine for your customer. And while some are sticklers for routine, it’s becoming less & less adequate in our rapidly changing world.
How is your Customer planning on evolving & innovating in the new year?
Don’t miss their boat.
Good luck!
Peta x
Commercial Growth Consultant | Sales Coach | Keynote Speaker
Author of My Beautiful Mess - Living through burnout & rediscovering me
For more insights into Customer Service versus Customer Engagement & improve your team’s balance, Peta’s Masterclass is available in 2023
To learn more, you can book your discovery call below: