One of our Shepard Letter subscribers recently asked, “How come you didn’t do an article on customer service or experience New Year’s resolutions?” Great question, and here’s my answer: “Ask and ye shall receive!”
There are plenty of articles that have been published about how New Year’s resolutions are easily broken and, ultimately, useless. I’m going to approach this differently. Here are some resolutions that, if you’re already doing, you should continue to do. Or, if you’re not doing these, you should be. These are easy-to-implement strategies and tactics. So, if you make the commitment – as in a resolution – perhaps they will move from great ideas to successful practices.
By the way, if you’ve been following my work, you’ll recognize some, if not all, of these ideas. But it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of them.
So, here are seven customer service and CX resolutions that are easy to keep:
Respond quickly to customersQuick response to customers increases their confidence in you. Create a “quick response standard” that will make most customers happy and live by it.
Find “friction points” in your process and eliminate themTo make this easy, consider eliminating just one a month. If you have a team meeting, I’m sure you’ll come up with plenty of friction points and outdated policies to change or eliminate.
Respond to customer feedbackIf a customer takes the time to share feedback, let them know you received it. Even an automated response is better than nothing.
Treat employees like you want your customers to be treated (maybe even better)This is what I refer to as The Employee Golden Rule. You can’t expect employees to treat customers any differently than they are treated by the management and leadership of the organization.
Create a customer advisory boardAsk a few of your customers if they would participate in a meeting (in-person or virtual) to share feedback, ideas, suggestions, and more. If you haven’t done this, you’ll be amazed at the suggestions they are willing to share in this type of forum.
Create an employee advisory boardIf you take The Employee Golden Rule to heart, you’ll create an employee advisory board. This is an opportunity for you to get feedback that will not only improve the experience for employees but also be felt by customers.
Always say “thank you” to your customers!You’re probably doing this already, but it never hurts to reinforce how important it is to show appreciation.
So, resolve to do them.
I could go on with many more, but let’s stop at seven. While I refer to these as New Year’s resolutions, they are really concepts that should already be in place in your organization. So, resolve to do them. Even if you’re already doing many of them, it doesn’t hurt to have a reminder.
Happy New Year! May 2025 be your best year ever, with even better years to follow!
Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.
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