Have you heard about seminars and trainings, the theme of which is a customer-oriented approach to doing business? Let's look at what these classes are and how useful they can be for you or your employees.
What does “customer centric business” mean?
The essence of the customer-oriented approach is that the focus of attention of employees is focused primarily on the buyer or customer. The main task of each member of the team is to do everything so that those who replenish the cash desk of the company want to come back to you more than once in the future.
The following principles of a customer-oriented approach can be distinguished:
- Deep understanding and satisfaction of the needs of the buyer or customer.
- The sale of products and services whose quality meets or exceeds consumer expectations.
- Effective interaction with customers, built on mutual respect.
- Readiness of managers at any level for open communication.
- The flexibility of the organization with respect to the changing demands of customers and customers.
- Creating a comfortable psychological environment for the client.
- The desire to help the buyer, take part in solving his problems.
- Constant work on improving the quality of service.
- Planning actions to attract and retain customers.
As you know, the classic way of doing business involves the simultaneous work on 4 elements of marketing: product, price, location, promotion. The 4P scheme (product, price, place, promotion) is described in sufficient detail in the famous book by F. Kotler, “Fundamentals of Marketing”.
How do you prioritize a business that implements a customer-oriented approach? There are a lot of marketing theories, their value is not denied. But with the new type of building relationships with customers and customers, the company focuses not on the product and the price. The most important area of ​​work for senior management and other employees is effective interaction with customers.
The benefits of a customer-centric approach are as follows:
- A positive business reputation of the company is being formed in the market.
- A circle of loyal customers is formed, constantly replenishing the cashier.
- There are more and more new buyers and customers turning to your company on the recommendation of friends.
- A customer-oriented approach promotes sales growth and business growth.
- Advertising costs are decreasing or becoming more effective.
Why do we need seminars and training on customer focus?
It is no secret that the implementation of a customer-oriented approach is carried out gradually. First, companies need to examine their customers and customers, understand and predict their needs. For this, employees need to mentally take the place of customers, understand:
- what exactly do they want to receive when they contact your organization;
- what goods and services do buyers and customers need;
- what constitutes an ideal service from their point of view;
- What difficulties does the client encounter when purchasing your product or service, due to which they can be facilitated?
- what the buyer or customer expects to receive by cooperating with you, whether something more can be done for him;
- which can cause positive emotions in the client, how your company can deliver joy to the buyer.
It is important to work out every point of contact with the client: advertising materials, telephone calls, parking lots at your office or store, the service process.
One of the best explanations for how to implement a customer-oriented approach in sales, gives John Schole. An American expert in quality service suggests focusing on listening carefully to customers and constantly recording their wishes and complaints. Getting feedback from buyers and customers in the form of filling out questionnaires is ineffective, according to Schole. Not all customers want to fill out questionnaires, and those who agree tend to gloss over the reality. Employees receive much more information from buyers and customers in the process. Based on it, the company can significantly improve the quality of service. So, for example, if customers want to call you at night, it is important to provide them with this opportunity. Otherwise, the company, in particular, will lose the opportunity to work with customers living in the other half of the globe.
The implementation of a customer-oriented approach will not be possible if the new business philosophy of the organization’s employees is not properly taught. The difficulty lies in the fact that the art of effective interaction with customers and customers cannot be conveyed in theory. Rather, it is brought up in the general atmosphere of the company. Top company managers and mid-level managers themselves should set an example of customer-oriented behavior.
What can be said about the documents regulating the process of servicing buyers and customers? A customer-oriented approach will not be implemented at the enterprise if we limit ourselves to communicating instructions to employees on how to make sales. It is necessary to develop a system of effective work with buyers and customers.
Objectives of customer focus training
A customer-oriented approach should be encouraged in all employees. And with each member of the team, the immediate supervisor should regularly discuss situations in which the employee made a mistake when interacting with customers.
At production meetings, problem situations are best avoided. For general discussions, it is more convenient to use the game form of training.
Interactive classes partially solve the problem of “educating” employees, although they do not replace the everyday communication of managers with subordinates.
Typically, such goals of customer focus training are highlighted:
- Training employees in effective thinking and behavior.
- Increasing the level of emotional intelligence in team members.
- Development of effective communication skills .
- Stimulating personal growth of employees.
After the training, sales managers are happy to practice a customer-oriented approach in their work. The professional development program for this category of employees often gives good results.
What topics are important to cover during the training?
The customer-oriented approach assumes that employees have a number of professional knowledge and skills. Therefore, modern trainings devoted to this topic, as a rule, include the following blocks:
- Implementation of practical tasks, the purpose of which is to form an understanding among the participants of how important it is to take care of the client. Finding out the reasons why buyers and customers leave. Drawing up an action plan on how to keep a customer.
- Games and exercises that develop the ability of managers to take the place of buyers and customers, to understand their needs.
- Discussion of customer loyalty phases (regular customer - loyal customer - adherent).
- The study of the features of consumer behavior, factors affecting the decision on the transaction.
- Acquaintance with visitor service techniques. Training skills to work simultaneously with multiple clients. Experimenting with active listening techniques.
- Dedicated customer engagement block. Accomplishment of practical tasks on the analysis of objections. Learning how to deal with complaints.
- Introducing managers to techniques that allow you to enjoy the work. The study of self-regulation and self-organization. Mastering the techniques of working with stress and getting rid of fatigue.
Let us consider in more detail some of the tasks used in training on customer focus.
Calculation of the cost of customer loss
The benefit and economic benefit provided by the customer-oriented approach can be demonstrated by the example of an arithmetic problem, the solution of which is even possible for a schoolchild.
Suppose that a customer purchases goods and services from your company in the amount of 10 thousand rubles. in year. This amount is increased by 2 thousand rubles annually. How much sales will the company lose if the buyer or customer does not make your purchases over the next 5 years? Calculate the amount of future lost profits. In our example, it will be:
10 + 12 + 14 + 16 + 18 = 70 thousand rubles.
This is the value of a lost customer. It is useful to configure automatic calculation of this indicator in the CRM program, if one is used in the company.
Knowing the approximate profitability of the company, you can also calculate the amount of lost profits. For example, if the net financial result is 20% of sales, in 5 years the company will lose 14 thousand rubles.
In the process of solving the problem, the training participants must understand how expensive the loss of each client is for the company. It is also important to emphasize that finding and attracting a new customer or customer is even more costly.
Reasons the customer leaves
At the next stage of the lesson, it is important to analyze the reasons why the buyer or customer most often ceases to contact the company whose goods and services were previously used.
For this purpose, each participant in the training should be asked to recall a case in life when he was very poorly served in a store, after which he did not want to visit a point of sale. At the same time, it is important that students answer the questions:
- In what mood were the employees who spoke with you?
- How did they behave?
- What exactly did not satisfy you in service?
- How did the conflict begin? What made you angry or upset?
- What emotions did you experience during and after visiting this outlet?
- Did you continue to shop at this store after an unfortunate event?
- How many people did you share the unpleasant story with?
In the discussion process, a list of reasons for which buyers or customers stop using the services of companies is compiled. It is also proposed to recall cases from business practice when customers left.
Service levels
It is no secret that each person has his own understanding of what service should be in the company. Spending money, we expect to get a certain level of comfort and experience positive emotions (or at least dispense with negative ones).
A customer-oriented approach in modern management involves knowledge of 3 levels of service that can be observed in various organizations:
- Low. Customer expectations are not justified. He receives less than he expected, experiences negative emotions.
- Standard. Customer expectations are fulfilled. He gets exactly what he expected. The client is indifferent, calm.
- WOW service. The client receives more than expected. He experiences positive emotions, feels a desire to return to the company for new purchases.
To study the various levels of service, the training participants are divided into 3 teams. Each team for a limited period of time (10 minutes) must come up with and play the scene of a purchase in the store:
- with a low level of service;
- with a standard level of service;
- with a WOW service level.
Before each scene, the training participant playing the client must inform those present what organization he goes to, what he plans to buy, what expectations he has regarding the purchase process.
After the speech, the client voices what emotions he experienced and what thoughts were spinning in his head. The participant also reports how he evaluates his desire to come again to buy a product from an invented company.
The game "Yes, and more"
An important component of customer-oriented service in the company is the ability of its employees to agree with the buyer and customer, to be on the same side with him. It is important to solve arising problems in business in such a way that both parties will benefit. For this, it is important for managers to be taught to perceive a client not as an adversary, but as a friend with whom you can always agree kindly.
It is no secret that one of the most important rules for effective interaction with a partner is not to inform him that he is mistaken. It is important to agree and immediately make a counter proposal on how best to act in this situation.
At trainings with the aim of developing this valuable skill, a fun game is often held, according to the rules of which? participants do not enter into a dispute, but only agree and agree with each other. The host invites participants to pair up. The partners in the game should imagine that they are barely familiar and found themselves in an unusual situation: they got stuck in an elevator, got lost in the woods, were shipwrecked and ended up on a desert island, became hostages of bandits. They need to agree on what to do next. Players take turns making their proposals. According to the rules of the game, each time you need to agree with the opinion of a friend (say: “Yes ...”) and supplement it with your own idea (“... and more ...”).
The result is dialogues of fun content:
- Buy a bottle of wine.
- Yes, and another cake.
- Yes, and let's go eat him in the forest.
- Yes, and share with squirrels ...
The game lasts for 3-5 minutes.
Based on the results of the assignment, the training participants discuss what emotions they experienced during the game, what thoughts crossed their minds, which seemed difficult, and at what moments it was very simple.
Exercise to develop the ability to maintain a conversation
The mistake of many employees, due to which it is often not possible to implement a customer-oriented approach in the organization’s work, is the reluctance to talk with the buyer on any topics that are not related to work. Meanwhile, many customers prefer to deal with those sellers with whom they have a good relationship.
Therefore, at the training courses on customer focus, they study the technique of “small talk”. Participants are encouraged to speak to each other on abstract topics using the following techniques:
- To quote what the interlocutor once said.
- Give your partner useful information.
- Tell an interesting story.
- Give thanks.
- Make a compliment.
- Say a positive statement.
Exercise "Dictionary"
This creative assignment helps managers learn how to speak the client’s language. Training participants are divided into teams. The leader instructs each team to draw up a text for the presentation of the company's goods and services, adapted to the representative of a particular profession (programmer, doctor, sailor, journalist). 5-10 minutes are given for reflection. Advertising text should be written using professionalism and terms that are widely used in the client’s work environment.
Exercise “Guess What He Doesn't Like”
One of the training participants depicts a displeased buyer: the client decided to no longer be served by the company, but does not want to directly state the reason for leaving. The reason is described in advance by the presenter on the leaflet. The client-participant can release any comments and express any emotions, but not voice the essence of the problem. The task of the second participant is to understand what exactly the client is dissatisfied with.
At the end of the game, the host summarizes: did the manager find out the reason for the customer’s discontent, on what grounds he could and should have recognized it, how the client hinted at the essence of the problem.
Exercise “Explain to someone who does not understand”
Training participants imagine that they are selling in the store a common, but not the simplest product, such as a flash drive or a bank card. Moreover, the client is an unconscious person (a small child, a lady who does not understand anything in technology, a teenager, a deaf-mute, a madman). The seller’s task is to explain politely, in a language accessible to the client, what exactly he is selling and why the buyer needs this item.
Features of the training in the bank
It is more difficult to implement a customer-oriented approach in a bank than in a trading organization. The tasks of employees of a financial institution include not only customer service, but also compliance with a number of legislative norms, procedures, and instructions. In this regard, the bank employee must put forward a number of requirements to the client regarding the provision of the necessary documents, communication of the necessary information.
Training on a customer-oriented approach for employees of a financial institution should include a carefully developed unit for working with claims and objections. .
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Training for employees of the educational system
Due to the fact that an increasing number of both secondary and higher education institutions are becoming fully commercial, the attitude towards students and schoolchildren is changing. A customer-oriented approach to education is also becoming more widespread. Teachers at the same time find themselves in a rather difficult position. On the one hand, they should objectively evaluate the knowledge of their students, setting low scores if necessary. On the other hand, even the most diligent student is now a client. His dissatisfaction with the school may result in the loss of part of the income of a school or university.
Therefore, training for education system employees should include a staging and analysis of all problem situations that arise in lessons, lectures, and seminars. It is important for teachers to learn how to stand in place of students and understand their needs.
It is also important for educational workers to master the art of training to inspire students, to awaken in them a strong desire to deeply master the subjects studied.
Training Features for Tourism Employees
A customer-oriented approach in the tourism industry is especially important. In the business sphere, people perceive many minor troubles and inconsistencies calmly, waiting for them. Going on vacation, however, even chronic workaholics do not want to deal with difficulties and problems. Enterprises related to the leisure, tourism and entertainment industries should be especially attentive to customers.
At the training, it is important to pay special attention to work on the positive attitude of the participants. Employees of hotels, entertainment facilities, restaurants, travel companies, it is important to radiate the energy of tranquility and joy. When purchasing a ticket abroad or an attraction ticket, the client should feel that he is already resting.
Conclusion
A customer-oriented approach to the crisis does not cease to be relevant. In the conditions of the strictest savings in many organizations, ideas are successfully implemented that allow us not to save on customers and customers.
To keep customers loyal, many companies segment them and more thoroughly identify needs. In a crisis, competition is tightening. Company managers care what customers need, what amounts of money they are willing to spend, what products can still be produced or purchased specifically for their regular customers.
It seems that the financial crisis will further spread the customer-oriented approach in small and medium-sized businesses. Seminars and trainings on this topic are likely to remain in demand for a long time.