{"id":16445,"date":"2021-01-18T19:33:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T19:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=16445"},"modified":"2023-01-16T17:31:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T17:31:01","slug":"what-do-your-employees-need-to-keep-customers-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/what-do-your-employees-need-to-keep-customers-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do Your Employees Need To Keep Customers Happy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2018, Kimberly McAtee, a part-time barista at Starbucks, began her new life as a student at Arizona State University (ASU). Further education was always on her radar, but the costs of books and tuition forced her to drop out previously. It wasn\u2019t until Starbucks launched its university reimbursement plan in 2014 that life started to turn around for McAtee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starbucks promised to pay 100% of university tuition for all eligible employees, eliminating the most significant entry barrier for people thinking of going in to further education. After some encouragement from her manager, she applied to ASU, and after four years of online education, she graduated with honours. Her success story is just one of many.<\/p>\n

Among the typical cost-cutting measures most companies implement, why did Starbucks choose to go this route? The reason is that Starbucks, like many other organisations, understands how happy employees are vital to long-term profitability.<\/p>\n

Introduce the right tools<\/b><\/h2>\n

Modern-day organisations are starting to realise that to be a customer-centric company; you need to focus on employees first<\/a>. Free lunches and similar perks are just one part of this. If you want employees to be happy and productive at work, you need to empower them with the tools they need to succeed.<\/p>\n

However, some businesses struggle to provide useful tools and as a result, find it harder to nurture the employee experience, which in turn impacts the customer experience<\/a>. Therefore, it\u2019s critical to understand the communication challenges employees\/agents face and ever-changing customer expectations.<\/p>\n

Avoid disparate and outdated systems\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From a customer service agent\u2019s perspective, silos and outdated communications tools mean an inability to reach the right experts and resolve issues quickly. Customers expect fast and effortless resolutions to their problems, and having to place customers on long holds (or even worse, call them back) is mentally taxing to every agent. It doesn\u2019t help that switching back and forth between different applications leads to lost customer information, too. Ever had to call a company multiple times and each new agent has no idea what your past issues were? In most cases, it\u2019s just as frustrating for the agent as it is for the customer.<\/p>\n

Recognise that customer expectations are always changing<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today, 33% of customers<\/a> say the most important aspect of a good customer service experience is not having to repeat themselves or not getting passed from agent to agent. Additionally, 69% of customers<\/a> want companies to make existing products and services available on digital channels due to COVID-19. Customers expect agents to be knowledgeable, friendly, quick and available on any channel of their choosing and at any time.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the best way to help overcome these challenges, exceed customer expectations and improve the customer experience?<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t