Creating Defining Moments for Customers and Employees

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Top Takeaways:

• A defining moment for the employee or the customer is an event that truly matters to them. Even if they started with a bad experience, at the point you turn it around (the defining moment) is what shapes their perception of you.
• Every employee in your organization impacts a customer’s overall experience. Employees need to understand how they fit into the customer experience, even if they don’t directly interact with them.
• When you hire brilliant people but ask them to do menial tasks, they will feel like they are not bringing their best selves to work. They become process-driven instead of utilizing their talents effectively.
• When an employee interacts with a customer, the employee doesn’t represent themselves or their department. They represent your entire organization. You have to decide what your company’s voice is and what you want your customers to experience when they engage with you. This experience needs to be consistent across the board.
• Employees are your biggest assets at the company. Create an environment where there is a sense of belonging, their perspective is valued, and they can be their authentic selves.
• Determine your company’s “true north metric” (your mission, vision, mantra, etc.) and be sure that every employee understands how they influence it. Allow employees to feel like the job they do matters and that they impact the customers, their colleagues, and the organization.
• Formstack’s State of Digital Maturity report identified that 51% of surveyed workers report spending at least two hours per day on repetitive tasks, and 72% of employees felt that inefficient processes impacted their job.
• Plus, Shep and Liza share how to create an environment of belongingness with employees and colleagues who are outliers of the group.

Quotes:

“A great employee experience delivers a great customer experience.”

“Seek to understand. We all come with our own biases and perceptions. When we seek to understand, we learn something about an individual and why their behaviors show up the way they do.”

“Understand what your employees want to do in their career and help them evolve into that role.”

About:

Liza Smyth is the senior vice president of customer experience at Formstack. She leads customer care for the company’s more than 25,000 customers. Before joining Formstack, Smyth worked for top tech companies, including Apple and LinkedIn.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions and more:

1. Why is it essential to invest in employee engagement?
2. What is a defining moment in customer experience?
3. How can customers meet customer needs in real-time?
4. How do you empower employees to provide a great customer experience?
5. How does employee experience affect customer experience?