Customers..... digital or human?

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Sometimes jargon takes over.  Is the whole customer "thing" now all about digitalisation where CX and UX are the latest subject descriptors? Should we let this critical subject become the domain of process designers who will inevitably put our customers and processes in the cloud. Out of sight, unless viewed through the portal of a mobile device or lost as a digit in the world of big data cubes and endless analytical insights..

Without doubt, great process is critical and an ability to digitalise process & many touch-points will simply be a given for future competitiveness – but in the inexorable march towards digitalisation, are we in danger of losing something along the way? ... customer relationships.

In the same way that the proponents of footballs proposed European Super League dismissively refer to “legacy fans”, plain old-fashioned customer relationships are now becoming legacy language. So, amongst the rising tide of digitalisation and its new lexicon let’s stand up for the human element of customers. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that It’s often still about people. Nowhere more so than in the B2B service sector where human interaction and perceptions are key.

Building relationships rightly takes time, resources and effort. It’s an investment. So, I want to talk about customer relationships and focus (mainly from service as opposed to a product perspective …. because that’s my bag).

It all starts with getting a customer on-board. In this phase more than anything …. People buy from People….Trust is earned and built.  So, spend time with customers, understand them as individuals, understand their business and what their problems are. Focus on what you can do to help them. Invest time. Real face to face time (and I don’t mean the ubiquitous Teams or Zoom) because video as a medium loses way more of the (real) messaging than it transmits. a five minute face to face meeting with a customer can be invaluable - even it it takes a days travel to achieve it. Yep you heard right.

When it comes to customers .... Collaborate with them. Visit them. Understand them. Invest real time to get to know them. Think ahead with them. And on a day-to-day basis, at least make some key touch points human – the person on the phone who a customer knows and who knows the customer and his/her business and, importantly, is empowered to help.

When things go wrong - and they will, it’s often not the problem that counts, but how you deal with it and the speed with which you react. I recall one customer said “with your competitor, it starts with who’s to blame…. With your business you start with how to fix it”. This is a culture and it’s about people…. Proactive, reactive where needed, customer advocates. All businesses need customer-centric people who build great relationships - which makes dealing with problems easy.

Leaders. Hang-out with customers. Or at least hang-out with the good folk in your business who do hang-out with customers. Every week. No excuses. Leaders who do not do this set an example that the whole business will follow.

If you want to figure a business out quickly, it’s not the slick marketing material, or the virtue-signalling social media posts, or even the inclusion and diversity actions showcased regularly. Nothing wrong with any of these per se.....  But. the hallmark of a customer focussed business is that it describes itself through the eyes of the customer. It’s a tell-tale sign. Great relationships involve being able to stand in your customers' shoes.

So, let’s bring back customer focus and customer relationships, real human relationships, back into the mix because they are the building blocks of a great business.

Don’t abandon this key part of your business to the digitalisation process completely. Don't be stuck with your head in the cloud - you can't meet customers there.