LOOKING TO VALUES FOR STRENGTH VERSUS COVID-19

How our personal values can support us at this challenging time

I have spoken to several people, now working from home, who are feeling “lost” to varying degrees at this time, searching for structure, direction and purpose. This is a good time to reboot: clear away everything that is unnecessary and focus on what is important to us. One way to do this is to identify your values, translate these into practical behaviours and then consciously practice them every day. This is the framework for the my31Practices approach: Identify, Action, Impact, Refine. The approach draws on a variety of sources such as psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness, NLP, action learning, habit formation and others and the book, MY 31 PRACTICES, release the power of your values for authentic happiness, co-authored with Steve Payne and illustrated by John Montgomery was published in 2016.

“This book helps you think through and deal with the problems and pressures we all face (in the workplace and our personal lives) to find personal solutions and a greater sense of wellbeing.” Professor Sir Cary Cooper, CBE, President of the CIPD

There is a simple four step approach:

1. Identify what is important to you (myValues)

2. Translate these into a set of behaviours (myPractices)

3. Practice your myPractices every day (myExperiences)

4. Reflect on your myExperiences at the end of the day

Read Original Content: Click Here

HOW TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY DURING TIMES OF CHANGE

Effective communication during times of rapid change is different in style to communication in a steady-state or “business as usual” environment. If you are a team leader, here are some tips that you might find useful to practice at this time:

Make Communication Regular and Frequent

It is imperative to set the expectation that there will be regular communication that is credible and comprehensive. Often there is a tendency for people to wait to send any type of communication until all the information is known and available. This is a mistake! It’s much more important to cycle your communication and repeat the same message often than to wait until all the information is complete and perfect. What if you don’t know something? Tell them! You can always say, “We don’t have all the information yet, but this is what we do know.”

Values and Purpose as a “guiding star”

The organization’s values are the way things work around here and the purpose is why the company exists. If you have these articulated and they are alive, keep reminding people of them and that if they make decisions based on the organization’s purpose and values they will be better decisions.

Do Not Over-Rely on Email

Many people receive lots of emails every day. So, why then, does anyone think an email is going to have enough of an impact to change someone’s behaviour? You can be pretty sure that no one will change what they are currently doing solely because an email has gone out saying they should.

Read Original Content: Click Here

How to Formulate a Successful Customer Experience Strategy

For many customers, the service, support, and buying experience shape their opinion of a brand. It determines whether they will remain loyal customers or avoid the product in the future. For better service, many are willing to pay a premium and stay dedicated to a brand even if it is not the cheapest on the market.

The 2020 Digital Marketing Trends Report by Adobe and Econsultancy determined that Customer Experience is the most exciting opportunity named by organizations for the upcoming year. 

But how do you formulate a successful customer experience strategy?

Get a clear vision

The first step in your strategy should be a clear customer-focused vision. Create a set of statements that can act as guiding principles and determine appropriate company values. Every member of your team should be aware of these values and know what behaviours promote them. Create a clear vision and share it with your team so it can drive everyone’s actions.

Understand your Audience

Next, double your efforts to understand who your customers are. Knowing the different types of customers who deal with your support teams can help you build the customer experience with their interests in mind. 

Segment your customers and create personas that exemplify their different needs, requirements and personalities. By creating personas with names and stories, you can also easily communicate the idea of a customer type to your team and help them become truly customer-centric. 

Read Original Content: Click Here

Creating a Culture of Service Excellence

Many customers choose to support one brand over another because they feel more of a personal connection with their values and because they've received excellent customer service. In order to stay ahead in the new paradigm of the value economy, companies should focus on delivering brand-aligned customer experience. 

The way to do so is to focus on creating a service excellence culture for your brand.

Building a Culture of Service Excellence

There's no shortage of companies that jump to mind when we think of service excellence. For instance, Apple, Disney, Amazon and more, have consistently focused on delivering better service and more value to their customers.

But what goes into building service excellence?

Each brand should recruit, promote and motivate each of their employees to step up their service quality. When a brand’s values align with excellent service, and their employees follow habits to ensure they consistently fulfil them, customers walk away with a better experience.

There is nothing accidental about the way service excellence is designed and achieved. Leaders should define what service will be like for their customer, by using the required language, knowledge and behaviours to put a plan together. This means understanding what customers need throughout their engagement with the brand and finding pain points that could be improved upon.

Listening, and taking an active step in collecting feedback and surveys from customers while promoting honest reviews is the first step to understanding where the service could be improved.

A prosperous service organization not only builds but also maintains the service excellence they have achieved. This means continuously observing behaviours and training staff to meet expectations. Practises and communication within the company must be consistently reviewed.

Service Excellence Sets You Apart

By developing service excellence, companies can set themselves apart from their competition and consistently generate more value for their customers. This level of customer service engages audiences to become loyal brand-ambassadors and creates a positive brand identity. If you need help developing practises and ideas to improve your customer experience, get in touch with Servicebrand Global today.