The pressures of big-box stores, mega-chains, and online warehouses continues to squeeze small businesses everywhere. Add to this the complications of supply-chain disruption, a shrinking labor pool, and rising costs, and it’s no wonder the future is so uncertain. Navigating these challenges requires a dedication to providing a great customer experience. After all, customers have more options than ever and fewer patience. To meet their expectations, businesses must adopt a customer-first culture.
Attitude
Given the hiring challenges of today, one might think that no one can afford to be too picky. On the contrary, businesses must be picky because they cannot offer high-quality customer service without the kinds of employees who buy into its importance. Small businesses need individuals who are passionate about customer service and eager to improve their own capability. It’s all about attitude, and an understaffing business full of true believers if far better than an overstaffed business full of short-timers.
Training
The reason why attitude is more important than even a prospective employee’s proficiency level is because empathy, quick-thinking, and active-listening are trainable skills. While the ideal situation for a hiring manger would be to find new employees who already great at everything, a positive attitude is far more valuable. People who are coachable can be taught to be more effective salespeople and better customer service agents. Thus, a customer-first culture requires a positive environment, one marked with a desire for continuous improvement.
Intelligence
In order to achieve continuous improvement, businesses need hard data, the kind of intelligence that will uncover their strongest and weakest points. Otherwise, they’re managing blind. The best way to get this information is through external feedback, both from customers and from a mystery-shopping partner. Self-assessment can be useful, but the objective eyes of a third party provide far more actionable data.
A customer-first culture will provide crucial benefits for your business, including stronger customer loyalty and retention; naturally, satisfied customers are much more likely to return to your business again and again. Moreover, these customers are also so much more likely to spread positive word-of-mouth, encouraging their friends and family to also shop with you. All of these factors add up to increased revenues and long-term sustainability.
If you would like to take the first steps towards building a customer-first culture—or if your business already has one but you would like to strengthen it further—don’t hesitate to contact us here at The Brandt Group. Not only have we provided world-class mystery shopping programs for our clients, we’ve also empowered them with tools like customer and employee feedback surveys and leadership training courses.
