Welcome to Success Strategies
Are you listening to your customers?
In this edition of Success Strategies, we focus on the benefits of listening to your customers. I am defining the word “listening” quite broadly. It is not good enough to listen to the feedback passively; it is essential to act on what customers are saying. Our clients that are the best at both listening to and acting on feedback are the ones who have superior experiences for their customers.
What are you missing?
Most importantly, being open to what your customers are saying isn’t easy. It takes time and effort to listen and act on feedback by reviewing your processes and communicating with front-line staff. To learn why it is worth the effort, read my latest blog, “Just What Does B2B Customer Feedback Get You?” I share the responses of top CX Managers to the question of what are the primary benefits of their programs. Learn what you are missing at your company without a B2B Customer Feedback program.
Continuing on our topic of listening to your customers, I found Medium’s “Let Your Customers Love You, by Listening to Them.” In short, this blog outlines and explains the main reasons to listen to your customers which are to improve your:
- Products (“Metrics tell you what, but feedback can often tell you how and why.”)
- Customer Relationships (“…sometimes people don’t expect you to solve their problems; listening and acknowledging them is good enough.”)
- Stories (“Powerful customer stories infuse meaning into your organization: they motivate and inspire employees.”)
In addition, I also recommend Entrepreneur’s “Are You Listening to Your End Customer? Here are 5 Reasons You Should Be,” which gives us some reminders of the benefit of listening to our customers.
- You need the data
- Satisfied customers will be your champions
- It gets you out of your bubble, i.e., keeps your perspective fresh
- You’ll learn where your brand is misunderstood
- You’ll be better prepared for change
Next steps
If you want to learn more about how to really “listen” to your customers, check out our EBOOK Why B2B customer feedback programs fail (and how to make yours succeed). Also, you might want to visit our knowledge library and read an earlier blog, “Are You Providing Consistent Experiences?” to give the benefits to your NPS score by providing consistent experiences.
Though improving customer experience appears daunting, remember a trip of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
Let us know what you think!
Lynn Daniel
CEO