Brands have touchpoints and each touchpoint is an important aspect to be looked into, including how customer service is designed.
Customer service is as much a thing with internal customers as it is with people who buy your brand. No matter how the various roles within a company are structured, these roles involve interactions (whether internal or external) for collaboration, action or for passing information upstream/downstream.
Here are four noteworthy points to hold and impart to your team across interaction points of your brand.
1. Visual presentation
There are spaces for uniformity (i.e. factory floor) and spaces that allow for individual expression in dressing. Some companies practice a once-a-week dress down culture, but with so much work-from-home (WFH) taking place, it is expected that perceptions of formality have shifted.
In any case, having those additional layers of suit and tie are just so industrial age and yester-decade. Instead, ensure that your team members use corporate branded meeting backgrounds with logos for online sessions regardless whether it is an internal or external meeting. This sets a standard visual branding whilst the individual is given the space to dress according to preference.
2. Set the tone at the top
You may not notice this, but your subtle cues in body or facial expression even during online meetings set the tone for how colleagues who are under your charge communicate with. Inspire with your level of leadership by setting the tone and following through with it.
3. Deal with customers professionally
Being professional does not mean having a dead-pan face when dealing with customers (internal and external). Being professional entails being formal and as far as possible, friendly, depending on the context and situation. It could mean that you may have to exude firmness when dealing with difficult customers and challenging situations when the unexpected happens.
4. Appreciation of loyalty goes a long way
It is in the human nature that appreciation reinforces positive behaviour.
When it comes to loyalty by internal customers, by appreciating your staff and colleagues through various means including small gifts, treats, favours, words of encouragement, these speak volumes and will likely translate into how these staff members treat their external customers. It is just the “circle of life” in how appreciation goes a long way and trickles downstream in an organisation. The second and third order effects of how the CEO deals with his next in line leaders will form the bedrock and set the tone in how loyalty is appreciated.
With external customers, building a good brand tribe that may even translate into a cult brand, begins with a good narrative that leads to a great conversation over coffee. We have two excellent research-backed books (Build Your Brand Tribe, as well as Cultify Your Brand) to help you out in these areas. Make your customers feel that they belong to something bigger than themselves and that they are a part of a like-minded community. This shortens a mere arms-length transaction into a full embrace of the brand.
Check out our brand resources on Amazon:
Copyright SYL+JAS (c) 2021. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or rewritten in any form without expressed permission from the agency.
If you’re looking for a design / brand communications partner to journey with your business through this trend, we’re here to help. Drop us an email at hello@sylnjas.com and we will be in touch shortly.
