Customer Service vs Customer Experience
The new thing for many bloggers and speakers to mention and discuss, in minor detail, is the understanding that customer service is great, but the customer experience is what separates you from the competition…
Here is what I say….Customer service is just foreplay, the customer experience is the home-run.
What sets your agency apart?
When I speak to agents across america I ask them, “What would you say sets you apart and makes you better than the agent down the street?” They always say: “Customers service. Seven out of ten times, that is what they say.
Then they always give a whole list of reasons to back it up. But here is the issue: customer service is something the customer expects, and they should. It is what they pay you for.
I mean, come on, be real here.
To win “the customer of now and tomorrow,” the customer experience is what’s going to set you apart.
This is not the new service, this is the expected experience?
A visual description of “customer experience.”
So what does it look like?
Up to right now, this very minute, no one has told you in a simple way…
From a 20,000 ft view:
“Customer Experience is the process the customer goes through from them first knowing about your brand to them buying multiple products from you.”
From a 10,000 ft view:
- Your advertising and marketing so they know your brand and name.
- Your networking and prospecting so they know your story and support for the community.
- Your sales process; from qualifying, to quoting, to proposing, to the close.
- Your customer service options you provide them and how you provide it to them.
- Your retention process of providing value by answering their question in the channel and media they need.
- Finally and most important, how you cross sell and have them buy multiple services from you.
From a 1,000 ft view:
- Agency apps
- E-signatures
- Self service websites
- Instant online Quotes
- Payments on your website
- Media to answer questions
These are all desired and demanded by the customer. We need to offer these, not the companies.
Insurance companies should provide the intangible products, we should be offering the tangible products.
How do we do this?
We organize these tangible customer demands into a process that suits our clients first. We build our agency and work flows second.
Through trial and error we find out what works and what doesn’t. Then we circle back on a regular basis to back-fill the errors and build on our success.
Once our agency masters this process in a consistent manner . . .
BOOM!
That is the Customer Experience I speak of!
The customer experience we all know
Here’s an example to relate:
When you go to McDonald (I don’t recommend this, just an example), you know it is bad for you, but in certain instances you stop there . . . why? Because of the experience.
Whether you’re in Florida, Washington State, or Rio de Janeiro, a McDonalds experience is the same, the menu is the same, the Big Mac tastes the same, the wrapper and bag looks the same, the fries are the same, and they all have a drive through and this makes things simple and convenient for the customer and business.
Still doubt me and others?
That’s ok. In life I have found that when people don’t know or understand something, they initially don’t like it.
Be honest with yourself and ask “Are the things I am doing today working and yielding the same results it did when I did them 15, 10, or 5 years ago?”
The answer is no because you pride yourself on customer service, when all you need to do is create an awesome customer experience.
Agents are doing it everyday and their growth is way above average.
Take a few of these tangible products and expand on that service and create the experience.
You can do it no doubt.
What other tangible products are you offering your customers that’s not listed here.
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This is a tough discussion. Customer Experience: “CX”. I know you talk about the typical agent having a paneled office with old worn out carpet but we have put lots of time and effort into our shop (CX). We have a flowing brand from our FB to our letterhead to our office signage (CX). I severely limit the amount of plaques and company branding in my office so they don’t get in the way (CX). I even custom built some of our tech to bring out a unique internal component for our CX. I think at some point you do all that right and you have to lean on the company’s CX…lets say you don’t agree with the experience as it leaves your control: customer portal, service center, hold messages, mailed memos, billing notices…your pretty much stuck with what they give your client. To make matters worse the company blasts their brand in the clients face and reduces your agency’s name’s font size to 8pt so…..if im true to your original word-picture: I pick up the lady at the bar….I buy her a drink….I listen to her hopes and dreams and fears….I take her on a couple more dates then she invites me up for a drink and I create the perfect mood and am a perfect gentlemen….then I execute “foreplay” and am flawless in both technique and creativity……Then I tag out and tell her to date my friend who is a total player (has thousands of other girlfriends) and he doesn’t consider her feelings and is generally just there for one thing….you get the picture. What more is a perfect gentleman insurance agent to do????