Can You Improve the Customer Experience by Focusing on Homebuilding?

A number of companies are talking about the customer experience. For some it means consistency across the channels; for others, it’s all about the voice of the customer. Does your execution support your strategy when it comes to customer care? Are you focused on the experience and do your technology choices like virtual PBX play into this execution?

A recent blog by virtual PBX solutions provider Nextiva dives into this topic. As part of a series of articles meant to help readers grasp the essentials of customer service, this blog points to the importance of getting into the homebuilding business. This doesn’t mean you’re going to build houses, but instead change the mindset so you’re consistently creating experiences, service, products and processes that feel just like home.

To make this work, you have to take a step back and remove a little of the reality. Customers don’t really want the dirty dishes, the stacked up laundry or ongoing maintenance. What they want is what they believe home to be in their ideal world. It is the experience of being a child in the home of the caring parent – all needs are readily attended to, you’re missed if you leave and the welcome back when you return is sincere. The customer with this experience is more likely to not only be loyal, but also advocate for your brand.

If you’re using virtual PBX as your primary communication point with the customer base, have you built the home-like processes into your scripts? It’s one thing to make sure the communication experience is seamless from a technical perspective, yet quite another to ignore the details of the interaction. Do your employees understand what customers want from them even without asking? Are you providing customers with a voice so that home-like experience is easily created?

The right technology can go a long way in assuring the processes are in place for the optimal customer experience. Automated anticipatory messaging, for instance, allows you to respond in advance to customer needs. Well-designed self-service technology catered to the needs of the specific individual are worth the investment in this space. At the same time, employees need to be listening to all channels to better understand the desires of the customer base.

Remember, virtual PBX and other advanced features in your communication system can lend considerable value to the process, but people still buy from people. Integrate this element into your strategy and build the home-like feeling around your products and services. In doing so, you’ll find your best customers will become your best advocates.