The Customer Experience

A short post this weekend as I had a day off yesterday (Friday), which just means I'm working from home today to catch up, or at least until the 6 Nations kicks off.

Last week I was at Customer Experience Training from BNI. Whilst there is an element of relating this to our BNI chapter and the experience we give to visitors, the training was not specific and can be applied to our own business.

The key lesson can be summed up that excellent customer service is provided by "going the extra mile" but that this can be done at with little or no cost. So there's lots of little things that can be done day to day such as:

• Using people's names when you talk to them on the phone
• Being friendly and welcoming
• Simply being honest and helpful

But that should be standard, how do we turn that into something a little special at Tad Web Solutions? 

We have already implemented a little "Thank You" process when we complete a project and get paid. So for companies with a few employees you are likely to get a little batch of cupcakes delivered as a sign of or appreciation, or if you are a sole trader you will receive an alternative.

One area we could improve on is our own visitor experience. Our visitors are generally existing clients or potential clients and hopefully we give them a good experience once we meet them after Reception have told us they're here. But there are 3 real problems we could improve on:

1. There's no parking at our business centre (despite the original promises from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council), the nearest parking must be paid for and is a couple of hundred metres away
2. The Reception staff are not very welcoming, we get told this quite often (yes they are supplied by RCBC - there's a theme here)
3. If there's only one member of staff in our office, then the visitors are left to themselves whilst a cuppa is made as the kitchen is not in our office.

So how do we improve on that, other than continuing our push for visitor parking?

1. Send our visitors  a pdf with where to park and our mobile numbers. Ask them to text us when they're 5 mins away and we will nip out to the car park, pay for a place via mobile and have an umbrella for when the weather is inclement.
2. We then walk them to the building and take them up to our office avoiding the Reception staff
3. Have our own kettle and small fridge so drinks are ready when the visitor arrives

Small things that will simply show that our customers matter.