Editorial
The Gist
- Customer satisfaction strategies. Making priorities real requires action and meaningful progress, not just declarations or plans.
- Feedback drives loyalty. Actively seeking and responding to customer feedback builds lasting relationships and loyalty.
- Focused priorities win. Concentrating on key priorities and following through can give businesses a competitive edge.
It’s a new year. Time to reconsider our priorities, set better goals and achieve more. Perhaps your priorities are similar to last year, but you want to make more progress toward your customer satisfaction strategies. Or perhaps it’s time to take a step back and take a look at all of the above. Either way, this time of year gives us the opportunity to take stock of what we prioritize and how we plan to achieve it.
Yet making something a priority isn’t simply adding it as a bullet point in a Powerpoint deck, or sending a Slack message to @here, nor is it creating an externally-facing marketing campaign or brand. While all of those things might define what it means to call something a priority, to actually make something a priority there needs to be meaningful progress toward completing it. Or, to be more succinct, priority is action.
In this article, I’m going to look at a few aspects in my latest book, "Priority is Action: 7 Principles for Better Strategies, Decisions, and Outcomes" and how they relate to focusing on your priorities to create a better customer experience.
Following Through on Priorities Creates Happier Employees
Happier employees help to create happier customers, and when it comes to employee engagement and satisfaction, nothing is more important than follow-through. Organizations can talk all they want about their mission, values and priorities, but if they don't back up those words with action, employees will quickly lose faith in leadership and the company as a whole.
When leaders and the organization at large practice what they preach, it sends a powerful message to employees that they truly care about the company's success and well-being. This can lead to higher levels of trust, engagement and job satisfaction among employees, as they feel valued and respected by the company.
Related Article: How Do We Measure the Happy Customer?
Following Through Leads to Gains in Productivity, Creativity
Moreover, when organizations follow through on their priorities, it demonstrates a commitment to excellence and a willingness to go above and beyond what is required. This can help create an environment where employees feel empowered and encouraged to do their best work, leading to increased productivity, creativity and innovation.
In contrast, when companies fail to follow through on their priorities, it can lead to feelings of neglect or disregard among staff members, ultimately undermining engagement and retention efforts. As such, it is crucial for organizations to not only set priorities but also to consistently act on them in order to foster a positive, productive workplace culture.
Related Article: It’s Time to Set Your 2022 CX Goals
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Acting on Customer Feedback Drives Loyalty
When I work with organizations as a consultant and adviser, a top priority I recommend is to find ways to drive greater customer lifetime value, which helps mitigate endless churn and helps to alleviate challenges and seasonality with new customer acquisition.
Building Lasting Relationships
Customer feedback is a powerful tool for businesses looking to build long-lasting relationships with their customers, and for all the organizations that say that customers are a priority, those that actively seek feedback demonstrate this with their actions. By actively seeking out and responding to customer input, organizations can demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction and loyalty. When customers feel heard and valued, they are more likely to become repeat buyers, advocates and brand champions.
Meaningful Change
However, simply collecting customer feedback is not enough — businesses must also act on it to drive meaningful change and improvement. This means taking concrete actions based on customer input, such as improving product features, streamlining the purchase process or enhancing customer support. By demonstrating a willingness to listen, adapt and improve, businesses can build trust and credibility with their customers, leading to increased loyalty and advocacy over time. As a result, companies that prioritize customer feedback and action are more likely to experience higher retention rates, positive word-of-mouth and long-term growth.
Related Article: How Do IT Organizations Prioritize Competing Corporate Change Initiatives?
Meaningfully Acting on Our Priorities Can Be a Competitive Advantage
Why do we prioritize in the first place? One of the principles I discuss at length in the book is that everything can’t be the most important thing. Even multibillion dollar companies with tens of thousands of employees need to achieve focus to achieve their goals.
Startups are often touted for their ability to be both nimble and able to move quickly, as well as scrappy, able to do more with less, but what enterprises lack in speed to decision, they more than make up for in resources and bench talent.
Focusing on Key Priorities
Thus, being able to focus on key priorities and follow through on them can be an enterprise organization’s competitive advantage. While other competitors are floundering with their silos, competing priorities, conflicting incentive structures, and lack of global focus, an enterprise organization that understands the value of prioritization and follow-through can turn this into a competitive advantage and drive toward more innovation and ideally become a category leader to boot!
Final Thoughts on Customer Satisfaction and Follow-Through
As you can see, the difference between calling something a priority and making it a priority is action, follow-through and continued progress toward achieving it, particularly when it comes to customer satisfaction strategies.
In the months ahead, I encourage you to focus, prioritize, and act and lead by example so that you, your teams and your organization can achieve maximum success, create a better work environment and have happier, more loyal customers.
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