Member Service Boosts Market Performance

CUNA’s E-Scan Newsletter
July 20, 2010 | COMMENTS

Great customer service is an ideal so frequently discussed that its value should go without saying, right? Truth is, the degree of time and energy that companies invest in this area often separates the high performers from the also-rans.

Seventy-nine percent of respondents from high-performing companies think about how to help improve their customer experience on a regular basis, compared to 69% of low-performing companies, according to a customer-focused survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity and reported in Training & Development magazine.

The gap widens when respondents were probed further about their organization's customer-focused strategies. Eighty-six percent of high-performing companies say they keep promises to their customers, whereas only 64% of low-performing companies do the same.

“What surprised me the most was the size of the gaps between high- and low-performing companies,” says Carol Morrison, senior research analyst for the Institute.

The study defined high-performing organizations on the basis of their performance over a span of five years. The specific factors measured were revenue growth, market share, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

Another big consideration when it comes to great customer service is having a philosophy that's preached and practiced from the top down, starting with leadership. Morrison notes that:

• Forty-two percent of high-performing companies have an internal communication plan in place to ensure that customer insights are understood by everyone in the organization, as compared to just 17% of low-performing companies.
• Fifty-six percent of high performers reinforce customer awareness and respect throughout all levels of the organization versus 33% of low performers.

“High performers communicate with customers regularly—they ask about their needs and about the quality of service they've received,” says Morrison. “Internally, they share customer satisfaction data companywide and they work to make sure that employees understand their customers' insights.”

High-performing companies have had to embrace organizational change along with advancements in technology, notes Morrison. “Companies are exploiting new pathways that have become available to them to maintain contact with their customers, to sample customer opinions, and to extend offers and incentives,” she adds. Among their practices:

• Human resources departments train employees to be responsive to customers, and they reward and recognize these behaviors.
• Social media comes into play at 20% of high-performing companies, which use it to communicate with customers, versus 12% of low-performing companies.
• Sixty percent of high performers also survey their end users annually to assess the quality of their products and services versus 33% of low performers.

“These standards are the metrics that a company can use to assess its efforts in focusing on customers,” says Morrison. The data can also be used as benchmarking tool so leaders can compare their companies to others, she adds.

This article originally appeared in CUNA's E-Scan Newsletter. Reprinted with permission.