The customer is the very reason that a business exists for. Mostly, the customer is at the very core of any business decision. Since time immemorial, the tastes and perceptions of customers that we intend to serve have changed drastically in this V.U.C.A world. Because of the generational shift and other influences, today’s customer wants more of everything. Top quality, one-tenth the time to deliver, and most importantly all this must be a great experience. In a world where the customer is spoilt for choices and constantly being bombarded with many alternatives and brand loyalty is a thing of the past, any organization would be well served to sharpen its axe and look at how it perceives what a customer experience means for them and for their industry.

Through this space, we reflect and revisit the paradigms of customer experience and what can we do to make our organization more customer-centric and strive to create a memorable customer experience time and again.

To start with, customer experience has to be inculcated from the first call of addressing the customer and within the conversation, processes, and communication of the organization when they approach a customer. Once we do that and sustain it over some time, creating a value-based customer experience becomes a part of how an organization does its business. While customer interaction training helps, additionally, there are other critical factors for an organization to address.

Empower employees at every level: This part is critical and the first experience the customer has when they call an organization, e.g. when they check into a hotel, call an airline, check into a flight, or call a bank, it’s called the moment of truth. The first level of employees if not empowered, if not trained well time & again, to make their own decisions will end up disappointing its customers and hence will eventually lose them to competition.

Encourage and ideate with employees: Your frontline staff and the middle-level staff are breeding grounds for great ideas to come through and explore. Since we are talking about creating a culture where employees can share their ideas and see which ideas can be taken forward, allow & facilitate your employees across levels to come up with ideas to sharpen processes and implement ideas no matter how big or small they are, small steps but big leaps.

Embrace an omnichannel mindset: All organizations that want to take their customer experience to the next level are now using every way to reach out to customers to create an experience for them. They try an engage with their customer on every device and way possible. Real estate players have used technology to let their customers take a virtual tour of their projects if proximity is a challenge, banks have started virtual banking and made their processes more customer-friendly to constantly create an experience for their customers. The only challenge is to mix technology with the human experience and not just one of them. Also, organizations should be weary of not overdoing any of them and strike a balance as to how much connection they seek with their customers rather than bombarding them with company info on every platform.

Use customer journey mapping: Simply put, customer journey mapping is a way for an organization to understand customer perceptions, values, taste, and their relationship with the organization. This can help an organization envision what future expectations can they expect from their customers.

Implement Voice of Customer Program: Another critical aspect of creating exceptional customer experience is to deploy Voice of Customer initiatives as part of the company’s DNA. Tapping into customer expectations, their experience, and their perceptions of the company can make the organization proactive and allow them to see into the future into what can customers expect from them going forward.

Enhance customer service: Last but not least, any organization’s backbone to create a great customer experience is to enhance its customer service, especially after-sales service. Unfortunately, this is one area that a lot of customers feel let down with. Once the sale is made, a lot of times the customers feel let down and are perceived to be given step-motherly treatment by the company. Let’s work with the paradigm that a complaint is actually a gift and through a complaint a customer is allowing us to improve once again. It shows humility on the company’s part to accept that there are areas that they may need to work on continuously for that exceptional customer experience. Historically, organizations which have invested in customer service skills training have reaped benefits of better customer satisfaction scores.

This blog has been written by Rupender Khaira, an Associate Partner @Growthsqapes

Every leader brings a certain presence to the table, to a gathering & and more importantly to an organization. In many contexts, the presence of a leader can change the mindset of the people that they work with, their attitudes, and sometimes their performances. In the corporate landscape, the word we use is “Executive Presence”.  

What defines Executive Presence? why do some leaders have it more than others? Can this be learned as a skill? Today we attempt to answer the above questions.

Loosely put, Executive Presence is a person’s ability to lead and inspire people with confidence, make decisions under pressure, and instill genuine belief and trust in the senior stakeholders that one can achieve great results.

So, what is Executive Presence built on and what are the factors that decide whether one’s Executive Presence can influence the people around?

Authenticity:  Being authentic as a leader is the foundation on which executive presence is built on. What you see is what you get or close to it. Our ability to be honest about ourselves, our strengths and perceived weaknesses and to show that in our actions….is the first glimpse of our presence that people see and relate to. If we are not authentic then we are walking on thin ice when it comes to being confident and building trust.” Actions communicate a lot more about a person than their words”. Cliched, but true.

Ability to manage emotions: A leader is expected to make critical decisions under pressure. Hence their capacity and their ability to be cool and calm can be a big plus and can create an atmosphere wherein people can feel a sense of psychological safety in their actions and be accountable for them. A M.S Dhoni and a Ratan Tata are great examples in the Indian context of being able to manage their emotions and inspire people to great achievements. Understanding our triggers and being more self-aware about our strengths and perceived limitations can be great dimensions to build our Executive Presence upon.

Confidence: A leader’s ability to back themselves up and inspire people with their confidence in their decision making and to make their stakeholders believe in them, is a great trait that builds a leader’s presence and charisma with their stakeholders.

Empathy: To seek first to understand things from another person’s point of view and then being understood is the hallmark of a leader who displays the ability to be influenced by the other person’s point of view as much as they would put their point across and expect the person to be influenced by their point of view. This is another critical personality trait of leaders who are sure of themselves and are not afraid of being wrong and are emotionally secure in their skin.

Communication skills: According to research, leader’s ability to articulate and communicate their vision to their respective stakeholders is a critical part of their executive presence. Leaders who are assertive communicators bring in clarity of thought to achieve the goals of the organization. Their ability to emphatically communicate their point across with conviction and belief, to listen and understand others’ perspectives and bringing in others’ strengths and synergies, builds on the leader’s presence and aura.

Grooming and attire: Adding on, communication just does not mean, verbal communication. The leader’s way of dressing up is also a critical part of the leader’s presence. A physically fit leader, who is agile is perceived differently as opposed to someone who is obese, unkept, and perceived to be unhygienic and scattered.

Can Executive Presence be learnt?

The short answer is yes. But how?

To begin with, one must start reflecting on which industry they operate in, what are their long-term goals, their career aspirations, their strengths, and their perceived weaknesses, and most importantly on being emotionally intelligent. This in itself is a journey of self-discovery and not a destination. Every role that leaders perform, require a different level of skill and presence. With every role, one must reflect on the skills required to sustain and grow in the roles that they are in. That may be the first part of the jigsaw puzzle to look at.

Furthermore, feedback from important stakeholders is a great way to understand how you are received and perceived by them. Feedback as they say is the “breakfast of champions” and one must have this very often to deepen our presence with others.

Additionally, a better understanding of your emotional makeup and what gets you going and what doesn’t is a critical aspect of building your presence from the inside out.

Last but not the least, a coaching mindset is another great skill for both young and the seasoned leaders to operate from and weave this skill in their communication with their respective teams.

In either case, whether it’s online leadership development training or offline leadership development programs in India or Asia, GrowthSqapes, as one of the best corporate training companies In India has strong capability and successful history of building Executive Presence in leaders across all industries.

This blog has been written by Rupender Singh Khaira, an Associate Partner with GrowthSqapes