Don’t you love a good fast food drive-thru. It’s quick, efficient, and we know what we’re going to get every time (fried food and a stomach ache).
But there’s something really special about visiting a prestigious, Michelin-star restaurant that works to provide unforgettable service. It’s not just about how the food tastes, but what the customers’ experience while dining there. It’s an interactive whirlwind, sometimes even leaving the food ingredients to mystery. It’s because of the thorough, almost militant service, down to the most minute detail of the experience – like folding your napkin perfectly as you leave the table to use the restroom – that keeps guests coming.
This kind of attention to detail is the type of customer success experience that will impress your customers. And you’re behind if you haven’t already automated most of these tasks. You can automate basic communication processes with new sales tools, and focus your time on providing Michelin-star service to your highest valued customers.
Here are the important details to automate in both outbound sales and customer success process without sacrificing the quality of service:
On-boarding
They’ve already been sold on the dinner. Maybe friends have recommended it or they’ve seen it on TV, but the point is they’re already bought in. Just like your customers have already signed on with your sales rep. It’s now up to you to make sure their expectations are met after purchase.
Your new customers might be interested in your product or service, but they’re more interested in the desired outcomes. Your on-boarding experience will help to set up the framework and expectations for their entire engagement moving forward.
So how do you prepare?
Michelin-star servers have thorough meetings and research their guests each night. They know of birthdays, special events, professions of their guests and their relationship to the other guests they’re coming with. They know as much as possible about you when you walk through the door to provide the best tailored experience – and your kickoff should be no different.
Communication can be prepared ahead of time, through Mixmax’s meeting scheduling tools and email automation. Get with your sales team often, and fill in as much information about their sales cycle before you meet with them. It shows you’ve done your homework, they don’t need to repeat themselves and start over with you, and your internal teams are synced and seamless.
Schedule email follow ups to meet timelines and customer expectations after the kick off call. If you’ve discussed future strategy and implementation timelines with your customers, set your follow up email to send immediately after the call, using a follow up email template to the client with their details. You can also make it easier to set up future calls with an automated meeting scheduler. It takes only 2 minutes rather than 10, and sets the tone for the entire relationship moving forward.
Related Post: Customer Success and Sales: Your Next Dream Team
Proactive Engagement
Most customer support teams are putting out fires. They’re responding to bugs and customer complaints or questions, but what about the customers they aren’t hearing from?
It’s impressive to provide value before customers expect it. The faster time to value, the more you exceed customer expectations. If you have usage data, for example, you can automate your communication through triggered-emails based on that usage and teach them how to get more out of their solution. No added work for you, but way more value for your customers, higher adoption, more upsell opportunity and stronger loyalty. Use email tracking to your advantage to see how your customers interact with your communication.
If you’re only interacting with customers when they need something, you’re behind. Just like if your servers only come by when you wave them down. Show them features of your product they haven’t uncovered yet, using email automation with consistent and relevant education. Provide solutions to issues they haven’t yet experienced. Your relationship will strengthen and so will their trust in you. Luckily, you can interact and set follow up reminders/tasks without racking your brain – let your data and technology solutions do the heavy lifting for you.
Related Post: Tips for building the most coveted thing every sales person wants
Feedback
There is no better way to learn and improve customer experience than to hear feedback directly from them. Mixmax polls are an easy way to get feedback because all your customer has to do is give their answer in one click. Schedule email automation at the right time in the customer process and ask about their experience in those pivotal moments of your customer journey.
If there’s an issue resolution, performance reporting, or a new product setup, it’s time to hear how your customers feel about it.
Your server comes by immediately after your food hits the table, explains everything on the plate, and makes sure you received the correct dishes and accompanied drinks. Your CS team needs to do the same for your customers by laying out details, timelines, deliverables and set proper expectations – then make sure they’re satisfied as soon as they’ve “tasted the dish”. Schedule email at these checkpoints to keep both ends aligned. These checkpoints give you the opportunity to fix an issue immediately as it arises or readjust expectations, that could have otherwise led to poor customer satisfaction scores or churned customers.
So what makes a dining experience mediocre or exceptional? The quality and type of cuisine, but most importantly, the service.
A decision to eat at a Michelin-star restaurant is the first sale, but the continued service provided by your Customer Success team is what drives the continued sale forward. Leverage new sales tools to create the most convenient, seamless and proactive experience for your customers from the first interaction. Catch questions or issues before they experience them, and organize your touch points ahead of time to get there. Gather feedback from your customers often via email automation, and prioritize their input to drive the future of your product.
Make sure your customers would give your service a Michelin-star rating. What can your customer success team automate vs. manually customize to achieve the highest level of excellence?
Today your customers demand speed and personalization – basically nothing short of excellence. See how Mixmax can help you give your customers Michelin-rating service.
Start a free trial of Mixmax today.
