I recently read an interview with Bruce Temkin, founder and principal of Temkin Group, a customer experience research and consulting firm. The company hosts an annual event called the Customer Experience Excellence Awards, which recognizes companies that deliver exceptional customer experience.

In the interview, Bruce explains what winners of the award have in common.

What do the winners have in common? Engaged employees.

“If you want to have good customer experience, you have to start with employees who are engaged…you have to have your employees engaged because at the end of the day, they’re the ones who day in and day out, decision after decision after decision, millions of decisions per day in a large company, they’re the ones who ultimately are going to make sure that customers get a good experience not once, not just today, but over and over again into the future.”

How do you engage employees? Instill a sense of purpose.

“At the end of the day, I think that you need to instill a sense of purpose in your employees…and that purpose needs to align with the purpose of the organization.”

“One of the four areas we look at is purposeful leadership. Really if you think about it, a leader’s role is not who they hire, it’s not who they go out and schmooze with, it’s do they communicate a strong enough sense of what the organization is about and where it’s heading so that everyone around them is marching in the same direction and is willing to do their best to try and help the organization achieve it. That’s the role that leadership plays, not only in customer experience. You need to provide a sense of direction so that other people can line up behind it.”

There are four core competencies winners must have. Besides engaged employees and purposeful leadership, what’s left?

Compelling brand values: You brand attributes are driving decisions about how you treat customers. In senior living, brand attributes can often be found in your mission statement and core values.

Customer connectedness: Customer feedback and insight is integrated throughout your organization.

Does your organization have the four core competencies that drive exceptional customer experience? Find out from the perspective of your customers and employees.  Call 630-237-4138 or email lynn@sensightsurveys.com.