Stories we tell
Let’s start with the obvious: Story has long been a great tool among the best marketers to attract customers.
What you might not realize is that the stories you tell inside your organization also have the power to shape your customers’ experience -- and determine whether you retain them or drive them away.
Recently, Frontier Academy began working with a client to create a culture of customer service in their organization. As our week-long program progressed, leaders in the room had an epiphany: When they told stories inside the company, how often were they casting their customers in the role of villain?
Okay, so we rarely go so far as to make our customers the villain – that implies too much intent. But we often make them the maddening antagonist that gets in the way of our happily-ever-after, insisting that they are “too demanding, too unrealistic, too uncommunicative, too... insert your complaint here.” These leaders had come together, determined to improve customer service, only to realize the stories exchanged inside the company were actually priming their people to see the customer as the enemy.
Their real challenge in creating a culture of customer service: they need to recast their stories. Can they help their people connect to a greater purpose by recasting customers as protagonists waging a battle of their own? For the health insurance customer, that battle may be a tough diagnosis from a doctor and concerns about payment for treatment. For an internal customer demanding immediate attention from the IT Help desk, the battle may be one of downward pressure from the boss. And for that small business owner complaining about a delayed delivery of inventory, that battle may be part of a struggle to stay afloat.
In every case, story becomes the way we remind our people that the complaint on the other end of the phone line or email is coming from an actual human with needs we can all identify with. And more importantly, your team member has the opportunity to play a critical role in creating a great ending for a person who is critical to your business.
So now it’s your turn: Inside your organization, are you telling the right stories about your customers?
- Stevie