CRM: Creating a Customer Charter

In a recent survey it was found that clarity and effective feedback are the two key elements to improving employee job performance.

On reflection, it’s not rocket science, is it?

If you’re clear about what you want a team member to do and then provide good feedback on the performance you’re more than likely to be on a winner.

It’s the same for Customers in your CRM strategy.

One major flaw in customer service and in building relationships is the gap between how a client believes their service will be delivered and what the company believes how it will be delivered. If the gap is a small the overall experience will be quite good. Better if there is no gap at all. The wider the gap and there’s be plenty of sleepless nights for the company.

A carefully and clearly constructed Customer Charter will remove the chances of any gap appearing.

A customer charter, especially one that incorporates a flowchart of some kind, will cover a lot of issues when it comes to customer expectations – and deal effectively with them.

I developed this with a mortgage broker recently in an effort to help them deliver a better level of service as well as reduce the amount of time spent with the customer answering questions that had already been covered.

The charter, in his case, was a process flow of the mortgage delivery process. It highlighted key stages, time frames and what to expect at each stage. It came with a FAQ Section as well simply because there are a number of common questions all customers ask. These common questions work well in written form. Note that the charter does not preclude client contact. In fact, when providing the charter, the broker emphasises the point to contact them if there are any questions left unanswered. If there is contact with the Company that is covered in the charter, the broker firstly answers the question and then politley, if necessary, refers them to the charter. This then reinforces the relationship as the client knows the company have backed what they ’say’ by writing it down and giving it to them in black and white.

(One thing this broker does is sign the charter in front of the client! A bit of theatre but the impact is quite powerful.)

The value of the charter to the Client is:

• It empowers the client in the process – this can’t be over empahsised. Being in control is a huge benefit to both the client and the company. The process becomes a partnership. When (if) things go wrong both parties work on resolving it in accordance with the Charter – to get back on track.
• The client knows when the next stage is and what they may need to provide. This keeps the process moving along and pro-active.
• They know what to expect when a finance company calls or the Broker contacts them with any news and;
• They know what they are expected to do – if anything

This is all in place of being left bewildered by a whole range of foreign processes that makes them feel uninformed at best and, at work, stupid.

The value to the Company is:

• They truly know what they need to deliver and prepare for it
• Setting reasonable time frames allows good time resources to ensure the right action are taken
• Setting times frames also allows for better resourcing and management
• Staff know what is expected and work towards those expectations
• Setting a process also will highlight possible gaps than can be closed next time – so the charter is a tool for continuous improvement.

What if We Have a Range of Processes?

For a company with a range of products and process, a general charter around customer service delivery would suffice. However, having expereinced a clear and concise charter and process flow, I have found many companies err on the side of generalising their Customer Service Charter. This actually works against the company. Why? Because the client is then generally looking for how well the service is delivered and at certain times the Company may not deliver, thus devaluing the process and the customer relationship. It also offers too many options for improvement at the point of error. Thsi simply wastes, time (read money), resources and energy.

Next week I will post a template of a customer charter you will be able to modify as well as see the context in which these can be developed.

I’ll also post further benefits and scenarios where a Customer Charter can assist in your CRM Strategy.

If you have already instituted a Customer Charter that is working well for you, please let me know. I’d love to see some examples.