Although the need to generate a memorable Shopping Experience for our customers is increasingly disseminated, it is important to bear in mind that this will never be achieved if an "Employee Experience" is not previously generated. Therefore, one of the primary tasks for any company that wants to offer Experiences is to ensure that its internal resources are aligned with this new business model.
Increase the Employee Experience
The concept of "Experience" not only applies to external clients, but also to internal ones, that is, the company's employees. The Employee Experience should be a new philosophy for the management of HR in companies, which goes beyond the traditional practices of focusing on teamwork, leadership, coaching and compensation. What all employees, at whatever level, get from an “Experience-oriented” company is a work environment where they feel they are continually in contact with a motivating and satisfying Employee Experience.
How can we ensure that employees create an experiential contact every moment they speak, provide information, or simply engage with customers? Many HR theories that try to align employee behavior with the mission, vision and values of the company, are actually very abstract and generically based on the objectives of the managers of the organization. What is needed are customer-focused HR practices to try to align employee behavior to deliver a memorable Customer Experience.
The 5 steps of Experience Management for HR:
1. Hire employees: in doing so, go further in reading their CV, analyzing their attitude, ability and predisposition to generate experiences for their future clients. Ask yourself, does the employee understand the importance of treating the customer well, giving them a memorable experience? Will they be able to give all their energy to provide this Experience? Will they be able to achieve empathy in communication with the client, which makes them think and feel like they do in the Purchase Act? Will they be able to sell what they would never buy either for financial reasons or simply for pleasure?
2. Train them for the daily delivery of Experiences: Training doesn't just mean teaching them set phrases or rehearsing pre-made scripts. Employees must understand the importance of their role and must have the freedom to find new ways to increase the value of the experience they deliver to the customer. Whether employees sell products or services, they should always “ put themselves in the customer's shoes ” to better personalize the offer and generate Experiences on a daily basis.
3. Provide incentives and rewards: training is not always enough for employees to maintain a constant focus on the customer. Therefore, it is important to provide them with incentives and rewards as new stimuli aimed at generating Experiences. It is also necessary to take into account that these incentives do not only go through the monetary, that reward must also contemplate the sociocultural motivations and the lifestyles of each employee.
4. Measure behavior in relation to Experience standards: employees must always receive feedback on their performance regarding their activity in the field of experience management. How are your contacts with customers? How do you contribute to the generation of a relationship with them that makes them buy again? Do they help create experiential links with customers?
5. Provide a correct Employee Experience: a fundamental task of today's organizations must consist of finding ways to ensure that the work that employees do is taken as an interesting, engaging and motivating challenge. If employees feel that their task is boring or oppressive, they will be less likely to deliver a good Shopping Experience to their customers.
Motivation in the Employee Experience
In many companies, employees do not care about their jobs and are not motivated. Dave Ulrich, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School, observes that the "job slump" is on the rise. In this context, not all employees can be expected to provide a memorable Customer Experience and treatment. That is why it is key for any company to encourage what Ulrich calls the “employee contribution”.
What is sought is to take employees as the first customers, the "internal customers". Create an Employee Experience that is motivating and that generates satisfaction, reward and a sense of belonging to the company.
To begin, it is vital to investigate what the “experiential world” of employees is like, find out what they want, what they are looking for, their tastes, attitudes and interests. Consider each employee in her human dimension: biological and social and explore her emotional and rational motivations towards work.
Another action may be to involve the employee in the brand. To do this, carry out workshops internally, in which employees can discuss the brand, its attributes and if they know how to transmit the brand's values, this will result in the satisfaction of their individual needs. Let them also suggest ways in which they can experience the brand in a different way, both in their day-to-day work and in their personal lives.
Ultimately, what is involved is to involve employees in an internal effort towards the Customer Experience management approach. Work together to build a holistic experiential platform, both internal and external. If the company manages to channel its attention to the Experience that its employees live, it may be rewarded with a better and more productive workforce that can more naturally generate a true differential Shopping Experience for customers.
