Last month I addressed the fact that not every customer visit, engagement or contact will go smoothly. While you, your staff, and all the stakeholders involved, may like this to happen and bosses may think this is always possible, we’re dealing with human beings and circumstances that don’t always read from the same script nor have the same agenda. While we try to minimize the surprises and missteps, it’s much more important in my opinion as someone driving the customer experience for my organization as well as a consumer of customer experiences that the goof-ups and less stellar events as addressed immediately. Not only does this show your staff and management that this is serious business and that you take customers seriously, it also sends a strong message to the customer that you and your business organization take them, their concerns, real or perceived, seriously.
I have great fortune and opportunity to gain some new skills in this last quarter and first quarter of next year by attending a Customer Experience Management certification course that I am enjoying tremendously (I wish the class met more often and the duration was longer). I will share more of my learnings in the upcoming months as well as what practical applications I will be implementing (and the results). The ability to move forward with continuous improvement (CI) in everything we do I think reflects strongly in one’s corporate culture.
When individuals and organizations make CI a part of the corporate DNA, expectations to do well and do even better keep those of us who are interested in making our companies better highly engaged. Within the Canon organization these efforts are recognized with an annual recognition of a program called the CAPA (Canon Americas Presidential Award).
With the implementation of new programs and projects that have had a large impact on the Canon organization whether in Growth, Change, Support, Sustainability or Innovation, individuals and departmental groups are recognized for their outstanding contributions. It is with great humility that I travel with two of my colleagues today to the US corporate headquarters of Canon to present as a finalist for the CAPA category of support.
The Boca Raton Customer Experience facility is quite a showroom but it’s the people that make the ordinariness of print a special event and allows our customers an inside and intimate view of our organization and how we can help them grow their business. This will be an exciting trip for me on so many levels and I can’t wait to see who will be the ultimate winner in the Support category.
I wish all of you a magical Customer Experience during this time of added stress. Those companies who know CE will shine even brighter during this time and will continue to build loyalty.
Chris Echevarria is a veteran of the offset analog world who has made her way into the digital space. From marketing segment manager, competitve market analyst, product manager and currently as Canon Solutions America’s customer experience manager in Boca Raton, Chris enjoys participating in the changing landscape of the printing industry.
