CX as a Strategic Differentiator – Avoid the expression “I can’t do anything about it”, when serving customers.

Customer experience is the foundation of any business. It can make or break a company’s
reputation, revenue, and growth potential.
With the rise of digital technology, customers have become more empowered than ever
before. They expect a seamless, personalized, and positive experience whenever they interact
with a business. In essence, no customer deserves the phrase “I can’t do anything about it.”
We dare say that unfortunately, negative customer experience is still prevalent in many
organizations in Ghana, leading to loss of customers and ultimately affecting revenue
negatively. One major cause of unpleasant customer experience is the ‘I can’t do anything
about it’ expression. This phrase is often used by a customer service/ experience
representative when they are unable or unwilling to resolve a customer’s issue. It conveys a
sense of helplessness, apathy, and lack of accountability within the organization. Customers
then feel frustrated, unheard, and undervalued.

This expression reveals a symptom of a larger problem – a lack of customer-centric culture in
the organization. When employees are not empowered enough to solve problems, customers
would not trust the organization altogether, with their problems. It also suggests that the
organization is more concerned with minimizing costs and maximizing profits, rather than
creating value for customers.
To change the narrative and improve customer experience, organizations must take a
proactive approach i.e. foster a customer-centric culture, invest in the right technology, close
the feedback loop, measure and improve customer experience etc. By taking these steps,
organizations can create a positive experience, increase customer loyalty and revenue, and
become leaders in their industry. Building a forceful CX Framework cannot be over
emphasized.

BACKGROUND
Harit Talwar, Former Chairman and CEO of Marcus by Goldman Sachs, once expressed his
support for the customer-centric mindset by saying ‘’The future of finance is not technology;
it is the extreme obsession to be on the side of the customer. Technology is the enabler to
make it happen.’’
This ideology speaks true and is actually applicable to all industries, no industry is therefore
excused from CX best practices.

To discuss the “I can’t do anything about it” mindset, team JASSLAM (one of the CXP Ghana
mentorship groups led by Amanda Akushie) got together to explore the topic from diverse
perspectives and below are some of the submissions:

1. Organizational culture
   Instances where customers are told nothing can be done about their situation, clearly tells
   that there is an organizational culture problem. It goes to confirm that employees do not fully
   understand their roles or how their actions affect the experience of the customer and CX as
   a whole.
   Sometimes, employees who do not deal directly with the customer refuse to appreciate or
   understand how their support and assistance could positively impact the customer’s
   experience and this is a concern. The scenario can cause frustration and make it harder for
   everyone involved to provide the best possible service to customers.
   We still have some work to do when it comes to improving the overall experience of
   customers, but with teamwork and support, we can make progress. We need to reposition
   customer experience as an integral aspect of our business strategy. Let’s focus on creating a
   culture of accountability and collaboration that benefits everyone involved!
   …submission by Amanda Akushie
2. Organizational Processes
   A movement to critically change the narrative and for that matter this ill-practice of telling
   customers ‘I can’t do anything about it’, will really help.
   It’s the issue of organizational processes, lack of knowledge on what other departments are
   capable of, no referrals systems in place and not empowering employees, especially front
   liners to take responsibility for the customers’ journey from start to finish.
   This experience is so annoying, I’m personally of the view that you do not tell a customer you
   don’t know or there is nothing you can do about their situation, it clearly shows you’re not
   ready to offer any help and certainly not a fit as a front-liner for your company.
   At least you should offer an alternative solution or tell the customer you will get someone
   else on it since it’s out of your scope.
   …submission by Nana Asantewaa
3. CX Strategy/ Brand promise
   Arguably, Customer Experience (CX) has a long way to go in Ghana, given the experiences the
   regular Ghanaian must deal with day in and day out. I admit though that CX professionals are
   doing their best and are ready to do more to change the narrative.
   The statement – ‘there is nothing I can do about this situation’ should be completely ruled out
   in the CX practice. Each time this statement is used, it gives an indication of lack of respect
   for customers and a complete lack of understanding of the business and its brand promise.
   These indications culminate in a bigger problem.
   The bigger problem here is the organization’s failure to make CX a lifestyle for all its
   employees so that, wanting to ‘entertain’ customers to the point of customer satisfaction,
   flows naturally whether the authority to fix issues lies with the official or not.
   Clearly, organizations need to revisit and evaluate their brand promise to ensure their
   customers get the value they have been promised.
   The organization’s CX Strategy will also need to be developed or reviewed. Once this is done,
   structures must be put in place to sensitize, empower and clearly communicate the strategy
   down to the last employee for effective implementation.
   Think of it this way, when a customer comes back to a company with an enquiry or a query,
   it is mostly concerning a product or a service that is offered by that company, and whose best
   fit to solve any related problems than the same company that offered the product or service
   in question?
   I was told this sometime back as an internal customer and I got so frustrated to say the least.
   Another close relation had a similar experience at a very well-known organization and that
   was when I realized that this kind of problem exists in our CX industry.
   …submission by Jennifer Mills-Beale
4. Employee Experience
   I think this situation is a practical example of how employee experience impacts customer
   experience, and the understanding that our collective efforts result in good service delivery.
   In one of our recent Customer Experience tips, we shared the importance of using “we”,
   instead of ” they” and another on being the “point person”. A point person takes ownership
   of the customer’s request, even if he/she is not the schedule officer. The point person ensures
   the customer’s need is not left in the cracks and always goes the extra mile to find a solution
   or alternative. The ” we” against “them” syndrome, is killing good customer experience within
   most organizations.
   One may ask how can using ‘we’ in place of ‘I’, change the customer experience if there is
   truly nothing the institution can do given the circumstances? The concept here is a call for a
   shift in mindset or culture change. Once we see it as a collective responsibility (i.e. we), each
   individual takes ownership, goes the extra mile and remains dedicated to the vision of the
   organization. The individual or solo (i. e. I) mindset leads to employees not owning the
   process. In the instance above, the staff would have owned the process and gone the extra
   mile to find a solution for the customer. The concept is to go beyond your core duties and
   provide responses or, feedback to the customer and leave them satisfied.
   On the flip side, it is worth mentioning that some of these disconnects and lack of passion and
   enthusiasm have been the root cause of low intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It is not a
   justifiable reason for any staff to disrespect a customer, but it is important that organizations
   equally enhance the employee experience through CX training, team bonding activities and
   the ultimate…😄
   …submission by Samuel Afotey
5. Responsibility & Clear communication
   The quality of Customer Experience being delivered by your brand can either make or break
   your business. This applies even to the phrases we use while communicating with our
   customers. Sometimes communication is difficult and CX representatives may have a hard
   time offering explanations to customers. But it is a collective job to ask the customer some
   specific questions to help them define their problem. Instead of saying I don’t understand,
   you can equally say “please clarify’’.
   In another instance, saying “Calm down”, sounds harsh to a customer and no one wants to
   be told how they should be feeling especially when they are upset. The way to calm a
   customer down is not by words but by solving their problem, therefore, you do not say to
   them that nothing can be done about their situation.
   Sometimes a customer might complain about something unrelated to your direct area of
   expertise or responsibility. You can’t just ignore their problems and tell them there’s nothing
   you can do. Assuming, there is no way you can solve their issues immediately, you could offer
   a piece of advice or a recommendation. As Kristy Krueger said “When it comes down to the
   customer experience, really it’s the opportunity to touch people’s lives”. By keeping this in
   mind, it would be difficult to create a bad experience.
   …submission by Martha Dwomoh
   
6. One grave concern I have noticed when engaging an organization is the scripted robotic
   customer service responses.
   In addition to situations where a support staff says nothing can be done about a customer’s
   challenge, the responses given are scripted and are sometimes spoken with a monotone voice
   which genuinely does not help, and this results ultimately in angst for clients. The “I apologize
   for this inconvenience caused” or “sorry” mostly never sounds genuine when spoken or
   typed.
   Employees should be empowered to politely engage and delight customers by leveraging on
   the scripted responses as a guide and not spoken verbatim.
   As a CX professional, empathizing and connecting with your customers and adopting a touch
   of professionalism, leaves lasting, memorable impressions in their minds.
   …submission by Sidiki Suweiba Atul Alare
   

The above perspectives presented reveal a holistic approach by which CX can be improved
and these will be captured in the recommendations that follow.

Recommendations

1. Foster a Customer-Centric Organizational Culture
   Organizations must prioritize customer satisfaction and make it a part of their core values.
   This means creating a culture of empathy, teamwork, and continuous improvement that
   seeks to personalize every interaction the customers have with the organization. Employees
   must be trained to understand customer needs, expectations, and pain points. They should
   also be given the autonomy and empowerment to go above and beyond to solve customer
   problems. The brand promise to the customer should be clear and all stakeholders geared
   towards making that promise a reality.
   1a. Closing the feedback loop
   Organizations must be open to feedback from their customers. They should create multiple
   channels for customers to share their feedback, such as through feedback forms, social media,
   focus group, suggestion boxes etc. They should also take corrective action based on the
   feedback received and endeavour to communicate rightly to customers. By all means, close
   the feedback loop,

1b. Measure and improve customer experience
Increasing customer loyalty is a key indicator of a company’s success. Organizations must also
measure customer satisfaction, understand customer pain points and their needs and
develop tailor-made solutions to improve CX altogether. Metrics such as Net Promoter Score
(NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and Customer Effort Score (CES) can be employed
to track customer experience and identify areas for improvement.

2. Invest in the right technology
   To provide personalized experiences, organizations must leverage on the right technology.
   This can help to use customer data to understand their behaviours, preferences, lifestyle and
   feedback. They can also use chatbots, AI, and other tools to provide quick and efficient
   services where extensive engagement is not required.

3. Develop a Clear CX Strategy
   Any organization that seeks to uphold CX must first have a distinct CX strategy. This strategy
   would feed into the organization’s vision, mission, goals, structures and ultimately its brand
   promise to customers. This agenda should portray the very life of the organization; it should
   be what every employee works at, or strives to achieve for the organization’s customers. That
   way, CX practices become standardized in the organization and the customer enjoys a
   seamless service.
   Denise Yohn Lee presents a seven-step CX Architecture approach that can serve as an
   inspiration: 1. Define your brand and what it stands for. 2. Define the feelings and opinions
   you want the customers’ overall experience to include and induce. 3. Divide your organization
   into segments and see if you require different experiences for each segment. 4. Divide your
   customer group into different segments – do they have different wishes and needs? 5.
   Prioritize the different experiences you want to create to manage resources and time-
   improving which experience will be most valuable for your organization. 6. Develop the actual
   design by improving existing strategies and developing new ones. 7. Review your strategies
   in light of the overall brand experience you defined.
4. Employee experience
   Organizations should invest in holistic employee experience since it impacts CX altogether.
   The workforce who are responsible for carrying out the brand promise must understand their
   roles; it is therefore important to pass on the company’s vision, mission, brand promise,
   strategy etc. to employees through effective training, good working conditions and
   opportunities etc. Employee feedback through internal surveys also helps to shape the
   company’s perspective of its own product and services to influence changes or possible
   modifications to suit customers. In this case as well, organizations must ensure to close the
   employee feedback loop to boost employee loyalty.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the ‘I can’t do anything about it’ expression is a red flag for organizations. It
indicates a lack of customer-centric culture and accountability. By investing in best CX
practices, through a proactive approach to build an effective CX Framework, organizations
can change the narrative and create a positive impact. It is possible for organizations to
increase customer loyalty, drive revenue growth, and become leaders in their industry.
In the end, Customer Experience should not be a difficult nut to crack, besides, the good Word
which is the Bible, teaches us about the concept of ‘’do unto others as you want others to do
unto you’’. This should be the conclusion of the whole matter; that we are all customers of
different organizations at different times, therefore treat others the way you want others to
treat you when you visit their organization.

By team JASSLAM one of the CXP mentorship groups mentored by Amanda Akushie (Ast. National Organizer) to support the professional growth and advancement of registered members.

The team members are;
Jennifer Mills-Beale
Amanda Akushie
Sidiki Suweiba Alare
Samuel Afotey
Leticia Arthur
Asantewa Adombire
Martha Dwomoh