How To Level Up Your Customer Experience Strategies

This is a busy time of year for us at Shore Consulting as we just finished hosting our annual Sales Leadership Summit.

We held the event at The Mid-America Club in downtown Chicago.

The views from the eightieth floor were stunning, the venue was beautiful and the experience provided by the Mid-America staff was second to none.

Over 200 sales leaders from across North America were in attendance. It was great to watch all of the “aha moments” as Jeff Shore led the day.

Aside from watching our guests grow and learn, there was something else that caught my attention.

It was how The Mid-America Club’s Operations Manager, Tim Hauschildt, led his staff to ensure a great event through fantastic customer service.

Most managers of such venues sit inside their offices handling invoices and creating work schedules while their employees tend to the event.

Not Tim.

Throughout the day, Tim could be found watching over our event as though it was his event.

If dishes needed to be cleared, Tim played the role of busser. If someone needed a pen, he ran to the office and provided it.

No matter what the request, Tim was more than happy to be or do whatever needed to be done in order to satisfy the customer.

It was as clear as day Tim’s mission was to ensure that we, and our guests, at The Level Up Sales Summit had an exceptional experience. And we did.

Here are four lessons from Tim at The Mid-America Club that you can adopt in order to level up your customer service as a leader and as a team.

1. Leave your ego at the door – Nothing is more impressive than an encounter with a humble, high-level executive.

On the flip side, nothing is more unbearable than one with a massive ego.

Tim is the perfect example of what happens when we leave our ego at the door.

His staff made multiple comments about how they didn’t feel Tim was their boss. Rather, he was their equal.

Seeing Tim in this light compelled his staff to work harder to please clients.

As a leader, you need to be willing to do whatever you are asking your team to do.

In fact, it is good for them to see you willingly do such tasks.

2. Get in the trenches with your team – Spend time working side-by-side with your team members.

If you are a sales leader, get on the floor and work with customers. Look for opportunities to serve your team by helping them.

As I mentioned earlier, Tim played whatever role he needed to get the job done.

If you have a struggling division or department, get involved.

You will be amazed at the insights you will gain which will translate to ensure customers have a better experience.

3. Show sincere appreciation for the little things – It is easy to celebrate the big wins; who sold the most products, generated the most revenue or was the sales person of the quarter.

Start to notice the small contributions and recognize them often.

On several occasions during the Level Up event, I overheard Tim appreciating his team for their efforts in providing great customer service.

Praising effort is as powerful as praising results.

4. Connect directly with customers proactively to ensure satisfaction – After the last guest left The Mid-America club, our staff at Shore Consulting gathered to recap the event.

The one comment that came up several times was how Tim, the Operations Manager, checked in with each of us to make sure everything was perfect.

Let me point out there were 10 of us working the event. Tim connected with all of us!

As a best practice, randomly check in with customers throughout the buying process to ensure they have a great experience.

Doing so will accomplish a few things:

1. You will catch issues when they are still small issues.
2. It will build in accountability for your sales team. When they know you will be calling customers, they will go the extra mile to make sure the call is a good one!
3. It displays that you, your team, your company and your brand care about customer experience.

If you want to level up your team’s performance and customer service, be like Tim from The Mid-America Club. Your customers will thank you.