If you listen to a lot of specialists, around one in two jobs in Europe is under threat from automation. In the digital world enormous companies can service millions of customers with only a handful of staff, and the amount of digitalisation will only increase, so what exactly does this imply to the future of connections between clients and companies?
Though some books are predicting an end to the human face of companies, I’m convinced that in 15 years’ time it will actually be the human touch that makes all the difference in the customer relationship and may actually create a competitive advantage.
With all the hype around digital transformation, most people are focusing too little on how to create added value by using our people, their best advantage.
As well as optimising their digital interface, companies should define their human interface and consider the things that computers cannot do: emotion.
Computers are great at rational procedures, but when it has to do with emotion and creativity, humans shine, and companies need to use these qualities to come up with a balanced, complementary and productive customer relationship where human and digital components complement each other.
Emotion forms the cornerstone of our thoughts, and if companies can touch an emotional chord, then they’ll have the ability to discover a place in their client’s memories. The objective of the human-customer relationship is to add emotion into the equation, which may improve financial benefits, general perception, staff commitment and customer loyalty.
So far, computers have not been capable of creating something new. All the world’s innovation has been created by people, so creativity is therefore a uniquely human quality that computers cannot match. Nor are computers able to display emotions, or compassion.
In the end, there is fire — it is infectious and inspirational, and folks love other passionate individuals in a way that computers can not match.
Some supervisors fear that’big data’ will limit their particular right to be creative, but precisely the reverse is true. Data alone is worth very little, but it is the way creative men and women use the data that generates innovation and extra value.
Smart companies allow human creativity to blossom in all stages of the client connection. If you let all your employees to think creatively about developments that can benefit the client it can have both big and small scale advantages.
I advise business leaders to manage the creativity of a company proactively – the demand for creative ability is only likely to rise in the future so it’s important to take the initial steps today, and also recruit creative individuals for every element (communication, product development, bookkeeping, sales, etc.) of their client relationship.
Empathy is a reaction between people, and as such it is a standard that no computer has ever even heard of. The logical parts of our brain are a million times easier to duplicate in artificial intelligence compared to emotional components, so the sharing of happiness and sadness will not be possible in computers for several years to come.
This human characteristic is very powerful in a customer relationship, as clients respond well to operatives who show understanding and sympathy, and being publicly happy for a customer creates a bond.
People today want to share their emotions — just think about when someone buys a new car, although it’s a really special day to them, it is just another day in the office for the salesman, but a salesman that can lead to the euphoric feeling because of his customer will create a bond which boosts the chance of a purchase.
Everybody is passionate about something. It might be family, hobbies or careers, but all of us have fire in a way that computers don’t.
People today love other passionate people. If you’re able to tell a story passionately you will have your viewers hanging on your every word, and a company that has passionate staff has a major benefit when creating an emotional bond with clients.
Staff who show their pride in their company win the esteem of consumers in a way that causes positive interactions with clients.
Studies have demonstrated how company leadership is an integral factor in sharing passion with the current market, and the more enthusiastic a organization’s leaders are, the further that passion translates from personnel to clients.
Social media is an perfect platform for all these enthused staff to talk about their passion and pride with the remainder of the current market, and the more employees share their adventures, the further the outside world will be impressed with the fire of the institution in question.
There’s more to sharing fire than distributing online stories. Driven, motivated employees who genuinely enjoy helping customers are what sets these companies apart.
Unique human qualities which have an infectious impact on others create a character and culture to the company, so looking for new ways to transmit this passion to your clients online and offline must become a permanent part of the management of your human-based customer relationship.
When talking about the function of people in the customer connection I hear’because that is the way we’ve always done it’ much too frequently.
Companies need to rapidly realise the way the individual element will be one of their scarcest resources in the customer relationship in the near future, and is consequently one of the most strategically important.
People want things to be efficient and slick, but people will always like different people, so embrace both digital and human to create real added value for customers.
