COVID-19 rewrote the rules for engagement for even the largest, most established companies. Social distancing virtually eliminated personal interaction overnight while many businesses faced building new delivery systems with fewer employees to meet existing and evolving customer needs.
At the same, this global crisis and its immediate and lasting impact on business have made it more critical than ever to build and maintain a foundation of trust and loyalty with customers, employees, and other stakeholders. That's why, at RxLogic, our leadership team made it a priority to keep our commitment to employee and customer engagement while adapting some of
the ways we accomplished these efforts.
1. Promote Employee and Customer Value
One valuable resource I go to for customer service solutions is Micah Solomon. He's a hands-on customer service consultant, keynote speaker, trainer, and one of the world's leading experts on customer service, company culture, and customer experience.
Solomon has a mantra: "If you would've done something for your first customer, you need to
find a way to keep doing it for your ten-thousandth, without rushing, without cutting corners, and without doing anything that would make a customer feel less than fully valued by your business."
And, he stresses as well, the importance of demonstrating how much your
organization values its employees is equally valid.
Solomon mentions a variety of ways to show customers how much you value them in his newest
book, Ignore Your Customers (and They’ll Go Away): The Simple Playbook for Delivering the
Ultimate Customer Service Experience. One of my favorites was his idea of “everyday wow,”
which he illustrates with a visit to the Zappos Customer Loyalty Team , where the agents are
adept at bonding with customers over modest issues like a shared love of dogs or kids,
Ideas for highlighting employee value include promoting individual or team contributions via a
video from a member of your leadership team that’s then posted on your intranet. You also can
hold virtual team building events. There are dozens of online sites with ideas for virtual games
and activities.
2. Make it Personal
Every employee and customer wants your organization to think of him or her as an individual -
with individual needs. Because face-to-face channels are limited with social distancing, make an
effort to engage on a human level and make every interaction count.
I've found video calls have helped me humanize interactions and deepen work relationships.
When on video calls with clients and employees, I would often see a picture of a child or a pet in
the background. Sometimes, the child or pet would even make an appearance on the video call.
These brief and, often welcome, interruptions allow me to connect on a more personal level.
I can ask, "How old is your daughter" or make the connection that I, too, have a dog and share that "his name is Joey." Be aware of the visual cues in the background of video calls that may open a communication channel and deepens your understanding of the individual.
3. Empathy Matters
In a time of crisis, your employees' and customers' experience with your organization can have
an immediate and lasting impression. Offering genuine concern for each other has never been
more critical and relevant than it is right now.
Consider how you might reach out to customers and offer support with information that is not the
typical marketing approach or ads. Maybe your organization has experience quickly
transforming an aspect of the business that may serve as a "lesson learned" for a customer or
business lead. Or, you may have an industry connection with another leader in your network who
is willing to help with advice on a business concern shared by your customer.
Similarly, reach out to employees and provide new tools, training, and support. At RxLogic, in
addition to our work from home policy, we sent every employee an external video camera to
help us all stay connected and enhance our communication with each other. Because we all have
cameras, leadership encourages video calls whenever possible. This way, even employees who
pre-COVID may not have had the opportunity to meet face-to-face due to location; now can
identify each other and build a different type of connection.
CONTACT: Paige Zimmer: pzimmer@rxlogic.com for additional information on the RxLogic Claims Adjudication Platform.
Paige Zimmer is Executive Vice President, Business Development at RxLogic. She has over 25
years of experience building best-in-class client relationships and producing significant business
results in the healthcare industry. Paige's experience includes managing sales, marketing,
business development, and client service teams for health plans, pharmacies, and PBMs. Within
pharmacy technology and software as a service, she has led custom and traditional claims
processing needs for employers, government programs, pharmacies, and health plans. Paige has
held executive/management roles at HealthPartners, Eli Lilly, MedImpact, and ScriptSave.