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The customer is always right is an outdated way of thinking about the people you serve. Its better to treat each business opportunity as a dynamic relationship with your customers. Shaking your head yes to every request or complaint is too simplistic a solution.

Thats why Customer Experience (CX) training is so important. Understanding the needs and desires of customers is what makes or breaks a business, yet so many companies overlook this important fact. Providing a service is important, but recognizing how a customer experiences your service is equally relevant.

So, if youre looking to grow your business to its fullest potential, youll want to understand the principles of CX inside and out.

As the Harvard Business Review phrases it, customer experience is the internal and subjective response customers have to any direct or indirect contact with a company. Direct contact occurs in a retail showroom or any location in which physical presence is required. For many businesses, indirect contact is even more relevant. Examples of indirect contact include the effects of your marketing campaigns or your companys social media representation.

Youve got a great service or product to offer. As the creator, however, its impossible to know what all of your customers experience. Everyone has a different notion of what the customer experience entails.

Knowing why someone buys your product is the first step in developing this relationship. Their motivation helps you decide how to communicate with them. How theyre going to use your product is also relevant. What if they purchased it for someone else, yet they want that person to be able to talk directly to you? How often are they using your service? Where are they buying it from?

There are communication strategies for each of these examples. Being fluent in the totality of CX makes you a stronger business at every step along the customer journey.

Conducting business today means that youre spending more and more time communicating digitally, which demands its own communication style. The last thing you want is frustrated customers that are unable to turn to you to solve problems.

You want to be able to build a strong customer corridor, in which they trust you at every step along the way. Honesty at the point of sale is just as important as being there if your product breaks down. Keeping a customer for life is the ultimate goal of every business. That begins with building a corridor they want to travel through with you.

Every business has different markers for success. The bottom line is often the only thing business leaders measure. That is only one metric in an ocean of data. A successful CX program means youll be learning from your customers and iterating when necessary to provide optimal customer service.

Feedback takes time to implement, but you want it from day one, from your customers as well as your employees. A successful CX means that your representatives are along for the journey as well. Effective dialogues between all aspects of a business with its customers create the conditions for a successful company.

Want to sharpen your CX knowledge? Online Training & Certification: Customer Experience 101 provides you with the basics of CX so that you can put these practical skills to immediate use. By learning how to empathize with what your customers experience and provide them with the service they deserve, the likelihood that youll retain them increases exponentially.

The course is taught by Jaakko Mnnist, founder of the mammoth entrepreneurial digital community in Finland, Yrittj.io. He is also the author of the book The Journey How to Create the Happiest Customers in the World. The course features 11 lessons and three and a half hours of content, with access to additional resources, such as quizzes, templates, ebooks, and one-on-one coaching services.

Online Training & Certification: Customer Experience 101 is on sale now for just $59. Join today, and youll save 90 per cent off of the original price.

Prices subject to change.

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Grow your business by following this overlooked principle - Financial Post