We live in a world where we’re increasingly expected to make the most of technology. That means scheduling Zoom and Teams meetings and employing artificial intelligence (AI) to help streamline tasks during the workday and beyond.
But living in an AI-driven world that seems to become more automated by the day can make it hard to find a balance. In the workplace, this could include prioritizing the employment of technology to improve efficiency while also trying to keep a personal connection with your clients and customers. It’s a constant push-pull where you must decide where tech could help or where too much reliance could hurt your business.
New Face of Customer Loyalty
Maintaining customer loyalty is more important than ever and methods and mediums continue to evolve. Handshakes, coffee meetings and face-to-face interactions are important but more often take a backseat to meetings over Zoom or Teams and with quick check-ins over text.
As people in general are more stressed out and time-starved, these mediums can help meet the “I need it yesterday” mentality of many customers. Use these technologies with some level of caution because while it can help you move more quickly, it can also make it harder to notice in-person cues.
Personalization + Technology
This too is evolving as AI trains on the nuances of tone. With practice, this can become an opportunity to personalize your interactions through AI such as customer history, tone and name usage. Also use AI to your advantage by keeping track of buying patterns and preferences that can be useful in predicting customer needs.
The more you train AI, the better and more personal it will become. To not lose the personal aspect, you can confirm any next steps or recap key points with a phone call. A handwritten thank you note or even an email written in a conversational tone with a funny GIF or phone can also add a bit more personality and uniqueness to the interaction.
Creating Micro Moments
Just a couple of minutes of genuine conversation, talking about weekend plans, pets, children, family, etc.; before a Zoom meeting can go a long way in keeping the human element of technology front and center. This can also help avoid comparisons that interactions made with technology are cold and human-based interactions are warm.
In the end, it’s also important to remember that no matter how much technology we may try to employ, we can all benefit from recognizing the human behind the interaction. That includes employing tech with empathy and the understanding that mistakes can and will be made and that’s part of remembering we’re all human.
Staffing Kansas City, is an employment agency serving the Kansas City Metro that provides staffing services and executive placements.
