Applied Empathy: Walking the Walk
Applied Empathy: Walking the Walk as an Account Manager at CX Pilots
Clients who work with CX Pilots can expect to see empathy in action.
If experience is the best teacher, as an Account Manager, I want CX Pilots’ clients to see what applied empathy looks like throughout their entire experience with our firm. CX Pilots teaches others the components that go into both the logical and emotional aspects of a client interaction, and we are accountable for giving our own clients the high-level experience we equip them to deliver to their own firm’s clients. We teach others to dig into the cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy to shape how the client's experience is remembered. Here is how I've learned to not just talk the talk of applied empathy but also walk the walk.
Cognitive Connection: Logical Facets of Client Relationships
From our first meeting we delve into understanding the needs of your firm. Knowing the pressures you face, the outcomes you seek, and the way you prefer to engage allows us to tailor our approach and align our work with your firm's vision and goals. As the engagement continues, proactivity in understanding needs shifts to intuiting what our clients might require next, often before they realize it themselves. This means our clients have snacks waiting for them at their hotels at check-in after a long flight or that we are taking extra tasks beyond our scope off their plate when they show signs of overwhelm.
The foundation of any successful client engagement lies in our ability to manage expectations with precision. By setting expectations clearly, we lay the groundwork for a transparent and fruitful partnership. It’s upon that shared understanding from which build trust and measure progress. As an Account Manager, I start explaining a concept or process by saying, “When this is done, it should...” to begin with the end in mind. This creates a shared understanding of purpose, timeline, and scope of the group effort, and often leads to greater group accountability.
A significant aspect of accountability is timeliness. Any firm can complete work on time, but an empathy-based firm uses timeliness as a tool to create harmony with our clients' schedules. When hesitation was expressed from a service line to be blueprinted due to time constraints, we adjusted our project approach and orchestrated our efforts to complete the project with a minimal time request from employees to avoid adding pressure. This level of responsiveness and agility ensures that we move at a pace that supports your firm's tempo without sacrificing quality.
When it comes to dependability, a promise given will become a task completed. Each meeting is concluded with an action-item review with clear task ownership. Such actions not only demonstrate value/cost sensitivity but also solidify our reputation for reliability.
Innovation at CX Pilots translates directly into client value. During a project with one accounting firm, we created and used a custom prioritization tool to distill a list of 40 potential CX enhancements to six key initiatives, moving creativity into actionable direction.
Recognizing that even the best-laid plans can go awry, we are always prepared to recover. Just as we preach, client feedback is currency, and when our clients inform us of something we could have done better, they can consider it done. One client shared that they would have preferred more time to review a presentation deck beforehand—the next time, they received it over a week in advance and had full confidence in it before its use.
Transitioning to the emotional aspects, personalization forms the core of our client interactions in our comprehensive offerings. Each email written on your behalf is crafted in your voice and style, so the only requirement of you is click send. Every presentation fine-tuned and feedback incorporated is done with the individual client in mind. Integrity in our work is non-negotiable. For example, when prioritizing recommendations for CX enhancements, we not only evaluated their effectiveness but also how they aligned with the client's long-term goals, demonstrating our role as a trustworthy advisor.
Compassion in action solves problems and lifts others up. When a client needed to present our joint work to their firm, we recognized the challenges of public speaking and provided talking points on the purpose and process of the initiative. This made speaking about complicated topics easier and helped them succeed.
The empathy we embody extends to our understanding of your time and effort. Our goal is to maximize efficiency in our processes, allowing you to focus on what you do best—serving your clients. When creating an inaugural ambassador cohort with a firm, our client received support and guidance at each step to minimize the time and effort required. Our team reviewed survey responses to make suggestions of who to include in that cohort, created slide decks and agendas for each ambassador cohort meeting, and wrote talking points to equip them for a presentation to executive leadership.
Through a deliberate blend of cognitive precision and emotional understanding, we at CX Pilots aim to make every client feel that they are in capable hands. Each interaction is designed to be as friendly and approachable as it is professional and efficient. We strive to not just do the job but to ensure we do it in a way that makes you feel successful and deeply understood.
By walking the path of applied empathy, we transform the standard client-service provider relationship into a dynamic partnership. With CX Pilots, you'll find a team committed to your firm's success, dedicated to understanding your unique needs and capable of translating them into results that speak for themselves.