Lately, I’ve been writing so much about leadership experience in business, that it has overshadowed my customer experience voice. So, this week, let’s have a check in on the latter. Shall we?
One of the most critical missions for any business, is to understand inside, out, its customers’ moments of truth. Those moments when the customer experiences an emotion that imprints a positive opinion of the business, in his or her mind, permanently.
The overarching goal, is to understand what this experience looks like for the customer, understand the attending “moments of truth” and then to deliver with precision and passion.
One of the most critical missions for any business, is to understand inside, out, its customers’ moments of truth.
I experienced several such moments of truth recently, during a leadership development workshop that I was hosting. The point persons from the reservations and hospitality teams assigned to the event were spectacular. In the domain of service excellence, “attentiveness” ranks as my highest expectation to be met by hospitality staff. For the workshop, each point person epitomized this deal-breaker expectation, from end to end of the event journey.
This type of powerfully positive experience is not the norm in this country. Why? Because it takes a lot of commitment and follow-through effort to make it a way of life. It comes after a clearly articulated vision is converted into standards of care and built into day-to-day codes of practice. To be completed successfully, this journey has to be prescriptive, not ad hoc or hit and miss.
The reason so few businesses get the experience piece of the customer encounter right, is because for them, the totality of the experience is not the target. Let me explain.
The reason so few businesses get the experience piece of the customer encounter right, is because for them, the totality of the experience is not the target.
Have you ever gone somewhere to conduct business and whilst the transaction would have run smoothly, your visit to the bathroom was horrible? The area was unclean, there was insufficient lighting and there was neither a dryer, nor paper for your hands. In one moment, the magical feeling associated with the transaction will have evaporated.
Businesses like this one, focus on the area that’s germane to the business and forget that the customer brings his or her total self to the encounter.
We live in a cancel culture. Well, this culture existed for customers long before it became a “thing” in mainstream society. Customers were cancelling (abandoning) businesses because their one or two sacrosanct expectations were being violated. The many positive moments of truth being experienced during the transaction, would have been insufficient to neutralize these deal-breaker expectations. The result? A customer cancelling the business, never to return.
Accountability has to become a “living principle or value” within the business.
The businesses that do not violate these revered expectations, are those that choose to walk the customer’s journey, in the customer’s shoes. This activity changes the lens from an inside out focus, (what we deliver), to one that is outside in, (what the customer wants to experience).
Business circuitry matters on the pilgrimage to delivering a customer experience that is unforgettable.
First of all, the business has to cultivate an aversion to codes of practice that are sub-standard. This is a tall order for many businesses. Generally, in life and in business, it’s so much easier to take the lazy route to getting things done, than to maintain a superlative standard. Just ask any elite athlete about the effort required to maintain superlative status.
Accountability has to become a “living principle or value” within the business. No one will have to be reminded to “think, act and behave accordingly.” Performance will be self-managed and actions will be deployed at the highest standard of excellence. When a business possesses this circuitry, accountability becomes voluntary and does not have to be enforced.
Let’s remember to sell what the customer wants to buy…an experience.
Additionally, as each employee becomes excellence-obsessed, the value chain for the customer experience, will remain unbroken. Pretty much in the same way that each of the hospitality individuals in my workshop experience, removed all barriers to an unforgettable experience.
Finally, as we move forward, let’s remember to sell what the customer wants to buy…an experience.