Customer Experience, ICONIC
Ups and downs. Ebbs and flows. Good days and bad days. We
have them all because we are all human.
- The problem is, our best days might be our
customer’s worst – and vice versa. That’s why consistency in the delivery of
the experience has to be of primary importance for all of us.
However, it’s also one of the more challenging aspects in
creating distinction.
When we hear about the consistency of any organization,
we’re frequently talking about their product. “A Big Mac is a Big Mac wherever
you are,” is an oft-cited example. Regardless of where you are in the world –
with the exception of left or right-side drive – most models of a particular
brand of car are identical to their counterparts in other nations.
When we tell stories about the customer experience, we often
use over-the-top, ridiculously amazing and unique occurrences about how some
frontline employee moved heaven and earth to help a customer. We seldom use an
example about the experience an average customer receives on the typical
encounter.
In my latest book, “ICONIC,” I
discuss my research that customers evaluate you and your organization based on
only two criteria: promise and performance. It simply asks:
- What does the customer perceive you have
promised them you’ll do?
- How does the customer perceive you have
delivered on the promise you’ve made?
If you make high promises and deliver a high level of
performance, you fit into the “Disruptor” category. Think about those
disruptive organizations who have received significant acclaim in the
marketplace. They’ve made high promises – yet, they’re often recognized for
delivering on those promises on a consistent basis.
To cite an overused example, Uber’s promise was pretty
remarkable on its launch – get from point to point with an app on your
smartphone. You’d see who was picking you up, how they’d been evaluated by
other passengers, what their license plate was and more. While we’ve all
probably had a time or two that our Uber experience wasn’t what we desired,
overall, they have performed on their promise with remarkable consistency.
When you perform with this high
level of consistency, customers tend to blame individual team members
for errors – when your consistency isn’t there, customers tend to blame the organization
for errors.
Check out social media posts if you aren’t sure that
statement is accurate. For example, I’ve noticed that if someone has a poor
experience on American Airlines, they tweet their disgust with the airline. If
someone has an inferior experience on Southwest Airlines, they suggest that the
gate agent must be having a bad day.
This also means that if there’s an extraordinary story about
a flight attendant on American, we tend to discount organizational commitment
to the customer. Instead, we think, “Wow, she’s really terrific.” If
it’s the same story about a flight attendant on Southwest, we tend to think,
“Wow, they’re a great airline and awesome culture.”
In other words, consistent
performance builds your organization a reservoir of goodwill with customers.
If you’re looking to enhance your reservoir, focus less on
extraordinary events that are outliers…and focus more on consistent performance
that delivers on your promises to customers…no matter if you or your team
members are having a good or bad day.
Customer Experience, Leadership
The past two weeks for me have been spent Down Under working
for my wonderful client, Volkswagen Group Australia. As I’ve met with many
great folks – from those working in dealerships in Tasmania and New South Wales
to those in the call center in the home office – I’m once again struck by the
critical role that leadership plays in delivering the customer experience.
I don’t think any leader goes to the office any morning with
a mission to erode the level of service that her organization is providing for
customers. So, the question becomes, “Why does this happen?”
While the solution is complex, the answer is simple: Leaders
get distracted from the most important mission they have in business – creating
an experience so compelling to customers that their loyalty becomes assured.
I’ve seen it happen in public companies, where leaders get
distracted by what’s happening in the market and how investors view their share
price. I’ve seen it in larger private companies where those in charge become
obsessed with balance sheets and EBITDA. I’ve seen it in small businesses,
where entrepreneurs get blinded by landing new transactions and keeping their
sales funnel full.
The blinding flash of the obvious should be that everything
from share price and investor attitudes…to balance sheets and EBITDA…to sales
and vibrant funnels…improve when customers enthusiastically repeat their
business and tell their friends and colleagues about you.
As a leader, you have one mission. You need to do what it
takes to deliver that Ultimate Customer Experience to those who do business
with you.
Naturally, there are multiple subsets to this:
- How do you construct and manage a team of
employees that are trained and empowered to do this?
- How do you know what the “ultimate experience”
is for your particular group of customers?
- How do you execute a strategy than ensures this
approach is done in a profitable manner for your business?
- And many more…
At one Volkswagen dealership I visited this week, a change
was recently made in ownership and leadership. Bringing in leadership who
believes in this approach, sales have almost tripled in the first period of
their efforts.
Sales didn’t get better because the leader pounded on desks
and shouted at them to sell more cars. It’s because he changed the culture.
From the moment you walk in the dealership, to the time you depart (frequently
in your new car!), you can just sense the commitment to the customer.
What is fundamentally important to note is this:
- it’s the same cars (Volkswagens)
- sold in the same building
- by the same people.
What changed was the leadership – and the approach those
leaders brought to the business.
You don’t have to change ownership or leadership. What
you can change is YOU.
When you understand the most critical mission that you have
in business – no matter what you do or where you are – is to create experiences
for customers that are so compelling their loyalty is assured, you can enhance
your results (sometimes dramatically)!
Are you willing to refocus on your most critical mission
this coming week?
Customer Experience, Sales & Retail
In a program I was conducting yesterday here in Sydney,
Australia, I heard about a customer who had purchased a $90,000 automobile,
only to find the battery in his key fob wasn’t working after only ninety days.
“No big deal,” the customer reportedly thought, “I’ll just
get the dealer to replace it.” And, of course, they did.
However, what the customer didn’t expect was a bill for $15.
The problem for the customer wasn’t really an issue about
whether a battery was covered under his warranty. It was something
infinitely more important: how his patronage was valued by the dealership.
After dropping $90K on a car and being a good customer, the unwillingness of
the dealership to take care of a small battery left him with a terrible taste
about his relationship with their organization.
The dealer got their fifteen bucks. And, they lost a
customer that was probably going to spend tens of thousands of dollars with
them over the next few years.
They were stepping over dollars to get to dimes.
In a recent episode of my podcast, PROJECT DISTINCT, I
related the story of an executive who had spent thirty nights in a hotel here
in Sydney. When he awoke to his room temperature in the upper 70s, he called
the front desk to be told the air conditioning had been turned off “for the
season.” The hotel not only refused to make things right for him, they told him
he was “lucky” they didn’t assess a charge for early checkout.
This great customer won’t return to the hotel.
They were stepping over dollars to get to dimes.
The problem for many of us is that we will read these
examples and believe – while unfortunate to those who have had to endure the
indignity – that kind of mistake won’t occur on our watch. Yet, it often does.
Team members who believe the enforcement of policy is more
important than a thrilled customer is the cornerstone of this challenge.
Leaders must be committed to establishing a culture where everyone’s job is
less about following procedure than pleasing our patrons.
- I don’t believe that anyone at the car dealership
or the Sydney hotel went to work that morning with the intention of destroying
the lifetime value of a good customer.
- But, somewhere along the way, no leader ensured
that every team member knew that they were never supposed to step over dollars
to pick up dimes.
By the way, does YOUR team know that? Are you CERTAIN?
Customer Experience
If I would do a survey of the readers of this blog to ask
the question, “Do you care about your customers?” — my wager would be about
100% would enthusiastically answer in the affirmative.
Perhaps a significant reason for such an overwhelmingly
positive answer is simple: if you didn’t care about creating a distinctive
level of engagement with your customers, you probably wouldn’t make the effort
to be reading posts like this in the first place.
However, there’s a subtle – yet critical – shift in thinking
that we all must make to address an extraordinarily significant problem. It’s not whether or not we think we care
about our customers – it’s whether or not our customers believe that we care
about them and their business.
Think of your customer relationships as something like
plants; it doesn’t matter how much sunshine and rain YOU have…if your plants fail
to receive the nourishment they need to grow, they will wither and die.
And, if you’ve hired a gardener to take care of your plants/customers
– she or he had better be spreading some sunshine and sprinkles along the way,
or the result will sadly be the same.
Your employees are the gardeners that you’ve entrusted to
care and grow those plants.
You can care about customers – but, if your employees fail
to smile, if they act as if the customer is interrupting them, if they do not
look the customer in the eye, if they give off the vibe that their work is
beneath them, or make the customer feel they aren’t appreciated…your customer
relationship is soon dead on the vine.
And, by the way – isn’t it interesting that many companies
spend vast sums to teach their gardeners about biology…the facts and features
of the product…and not as much on the actual care and feeding of the plants
themselves?
In other words, we teach our people about the product and
the processes – and not about how to deliver a highly personalized service
experience.
When we examine why a customer might choose to do business
elsewhere, consider the result of a study by Pepper/Rogers Group: 60% of all customers stop
dealing with a company because of what they perceive as indifference on the
part of salespeople.
YOU
know you care about your customers. The important questions are:
- Do
your front-line people show them the same level of concern as you have?
- And,
do your customers know how much you care for them?
- Are you SURE?
Maybe…just maybe…this week is a
great time to tell them once again.
Customer Experience
An executive with Carreker Corporation, Robert Hall,
wrote something in 2002 that has stuck we me all these years:
“Every time a major company creates distrust through its actions with customers, it erodes the level of trust that customers have with all of their providers.”
In other words, he’s suggesting that just as the scars
of a difficult previous relationship may taint your ability to create new
romantic involvements, when one company damages a relationship with a client,
that same customer will then bring baggage into his or her relationship with
you.
“When customers
perceive they live in a world where the motives of providers cannot be
trusted,” Hall continued, “they ardently seek trustful relationships.”
“It’s more than a desire to avoid getting
‘taken’—more than a wish to avoid dealing with sleazy people. In a world where
time has become such a premium, distrust is just so inefficient.”
That’s a great line: distrust is just so inefficient.If for no other reason than to enhance the efficiency of your organization,
now is the time to develop and execute the strategies that provide your
customers with what they really want.
So, what’s our problem? I’ll suggest that part of it is
that we seek efficiencies in other areas to such a ridiculous degree, we
alienate the very customers we desire.
Supposedly smart companies will develop efficient,
cost-effective strategies to improve their customer satisfaction survey scores
by a mere 0.3 percent. And, when they achieve that very modest goal, they then
presume their customers are “satisfied.”
(As I revealed on a recent episode of my podcast, PROJECT DISTINCT, most of the customers that are no longer doing business with you have told you they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” on surveys. It means that “satisfaction” is a pitiful standard that does not ensure customer retention!)
But, think about it: neither Tiger Woods, Brooks
Koepka, nor Phil Mickelson begins a golf tournament merely hoping to make the
cut. They all focus on the ultimate position—first place.
The companies cited most frequently as amazing examples
of customer experiences did not begin by targeting tiny, incremental
improvements. Their goal was not to triumph by a trivial margin. They wanted to
WIN…and win big.
Creating an “Ultimate Customer Experience ®” is not
immediately an exercise in efficiency. It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s oftentimes
messy.
Ask those “corporate clichés” – like Disney, Starbucks,
Apple, Southwest, etc. – if it’s worth it. Or, you can just look at their
balance sheets over the past decade.
No matter the size or scope of your business – even if you’re a professional working on your own or an employee of a large company – go BIG.
Build trust.
Deliver winning experiences for your customer.
Business Distinction, Customer Experience
This past month, I have had the privilege of addressing some pretty diverse groups. From the leading social media marketers on the planet…to those top-level customer experience professionals in Australia.
The end result is that I am glad, mad, and excited.
Here’s where I’m glad: I was dramatically reminded that there are sincere and dynamic professionals in marketing and who are totally committed to deliver “Ultimate Customer Experiences ®” to those who seek to do business with their organizations.
These aren’t smarmy marketers who are trying to be so slick that they rope you into buying something you neither need nor want. They are high-integrity professionals who seek to inform and execute on strategies that will interest and engage you and earn your ongoing commitment.
The world needs more people like the ones I met at Social Media Marketing World and CustomerExperience 360.
Here’s where I’m mad: Here are two challenges I heard repeatedly:
- Our senior leadership isn’t involved or committed to enhancing the customer experience
- Our senior leadership doesn’t coordinate the efforts we are making in marketing with the progress we are making in the customer experience
What they aren’t saying (to me, anyway) is this: our leadership team doesn’t “get it.”
Every C-suite executive should be obsessed with the experience customers receive when doing business with you. It should be “job one.” If it’s not, it’s a poor reflection upon the executive’s understanding of what generates profitability for the business — and lack of insight about the future of business, as well.
I spent some time recently with my friend — and favorite CEO — Michael Bartsch of VW Group Australia. Even as car dealers in his country are struggling with economic challenges coming from aspects outside their control, Aussie VW dealers are doing better (on average) than competing dealers. Why? In part, it’s because of Bartsch’s — and his Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer Jason Bradshaw’s — relentless pursuit of enhancing the experience that VW customers receive.
Their efforts have traction because they come from the top. Yet, I often see pompous so-called “leaders” who are obsessed with driving down costs or some other activity at the expense of what customers experience. That is the same path that the leaders at Sears, Circuit City, and a host of other organizations followed, as well.
A student can graduate from some medical schools and become a doctor without taking a single course on seriously studying “bedside manner” and patient communication. In the same vein, you can obtain an MBA — even a Ph.D in business — from many august institutions without thoroughly studying the impact of the customer experience on profitability.
That drives me crazy.
No honorable professional should be pursuing the goal of enhancing the customer experience and marketing integrity without the total and complete support and leadership from the C-suite.
Here’s where I’m glad: There are more tools than ever to market with integrity and to deliver an “Ultimate Customer Experience.®”
I wish I could live to be 150! I’m so excited to see how organizations will communicate and connect with customers in the future, it gives me goose bumps. Does that mean I’m excited about everything going on in the world today? Of course not.
However, change is going to happen whether I am opposed or supportive. There’s no stopping it. So, what I’ve realized is this: if it’s going to happen whether I like it or not, my world becomes so much easier if I decide to be excited about it.
We see too many people clinging to a past that no longer exists. In fact, perhaps that’s a decent definition of irrelevancy.
YOU have to make a choice: will you embrace the future, or adhere to an irrelevant past?
I don’t know about you, but I choose to embrace the future! It does not mean I have to love everything that it generates. However, I am going to get on this roller coaster and savor the ride!
No matter where you are on your pathway — personal or professional — I invite you to do the same. Be glad, mad, and excited. Be passionate about the opportunities and tools that are all around us to become better than we have ever been!
