After a
recent seminar, I was asked to come up with three questions the organization
could ask internally that would help them understand what is necessary to drive
the delivery of an enhanced customer experience.
Tough question, right?
And, I admit, I have had to work on it for a bit. Here’s the best I can come up
with — and I’d appreciate if you have additional and/or better questions!
1) Do
customers want it?
Gourmet
quality lattes are certainly wonderful. But, would it add to the customer
experience to serve them if you’re running a funeral home? Doubt it. There are
other aspects that would probably be more desired by those at your business.
This
isn’t to suggest that we shouldn’t be innovative in what we deliver; however,
if there is a disconnection between our idea for the experience and our core
purpose, it’s not going to enhance the loyalty we desire from our customers.
2) Can
we provide it?
Note,
this isn’t necessarily “can we provide it” based upon our current team
or our current structure. However, we do have to ask ourselves if we
have the bandwidth to do what it takes to provide the experience that customers
are seeking. If we don’t have it immediately available, we should start thinking
of the specific steps that we will need to execute to make it happen in the
future.
3) Is
it worth it?
In my
first book, I wrote: “The purpose of any business is to profitably create
experiences so compelling to customers that their loyalty becomes assured.”
While
it’s reasonable to focus upon the importance of the word “experience,” it is
also easy to overlook the critical term, “profitably.”
There
are several aspects your organization must confront on a daily basis. This
simply asks, “Is it worth doing this instead of other
projects?” You only have a finite amount of time and scarce resources. The
question also insists that you project how the effort you’re making will
enhance the profitability of your organization in the future.
Just because it won’t drive immediate
income doesn’t mean it isn’t immensely important.
If you confront these three questions, you’re taking the right steps to develop what customers REALLY want in today’s hyper-competitive market in order to grow your business.
Currently, I’m in southern California about to speak at an
enormous conference for the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).
Tammy and I decided to come over from Las Vegas for NAMM just a bit early. We
heard so much from friends and fellow speakers about what an amazing event this
is we wanted to experience as much of it as we could.
And, after just one evening, I can already see how right
they are. We strolled around in the Convention Center area, the Hilton, and the
Marriott, and heard fantastic live music. We also enjoyed a spirit of fun and
positive good times from the huge crowd.
Candidly, there was a moment in the evening when Tammy asked
me if I was a little bit “down.” I replied that I was. There was fantastic
talent on display. It was all from singers and bands that few would recognize.
It dawned upon me – and made me a bit sad to consider — how miniscule these
performer’s chances were of finding a level of success like the icons of the
music industry.
So, why do they continue to
pursue it?
Several years ago, I interviewed several financial advisors
for a project to determine the elements of extraordinary success in that
business. As small and trite as it may sound, I found it came down to one
pivotal aspect.
Some advisors viewed creating a client experience as one of
those things that they had to do. They saw themselves as financial
experts who the marketplace expected to play nice with clients investing with
their practice. In other words, it wasn’t something they enjoyed – or even prioritized
– but, it was a cost of doing business, a chore to be performed.
However, the extraordinarily successful advisors had a
totally different outlook. They perceived themselves somewhat as a concierge.
Their goal was to be of service in any aspect of their client’s life. Many of
the most elite advisors were unable to describe how they could perform any
function of their fiduciary responsibility without including a superior client
experience.
These top producers expressed, “It’s just who I am.” An amazing
relationship with their clients was the source of their greatest joy in their
profession. It was part of their professional DNA.
I suspect a similar aspect is at play here at NAMM. Whether
they are making a lot of money or not, music is “just who they are.” The
engagement with the audience for the performers – or with their customers for
the music stores – is part of their professional DNA.
How do YOU feel about customer
engagement?
Whether it is an audience at a concert, a client in your
financial services practice, or a customer at your business, is delivering an
Ultimate Customer Experience ® part of your DNA?
Is creating the highest level of engagement “just who you
are”? Or, is it something you have to do because the marketplace now expects
it?
The difference might appear
subtle at first. But, the results created by the right mindset and approach can
generate exponentially better results and lifetime customer value.
Would you like to be in the audience at a
concert of a musician who felt as though she had to be there because her
manager and the marketplace expected it?
Or, would you rather attend a show by a
performer who felt that creating an amazing experience for her audience is just
“who she is” and part of her DNA?
YOUR audience – your customers – feel exactly the same.
Back in the days that I was working a little bit in
television, one staple of every newscast was the day’s stock market report. Each
day, every report would let you know what had just happened on Wall Street.
Yet, while you might be able to decide the stocks or funds
in which you would invest, seldom would you have any control over what those
companies did that would make your money expand or contract.
This past week, I spent time in Atlanta at the “Take the
Stage” event with my friends, Suzanne Evans and Larry Winget.
There, I saw first-hand committed individuals who were making
an investment they could have some control over — for they were underwriting
themselves.
When I was a student at Franklin College in Indiana, I
couldn’t help but notice a quote from Benjamin Franklin that was strategically
positioned on just about everything printed by the school: “An investment in
knowledge always pays the highest dividends.”
Some of the people in the audience where I spoke this week
will obtain significant returns on their investment in knowledge. Others will
not achieve anything.
The primary reason is
because not only do they control their investment — they also control the
actions they will take based on the knowledge they have obtained.
Several writers have observed that there are infinitely more
“wannabe” authors than published ones. It’s not just a function of talent. It’s
because…writers write. The oft-cited line is that the way you become an
author is simply “put the seat of your pants in the seat of your chair.” In
other words — to borrow from Nike — you just do it.
Please don’t misunderstand: you should have a well-balanced
portfolio and diversity in your investments. I’m not suggesting you
should invest in yourself…and nothing else.
Yet, I also do not believe it can be overstated that when you
invest in yourself, the dividends are not merely financial. There are a myriad
of benefits to personal and professional growth.
Scholarship money concept. Hand of male or female putting coins in jar with money stack step growing growth saving money investment
As we enter the final stretch for the year — and the decade — now might be a good time to look at your self-investment.
And, it’s also a great time to examine if you are taking the
action required to make it generate significant returns.
One more thing: it’s been “Ultimate Customer Experience ®
Week” on my podcast, PROJECT DISTINCT! We’ve briefly reviewed the Five Steps to
the Ultimate Customer Experience from my forthcoming book, “The Ultimate
Customer Experience” that has been totally revamped, rewritten, and rebooted. If
you didn’t catch this week’s episodes, please visit: https://ProjectDistinct.com –
In the next few weeks, we will be sharing how YOU can get
your complimentary copy of the book — just for listening to the podcast and
subscribing to my blog. It’s part of how we hope to create a “UCE” for YOU!
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.
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?
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?
