Customer service is a transaction. A restaurant server may take your order and bring your food. Drop off the check. Every step was completed. The task was done. A retail clerk may ask a customer walking into the store, “How can I help you today?” The customer says, “Just looking and roams the store before finding something and brings it to the register. The clerk then says, “Did you find what you were looking for?” The customer says, “Yes!”. All of these are examples of customer service tasks being performed and transactions taking place. Nothing unique, memorable or emotional.
Customer Experience can be transformational. It makes you feel seen and valued. It makes you feel welcome. It makes you feel like you matter to the business and not just a transaction. Customer Experience isn’t something you do by checking a box. It is a mindset. You cannot hand someone a list of steps and say now go make people feel something. That is not how it works.
Customer Experience starts with a belief that every single person who walks through your door, calls you on the phone, or asks about your services deserves to feel like the most important person in the room. Not because they earned it. Not because they are spending a lot of
money. Not because they are being nice. Not because it’s your job. But because you chose to do it.
When you and your staff truly understand that customer service stops being the goal, just completing tasks is not enough and creating customer experiences becomes non-negotiable, that becomes a way of life in your business.
During my Customer Experience training workshops, I often ask the participants this question: “When was the last time someone made you feel something or you or your team made a customer FEEL something? Describe what happened.” Examples given from the participants are never transactional. They are usually examples of someone demonstrating that they care or made you feel special.
How many times have you gone into a restaurant, where the food was fine. Sometimes it is even great. But the experience you had was just transactional and forgettable. Nothing special. No relationships built. You probably can’t even remember any of the staff’s names. Forgettable does not build a business. Forgettable builds a revolving door of customers. Some return and some not.
TWO QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES THAT EVERY BUSINESS OWNER OR MANAGER SHOULD CONSIDER DOING:
EXERCISE ONE: Have you ever thought about why your customer/guests come back and return to your business? Here is an exercise you should do with your team.
- Ask different department members of your team that same question. “Why do you think our customer/guests come back and return?” Write down their exact answers. Do not coach them or lead them. Just listen.
- Look at what they said. Did anyone mention the customer experience? The way customers feel? Or did they all say the food, product, location, the prices?
If nobody mentioned the experience, that is your challenge. Your team does not see creating customer experiences as part of their job. That is not their fault. That is yours for not focusing, communicating or prioritizing the customer experience over customer service. In other words, “why” the customer experience is so important. The problem is not that your team cannot do this. The problem is that nobody told them it matters.
EXERCISE TWO: Here is another important. Ask yourself or your staff–“What does a perfect 10 out of 10 customer/guest experience look like in our business? From the moment they walk in to the moment they leave?” If you or they cannot describe it in detail, your team cannot deliver it. Again, that is not their fault. That is yours. You cannot expect people to perform a task or achieve a goal they cannot see. You cannot hold people accountable to a standard you have never defined. You cannot say we need to be better without explaining what better looks like.
You do not need over the top gestures or freebees that cost lots of money. You just need consistent small gestures. Eye contact. A genuine smile. Using their name. Remembering their previous purchases. Walking them to their seats, restrooms or product location instead of just pointing. Wishing them pleasantries when they leave. These things are free. They cost nothing. They take seconds. And they are the difference between a 7 experience and a 10.
I call it “Magic Moments That Matter”. Small doses of genuine care delivered so consistently that the customer/guest does not even realize why they love your business. They just do!
Think about the last time someone remembered your name at a coffee shop. Or made eye contact and smiled like they were genuinely happy to see you. Wished you a great day, acknowledged what you were wearing, said hello to your child. It was a small moment. Probably lasted two seconds. And you remember it. They were “Magical Moments That Mattered” to you. That is what you and your team can do 25 times a shift without breaking a sweat. However, they have to choose to do so and genuinely care about creating customer experiences.
Customer Experience Is Also a Marketing Strategy
I tell business owners and my coaching clients all the time how important the customer experience is to their success. Customer Experience is a valuable and needed marketing strategy. Every single customer/guest interaction is either a commercial for your business or an advertisement for your competitor. There is no middle ground. A happy guest tells 3 people. An unhappy guest tells 11. Which would you want?
Your team is your marketing department. Every server, retail clerk, barrister, stock person, maintenance person, security guard, lands keeper, accounting team, scheduler or appointment maker, person who answers the phone and or anyone else who interacts with a customer is either creating a positive commercial or creating a reason to go to your competition.
The problem again is that most of your staff or members of your team have no idea. Because nobody ever told them. Nobody ever connected the dots. Nobody ever said you are not just here performing tasks or taking orders. You are building lasting relationships and the reputation of the business one moment and interaction at a time. When you make the customer experience a marketing priority, the lightbulb goes off for your team. It stops being transactional and just something nice to do. It starts being the most important thing that everyone must do every day every shift. Now that is “MAGICAL”!
T H E C O S T O F D O I N G N O T H I N G
Here is what happens to businesses that do not make this customer experience shift. They probably lose customers they never know about. They blame the economy. They blame Yelp. Worst yet, they blame their young staff and usually have high employee turnover every six months and spend more money on social media trying to replace the customers/guests they are quietly losing. Did you know that most businesses lose 70 percent of its customers not because of the price. Because they just received plain customer service and not a caring, memorable and emotional experience. The cost of doing nothing may not be noticeable until it’s too late.
What is doing nothing costing you and your business? Need help? Imagine what an affordable and effective training workshop would do to help your team be more successful. Then contacting John today for a FREE DISCOVERY NO OBLIGATION CALL is the right decision.
John Formica is America’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty. For information on customer experience evaluations and programs, leadership training, how to find and hire great people, affordable tailored training programs or to book John to speak at your next event, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.