Have you ever watched the TV show Undercover Boss? I find this kind of reality TV completely fascinating. If you’re unfamiliar with it, the premise is that the disguised president or CEO makes his/her way from the remote ivory tower to the trenches of the business. There they glean understanding of what the normal guys go through every day and hopefully return with a fresh perspective and appreciation for the workforce as a whole. The leaders walk a mile in the shoes of their employees. This is like the ultimate gemba walk, but that’s a topic for later.
Let’s take the concept in another direction. Have you walked a mile in your customers’ shoes? Some time ago, many retail outlets employed a similar tactic by instituting a program called “the secret shopper” whereby a contracted firm would pose a typical shopper and rate a given location on things such as product selection, store cleanliness, and overall service. The scores were typically used to compare “soft” performance metrics from one franchise location to another franchise location.
The goal of the secret shopper program was to measure aspects of the customer experience. How concerned are you about the customer experience for you unique customers? Can you say that you’ve walked a mile the shoes of your customers? Do you know what attracts them and why they choose to do business with you over a competitor? Chances are the product is only one of many factors in that decision.
As competition gets more and more fierce and customers are no longer limited by their physical proximity to solutions we must come to appreciate that ignorance of the customer experience is very dangerous. Further, the customer experience cannot be neglected but must rather be managed strategically and proactively.
Here are some things to consider in order to protect yourself from the possibility of alienating customers.
1. Take the time to know your customers’ needs. To many this seems like a waste of time because your initial solution was so good the customers came from far and wide. However, times change and the competition will take advantage of your ignorance if you let them. Consider this the Golden Rule of customer experience.
2. Anticipate what might annoy your customers. You can’t prevent a crisis which you have not properly identified in advance. There are several good tools to utilize to determine what might possibly go sideways and either surprise or disappoint that valuable customer of yours. Be sure to assess the service side of the experience and not just the product side. Be your own Secret Shopper.
3. Look for opportunities to delight your customers. This requires that you’ve already addressed rule #1 fully. Needs must be met before the delight factor will even matter. This need not come with high expense either. Be creative.
4. Value the long-term relationship over the short-term transaction. Chick-fil-a does an excellent job of this. Look at the customer as a long-term partner rather than a means to make the monthly sales goal and it can transform the way you interact with them. Otherwise, you might inadvertently commoditize yourself. Relationships matter.
5. Don’t confuse convenience with value. The tendency I see a lot these days is to default to automation or hyper-convenient mechanisms to appeal to customers. This appears to be effective for the fickle masses. Savvy and informed customers however, tend to see past convenience and base critical buying decisions on value. Go back to rule #1; know what they value.
6. Incorporate customer-centric thinking into your organization’s culture and values. I’m often surprised that so many businesses promote and advertise core values that are completely inward focused. The truth is that your business exists ONLY because there are customers interested in your particular solutions. Honor them appropriately by including customer-centric elements into your core values. Then take action to integrate sensitivity to the customer experience as a critical element of your culture.
Lean in and Lean on.