Companies invest millions to create, design, fine-tune, build, promote and extend their brands. Think Nike, Virgin, Versace, Raffles, Amazon.
All your investment brings customers to your door (or website) with expectations matching your promotional promise. But when customer meets company “face-to-face,” everything hinges on that critical moment of customer experience management.
A friend recently moved to Singapore from Australia and went shopping for an appropriate wardrobe. I saw her several hours into the spending spree and heard her say, “I love Liz Claiborne, but E––T (a competing brand) can take their clothes and shove it.” (Australians can be oh-so-delicate in their speech.) She continued, “I won’t ever go in one of their stores again.”
Wow! That’s strong stuff. Turns out a sales lady at “E” couldn’t be bothered to say hello or help my friend with her questions. She was too busy with a personal call on her mobile phone to worry about customer experience management. And when she hung up, she chatted about the call with her colleague (distracting the colleague from yet another customer) rather than responding to the queries of my friend.
To this day, the “E” brand of clothing is like an enemy in the mall, a regular reminder to my friend of the “who cares?” attitude, poor manners, terrible customer experience management and disrespect.
I wonder what the designers, marketing team, logistics office, production operators, backroom and warehouse staff would think of that person on the front lines who couldn’t be bothered to give good service? If they could meet her face-to-face, what would they say about her performance and disregard for customer experience management? If you were that lady’s boss, what would you say?
Terrence Nielsen, store manager of IKEA in Singapore, knows exactly what he’d say about customer experience management. He tells his staff every day, “If you don’t feel like coming to work…don’t! The last thing we need is to have anyone at work bringing down the mood for our customers and everyone else. If you don’t feel good about yourself and your job, stay home!”
Key Learning Point To Customer Experience Management
One grump can spoil a brand. Don’t let that grumpy person be you! The reputation of your entire company, the livelihood of all your colleagues and the success of your business and your brand depend on you. Use good customer experience management skills to hold your brand up high.
Action Steps To Customer Experience Management
Check your mood and attitude every day when you go to work. Check it again during the morning, after lunch and in the afternoon. If you are not looking, feeling and sounding 100% like someone you would like to meet, go back to the restroom, go back to lunch, go back to sleep. Use good customer experience management skills and don’t go to work and spoil everyone else’s day.
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Copyright, Ron Kaufman. Used with permission. Ron Kaufman is the world’s leading educator and motivator for upgrading customer service and uplifting service culture. He is author of the bestselling “Uplifting Service” book and founder of Uplifting Service. To enjoy more customer service training and service culture articles, visit www.RonKaufman.com.
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