Comments on: Customer Experience Management – Practice What You Preach

By: Frank M.

Frank M. — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:27:06 +0000

Having owned a business, not important here, where customer service was extremely important, I found the way in which we served each customer during the available time, including appropriate followup contacts, made the difference for repeat and recommended business opportunities. With staff members who worked together continuously and who mostly interacted with the same customers during the particular service occasion, we had a distinct advantage in that we knew each other’s usual routines and would fit into the those interactions with the customer – something I and others refer to sometimes as staging. Whether done regularly or with planning, the resulting customer experience is clearly enhanced. Pine and Gilmore in their book, The Experience Economy, describe it as theatre, being on stage, as we create experiences.

By: Kristina Evey

Kristina Evey — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:09:53 +0000

You are so very right. When management is focusing only on numbers, profits, staffing, and widgets, they fail to understand how the customer fits into all of that. The customer experience is the major driving force behind all successful brands. When management interacts with the customers and partners with them and gets to know how they use the product they sell, it’s a win-win situation for everyone. The customer is the winner because they can interact with the product supplier and tell them exactly what they want and are treated as a valuable component to the business. The company wins because the staff witnesses the example of good customer service being delivered and follows suit.

Frank, thanks for the feedback and I look forward to more of your comments.

By: Frank M.

Frank M. — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:29:51 +0000

I suspect a consideration here is that some in management may not be as capable in rendering needed customer service as those who actually come into contact with customers regularly. When management focuses on numbers and scheduling, they miss opportunities to understand good customer service and especially that which can be authentically staged to create really great customer experiences.

Kristina, you are in a wonderful position to help both management and staff members learn about customer perceptions when it comes to growing and keeping one’s customer base.