The Customer Experience – What’s it’s all About

I think there’s one constant in any business that no one can deny.

It’s the customer, the consumer, who keeps us in business, who drives our business forward, who decides what path we should take to keep ahead of the competition and be willing to change to meet those customer’s ever changing demands.

If you can’t service your customer satisfactorily, believe me, there’s someone else who will.

I’m always acutely aware in any situation where I’m in front of a person in charge of delivering any customer experience. After all, it’s what I do.

In an age of social media, where you can post reviews of any company and millions of people can actually see it, it’s my contention that we should all be on the top of our game when it comes to the customer experience.

But, as a consumer myself, that simply isn’t the case everywhere.  And that’s unfortunate, as in my latest experience with a large electronics retailer.

Let’s face it, as a consumer you expect a certain level of service from a large retailer, even if it’s just to point you in the right direction. I mean in many cases our expectations, unfortunately really aren’t that high to begin with.  Why else would we tolerate mediocre service, can you say “cable company”?

And in the electronics arena, I think it’s safe to say that any of us over 40 might need a little extra assistance in this department, but I digress.

Keeping in mind that my experience as a consumer is of paramount importance because of what I do, I decided to humble myself and ask for assistance from a salesperson in the personal laptop computer department of a major electronics retailer.  Not only was I met with a condescending “How can you not know this” demeanor, it was clear that I was wasting this guy’s time.

Where did my mind go at that moment? My comfort level was nowhere near close to making a purchase for such a high priced item.

I walked around the store, looking around at the sales staff trying to discern the level of helpfulness in their sales staff.  What did I see?  Virtually no one asked to help me, despite the extremely obvious need to find what I was looking for. I made eye contact, all the while being shunned by a staff that clearly wanted no part of providing a stellar customer experience for me.

That’s when I realized, I was absolutely not going to buy a laptop here; plain and simple. I lost trust, I lost my enthusiasm, and most importantly, they lost me as a customer…..for good!

Never underestimate your customer.  After all we are smart people, we know what we want, and if you can’t give it to us, we’ll absolutely find someone who will.

It is management’s responsibility to their salespeople to drive the point home that the number one priority IS the customer experience.

I learned something from this experience. I learned how to lose a potential customer in 20 seconds flat; I learned what not to do to my potential customers.

But, most importantly, I learned exactly what to do.  Remember that my customers drive my business and that it is them to whom I owe a stellar customer experience, every time.

I look upon every experience as one to learn from, and it is my contention that my customers will benefit from what I learned here.  Because sometimes, you need to see what your customers can potentially see.

Lesson learned.