Customer Experience Tip #1273

Ask job candidates, “What have you discovered about the experience we deliver to our customers?” It should matter enough to them that they’ve already done a little digging around to now have a sense of it. If they haven’t, then they’d ideally be at least curious now within this conversation.

Customer Experience Tip #1272

“We Google our guests, something that some people think is creepy or stalker-ish, but I don’t think it is at all. I think it’s what you do with the information that defines the spirit of the endeavor. We try to learn as much about our guests, such that the experience that we give them is truly only for them.”

–Will Guidara, co-owner of New York’s renowned Eleven Madison Park

Customer Experience Tip #1271

When your team members are meeting a client in  a group setting (especially for the first time), you should take a moment to introduce each person. And those members of your team should be trained to always make eye contact, smile, and exchange kind greetings … no matter how seemingly insignificant their role may be perceived to be.

Customer Experience Tip #1270

Providing your customer with options (although not so many that it risks overwhelming them) is a good thing. It gives them the power of choice. That said, be ready to answer the question, “If it were you, which would you choose?” In that moment they are looking for your clear, honest, and certain guidance.

Customer Experience Tip #1269

Word-of-mouth drives purchase decisions. People are being driven TO you … or AWAY from you by what they are hearing from others (in the physical world and the virtual world). How are your customers describing their experience to others? Are you giving them enough reasons to sing your praises?

Customer Experience Tip #1268

Stop “templating” your e-mail messages while in a customer relationship. When every e-mail begins with “I hope all is well,” and ends with “Kindest regards,” you’ll wind up coming across as disingenuous/insincere … even though you may be the most sincere person on the planet. Instead, pick up each conversation where you left off, just as you would in person. Mix it up. Personalize.

Customer Experience Tip #1267

“Review customer feedback as a company. You don’t just want one department reviewing the feedback. You want to share it with every single person on your payroll … you never know where your next great customer experience strategy is going to come from.”  –Michel Falcon

Customer Experience Tip #1266

The way in which a customer answers your questions will not always fit neatly into your standardized systems and procedures; your neat little box. Be patient, kind, and be willing to ask in a different way if necessary. After all, your customers didn’t go to “Customer School.”

Customer Experience Tip #1265

Warm up those everyday cold, robotic, and overused phrases with something warmer and more human-centric.

Example One: When looking something up for a customer, instead of asking, “What’s the name?” say, “I’ll be glad to assist. May I have your name?” (It’s not just “a” name … it’s THEIR name.)

Example Two: instead of saying, “Next in line…” how about smiling and saying, “Good morning.” (They’ll know they’re next in line simply be being acknowledged.)

See and feel the difference in these two examples? Minor tweaks — delivered with consistency — can yield major impact.

Customer Experience Tip #1264

Having a bad day? You get to choose. You can either: a) let that spill over into your customer interactions, or; b) make someone’s day. With option “b,” everyone wins … even you. If you don’t believe me, give a try.