What makes your customer experience different from the competition? What do customers experience when they experience your organization? Do they experience disorganization, poor customer service, and an overall low level of excellence? Do they experience an environment that is memorable, service that is exceptional, and are wowed from the beginning to the end of their exposure to your organization? Hopefully, it is the latter. Your customer experience needs to be one that they will not forget. It needs to be one that they are willing to tell their friends about. Your customer experience needs to be one that makes customers actually want to help you with your word-of-mouth marketing. If this is not the case for your customer-facing experience, then as a business coach, I have a few suggestions for you.
Although the following information seems to me to be very obvious, I am constantly amazed that these following elements are not present in most of the organizations that I encounter in my day-to-day life. The goal in your customer-facing experience is for it to touch all of the senses in an excellent and memorable way. The first thing you want to make sure is memorable are the sights that someone sees when they experience your organization. What do people see? Do they see messes and dirty bathrooms and less than excellent facilities, or do they see an organization that truly values how they present themselves? In our business coach program, we are very intentional about what customers see. This includes not only the facilities but also the type of clothing that the employees are wearing. We are expected to wear suits and dress professionally. Go to work today and be honest and objective about what a customer will see when they experience your organization. If there is anything that is less than excellent, change it. Make it better.
Your customer experience needs to be one that [your customers] will not forget. It needs to be one that they are willing to tell their friends about.
Not only are the sights important, but so are the smells. What does your organization smell like? Now, I know this might seem silly, but if your organization smells funky or somewhat off-putting, then there are literally people who will not come back because of that experience. Smells bring about memories. People associate memories with specific smells. You want your organization to have a very intentional smell that is appealing to the masses. Here at our business coach organization, we burn pinion wood for our smell. I have a client that is always burning a cinnamon candle. What do your facilities smell like? If you are leaving it up to the natural body odor of you and your employees or the amazing aroma that can come from a dirty bathroom, then you are really shooting yourself in the foot. Take the time to examine what your facilities smell like. You might need to make a change today.
Finally, we have to examine the sounds that a customer will experience when they engage with your organization. Music literally creates energy. However, it can create the wrong kind of energy. Are you intentional to make sure that when people walk into your organization, the sounds that they are hearing create positive energy? Are there certain beats per minute that your songs intentionally play at? If not, then you need to change your soundtrack today. If you go to one of our organizations called Elephant In The Room, you will find that it is a very energizing environment. One of the main reasons that this is possible is because we are very intentional with what customers hear when they walk in. They do not hear yelling or complaining or the awkward silence that so many stores possess. They hear an intentional playlist that creates energy and heightens their experience.
No matter what your current customer-facing experience maybe, you have the opportunity today to make some seemingly small changes that truly can have a huge impact on the success of your organization. In addition to focusing on the sights, sounds, and smells, you can also bring in some additional elements. What can people touch or interact with? Lambert’s is a restaurant known as the home of the “throwed rolls.” There’s a guy who pushes a cart around that has hot, freshly baked rolls on it. When a customer wants a freshly baked role, they just signal this cart individual and the person throws them a roll from across the room. This creates a wow moment that is incredibly memorable and that engages the sense of touch. You want to be aware of what your experience is when customers encounter your organization. Make some tweaks today. I am confident it will make a difference.
