Future-proof the customer experience. First, analyze the journey to ask your people, “What are the potential dissatisfiers and how can we remove them?” By taking action, you can turn a negative customer experience into a neutral one. But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers feel their experience is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will leave when they find an experience that is better or at a lower price.
So don’t serve to satisfy customers. Don’t treat customers as they would expect. Don’t treat them as they want to be treated. And don’t treat them as YOU want to be treated. Instead, treat them a little better than they want to be treated. Serve to WOW them.
Ask your customers the Rule of Three questions (Why only three? Because nobody can remember Number Four):
“What happened?”
“How did it make you feel?”
“What if?”
Remember, the customer is not always right. But you want the customer to feel they are always your customer.
Listen and allow the customer to vent. Angry or frustrated customers generally won’t listen to or accept your apology until they have had an opportunity to voice their frustrations.
And listen to their complaints with the intention of taking action, not just explaining. To a customer, when something is wrong, your explanation is an excuse. Customers want action, not excuses.
When you ask, listen intently, respond empathetically, and act promptly to take appropriate corrective action, your customers feel respected, appreciated, and valued. They are WOWED and happy, intent on returning repeatedly, spending more money, and raving to others on social media. Understanding customer needs and innovating to exceed future customer wants will maximize the ROI of CX.
So, always be asking, “What happened?” and “How did it make you feel? Lastly, always be asking, “What if?” Constantly be innovating to future-proof the customer experience.. Don’t be just good. Always be GREAT out there!
#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx
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BILL QUISENG | Deliver the World's Best Customer Experience 
Greetings. There is a place here in Ann Arbor, MI, a well known deli known for a great food and customer service. Zingerman’s.
They have a system. It starts with a great greeting. It softens any backside issues. They have a red card and green card system. Green card, recognizes employees that do great things. Red cards, mean there was a let down. The server was empowered to fix. Could be free desert, deduction on bill, even free. But they could fix, but alert that it had to be corrected.
On Thu, Jul 31, 2025, 11:32 AM BILL QUISENG | Deliver the World’s Best
Patrick, first, thank you for reading and commenting on my post, which was not a terse, nondescript “Thank you for your post,” but a genuine response that collaborated with mine
Second, and as importantly, thank you for sharing this your insight about Zingerman’s future-proofing their customers’ experiences. Although I’ve been to Ann Arbor, I did not stop to enjoy Zingerman’s. I did read Ari Weinzweig’s book, “Zingerman’s Guide to Great Service. To me, they are Magnificently Boring and Magnificently Boring to CARE (see QUI QUOTES Reminders about Customers and Customer Service https://billquiseng.com/2023/05/10/qui-quotes-reminders-about-customers-and-customer-service) with GREAT food and GREAT service. Zingerman’s is not just good. Zingerman’s is GREAT out there!
Again, thank you for reading and responding to my post. For that, I very much appreciate you.