Category Archives: Customer Experience

May 31, 2023 · 12:00 pm

The Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty

Every week, in the month of June, I will offer each one of the Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty. Why only three? Because nobody can remember Number Four. Who is the first President of the United States? Surely, George Washington. Who is Number Four? Who is the first person to walk on the moon? Neil Armstrong, of course. Who is Number Four? (By the way, the answers to who is Number Four are James Madison and Alan Bean.)

For starters, let me give you these simple definitions: Customer service is what you do for your customers. Customer experience or CX is how your customers feel about what you do. Customer experience management or CXM is what you do before, during, and after your customers feel about what you did. And customer loyalty is how your customers feel about what you did over and over again.

Speaking about customers and customer experience, business leaders are happy because customers leave satisfied with their product or service. But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers will feel that their experience is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will not return as soon as they find an experience that is better or a price that is less expensive. 

Rather than satisfying your customers, you have to deliver an experience that is better than satisfactory. Don’t treat your customers as they expect. And don’t treat your customers as you expect to be treated. Instead, treat them a little better than they expect. Don’t serve to satisfy them. Serve to WOW them. Your customers will have an emotional connection. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal your customers are.

So here are Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty. 

  • Principle One: Be the Customer.
  • Principle Two: Create Their Experience.
  • Principle Three: Be Magnificently Boring!

Once you understand the Three Principles to Build Customer Loyalty, then you need to consistently deliver them. When you do, your customers will be WOWED and happy, loyally returning again and again, raving to others on social media.

NEXT WEEK: Be the Customer.

#customerservice #customerexperience #customerloyalty #custserv #custexp #cx

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May 17, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Customers care about their metrics, not yours.

Customers pay for their experience, not your product or service. They buy with emotion and justify their decision with reason. Customers seek the best emotional value in their experience, not your logically reasonable price, product, or service.

The value to your customers is in their personal interactions, not your “cash or credit” business transactions. To earn customer loyalty, don’t get inside their heads. Get inside their hearts. Create an emotional connection. Think RELATIONSHIPS or Go Broke. Literally.

QUI QUOTE: Your customers don’t care about your NPS, CSAT, or CX metrics. They only care about theirs: One to One. Human to Human. Heart to Heart

#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx

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May 10, 2023 · 12:00 pm

QUI QUOTES Reminders about Customers and Customer Service

English writer Samuel Johnson said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed”. So I encourage you to remind yourself and your colleagues every day about each one of these 25 QUI QUOTES about customers and customer service.

FIRST BEST

First, be the best to your customers. Then, you will be the first among your competitors. When it comes to customers and customer service, don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

ACTION ATTITUDE

Thinking about customer service excellence doesn’t make it happen; doing something does. Customer service excellence is not an attitude. It’s action.

ACTION EXCUSES

To a complaining customer, when something is wrong, your explanation is an excuse. Customers want action, not excuses.

CARE BIG  

Customers don’t care how big your business is. They only care about how big you care about them. So CARE BIG!

CONSISTENCY

Customer loyalty is not one BIG WOW delivered to a customer. It’s one little wow delivered consistently to every customer. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. Deliver customer CARE consistently.

CUSTOMERS CARE

Don’t just serve to sell your products or services to customers. And don’t just serve to satisfy customers. Instead, serve to WOW them. Serve to CARE.

COMMUNICATE with each customer with a smile, eye contact, and polite interaction. Inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them.

ACKNOWLEDGE each customer’s presence and value to you and your company.

RESPOND promptly and empathetically to each customer’s questions, concerns, and complaints.

ENRICH the experiences and, ultimately, the lives of every customer.

And when you CARE, each customer is WOWED and happy, intent on returning again and again, raving to others on social media. 

CUSTOMERS COMPLAIN

Take the perspective that customers complain because they want to help your business. Otherwise, they would walk away, saying nothing, with no intention of ever returning.

CUSTOMERS COMPLAIN VALUE

Your customers aren’t complaining about the price. They’re complaining about the value of their experience for the price you are asking them to pay.

CUSTOMERS DON’T CARE

Customers coming to your business today don’t care how good you were to other customers yesterday. And they don’t care how good you are to others tomorrow. Customers only care how good you are now – to them. So CARE BIG! Don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Customers are paying for their experience, not your service or product. They buy with emotion and justify their decision with reason. Customers seek the best emotional value in their entire experience, not the minutiae of your logically reasonable best prices, products, or services, virtual or physical locations, AI, ChatGPT, online or human customer support, and many other details of yours.

CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE LOYALTY

Customer service is what you do for your customers. Customer experience is how your customers feel about what you did. Customer experience management is what you do before, during, and after you find out how customers feel about what you did. Customer loyalty is how your customers feel about what you did again and again.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

To earn customer loyalty, don’t get inside their heads. Get inside their hearts. Create an emotional connection. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Loyal customers will return again and again, raving about you to others on social media.

EXPERIENCE RIGHT BOUGHT

You know you have customer experience right when customers don’t tell others what they bought. They tell them whom they bought it from.

FEEL RIGHT

A complaining customer is not always right. But he is always your customer. So do whatever it takes to make him feel right.

FIND KEEP

Your business success is not dependent on how many customers you find. It’s all about how many customers you keep.

FOCUS

Focus on saving your customers time versus saving the company money. Do that and you’ll earn more money than you would have saved.

HUMAN TO HUMAN

Customers don’t go to B2B or B2C companies. They engage companies that are H2H. Human to Human. One to One. Heart to Heart. Customers don’t care how big your company is. They only care about how big you care about them. So CARE BIG!

INTERACTION TRANSACTION

The value to your customers is in their personal interactions, not your “cash or credit” business transactions. Think RELATIONSHIPS or Go Broke. Literally.

LOYALTY

Customer loyalty is not earned by giving points to your customers for buying from you. It’s about delivering service so GREAT you don’t need to.

MAGNIFICENTLY BORING

Customer loyalty is not one BIG WOW to a customer. It’s one little wow delivered consistently to every customer. And when you consistently deliver a little wow, you transform a neutral customer experience into a positive one. So, be Magnificently Boring! Consistently deliver a low-cost, no-cost “a little better than the average experience that customers expect” product or service so repetitively that you feel it is boring, but to the customer, at that moment, you are Magnificent! Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Your loyal customers will return again and again, raving about you to others on social media. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. Deliver consistency Magnificently!

MAGNIFICENTLY BORING TO CARE

Be Magnificently Boring to CARE! Consistently CARE for your customers so repetitively that you feel it is boring, but to every customer, at that moment, you are Magnificent! Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Loyal customers will return again and again, raving about you to others. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. CARE Magnificently!

MARKETING

Marketing is a promise to customers. Customer loyalty is not built on promises. It’s built on the consistent delivery of service that not only meets but rather exceeds customer expectations of the company’s marketing promises.

NEW MARKETING

Your New Marketing is not your advertising online to customers. It’s your customers raving about you to others on social media.

PERCEPTION

To customers, perception is reality,  image is everything, and feelings are facts. Customer experience is not about what you or your customers THINK AFTER their experience. It’s about how your customers FEEL DURING their experience.

RELATIONSHIPS

Think RELATIONSHIPS or Go Broke. Literally.

RENDER REMEMBER

It is not about the service you render. It’s about the experience your customers remember. 

SMILE

Good customer service means putting a smile on your face. GREAT customer CARE means putting a smile on your customers’ faces.

STORY

People are talking about you whether you know it or not, like it or not. World-class or no class. And if they’re not talking world-class or no class, then they’re simply not talking about you at all. Make sure you have them tell a WOW story with your GREAT customer CARE.

SUCCEED INNOVATE

When it comes to customers and customer service, if, at first, you don’t succeed, innovate until you do.

TECHNOLOGY

Not every customer experience can be made better with technology. Focus on the customer, not technology.

If you think 25 QUI QUOTES are a little more than I reminded you, you’re right. When you are in customer service, don’t just serve to sell to your customers. And don’t serve to satisfy your customers. Don’t treat your customers as they expect to be treated. And don’t treat your customers as you expect to be treated. Instead, treat your customers a little better than they expect to be treated. When it comes to customers and customer service, don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

#customerservice #customerexperience #customerloyalty #custserv #custexp #cx

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May 3, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Be Magnificently Boring to CARE!

Business leaders are happy because customers were satisfied with their product or service. But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers feel that their experience was good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will not return as soon as they find an experience that is better or a price that is less expensive.

So don’t serve to sell to customers. And don’t serve to satisfy customers. Serve to WOW them. Serve to CARE.

  • COMMUNICATE with every customer with a smile, eye contact, and polite interaction. Inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them.
  • ACKNOWLEDGE each customer’s presence and value to you and your business.
  • RESPOND promptly and empathetically to each customer’s questions, concerns, and complaints.
  • ENRICH the experiences and, ultimately, the lives of every customer.

And Be Magnificently Boring to CARE! Consistently CARE for your customers so repetitively that you feel it is boring, but to every customer, at that moment, you are Magnificent! Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, and the more loyal the customers are. Loyal customers will return, again and again, raving about you to others. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. 

QUI Takeaway: Be Magnificently Boring to CARE! When you are Magnificently Boring to CARE, your customers are WOWED and happy, returning again and again, raving to others on social media.

#customerservice #customerexperience #customerloyalty #custserv #custexp #cx #hospitality

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March 15, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Select for passion, not past performance.

Instead of “Hire for attitude, not aptitude” or “Hire for personality, train for skills”, remind yourself when you recruit to

Select for passion, not past performance.

You hire an employee. At some point, before employees start or while they begin working, they may think that you could be a top-down, one-way, “I know everything, you know nothing” command-and-control dictator. They would feel that, as their boss, you don’t care much about them. And, soon, they could care less about you and your business.

Instead, select a person. Employees don’t seek B2B or B2C companies. They engage in companies that are H2H. Human to Human. Heart to Heart. Employees don’t care how big you are. They only care about how big you care about them. So CARE for them. Communicate. Appreciate. Recognize. Empower. (See my previous post about “People First”. https://billquiseng.com/2022/01/10/when-it-all-comes-down-to-business-its-people-first/)

As for attitude and personality , thinking and  talking about service excellence does not make it happen; doing something does. Service excellence is passion, not attitude or personality. You HAVE TO have attitude and personality to serve customers. But when you have passion, you always WANT to WOW them.

QUI Takeaway: Select for passion, not past performance. Don’t train your people with your top-down, one-way, “I know everything, you know nothing” instruction. Instead, educate your people interactively, frequently, and continuously. With suggestions, recommendations, and encouragement, empower your people to develop, not a business, but themselves. Your people will be enthused and energized to passionately engage customers. They will create an emotional connection with your customers. The more emotional the connections, the more memorable the experiences, the more loyal the customers are. And everyone, your people and your customers alike, will be enriched, literally and figuratively.

#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx

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February 1, 2023 · 12:00 pm

BUSINESS LEADERS FORBIDDEN PHRASE: We’ve always done it that way.

BUSINESS LEADER FORBIDDEN PHRASE: “We’ve always done it that way.”

If your customers and employees are raving about you as a customer service leader, then that’s GREAT! But if they’re not saying anything at all about you, then that’s not. Satisfied people feel that your customer service leadership is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied people won’t return as soon as they find something better. So be GREAT out there! Otherwise, well …

A complaining customer would ask you, “Well, if you’ve already done it that way, why don’t you guys fix it?”

Business competitors would say to their people, “Well, if they’ve already done it that way, then we’ll just do a little better to WOW their customers with us.”

Your employees would say to themselves, “Well, if you’ve already done it that way, then we’ll go somewhere else that pays more.” or “We’ll go somewhere else where they communicate, support, and motivate us,” or “We’ll go somewhere else where they recognize and appreciate us for our team and individual achievements, accomplishments, or personalized acts of customer service.”

Instead of serving your customers on what they expect and leading your people on how they are treated, ask yourselves, as leaders, to envision “What if?”. And don’t just think and talk about it. Thinking and talking about customer service leadership doesn’t make it happen; doing something does. Customer service leadership is action, not attitude.

Focus on creating a GREAT experience for your employees as much as you do for customers and you will earn the loyalty of both. Soon, without a focus on profits, profits will grow. And everyone will be enriched, literally and figuratively.

Satisfying current customers’ and employees’ needs and innovating to consistently deliver WOW customer and employee experiences will maximize the ROI of CX. So do more than what you always have done. Do better than what you always have done. And be GREAT out there!

#leadership #customerservice #customerexperience #employeeexperience #employeeengagement #custserv #custexp #cx

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January 26, 2023 · 12:00 pm

In hospitality, your people are NOT your most important assets.

In hospitality, your people are NOT your most important assets.

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins writes that “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, claims that success in any job is 20% knowledge and 80% interpersonal skills. Ultimately, success in hospitality is all about interpersonal skills.

There are a lot of people wanting to enter the hospitality business. And for an industry set to take advantage of travel and tourism that will be generated by Gen X and baby boomers, that is good news. Unfortunately, while there are people who want to work in hospitality, there are many who simply are not the right people. As a resort general manager who personally interviewed every candidate finalist and as a former college instructor interacting with students and displaced workers from other industries, I feel that many people lack the necessary interpersonal skills because they have grown up or interacted with others in a generation far different from our own.

I am convinced that people can only deliver an experience that they themselves have experienced. In order to succeed in retail, they would have had to personally experience and learn from great examples of others exhibiting stellar interpersonal skills in their day-to-day interactions with travelers and guests.

But those opportunities to learn firsthand from face-to-face interactions have all changed in less than a generation. Not too long ago there was no direct deposit or internet banking. If we wanted to deposit our paycheck, we would have to go weekly to the bank. After a while, the teller got to know who we were, where we worked, what we did there, and regularly asked how work and our company were doing. Remember when gas station attendants checked your oil and tire pressure, cleaned your windshield, and asked you if there was anything else they could do for you for a little over a dollar per gallon? How bad has customer service gotten when we never see an attendant and actually pump our own gas for more than four dollars per gallon?

The average Facebook user today has 338 friends. When a person posts on his or her page, they don’t have a loss of self-esteem when only 50 “like” the post. The other 288 have ignored them and they are OK with that! Today, we have cell phones. But what are many doing with their cell phones? I’m so old I remember someone actually laughing out loud on my phone. Texting is really one-way communication. You don’t hear voice tone or inflection or a pause. In real life, there is no “delete” or “backspace”.

Where is the reinforcement of interpersonal skills in those experiences?

So, the experiences for many people are not full of good examples of emotional intelligence, body language, or verbal communication that only face-to-face interactions can teach. I believe that translates into the real world that is OK to ignore the guest and your co-workers. You don’t have to greet your co-workers every morning or every traveler who walks through the door. Having not experienced often enough good examples of communication, collaboration, or relationship-building skills, how will those people entering hospitality, the people you entrust to travelers and guests, be successful? And if you allow yourself to accept that level of performance as adequate, how will your businesses succeed?

The answer is that you, as manager, are responsible for the education of those who do not have those skills. For you to succeed in this very competitive travel and tourism marketplace, you will need the right people. You will need people who know how to consistently welcome your guests with eye contact and a smile, inform each traveler openly, transparently and interactively, listen and respond empathetically, and bid them a sincere fond farewell. So, you will need to ask the proper interview questions with the specific intent of finding out if the candidates have the necessary skills of expressing sincerity, empathy, and trust. And you will be the one who will have to educate the people you select to deliver that experience for your travelers and guests. Interpersonal skills training cannot simply end after the first-week orientation. It must be consistent and continual. Only then will you build the interpersonal skills of your staff to drive their success and yours.

#customerservice #customerexperience #hospitality #custserv #custexp #cx

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January 25, 2023 · 12:00 pm

In customer service, your people are not your most important assets.

In retail customer service, your people are NOT your most important assets.

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins writes that “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, claims that success in any job is 20% knowledge and 80% interpersonal skills. Ultimately, success in retail customer service is all about interpersonal skills.

There are a lot of people wanting to enter the retail business. And for an industry set to take advantage of retail sales that will be generated by Gen X and baby boomers, that is good news. Unfortunately, while there are people who want to work in retail customer service, there are many who simply are not the right people. As a resort general manager who personally interviewed every candidate finalist and as a former college instructor interacting with students and displaced workers from other industries, I feel that many people lack the necessary interpersonal skills because they have grown up or interacted with others in a generation far different from our own.

I am convinced that people can only deliver an experience that they themselves have experienced. In order to succeed in retail, they would have had to personally experience and learn from great examples of others exhibiting stellar interpersonal skills in their day-to-day interactions with them.

But those opportunities to learn firsthand from face-to-face interactions have all changed in less than a generation. Not too long ago there was no direct deposit or internet banking. If we wanted to deposit our paycheck, we would have to go weekly to the bank. After a while, the teller got to know who we were, where we worked, what we did there, and regularly asked how work and our company were doing. Remember when gas station attendants checked your oil and tire pressure, cleaned your windshield, and asked you if there was anything else they could do for you for a little over a dollar per gallon? How bad has customer service gotten when we never see an attendant and actually pump our own gas for more than four dollars per gallon?

The average Facebook user today has 338 friends. When a person posts on his or her page, they don’t have a loss of self-esteem when only 50 “like” the post. The other 288 have ignored them and they are OK with that! Today, we have cell phones. But what are many doing with their cell phones? I’m so old I remember someone actually laughing out loud on my phone. Texting is really one-way communication. You don’t hear voice tone or inflection or a pause. In real life, there is no “delete” or “backspace”.

Where is the reinforcement of interpersonal skills in those experiences?

So, the experiences for many people are not full of good examples of emotional intelligence, body language, or verbal communication that only face-to-face interactions can teach. I believe that translates into the real world that is OK to ignore the customer and your co-workers. You don’t have to greet your co-workers every morning or every customer who walks through the door. Having not experienced often enough good examples of communication, collaboration, or relationship-building skills, how will those people entering retail customer service, the people you entrust to customers, be successful? And if you allow yourself to accept that level of performance as adequate, how will your businesses succeed?

The answer is that you, as manager, are responsible for the education of those who do not have those skills. For you to succeed in this very competitive retail marketplace, you will need the right people. You will need people who know how to consistently welcome your customers with eye contact and a smile, inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them, listen and respond empathetically, and bid them a sincere fond farewell. So, you will need to ask the proper interview questions with the specific intent of finding out if the candidates have the necessary skills of expressing sincerity, empathy, and trust. And you will be the one who will have to educate the people you select to deliver that experience for your customers. Interpersonal skills training cannot simply end after the first-week orientation. It must be consistent and continual. Only then will you build the interpersonal skills of your staff to drive their success and yours.

#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx

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January 11, 2023 · 12:00 pm

Customer CARE is the New Marketing

Through social media, people are talking about you whether you know it or not, like it or not. Customers who are dissatisfied with your service rant about their no class experience to others. They’re not just talking about you to their friends on social media. They’re telling everyone, even complete strangers.

If they’re not talking no class, then they’re just not talking about you at all. Customers who are satisfied with your service feel that their experience is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers won’t come back when they find something better or less expensive.

So don’t just serve to sell your products or services to customers. And don’t just serve to satisfy customers. Instead, serve to WOW them. Serve to CARE.

  • COMMUNICATE with every customer with a smile, eye contact, and polite interaction. Inform each customer transparently and interactively of the product’s or service’s function, liabilities, and advantages to them.
  • ACKNOWLEDGE each customer’s presence and value to you and your company.
  • RESPOND promptly and empathetically to each customer’s questions, concerns, and complaints.
  • ENRICH the experiences and, ultimately, the lives of every customer.

And when you CARE, each customer is WOWED and happy, intent on returning again and again, raving to others on social media. 

The New Marketing is not advertising online to your customers. It’s your customers raving about you to others on social media.

QUI QUOTE: Customer CARE is the New Marketing.

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December 24, 2022 · 9:00 am

Merriest of Christmases and Happiest of Holidays and New Years!

Ever since I had my stroke in April last year, writing has been literally a labor of love. I hope that you have gained some insight into how to Deliver the World’s Best Customer Experience by not just serving to satisfy customers, but rather to WOW them.

I want to thank each of you for reading my blog this year. I very much appreciate you. In appreciation, and in paying it forward, for this New Year, I don’t wish you good luck in the future. I wish you GREAT success and fortune, literally and figuratively.

Merriest of Christmases and happiest of Holidays and New Years! May your New Year be GREAT out there!

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