BILL QUISENG | Deliver the World's Best Customer Experience

QUI QUOTE: No customer ever calls or comes in, intent on paying good money, and loudly proclaims. “Here I am. Dissatisfy me now.”  The discriminating customer, bluntly, doesn’t care how you feel or that you can’t serve whatever he needs or wants. The customer is paying for his experience. And the best value in his experience is what you or someone else, even your competitor, can do, not what you can’t.

QUI TAKEAWAY: To a complaining customer, you are not the representative of the company. You ARE the company. So own it. Be the CEO of the moment. Take it personally. Take it professionally. Take it responsibly. Just don’t take it home.

The customer is not always right. But know that the customer IS ALWAYS YOUR customer. So, do whatever it takes to make the customer FEEL right. 

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.

Listen intently, respond empathetically, apologize, and do whatever it takes to resolve their problem, even if it means having to go with your customer to your competitor.

When all alternatives don’t work, DON’T fire the customer. Simply ask him to resign. “I’m sorry, but I’m not able to resolve your problems. Could I recommend Company X for your experience? I could contact them if you like.” Both the customer and your competitor are happy. The customer will remember you and might be loyal to you. The competitor is happy because you recommended them. They may refer you later if they are unable to resolve another customer’s complaint. A Mutual Admiration Society of sorts.

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 this:

QUI REMINDER: When a customer complains, listen intently, respond empathetically, and do whatever it takes to resolve their problem. When you do, your customer feels respected, appreciated, and valued. They are WOWED and happy, intent on returning repeatedly, spending more money, and raving to others on social media. And always remember, when you’re the CEO of the Moment,  don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx

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English writer Samuel Johnson said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” So, I encourage you to remind your colleagues, people, and yourself of one of the QUI QUOTES for QUI TAKEAWAYS. With that in mind, here is today’s:

QUI TAKEAWAY: To customers, their perception is reality, image is everything, and their feelings are the facts.

It’s not about what you THINK AFTER their experience. It’s about how your customers FEEL DURING their experience.

When it comes to their experience and your service, don’t be just good. Be GREAT out there!

#customerexperience #customersatisfaction #customerservice #csat #custexp #custserv #cx

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 The Rule of Three QUI TAKEAWAYS to Customer Service and Customer Experience. Because nobody can remember Number Four.

I am here to tell you that if you’re not in the Top Three, you don’t even exist in the minds of your potential customers. Here’s why. Who was the first president of the United States? Of course, George Washington. Who was Number Four? Who was the first person on the moon? Neil Armstrong. But who was Number Four?

Why do we have so much difficulty remembering who is Number Four? It’s because most of us can only easily remember up to three things. In the very beginning, only three TV channels used only three letters: ABC, NBC, and CBS. How many wishes do you get from a genie? When you were in school, what did they teach you if you were ever to catch on fire? Stop, Drop, and Roll. If good things come in threes, what does that make Number Four?

By the way, the answers to who was Number Four were James Madison and Alan Bean.

But I digress. Here are The Rule of Three QUI TAKEAWAYS to Customer Service and Customer Experience:

QUI TAKEAWAY: You are happy because customers were satisfied with their purchase of your 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 a better experience or a less expensive price.

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

And when you CARE, each customer feels respected, appreciated, and valued. They are WOWED and happy, intent on returning repeatedly, spending more money, and raving to others on social media. 

QUI TAKEAWAY: Customers pay for their experience, not your product or service. And it’s THEIR experience, not yours. They buy with emotion and justify their decision with reason. Customers seek the best emotional value in their entire experience, not the minutia of your logically reasonable best prices, products, or services.

The best emotional value to customers is in your personalized interactions with them, not their “cash or credit” sales transactions with you.

The customer’s relationship with you, not their purchase of your product, is the conduit where true customer experience value flows. 

To you, relationship capital is the only real currency of value to grow your business. So, when it comes to your customers and you and your business, think RELATIONSHIPS or Go Broke. Literally.

QUI TAKEAWAY: 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 an average, satisfactory customer experience into a positively WOW Experience.

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! For retailers, start opening 10 minutes earlier and closing 10 minutes later. For hotels, offer bottled water at arrival and departure. For auto service repair businesses, wash the car before returning the vehicle. For restaurants, personalize the menu with the customers’ names and special occasions, such as birthdays and anniversaries. 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 repeatedly, spend more money, and rave to others about you on social media. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build loyalty. Loyalty builds your business. Deliver consistency Magnificently!

Every morning, when you prepare your customer CARE people to engage and WOW your customers, I encourage you to remind your people during the daily briefing by reciting one of your favorite QUI TAKEAWAYS. In the end, you say, “Don’t be just good”, and everyone responds loudly in unison. “Be GREAT out there!”

#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx

English writer Samuel Johnson said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed”. So, this week, I encourage you to remind yourself and your colleagues of this: 

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 best price, product, or service. When they complain, they don’t complain about the price. They complain about the value of their experience for the price that you’re asking them to pay. On the flip side, when customers seek the best value in their experience, they will pay, no matter the price.

QUI TAKEAWAY: It’s not about the good service you render. It’s about the GREAT experience your customers remember. Don’t just be good. Be GREAT out there!

#customerservice #customerexperience #custserv #custexp #cx