Great Customer Experiences Require Incredible Teams!

Customers today are picky, fickle, vocal and vain.  They are Vain--expecting treatment that telegraphs they are special and unique, not just one of the masses.  This customer narcissism has been forged both through the treatment provided by service providers as well as their new found muscle to get their way in the marketplace.

For today’s customer consistency, reliability and making a strong emotional connection brings value and is the key to building loyalty which drives advocacy and growth!  Understanding the customer’s journey through their entire experience with your organization from their POV is absolutely critical to success in today’s very competitive environment.  Examining the key moments of truth that occur at important touch points in that journey to ensure the customer experience is exceeding expectations provides us with an opportunity to design and deliver the kind of innovative customer experiences that drive advocacy and spur repeat purchases!

Not long ago we travelled through Europe on vacation with our family.  We met our oldest son in Copenhagen for the weekend.  He introduced us to a fabulous restaurant called Relae.  Copenhagen is known for its great food and Relae proved to be no exception.  What struck me the most about Relae was not the fabulous food; it was the incredible over the top experience delivered by an amazingly well coordinated high performance team.

The staff at Relae were experts in connection making and understood the high value touch points in our journey.  We were fortunate to sit where we could observe all of the teamwork on display to produce our fabulous meal.  Everybody on the staff was cross trained and could do everything!  We watched the head chef immediately leave the food preparation process and greet an arriving guest when he realized everyone else was busy.  The servers rotated at bringing our dishes to the table.  We were impressed as we quizzed each of them about how each course was prepared.  Every one of them demonstrated in depth knowledge of the food sourcing and preparation process.  When the kitchen got super busy the entire team went into action.  They worked together like a well-rehearsed orchestra with a seasoned conductor and never missed a beat.

We quizzed each of the servers about their background and found that they came from around the world to work in the food business in Copenhagen.  Although from many countries and varied cultures they all shared a keen interest in delicious food and providing over the top experiences.  They each made a personal connection with the three of us and were committed to providing a great experience.  The entire team shared the attitude of delivering only the best for the customer and understood it took the efforts of a high-performance team to do so!

Does your organization have high performing teams dedicated to providing great customer experiences throughout the entire customer journey?  Is everyone on the team cross trained to step in for a teammate when necessary so there is no gap in the customers’ experience?  And most importantly does everyone display the attitude and commitment of delivering only take your breath away experiences that drive loyalty and advocacy?
 

© Chip Bell Group, 2023.  Courtesy of John R. Patterson (www.johnrpatterson.com).  Permission is given to download and distribute this article as long as it contains this copyright notice.