Earlier this week, I attended a ProVisors (trusted advisors) group of women, and one of our members,Kathy McEntee, talked about the critical importance of the customer experience in today’s Amazon-impacted marketplace.  She made a point of talking about touchpoints.  Providing the ultimate experience for the customer is NOT the same at different touchpoints.  For example, what you do when they are an acquaintance is quite different than what they should do once they are a client or customer.  Also last week, I read through a playbook for a potential client and key contact.  The 80/20 was about branding and the importance of the customer experience.  This theme is popping up everywhere!

For example, Amazon and Nordstrom have driven the expectations for a superior customer experience up.  Do your customers expect rapid deliveries?  Do they expect you to design products and services specifically for them?  Are you thinking about what they haven’t yet requested?  

One tip to implement this week:
Whether you are on the front lines or not, you impact the customer experience!  At the very least, what you do impacts your internal customers and supports the delivery of products and services to your external customers.  

Think about all the ways you impact the customer.  You might be quite surprised.  If you still aren’t sure how you impact customers, ask your co-workers or your manager.  If they aren’t sure, ask your CEO.  He or she must know!

Next, think about what you can do to make a positive impact on your customers’ experiences.  

• Can you contribute to quicker service?  Perhaps you can automate part of your tasks?
• Can you help find a best practice among your peers or facilities?  
• Can you contribute to a new product design?  Whether you have anything to do with R&D or product development

 I bet you can!  

Help your team understand your customer.  Research your customer.  Think as though you were the customer.  What would you want?  Ask around.  How can you help your customer be successful?

Just asking a few simple questions can achieve dramatic results.  Start the ball rolling this week and see what evolves…..  Undoubtedly, you’ll end up with at least one happy customer down-the-line.