Five Ways Your Customer Experience Is Always on Stage

Your CX (Customer Experience) is always on stage.  Today, too many companies think they are in a race to evolve their customer experience from costly human interactions to technology like self-check-in/out, apps, kiosks, social media, and online support. While these represent a necessary evolution for most business models, we must not send the message to our employees that success is no longer about them and what they do.

That will make our employees feel less important or have a decreased sense of value and disconnection from the company’s purpose, creating employee apathy. Employee apathy produces customer apathy, which is a sign of a terminally ill business. We cannot let our leaders and employees rely on technology as a crutch for the customer experience.

URX

Our employees must constantly be reminded that “You are the eXperience” (URX). It is about them and how they interact with the customer. Apps, iPads, websites, and kiosks don’t build relationships. People do.  Employees who connect instead of just communicating create loyal customers. Sven Gierlinger, vice president and chief experience officer of Northwell Health, inspires his staff by reminding them, “Every moment that we come into contact with our patients and customers matters. Never lose sight of the impact you make on other people in any given moment. The choice you make to smile (or not), to follow through (or not), to be empathetic (or not) makes a bigger difference than you will ever know. Choose wisely.”

Five Ways Your Customer Experience Is Always on Stage

Your employees must understand that they are always on stage, whether interacting directly with the customer or not. Each interaction impacts the experience your customer perceives.

Labeling your customer experience “Always on Stage” is a way to help your entire organization realize how their actions are seen through their customer’s eyes. Here are five examples of ways your experience is always on stage:

1. Leave it at the door

Always be aware of how you act when dealing with customers, regardless of what you have going on in your life. This includes not over-sharing about work, personal life, slow computers, or blaming coworkers for problems. It also includes avoiding the dreaded RBF syndrome. The best customer service employees are Academy Award-winning actors or actresses at times.

2. You are still on stage

Employees sometimes forget that they are still on stage when they are not directly dealing with customers, but customers can still see or hear them. This could be employees or receptionists talking to each other about their personal lives, making negative comments about other customers, or complaining about their jobs, all within earshot of a customer in the waiting area. This could also be an employee reading text messages or eating in front of customers when they are off the clock. The customer doesn’t know the employee is off the clock. All they see is an unprofessional employee.

3. Must be present to win

If you are really present with a customer, a firecracker could go off nearby and you wouldn’t even realize it. Employees must understand how unprofessional it is to have personal conversations with coworkers while engaging with a customer or multitasking while on a call. The greatest gift you can give someone is your undivided attention.

4. Everyone is your customer

The experience you deliver extends far beyond customers. It is how you act and treat coworkers, vendors, people you buy from, and even strangers in an elevator. World-class service is not something you do or deliver; it is in you, in all areas of your life.

5. Everyone is in the media

Previously, some journalists reported interest stories on television, radio, and newspapers. Today, everyone with access to a smartphone, camera, and social media is a reporter. Businesses need to make significant changes in the experience they deliver since customers can share their level of satisfaction with your company on sites like Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Today, every business is one experience away from going viral.

Remember the United Airlines staff members dragging a passenger off a flight or two African American men arrested at Starbucks in Philadelphia because they hadn’t ordered anything? These stories would never have made the headlines 20 years ago. However, today, anyone with a smartphone can catch companies mistreating customers and post the video.

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