Real cost of our new social world

The things you miss because you don’t live in the moment – Last week I enjoyed spring break with my family in beautiful San Diego. While we had a wonderful time doing the typical touristy things; SeaWorld, beaches, Gas-lamp District, and Coronado, I did get frustrated how often we were glued to our phones texting, checking emails and social media. I did try to demand that everyone leave his phone in the car, which was met with a lot of resistance. And then, midway through my vacation, someone sent me this short video called “Look Up” to watch. I showed this video to my family and they all had the same reaction that I had — no one wanted to use their phones anymore while on vacation.

The real costs of our new “social” world – “Look Up” speaks to the real cost of our new “social” world. It is an amazing story that has relevance for everybody every day. The things you miss because you don’t live in the moment. I strongly encourage you to watch and show this less-than-five-minute video to your family. And I challenge you to see if you catch the twist in the video, you have to watch closely. Let me know if you do by commenting here.

*Related – Do you suffer from MSA (Mental Stimulation Addiction)?

Are you Zero Risk? What zero risk doesn’t mean is that you will never drop the ball on a Customer. What it does mean is having all your employees fully aware of the most common service defects that can arise at each stage of the Customer experience cycle, and having them trained and empowered to provide great service recovery, so your company is known to be zero risk to deal with. Everyone’s service aptitude appears strong when things are going smoothly, but employees’ and the company’s true service aptitude is revealed when things don’t go as planned and service defects arise. What does zero risk look like? As a Customer, you have a sense of security when you deal with a company that is willing to make something wrong, right. Thus, that business is zero risk to deal with. Zero risk addresses an intimidating array of issues that can produce unhappy Customers: service defects, lack of concern about the Customer’s experience, and incidents or emergencies that aren’t your fault. Zero risk is essential in order to create a world-class experience out of any situation and make the Customer yours for life. If and when you become zero risk, you will indeed be in very exclusive company.

*Related – Are you getting enough complaints?

How Can Your Company Become Zero Risk? Look at your most common Customer challenges; the ones that may be your fault and the ones that are not, but that you can predict will happen every week. Your front-line employees are your best source for this exercise. When you foresee problems and prepare for them, Customer service can actually be easy and rewarding. Make a Customer’s day tomorrow by anticipating his needs before he is even aware of them.

About The Author

John DiJulius

John R. DiJulius is a best-selling author, consultant, keynote speaker and President of The DiJulius Group, the leading Customer experience consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on Customer experience trends and best practices.