A Simple Idea to Build Great Customer Relationships

Bite-Sized Delight From the Episode:

• How something unrelated to your business can be a great way to build strong customer relationships.
• Why making your life harder is the best way to make the customer experience better.`
• Dan’s fateful trip to a Manhattan electronics store with a “creative” pricing system.
• Why customer experience is key to word-of-mouth marketing.

BOOK REPORT: More Is More [01:00-13:17]

More Is More: How the Best Companies Go Farther and Work Harder to Create Knock-Your-Socks-Off Customer Experiences by Blake Morgan (host of the Modern Customer Podcast) is our book this week. Morgan argues that customer experience is not synonymous with customer service, and points to how you can DO MORE: Design something special; Offer a strong employee experience; Modernize with technology; Obsess over the customer; Reward responsibility and accountability; and Embrace disruption and innovation.

Tweetable Quotes

Make life harder on ourselves to make it easier on our customers. #CX Click To Tweet
Most of us don’t have time for things to break. #CX Click To Tweet
Most companies don’t think about the reality of customers’ lives. #CX Click To Tweet
Get your employees to step into the customer’s shoes. #CX Click To Tweet

Takeaways

• Effort is one of the most important aspects of customer experience.
• If the process is going to be difficult or confusing, it should be difficult for the company, not for the customer.
• Happy employees are more likely to make the customer happy.

THIS JUST HAPPENED: Jacob Burns Film Center [13:18-19:26]

Today’s This Just Happened comes to us via the Speak Pipe, which you can use too. Denise Treco, Director of Communications and Marketing at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. She shares with us how they turned their internal cooking competitions (a fun employee experience) into a staff cookbook they could share to bring their customer relationships to a new level.

Tweetable Quotes

Moments of surprise and delight don’t have to be directly related to what you do. #CX Click To Tweet
Making the cookbook was free, but it made a big impact. #CX Click To Tweet

Takeaways

• The cookbook is an example of how you can have a big customer experience impact for low or no cost.
• Moments of surprise and delight don’t have to be directly related to what you do.

THIS JUST HAPPENED: Don’t Be Like This Mike [19:27-26:56]

This is not a typo—this week we have TWO This Just Happened segments. Dan was attending a customer service conference in New York City when he realized that he had forgotten his microphone. When he went into an electronics store near Times Square, he ran into a few (unpleasant) surprises that can teach us some valuable lessons about the customer experience.

Tweetable Quotes

Don’t gouge your customers. Just don’t. #CX Click To Tweet
If you treat your customers with respect, they will respect you back. #CX Click To Tweet

Takeaways

• Ripping off your customers is not a sustainable business model.
• As a customer, a “no refunds policy” immediately raises a red flag.
• If you treat your customers with respect, they will respect you back.

CHECK OUT THIS NUMBER: 80% [26:57-29:12]

80% of customers rely on word of mouth from peers to decide where to shop. If you think about it, when we need something new we invariably ask our friends, but so few companies take this into consideration.

Tweetable Quotes

80% of customers rely on word of mouth from peers to decide where to shop. #CX Click To Tweet

Takeaways

• A remarkable experience is the best way to ensure word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

Be a Part of the Show!

We’d love to hear about your great customer experiences, which segments you like, and your ideas for future episodes!

Are You Looking for Things We Referenced?

• More Is More by Blake Morgan
• Jacob Burns Film Center
• Jacob Burns Film Center Cookbook
• Smarter CX by Oracle

We used sound effects in this episode from Freesound.org.
See you next week!