What’s the “Exceptional Customer Experience” like with You?

I’m not referring to your company. I mean YOU

We all want to believe we work for a company that provides not just good, but “exceptional” customer service.  The problem is that most companies aim for providing consistent or adequate customer service.  By that, I mean they set expectations for customer service that can be met every time:  we answer the phone by the third ring, we invoice within 24 hours, we ship product within 8 hours of order entry, etc.  Standards are set for a level that can be met consistently.  That’s good and necessary.  There’s nothing wrong with doing that, but it becomes the expected.

The rare company actually trains for and aims for exceptional customer service.  It’s difficult as customers already know the standard level and expect it.  To have “exceptional” customer service, it takes employees interpreting the situation and doing the unexpected.  After all, it’s the unexpected that makes it exceptional.

We read stories of employees that go out of their way to do the extraordinary, which dazzles their customers to no end.  Many of these stories “go viral” and become legend.  The waiter who went down the street to buy a can of Pepsi for his table because the restaurant didn’t have one.  Or 187 years later, we still remember old Honest Abe returning change to a customer.  In all of these stories, there is one common thread.  That common thread is the one employee who stepped up and decided to implement their own version of exceptional service.  While many companies talk about providing exceptional customer service, it’s the rare few that achieve it.  However, as a salesperson, you are in a unique position to provide it.  So, decide today on what your customers are going to experience with you as their salesperson.

Will it be long drawn out sales presentations full of product info dumping, poor follow up on their requests and then be inaccessible by phone, email or text?  Or, will it be one exceptional experience after another?  As salespeople, we are all trying to find a way to differentiate.  This is especially true if we are selling the same products or services as our competition.  I hear it all the time, “How do we get out of the price game?” Exceptional customer service from a knowledgeable sales rep is one way to get out of price resistance.  I want to add that it can get you out of “some” price resistance.  Not “all” price resistance.  It’s not an open checkbook to charge an extra $40/ton or $5/bag, etc.  How much is it worth to your customer?  That’s a gray area that depends on how exceptional you are and how much value your customer places on it.  I will write a future article on how you value your efforts and what to do when a customer switches on you for 50 cents a ton.

Thoughts to keep in mind about the exceptional customer experience:

• Customer service is what you do, while the customer experience is how you do it and how the customer feels. Remember the old adage: People will long forget what you did, but will never forget how you made them feel.
• Customer service is expected. Everyone does it (in their opinion).
• The aim is to have Customer Experiences that:
  • spark emotion
  • leave impressions
  • Are unique
  • Exceed expectations
  • Create the desire to repeat the experience
• Positive customer experiences lead to:
  • Increased Loyalty
  • Increased Referrals
  • Decreased Price Sensitivity

• Feedback is vital to uncovering the emotions around the customer’s experience

Here are a few tips to develop your very own “Exceptional Customer Experience”

1. Answer your phone – Be accessible: Sounds simple, but then so does golf until you play it.  You would be surprised at how often customers struggle with trying to find their salesperson.  If they call, they want to talk.  Answer the phone or call them back.  Don’t reply with a text unless it’s absolutely the only way.  If they wanted a text, they would have texted.
2. Return your calls – Do what you say you will do: We can’t be available 24/7.  We have personal lives and we are busy with other customers.  Agreed, but to set yourself apart, return the call immediately when you become available.
3. Jump all over complaints – with solutions: I know it’s difficult and you might not have all the answers, but disappearing to allow the customer time to “cool off” is not a good strategy.  Just like Aunt Edna, bad news gets worse with age.  Get in front, as a leader would, and look for solutions.
4. Go the extra mile – Learn more than you are taught:  Over the years, I didn’t have to do a lot of the things that I did for customers.  I could easily have gotten by on doing less.  However, I tried to be different and it paid off.  To go the extra mile, I certainly tried to do more than what was typically expected in a customer interaction.  I also went deeper into the processes of both my business and the customers which included a deep network of industry experts.  When needed, I could bring these experts in to help both the customer and the expert.  These efforts paid off as my customers sought me out for help in many areas besides my product line.  This built trust, which led to a faster selling cycle.
5. Do the unexpected – Effort is rewarded: Similar to going the extra mile, doing the unexpected is one of those “icing on the cake” type of moments for a customer.  Everyone expects their sales person to care.  After all, customers think the reason is the sales person’s commission program.  However, doing the unexpected is a great way to enhance the customer experience.  It’s that one extra step that means the difference between you and all the other salespeople driving down the farm roads.
6. Show Appreciation – Sometimes we show customer’s appreciation like the husband that told his wife he loved her on their wedding day, adding that if anything changes, he’d let her know. Not a good plan!  Spouses forget and sometimes don’t feel the love.  Customers are no different.  We need to remind them often of their importance.  How?  Start by doing the items listed above.  These items show respect, appreciation and build trust.

In summary, I’ll leave you with this final thought around operating a business or territory.  Recently, I was at an event dedicated to sales skills and business development.  After a day of taking notes and learning, it struck me as to how wrong we are about our number one expense in business.  Ask anyone managing a P&L and they will tell you their number one expense is payroll.  Of course it is.  You can read it right there on the spreadsheet.  But, think again.  Think about the unhappy customers that walk out your door, that never walk in again, that tell their neighbor, that return their products and go somewhere else, that get on social media channels we don’t even see and express their unhappiness.  Think about the wasted years of brand building and advertising dollars to get a customer into the store or in front of your salesperson.  Only to be lost due to one experience.

Start today.  If you don’t know where to start, I suggest the list above.  Also, ask your fellow salespeople and ask your customers.  “Who is providing an exceptional customer experience?”  “How are they doing it?”  Then implement your very own version of it.

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