Cancelling Democracy: The Rule Of Flaw MAL 67:2025 | Page 20

Reflections

By Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi

What does it really take to deliver unforgettable customer experience in today’ s noisy, digital-first world? In his latest book, The X in CX, celebrated author and advisor Sunny Bindra lays out a refreshingly simple- but powerful- answer: focus on what sticks.

We live in a time where businesses love to talk about customer centricity. Yet for many, customer experience( CX) remains a confused, box-ticking exercise. Sunny Bindra argues that true CX is the kind that creates loyalty, sparks emotion, and keeps people coming back.

We have all had great experiences. However, we have also had rather poor experiences that left us disappointed. There is wisdom in noting that the most important person in any business is the customer. In the first Chapter, Sunny lays it out clearly. He quotes Sam Waton,‘ There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else’.

If we all take a moment to reflect on this, it is humbling. The customer pays our salary. This is the person who makes a decision everyday to choose us. As a result, we should all spend our time obsessing about our customer and in ensuring that we deliver great experience. However, while we all have good intentions for our customers, sometimes we disappoint our customers. We fall short of their expectations.

As I read the book and reflected, I went back to all the great experiences that I had had and I will share a few here as we unpack Sunny’ s book.

Nakumatt, is a brand that I remember fondly. When it shut down, I was sad. I used to love shopping at the branch on Uhuru Highway or in Westgate mall as these were open 24 hours. The assistants in the shop always knew where things were. If you asked for pillows, you would be told the aisle number; similarly, if you were looking for coconut milk, the same. The teams were competent and confident. They were helpful too; I remember once when I went shopping with my son, he was much younger then. I was carrying him and pushing the cart. An assistant came to help me pick the items from my shopping list and helped me to the counter and later to the car.

I was very grateful. He made me feel special and seen. In his book Sunny says, we should not just deliver a service. We should deliver a feeling. I still remember that feeling.

In his book, Sunny affirms this. He states that great CX is not about what you offer, it is about what your customers feel. He continues by saying, we might think we have set everything up perfectly- great people handling customers, top-notch systems, slick processes, solid product design. But none of that matters if our customers do not feel it. Feelings drive everything. The most extraordinary human achievements come from stirring deep emotion in a group of people. The best leaders have always known this.

I guess the question on your mind is how do we sell feelings? Sunny goes on to unpack for us the 10 customer buttons. These represent the range of positive feelings generated in a customer when they experience our business offerings.

Value: Utility: Quality:

This is a good deal This does what I want This is good stuff

20 MAL67 / 25 ISSUE