Customer Experience
Customer Experience Excellence- The Entrepreneur’ s Silver Bullet
By Carolyne Gathuru
Entrepreneurship is not for the fainthearted. Starting up and running a business and working on having it become sustainable is an extreme sport. Start-up life is extremely stormy, graduating into a going concern as an MSME or SME even more stormy, and navigating by relentless effort, grit, and countless decisions made on instinct and hope is the full tempest! Yet, amidst all the hustle- from product or service ideation to finding the right customers and partners- the one consistent super power stands out: customer experience excellence. As entrepreneurs with a big vision to plough through the jungle that is increasingly competitive and saturated, delivering exceptional customer experience is not just a growth strategy- it’ s the silver bullet. A silver bullet with 10 rifling markings!
Entrepreneurship CX 101: Start with Experience
Right from the start it ' s not just about pushing products or services, it’ s about creating an experience that makes the initial customers come back, and proceed to tell others about it. That’ s the magical game-changer, the most powerful weapon in the entrepreneur ' s toolkit, the secret sauce that keeps business saucy and spices up customer journeys in a way that sets things apart from the competition.
The amount of energy required in the beginning that needs to be sustained all through the different phases start-up, early-stage, micro, small and medium enterprise to a thriving business, is full throttle. Things may need to change, to be reworked, dropped, adjusted and everything in between. However, through all these iterations and transitions, the factor that doesn’ t change is that customers will need delightful experiences and that’ s not negotiable.
Founder Flexibility: Shape the CX Narratives
As entrepreneurs start up and as business builds, founders find that all the hats in the business are upon their heads from
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted. Starting up and running a business and working on having it become sustainable is an extreme sport. Start-up life is extremely stormy, graduating into a going concern as an MSME or SME even more stormy, and navigating by relentless effort, grit, and countless decisions made on instinct and hope is the full tempest!
being: the sales and marketing team, the awareness creator, communications lead and business development officer; to the finance manager, procurement and accounts executive; to the logistician ensuring deliveries and other administrative works are accomplished. With all these roles, many of which are customer facing, customer interactions are at the fingertips of the start-up crew.
Although this presents as hard work running around in headless chicken format, the opportunity presented to shape the initial and ultimate destiny of the different customer relationships, and deliver personalized service in a way that bigger corporations may lack the capacity to, is present. These form the cornerstone of the foundational customer experience that will serve to drive customer loyalty and referrals that boost consistent growth.
The CX Glue: Acquisition and Retention
As entrepreneurs, there’ s always a great focus on how to keep the business alive, how to get customers in through the door and how to increase sales. Roping in customers is vital, but even more vital is a focus on retaining them. The same attention paid to acquiring them needs to be equally directed towards the development of structures to keep them coming back.
Customer experience excellence becomes the glue that binds these efforts. Retention happens when customers are happy. Happy customers become brand ambassadors, who then form a formidable marketing force that fuels sustainable growth. Being steadfast in service and running with consistency will yield value and satisfaction.
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