Risk & Business Magazine Sterling Insurance Spring 2017 | Page 11

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
allows you to build unique and memorable
moments. However, an ‘Experience’ is
still too big, too macro. We need to break
down what an Experience is. A brand
experience is the sum of ‘Experiential
Interactions’ your Customers have, that
leave an impression. Therefore, the focus
needs to be on ‘Experiential Interactions’.
‘Experiential Interactions’ are all the micro
moments during a Customer’s interaction
with the employees of the organization.
EXPERIENTIAL
INTERACTIONS’
ARE UNIQUE
MEMORABLE
MOMENTS
‘EXPERIENTIAL INTERACTIONS’
‘Experiential Interactions’ should not add
cost or complexity to your organization.
‘Experiential Interactions’ are what we
call low-hanging fruit. When a company
considers implementing ‘Experiential
Interactions’, they should meet the
following criteria:
1. Low or no cost — As you will see, nearly
every example costs nothing but coaching
your employees to pay attention.
2. Simple to execute consistently —
Everyone’s job is hard enough; we don’t
want to complicate or add any complexity
to a person’s workload.
3. Has zero impact on productivity —
‘Experiential Interactions’ should not add
ten seconds to a phone call, appointment,
or checkout.
4. Creates an immediate WOW for the
Customer — More importantly, it is a
pleasant surprise to the Customer that
they rarely will get elsewhere.
EXPERIENTIAL AUDIT
If ‘Experiential Interactions’ are
unique memorable moments, how
can you determine if you are in fact
creating ‘Experiential Interactions’? An
‘Experiential Interaction’ must meet two
or more of the following criteria:
•
Unique
• Positive
• Engaging
• Memorable
TURNING A TRANSACTION INTO AN
INTERACTION
The most common interactions we have
with our clients, multiple times a day,
are answering phones, checking people
in and out, sending and responding
to emails, meetings, and conference
calls. Besides the last two, meetings and
conference calls, the majority of the other
interactions are typically less than three
minutes. The most difficult interactions
to add experiential actions would be the
ones that are the shortest.
LOW HANGING FRUIT
Flight Attendant – Out of the hundreds
and hundreds of times I have boarded
planes, there have only been a few times
that I handed the gate agent my boarding
pass and they have said, “Welcome, Mr.
DiJulius.” Why can’t that happen every
time? The passenger name pops up on the
their screen. Also, on the major airlines,
when flight attendants are coming down
the aisle asking for your drink selection,
why can’t they address you by name? They
have the seating chart.
Checking someone in – In professional
service firms and corporate offices,
someone who has an appointment
scheduled should never have to give their
name to the receptionist. The receptionist
should be prepared with who has
appointments and at what time.
Email – Email has the ability to turn off
the politeness gene in human beings. You
should never respond with just an answer
(five words or fewer). Use the Customer’s
name every time. Open with something
personal when dealing with an existing
client. Close with a nice line, e.g., “It was
a pleasure,” “Looking forward to working
with you,” or “Let me know if there is
anything else I can do.”
Invoice – You might think this is a tough
one to add experiential actions to, but
there are some easy things that can
be done. In the email that the invoice
is attached to or a note on the invoice,
personalize it. If nothing else, we know
what city they are based in. You can write,
“Hope spring has arrived in Denver.” On
your invoices, you can have a message or
a quote of the month. Make your invoice
stand out. If you want to be really special,
when they pay, send them an email saying,
“Hi Alice, I received your payment and
wanted to thank you for always paying on
time and being such a pleasure to work
with.” Think of how many invoices that
accounts payable person gets per week,
not to mention all the inquiries they get
asking where their money is. How many
people show appreciation to the Accounts
Payable person? You can bet your invoice
will always take top priority when you
treat them like that.
IN SUMMARY
An ‘Experience’ is an event/occurrence
which leaves an impression on someone.
The focus needs to