I made it to the front of the checkout line the other day, and while I wondered whether it was worth my time to go back and get the unsalted butter instead of the salted, my “customer experience” took a turn for the worse. One minute the polite young man bagging my groceries asked if I wanted “paper or plastic”, and the next minute he casually tossed a package of ground beef on top of a dozen eggs.

Customer service is kind of like that carton of eggs. Beautifully crafted, fragile to the touch, and just a hurtling hamburger away from being crushed. Nordstrom sales clerks are trained to look you in the eye, shake your hand, and say “thank you” for each purchase. They don’t have to teach their sales force to treat you that way, but they do. Raising the bar on customer experience results in more sales, more frequent return consumers, and a better environment for both shoppers and the folks who serve them.

Waiterbell.com lists some frequently quoted customer experience statistics. While it’s hard to pinpoint sources, most experts I know would have a hard time rebutting any of these numbers.

• A typical business hears from roughly 4% of their dissatisfied customers. 96% of those customers just go away.
• A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about their experience. 13% of dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about the problem or issue.
• It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident.

Wow! We’ve all been on the receiving end of a poor customer service experience. Good news travels fast, bad news travels at the speed of light. So what’s the impact on your business if you have an “off night” on the platform? Each time we speak, our “brand promise” is under review. 

If you think these statistics just apply to the burger-tossing checkout kid, or the dry cleaner that sends your shirts back with stains on the collars, it’s time to look in the mirror. Anytime you sell your products, your services or yourself, someone on the other end is having a customer experience. Here are some questions to answer before you head back out into the wild and wooly world of sales.

1. Am I delivering (not offering) more value than my competition?
2. What could I do at a higher level of service and efficiency, to improve my customer’s experience?
3. How often am I enhancing or improving the end product or service?
4. What can I do, today, to thank my current customers for their loyalty to my brand?
5. Am I treating everyone in my sphere of influence with courtesy, humility and grace?

So how does this apply to those of us who don’t make a living at the supermarket? In tough economic times, the strong survive, but the wise thrive. Wisdom comes from examining your own business practices, and pushing for constant improvement. Answer the five questions above, and consider those answers the foundation of your personal “brand promise”. Your brand promise is the expectation you set for each and every customer experience. Our speaking audiences don’t take a night off from being consumers, so we can’t afford to take a night off when we’re on the platform. 

As customers, we want a consistent experience each time we buy. I don’t expect the bagger at the supermarket to look me in the eye, shake my hand, and say “thank you”. I do expect that I won’t bring a carton of crushed eggs home.

Speakers need to define and concisely articulate their brand promise. Being able to differentiate yourself from the crowd becomes more critical when there are fewer dollars to be spent. The Hall-of-Fame ballplayer Joe DiMaggio was once asked why he didn’t take a day off, or loaf after a batted ball. The “Yankee Clipper” responded “Because someone out there in the crowd is seeing me for the first time ever, and I owe them my best.” That was his brand promise. What’s yours? 

OMG, I jst hv 2 say t techlgy 2-day s s advd tht n-e id-yt cn use it, lol, 4 sure! Allright, now that THAT is off my chest!

Ever wonder how we all became so technologically saavy, and yet when it comes to connecting, person to person, we seem to miss the mark so often? Un-answered email messages, voice-mail auto deletions, “TME” (Total Mailbox Erasures) and more. It’s so funny, how we don’t talk anymore! 

There are three things you can do today, right now, to make your communication come through crystal clear in an age where more bells and whistles make it harder to hear.

1. If you can’t return phone messages within one business day, set a clear expectation on your voice mail response, exactly when someone should expect to hear back from you. It’s okay to say “You’ve reached Joe, and once I hear your message I’ll be back to you within two business days!” Setting a realistic expectation sends the message that you care enough to make a commitment. This from a guy who fled from commitment ’til his mid-30’s.

2. Respond to emails. I make it a personal practice to respond to every email I receive that’s been sent by a human. Therefore, the email from my mother asking whether a drum set is an appropriate gift for my seven year-old son (Sorry Mom) gets answered. The “spam” email from ABC Mortgage Company urging me to call them for great rates, gets deleted faster than the Detroit Lions playoff chances this past season.

3. Texting makes great sense for short-hand communication. Lunch plans? Sure, let’s confirm via text. Have a problem with my BLOG? My diction? My sartorial choice for the day? Please call or email me with the issue. Anytime a communication calls for discussion, rather than the straight-forward relay of facts, it makes sense to put the cell-phone keyboard away and talk to the other party.

Rome, it is said, wasn’t built in a day. Changing the habits of all communicators takes each of us doing our small part to make (keep!) the world a respectful place to reach out and touch someone. Have a comment on this blog? Please let me know what you think. Leave your thoughts on this Web site, email or phone me. Carrier pigeon or smoke signals, hey, I’m game!