Contingency Plan in CX - or simply put Plan B

Contingency Plan - Also known as Plan B, this concept is fundamental to guarantee a continuous delivery of Great Customer Experience. I already knew that for years, but last week I proved it the hard way.

 Last Thursday I was hosting the first of a series of Lives called "Chat with the Xperts". The guest was a great friend and the topic was excellent. However, either Instagram or my phone did not want me to participate in this amazing event. The technology insisted on taking me out of the loop, just by cutting my audio. I could not hear my guest and nobody in the Live could hear me. Thankfully the audience could hear my guest. I tried restarting the Live a few times with no success. I changed the wireless network a couple of times with no success. 

I did not have a Plan B. That was my mistake. Not knowing the tool I was using deep enough, I could not think of an easy Plan B, so I took the risk. Big mistake. I did let my Customers down. 

Was this event a total failure? Not really. I was lucky that my guest is a very experienced CX Expert and he knew exactly what to do to entertain my audience. He knew what to say and he took advantage of the extra time he had to share some interesting concepts, including the fact that you need 37 good experiences to make a Customer forget one single bad experience. This means letting your Customer down costs a lot. In summary, I got some good feedback about the Live, because, although I was excluded from it for the most part, the content addressed was of great relevance and the speaker was great.

What did I do wrong?

- Did not have a Plan B

- Did not know the tool well enough to go around the problem

- Did not test the tool with the full load (host+guest+audience) 

What did I do right?

- I chose the right guest to start, with the right level of experience

- We did discuss a lot in advance what we wanted to share during the Live, so the guest could go ahead without me.

- I did apologize to my audience about the problems faced and committed to make it up to them. 

What could I have done to have a suitable Plan B?

- I could have had a second phone handy, ready to be connected to try to fix the problem (if the problem was the phone).

- I could have had a second host ready to take over using my account from another device and location.

- I could have had a back-up account that could be shared with the audience for them to connect trying to by-pass my account problems (if the problem was my account).

- I could have had my Zoom account on standby, with a meeting open and the link handy, for me to share with the audience when the problems started.

As you can see, there were many things I could have done. I just had to work hard enough in advance and I would likely inconvenience my Customers, but would not let them down. 

Another way to make sure you don't let your Customer down, you can avoid the risk. How could I have done it? Simply by starting from the beginning with a tool that I already knew and had already tested and knew it could handle all the audience. The more you know the process, the more you test it, the less risk you have to deal with. 

The purpose of this article is to make sure that you do not take lightly the need to have a Plan B. Even if it looks too difficult, or even if the chances of a problem looks too small, do not fool yourself. Figure out a way to have your Plan B.

No one can afford letting their Customers down. The Plan B is an immediate Recovery (view my post last week about this concept) from the lower standard Customer Experience.

 To close, I will reward part of the audience (a draw) with a free of charge place on a training program that will be launched in September. 

Remember, surprise only works well, when the result makes the Customer happier, and not all the way around.