A Humbling Lesson in Customer Experience

While we’ve been posting The Edge of Service on our website for some time, we’ve just recently made it available as a LinkedIn?Newsletter. Many thanks to those of you who requested that it be available here.?To be notified about the next issue, simply click "Subscribe" in the above right corner.?

One of my first jobs was working for a company that provided business communications systems—telephone and computer systems. My usual task was to run cable. So, I spent a lot of time underneath the floors of corporations and hospitals and other buildings. Much of my days were spent with headlamp, crawling through dark spaces, squeezing past utility pipes and through spider webs. It was dusty, hard work.

As I was learning, my supervisor emphasized quality. If you install or connect a cable the wrong way, it could fail months or years later. That wouldn’t be a great customer experience.

There were times I worked directly with customers, helping them use the new equipment. On those days, I wore a collared shirt and was coached to smile. One day, I got scolded—I mean, really scolded—by my supervisor for leaving fingerprints on a computer monitor. “They are excited about this new system, and the first thing they are going to see is your fingerprints!”?

He was right. That organization had made a big investment. They had spent months planning and preparing. And before that, teams around the world had contributed to the design of this cutting-edge system. And yet, something as small as smudges could impact the customer’s perception and experience.

It was a message I needed to hear. In fact, it inspired me. I became fascinated with customer experience, and studying what successful companies were doing. I remember reading Moments of Truth, by Jan Carlzon (Harper Business, 1989). This classic book was a forerunner to many of today’s works on customer experience. Carlzon would use examples with his employees. If a customer boards a plane, and they find a coffee stain from the last flight on their fold down tray, they might wonder, “is that how they maintain the engines?”?

Here’s the reality with customer experience. It’s both far bigger—and much smaller—than many realize. Customer experience is more than the products you have. It’s more than customer service. It’s more than your technology platform. It’s all-encompassing. It’s big. But it also comes down to any one interaction or issue that can make an indelible impression on the customer.

Even the least experienced, newest employee—me at the time—plays an important role in customer experience.

If you’re interested in a deeper dive on this topic, here are three recommendations:

First, you can find a Customer Experience Leadership Glossary on my website.?It’s free and can make sense of terminology and customer experience concepts you encounter.

Second, you can check out Customer Experience Leadership, a course I present through LinkedIn Learning. In this course, you will learn how to establish, maintain, and continue to improve upon customer experience.

Third, and most importantly,?talk with your team.?What part does each individual's job role play in the customer's experience? Do they understand the impact they can have?

What are your customer experience stories? I'd love to hear from you. Subscribe to an expanded email version of this newsletter?here.