The Joy of Living and Customer Experience

The joy of living comes from within. No person, place, thing, or experience can give you happiness. They can give you cause for happiness, and that is all.

This reflection was inspired by Genevieve Behrend's book, Your Invisible Power, and backed by dozens of scientific studies of happiness I have read over the last ten years.

What's must we do first?

If we presuppose that customers desire experiences so that they can feel greater life and liberty, then we must first help them banish thoughts that lead to the fear that they will not obtain the object of their desire and by extension their desired life and liberty.

Standing in the place of your customer, and understanding with empathy what they perceive will bring them joy, is your initial task. How you deliver upon your insight is a task for later.

Flow and the Joy of Living

This is where the psychological state of Flow comes into the picture. We can evaluate the customer's experience to understand what elements of Flow are missing or could be enhanced.

• Have we helped them establish a clear goal?
• Are we providing them immediate feedback about their progress?
• Is the challenge well-balanced, but just beyond their current level of skill?

Meeting these criteria will help to eliminate the negative emotions customers feel and lead to them into an extended state of Flow. Here they lose self awareness and a sense of time while they find the work at hand effortless and they experience a rich flow of information that helps them improve their creativity, motivation, learning and productivity. All this happens while engaging with your product, service and experience.

Banishing Negative Self-Talk

If your customer experiences negative self-talk it can be related to your product, service or experience if they believe they made a poor decision. If it is not related to the experience of your product or service it is likely caused by what they imagine others will think of them for choosing to use your product or service. This may not be part of the experience you expected, but it is something you must plan for.

When in Flow customers will experience only the moment. It is after the Flow experience has stopped will they will experience satisfaction or joy and feel fulfilled. When they recognize your product or service contributed to their experience of joy they will give you credit and be moved to reciprocate by returning again and telling others about their experience. However, if your product or service gets in their way of joy and growth, they are likely to blame you.

The Beginner's Mindset

Always start with the premise that customers are people and people ultimately want to be happy. The goal of business is either to reduce or eliminate the things in life that detract from happiness or to create an environment that influences the person's choice to be happy.

Customers don't know what will bring them happiness. They need your help.

The tools you use to: 1) eliminate that which detracts from a customer's happiness; or, 2) enhance their experience of happiness; are the products, services and experiences your business sells.

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Tony Bodoh has been named #5 on the Top 16 Customer Service Movers and Shakers You Should Follow.

He is the co-author of the #1 best selling book, "The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty". You can download your free copy of the book and message him with questions or coaching and consulting inquiries.