Author Archives: Shep Hyken

About Shep Hyken

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times, bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

Customers Want Predictability More Than Transparency

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Customers Want Predictability More Than Transparency

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Transparency is an overused word. I’m even guilty of using the word—and writing about it. When a company has to explain that they are transparent, while they may be telling customers they are open and honest, there’s another message that may cause the customer to ask, “Why do you have to tell me you’re transparent? Does that mean there’s something you’re telling me that I should be concerned about?”

The use of the word “transparency” may be well-intentioned, but the customer’s interpretation could be a problem. When a company says it’s transparent about how it uses customer information, customers may begin to wonder, “Wait … just how are you using my information?” They aren’t asking out of curiosity. They are asking out of concern.

Customers Don’t Just Want Transparency—They Want Predictability

While transparency is about providing information to the customer, customers are more interested in what to expect. Predictability sets those expectations.

A simple example is when you call a company, and you are placed on hold. You’re told, “Your call is very important to us. We are experiencing heavier than usual call volume. Your call will be answered in the order received.” That’s true and transparent. But it would be better to add predictability by replacing “Your call will be answered in the order received” with “Your call will be answered in seven minutes.” (Even better is to give the customer the option of a call-back, which I’ve covered in other customer service articles.)

Transparency tells customers what’s happening. Predictability takes it to the next level by informing customers about what to expect. That’s what creates and increases confidence.

Don’t confuse transparency with honesty. Even a well-written explanation can feel like an excuse if it doesn’t come with clear outcomes. An explanation without an outcome quickly turns into a trust-eroding excuse.

For example, one of my clients was experiencing a supply chain issue. They were shipping incomplete orders to their customers. They explained this in an email, but what wasn’t explained was how they were going to fulfill the incomplete orders. Customers viewed this transparency as an excuse, and a poor one at that. The result was a lack of trust.

An excuse or explanation by itself, even while being transparent, destroys trust. Customers want to know what happens next. Even bad news is easier to accept when it comes with predictability. When an explanation and predictability work together, trust and confidence increase.

Surprises Destroy Trust Faster Than Mistakes

Trust isn’t broken just because something goes wrong. It’s broken when the expected outcome changes without warning.

For example, you may be expecting your package to be delivered by tomorrow. Instead, it arrives two days later with no notice or explanation. Perhaps the company should have reached out with an explanation. Even though the customer might not be happy with the news, at least they wouldn’t be surprised.

You may be thinking, “Isn’t that explanation what transparency is about?” I don’t want to split hairs, but proactive explanations, while they may appear to be about transparency, are really about predictability.

Transparency explains why something happened. Predictability informs the customer what will happen next. Customers don’t just want honesty. They want certainty.

Final Words

Transparency isn’t just about honesty. Transparent policies written poorly or in the form of “fine print” can make customers skeptical. I’ve been writing a lot about creating trust and confidence lately, and this is where well-written communication and predictability play an important role. Companies that want higher levels of customer confidence should focus less on telling customers they’re transparent and more on removing surprises. Confidence isn’t created by explanations. It’s created by consistency and clear expectations.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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The Customer Service Department is Not Broken

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The Customer Service Department is Not Broken

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

This article answers the question: How can leaders fix broken customer service systems that create friction and frustration, even when they have good people on the front line?

I’ve been monitoring my customer service experiences with the brands I do business with a little more closely than usual. And I’ve made numerous calls to airlines, mobile phone carriers, electronics companies, and more. I’ve found that people are typically friendly and do their best to support me. To clear my conscience, I admit that my recent call to my cable provider was tense due to my frustration with a faulty router, but that tenuous conversation was my fault, not theirs. I was obviously upset with the product, but my rep remained calm and did everything in her power to resolve the issue. She gets an A for effort, attitude, and knowledge.

It’s not the people. It’s the system.

My point is that I hear so many people complaining about customer service, but in many cases, it’s not the people. It’s the system. Some of the reasons customers complain about customer service or experience due to broken or poorly created systems are:

  1. Hard-to-find contact information for customer support – While most websites provide information about customer support, sometimes it’s not clearly visible. When a customer wants to contact you, don’t add to their frustration by making it difficult.
  2. Inability to connect with someone from customer support – Some companies are still betting that a 100% AI-fueled self-service option can replace live agents. In almost every case, they are wrong!
  3. Self-service options are not provided – Just as some companies make the error of going “all in” on digital self-service support, some companies don’t provide any self-service options. There is a percentage of customers who demand the option, or they will choose to do business elsewhere.
  4. Self-service options are provided, but they don’t answer the question or offer a solution – While this alone can be frustrating, imagine if the self-service is not working and the company makes it difficult or impossible to connect to a live person. This is adding fuel to the fire.
  5. Long wait or hold times without the option of a call-back – In this day and age, it is very inexpensive to add a feature that informs the customer how long their hold time will be, with an option for a return call when it’s their turn.
  6. Nobody will return my message – If one option for customer support is to leave a message, the expectation is that the company will respond to the message. And, I’ll add that it should be done in a timely manner.
  7. Poorly trained reps – One might argue that poorly trained reps are a people problem, not a system problem, but I disagree. A lack of training or poor hires is a function of how the company operates, not the fault of customer service agents trying to do their best.

Here’s your assignment:

Sit down with your team. Then use this list to ignite a brainstorming session to discover if your organization is guilty of these or other “system failures.” This first step is about awareness. From there, take action and fix what’s broken. In summary, most bad experiences are caused by internal friction and broken or poorly designed systems, not front-line behavior.

Image Credits: Pexels

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Most Customer Experience Strategies Fail

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Because They’re Written For Customers, Not Employees

Most Customer Experience Strategies Fail

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I was recently asked by an executive, what’s the biggest mistake leaders make when rolling out a customer experience (CX) strategy? My answer was simple. Most leaders think about the customer first.

For years, I have preached, “Customer service is not a department. It’s a philosophy to be embraced by everyone, from the CEO to the most recently hired.”

At some point, the phrase customer service was changed to customer experience. There is quite a bit of crossover between the two. Customer support and any frontline interactions customers have with employees (customer support, sales, etc.) and is part of the overall customer experience, which includes every touchpoint the customer has with a company, from browsing a website, receiving email updates, the unboxing of merchandise, and more. Regardless, both must start with a philosophical approach that the success of a CX strategy begins on the inside of the company with employees. In other words, it’s about the culture.

Employees Are the Backbone of a CX Strategy

Customers don’t have to know your CX strategy. They only have to experience it. And it’s not really the strategy they are experiencing. It’s your system. The sum of all interactions and touchpoints helps them decide whether to do business with you now and in the future. Start with the end in mind (what you want customers to experience). However, recognize that everything the customer experiences is generated from within the organization. Employees must design a process with the CX strategy in mind. Employees are trained on how their roles impact the CX strategy, whether they are on the front line, supporting those on the front line, or supporting the process that impacts CX. The point is that everything the customer experiences comes from what’s happening inside the company, and employees are what drive that experience. That’s your system.

CX Strategies Are More than Words, But That’s a Good Place to Start

The first step in creating a new CX strategy or initiative is for leadership to decide to do so. It starts at the top. Once the decision is made, the next step is to create the vision. I refer to this as a mantra. This is the “north star” that defines the CX Strategy. This is a sentence or short phrase that is simple enough for everyone to remember. For example, the Ritz-Carlton’s mantra (they call it their credo) is nine words long: We’re ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. This is not a slogan. This is their defining CX statement, and all employee training on customer/guest service focuses on bringing this mantra to life. While a mantra is just words, it is the definition of your CX system.

All Employees Must Know Their Role in a CX Strategy

While the mantra may be both inspirational and aspirational, what employees really need is direction. Inspiration tells them why. Direction tells them how. Once the mantra is created, every employee must know it, memorize it, learn how their role in the organization plays into it, and then be properly trained to it. Even people behind the scenes impact CX. A warehouse employee who never interacts with customers may pack a box improperly, resulting in a customer service issue. All employees must know and understand the mantra and take responsibility for their part of the experience.

Employees Need to Know They Are Doing CX Right

Years ago, I developed a six-step process to build a customer-centric culture. It starts with creating the CX vision (the mantra) and ends with celebrating success. It’s important for employees to know their hard work is paying off.

Final Words

The CX strategy you build falls into two areas: people and process. Training people in their roles and responsibilities is critical. Creating a process that customers find easy and frictionless demonstrates your system is working. When you combine people skills with a well-thought-out process, you have your system.

Don’t tell people to be amazing. Train them on how to do so. Analyze every touchpoint a customer has with you and optimize it.

Let the employees and departments that impact the touchpoints know how important it is to deliver on your CX strategy.

And if nothing else, remember this: Even though your CX strategy is about the customer, your customers don’t experience your strategy. They experience your system.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Image Credits: Unsplash

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Second Complaints Are the Most Expensive Ones

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Second Complaints Are the Most Expensive Ones

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

During our customer service workshops, we do an exercise we call the Moment of Misery™ Grid. The short version is that participants are asked to write down all the complaints they hear and how often they hear them. We then list them in order, with the most common complaints at the top.

It always surprises me when someone says, “We hear this all the time.” I then ask, “Why?” If you hear it all the time, why haven’t you done something about it?

The next part of the exercise is to discuss ways to eliminate or at least mitigate the problems.

Before we go further, I recognize that some organizations already have this dialed in. This exercise seems obvious, but many are surprised by the responses. They know there are problems, but they can’t always tell you how often they happen, or what they cost the organization.

So, let’s take this concept to the next level. Instead of how often we hear about the same problems, consider this question:

How often do we find ourselves fixing the same problem two times (or more) for a customer?

It’s one thing to have many customers calling and complaining about the same problem. If you can eliminate the problem, consider how much time, effort, and funds could be put toward more productive opportunities.

Most Expensive Customer Complaint

But when a customer has to call you twice (or more) for the same issue, this unnecessary call wastes time and energy for both the company and the customer. How often does this happen? Just as many companies have a goal and a metric for first call resolution, there should also be metrics for the number of calls and the amount of time required to resolve the same issue. You’re looking to measure at least four issues:

  1. How often do we fail to resolve the customer’s issue the first time?
  2. How many times do customers contact us after the initial contact for the same problem?
  3. How long did it take to finally resolve the customer’s issue (one day, one week, etc.)?
  4. What’s the average time it takes to finally resolve the problem versus how long it would take if it was solved on the first call?

That last one may be the most important metric. This will tell you how much time and money were spent because you couldn’t resolve the problem on the first call.

The point is that, just as you look to eliminate problems overall, you should also look for ways to eliminate the second (or third, or fourth …) call for the same problem. If customers are calling you twice for the same issue, the problem isn’t the customer. It’s the system … so fix it! Every repeat call that is eliminated pays dividends in the form of time, money, and customer goodwill. And that’s what a great customer service experience looks like: fixing problems once, not apologizing for them twice!

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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The Secret to Sweetwater’s Billion-Dollar Online Business

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The Secret to Sweetwater's Billion-Dollar Online Business

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Sweetwater is an online retailer specializing in selling whatever musicians need, from instruments to audio equipment and lighting. In 1979, Chuck Surack founded the company in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It started as a mobile recording studio and over time, evolved into a retail business selling musical instruments. In 1995, the company launched a website, and just a few years later was selling most of its inventory online. Surack was an early adopter of online retailing, and today, with 2,500 employees, Sweetwater is the largest online retailer of musical instruments and audio equipment in the U.S., serving millions of customers with $1.7 billion in sales.

I had a chance to interview David Fuhr, Sweetwater’s chief sales officer, for an episode of Amazing Business Radio. We discussed the secrets to creating an exceptional customer experience that drives repeat business. It turns out, it’s not a secret at all. It’s a common-sense approach to putting the customer at the center of all decisions. When a company becomes customer-focused—even customer-obsessed—magic happens. Here are six lessons any business can learn from our discussion:

1. Creating Experiences Out of Love for Your Customers Beats Just Chasing Money

This seems like a good place to start. Fuhr shared Sweetwater’s philosophy: “Our team is in it for the love of the game.” Surack started Sweetwater out of love and passion for the business, and success followed. Fuhr started playing clarinet when he was young, eventually decided to teach music, and now he gets to sell music. There are many similar stories from Sweetwater employees. They love what they do!

2. Hire the Right People

Even if you love music, it’s not easy to get hired to be a salesperson at Sweetwater. Keep in mind, Sweetwater is in Fort Wayne—not a major city like Chicago, LA or New York. All employees are expected to work in the Sweetwater office. With a smaller population, one might think Sweetwater would have difficulty hiring enough staff to support its customers. Only 5% of applicants vying for the coveted role of selling and serving customers with a shared passion for music are hired. They choose the best.

3. Training Never Stops

Sweetwater wants to ensure its salespeople have the technical information they need to sell and the soft skills to communicate effectively with customers. It’s all done through training. Once hired, new employees complete 13 weeks of training at Sweetwater University. They are paid to be in a classroom for the first 90 days of their Sweetwater journey, and it doesn’t stop there. Each week, salespeople go through 90 minutes of additional training. This reinforces something I’ve preached to my clients for decades: Training isn’t something you did. It’s something you do.

4. Core Values Create the Foundation for Strong Business

Surack was successful because of his core values-based rules, and his No. 1 core value was simple: Just do the right thing. Fuhr used my salesperson, Blake Strickland, as an example. I recently bought a guitar from Sweetwater, and he not only helped me choose the right guitar, but also took the time to go downstairs to their “store” to compare it with similar models, ensuring I would receive, in his opinion, the best guitar of the lot. This was time spent away from the phone when he could have been talking to other customers. But, as Fuhr points out, Strickland wanted me to have the best experience. In addition, Strickland didn’t want my new guitar to spend a week in various locations and climates in the back of a truck or in a warehouse while en route to my home, so he surprised me by upgrading my purchase to overnight delivery. Fuhr says, “Who are we to stop him? He’s doing the right thing for you. … We empower our employees to do the right thing.”

5. Small Acts of Generosity Surprise Customers

One of the fun things Sweetwater does is include a small bag of candy with every order. Pun intended, it’s a “sweet” gesture that gets people to smile. Fuhr says, “Generosity doesn’t need to cost much. It’s about showing you care.” A small bag of candy, a follow-up email or phone call after a sale to make sure the customer is happy, or a surprise upgrade to overnight shipping are the small acts of generosity that pleasantly surprise customers.

6. Don’t Solve Problems—Solve Customers

I asked Fuhr how Sweetwater handles complaints. He said, “We solve the customer.” His point was that the problem or complaint is not the most important factor. Sure, you must fix what needs to be fixed, but more important is to “solve the customer.” That means the customer walks away with renewed confidence that Sweetwater stands behind its products and takes care of its customers. Once “the customer is solved,” the complaint or issue is escalated to a team to discuss how to mitigate or prevent it from happening again.

Final Words

As a musician, I’m a big fan of Sweetwater. But as someone who studies customer experience for a living, I’m an even bigger fan of how they do business. The company reminds us that a great customer experience isn’t complicated. And as important as anything, they don’t just chase dollars. They chase and build relationships. Their relentless focus on the customer experience is why their customers say, “I’ll be back!”

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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Customer Experience Without Exceptions

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Customer Experience Without Exceptions

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

This article answers the question: How can organizations deliver consistently excellent customer service even when customers are difficult, rude, or unappreciative?

Last year, I wrote an article on a “rule” in customer service that I called the Reality Rule: Treat customers well, regardless of how they treat you. This was inspired by a book I read, Give Hospitality by Taylor Scott. In the article, I talked about four rules.

So, first a little review:

The Golden Rule: We all know this one. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It shows up everywhere, from religion to leadership to customer service training.

The Platinum Rule: My friend Dr. Tony Alessandra came up with this one. Do unto others as they’d like done unto them. I’ve always loved this spin on the Golden Rule, because not all customers want the same experience.

The Employee Golden Rule: I came up with this years ago. Again, it’s a spin on the Golden Rule, but it’s focused on how employees are treated. Do unto employees as you want done unto customers. You can’t expect great customer service to come from employees who aren’t treated well by their managers, leaders, and colleagues.

The Rosa Parks Rule: In Scott’s book, there is a quote attributed to Rosa Parks, who in 1955 refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, defying the racial segregation laws: Nothing in the Golden Rule says that others will treat us as we have treated them. It only says that we must treat others in a way that we would want to be treated.

I’m bringing all of this up again, because it’s worth doing so. And I have more to say about this.

If Rosa Parks’ words were to apply to business, they remind us that great customer service is unconditional.

By the way, this isn’t easy. I’ve seen great customer service reps go to great lengths to help customers, only to be met with indifference, rudeness, and a lack of appreciation. This can cause even the best of us to think, “Why should I care if they don’t?”

There is an answer: It shouldn’t matter!

How you respond is always your choice. Creating an amazing experience isn’t just for customers who say please and thank you. It’s for every customer, even if they are angry, rude, or difficult to please. By the way, abuse is never acceptable. There is always a line that should not be crossed.

The point is this: when you remove expectations, you stop being disappointed, you stop being resentful, and you start delivering consistent and intentional experiences that get customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credits: Unsplash

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Have You Achieved Your 2026 Customer Experience Resolutions?

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Have You Achieved Your 2026 Customer Experience Resolutions?

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

In January many people (and companies) take time to reset and prepare to kick off the new year. Many even make a plan. How well have you done to achieve these twelve New Year’s resolutions in the form of what you should STOP doing! (By the way, earlier in the year I wrote a similar article featuring five of these for Forbes. Read the article here.)

Before we get into the list, I went back over a year’s worth of articles, looking for the concepts I said we should do for our customers. Then I flipped them around and, instead of creating a list of resolutions to do, made a list of what to stop doing. So, here are a dozen resolutions that begin with the word stop:

  1. Stop trying to WOW every customer: To WOW the customer at every interaction is impossible. Instead, focus on consistent, predictable experiences that build trust and confidence with your customers.
  2. Stop wasting your customers’ time: Wasting a customer’s time sends the message that you don’t respect them. A generic example of this is when you call customer support and, while waiting on hold for an unreasonable period of time, you hear a message repeated: “Your call is important to us.” Obviously not!
  3. Stop thinking AI is the answer: The company that thinks they can eliminate the customer support department with AI-fueled customer service is quickly finding out they can’t. AI is an answer, but not the answer. It takes a balance between AI and humans to create the best customer service experience.
  4. Stop making customers repeat themselves: Pay attention to what the customer is saying the first time. Take notes, so if they call back or talk to someone else, there’s a record, and the customer doesn’t have to start over.
  5. Stop hiding behind company policy: It still surprises me to hear employees say, “That’s company policy.” When used the wrong way, those three words are customer loyalty killers. The policy should be to find ways to ensure customers come back.
  6. Stop treating customer service as a cost center: When done well, customer service keeps customers coming back again and again. That’s marketing. When the ROI of your customer service reduces churn and adds to the bottom line, it’s a revenue generator.
  7. Stop using acronyms and company jargon: Using initials and words used on “the inside” of a company may make customers uncomfortable. When they don’t understand or are confused because of what you say, you have to work hard to earn back their confidence.
  8. Stop thinking surveys give you the best feedback: I’m a fan of surveys when done the right way. They get your customers’ feedback, but perhaps a better source of that important information is your front line. So, recognize frontline employees as a valuable source of customer feedback.
  9. Stop thinking “We’ve already put our employees through customer service training”: Customer service training is not something you did. It’s something you do. It takes ongoing reinforcement of your original training to keep good employees customer-focused.
  10. Stop thinking loyalty programs create loyalty: There are a few loyalty programs that create true customer loyalty, but realize that loyalty programs are usually marketing programs focused on getting customers to come back. There’s nothing wrong with that, but remember that repeat customers aren’t always loyal customers.
  11. Stop assuming that if your customer doesn’t complain, they have nothing to complain about: Customers don’t always complain to you, but they will complain about you to their friends and colleagues. Silence does not necessarily mean happiness.
  12. Stop solving problems, and start solving customers: I recently interviewed David Fuhr, the chief sales officer at Sweetwater, for an upcoming episode of Amazing Business Radio. When we were discussing problem-solving and complaints, he said, “We solve the customer.” He went on to say that you first solve the customer, as in resolving the issue and winning back their confidence, and then you work with the team to find out why there was a problem and how it can be prevented from happening again. That’s a perfect example of being customer-focused.

And there you have it. Twelve ideas of what to stop doing. There are many more, and not just from articles that I’ve written. Take a look at the processes that impact your customers. What do they complain about? Create your own list of what to stop doing. It’s not just what you do. Sometimes it’s what you don’t do that gets customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credits: Pixabay

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Lack of Feedback is a Gift

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Lack of Feedback is a Gift

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

This article answers the question: Are organizations paying attention to the feedback customers give and also to the feedback they unintentionally withhold?

There’s an old expression: Feedback is a gift. Whenever a customer is willing to take time to share feedback by talking to you, emailing you, or leaving an online comment, it’s a gift. It either validates that what you’re doing is working or points out opportunities to improve. Companies obsess over survey scores and online reviews, and that’s smart. But if you only focus on what customers are telling you, you might miss important feedback that’s unintentionally hidden in what they don’t mention.

With that said, I’m going to flip this around and say that sometimes the lack of feedback can be as important as the specific feedback a customer shares.

It’s best if I share an example, and this comes from when I was 12 years old and had a birthday party magic show business. On a good week, I was performing at eight to 10 parties. About a week after every show, I would call the parents who hired me to perform for their child to thank them again and ask, “How did you like the show?” The answer was almost always positive. My father suggested I take it a step further and follow up with, “What magic tricks did you like the best?”

My father told me that over time, I would hear the same tricks mentioned. While that’s nice, what’s just as important, if not more so, are the tricks that weren’t mentioned. This unintentional silence can be a signal. His point was that if people aren’t talking about the tricks, replace them with tricks they will talk about. At the age of 12, I was learning an important tenet of customer service and experience, which is not only to ask for feedback, but also to operationalize it. In this case, it was to create and deliver a better magic show by paying attention to what my customers weren’t saying.

In any business, there are processes and experiences that customers encounter. If we’re customer-focused, we assume that what we’ve created delivers a good experience. Often, we’ll ask for feedback. Sometimes it’s about the overall experience, and other times it’s about something specific. All of that feedback should be appreciated, and while we need to pay attention to what customers say, we should also diligently pay attention to what they don’t say. That unspoken feedback may be the best feedback, and what’s so cool about this is that the customer doesn’t even know they are doing it.

Silence can equal insight. When customers seldom or never mention parts of your experience, ask yourself why. Whatever the reason, that silence may lead to your next big improvement. Look for the feedback customers offer, and look even harder for the feedback they don’t.

Image Credits: Pixabay

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The Secret to Creating the WOW Experience

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Start On The Inside

The Secret to Creating the WOW Experience

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

As I write, I’m looking at a book I just read, Delivering the WOW by Richard Fain, chairman and former CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. If you’ve ever been on a Royal Caribbean cruise, you’ve most likely experienced some of the WOW Fain talks about in his book. That word especially applies to Icon of the Seas, which as of today, is the world’s largest and most spectacular cruise ship, able to accommodate 7,600 guests and a crew of 2,600 employees, coming in at a cost of $2 billion.

I had a chance to interview Fain about his new book where he shared his strategy for delivering WOW. However, before we go further, it’s important to know Fain’s background. Prior to joining RC, he worked for a shipping company. He described it as a commodity business. The customer needed a shipment of something to go from point A to point B. The price, as Fain said, “… [had] to be cheaper than the other guy,” and as long as it was and the shipments were delivered as promised (on time), the company earned repeat business.

However, cruise ships are part of the hospitality industry, where people have different expectations. While customers (passengers) may consider how much the trip costs, they also look at the value proposition for the money they spend. Done well, customers are less concerned about the money than about the experience. Fain said, “I found myself going from a commodity business (the shipping company) where price was all that mattered to a business where wowing the customer, exceeding their expectations, blowing them away and making them desperately interested in coming back and doing it again (was what mattered).”

While I thought I was going to learn specific ways Royal Caribbean delivered guest service, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Fain talk about the true secret to the WOW strategy, and that is to create the right culture. Fain said, “The ships are beautiful. I like architecture, the art and the design, and I’m very proud of the spectacular vessels. But it’s really the crew members who bring that to life and make it (the experience) exceptional.”

With that in mind, here are five of Fain’s strategies to WOW the customer.

  1. It’s the Culture: Fain’s culture is about a dedicated team of employees who are never satisfied and always finding ways to improve. Fain said, “We’re looking for the kind of people who really feel passionate about their jobs. You need to love doing your job. I’m amazed at our crew members who seem like they’re the ones on vacation.”
  2. Finding the Right People Is the Key to the Culture: When the culture is good, you’re going to attract the right people. Fain shared that the best way they find new employees is when current employees tell their friends, “This company is really amazing and working for them is exciting and fulfilling.” Just as you want customers to evangelize a brand, you want employees to do the same.
  3. Create the Culture Where People Don’t Leave: Fain was excited to share that he’s had the pleasure of awarding employees for 50 years of service to the company, and that the senior executives have a tenure of more than 15 years. The point is, Fain says, “People don’t leave us that easily.” When you treat employees right, they stay.
  4. The Defining Statement Aligns the Culture: I asked Fain if he had a mantra or credo for the company. His answer was simple. The WOW concept is the most common. It’s not just about providing a good cruise. Employees are expected to go above and beyond, and everyone understands (and is trained) in what that means. It’s not about an over-the-top moment, although it could be. Above and beyond can be as simple as a small gesture. Fain explains, “If you’re dealing with a child, you don’t just bend down, you get down on a knee and talk to that child. If someone asks where something is, you don’t just say, ‘Go down the corridor, turn left, then take your first right.’ You take them there.” In other words, do a little more than expected, sometimes just a tiny bit more, and you’ll be delivering an above-and-beyond experience.
  5. Your North Star Gives You Direction: As I wrapped up the interview, I asked Fain to share one final tip from his book, Deliver the WOW. He said that a company’s defining statement becomes its North Star. This is the direction you are always headed. It’s physically thousands of light years away, and it’s impossible to actually get to the North Star, but that’s the direction you are headed. Fain shared his final comment: “Mariners navigate the ship by looking at where the North Star is. And we navigate our business by constantly thinking of our North Star.” His point was that his people are focused on what makes next month better and next year better. They are always looking to make a positive change. And not just modest incremental change, but big critical changes that make a real difference.

No matter what business you’re in, you need a North Star to guide every decision and every employee. It doesn’t matter if you call it WOW or something else. What matters is the relentless focus on getting better. That overarching strategy must be ingrained in the culture. People must make that happen. Without it, you risk staying where you are while a competitor improves and passes you by. Commit to constant progress, keep your team aligned and you’ll create an ever-improving experience that gets customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Image Credits: Pexels

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Why Going Above and Beyond Doesn’t Work

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Why Going Above and Beyond Doesn't Work

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

This article answers the question: Should organizations aim to go above and beyond in every interaction, or focus on consistently meeting customer expectations?

This is a story about a disagreement I had with a client. I should mention, this was a friendly disagreement. His idea of an amazing experience was to go above and beyond, always exceeding the customer’s expectations.

His company is the one you call when a disaster, such as a flood, tornado, or fire, hits your home or office. The company specializes in cleanup and restoration. The owner believed it was important to go above and beyond in every interaction. So, I asked him for an example.

He said that when a customer calls – day or night, 365 days a year – someone will be there, and an emergency team will be dispatched immediately.

As nicely as I could, I told him that what he described was not an above-and-beyond example. No, what he described was what every customer expected. While the customer may be elated with how quickly the company responds to their emergency, that’s what his company is supposed to do.

Above and beyond experiences are reserved for unexpected moments. Not long ago, I wrote about the story Steve Wynn, the chairman of Wynn Resorts, a group of hotels and casinos, shared about how an employee helped a guest get medicine she had left at home. That was truly an above-and-beyond example.

It doesn’t always have to be something big.

However, it doesn’t always have to be something big. For example, the surprise piece of cake with a candle the server at a restaurant brings to the table, not because someone told him it was a guest’s birthday, but simply because he overheard the patrons talking about the birthday. He took advantage of that information and created the surprise-and-delight moment, another version of above-and-beyond.

But you can’t count on emergencies and birthdays to happen every time. You can take advantage of those moments when you know they’re coming, but if every day, in every interaction, you focus on giving the customer your best effort to meet, and even slightly exceed, their expectations, you’re operating in the zone of amazement.

Going above and beyond should never be the goal for every interaction. It’s not sustainable, and it’s definitely not a realistic goal. What is realistic is delivering consistent and predictable experiences that meet expectations every time and occasionally rise just a bit above them. The point is, customers don’t demand fireworks unless that’s the kind of experience you sell. What they want is reliability, ease, and empathy. When those are in place, the occasional above-and-beyond or surprise-and-delight moments become icing on the cake, not the foundation of your service. Do what customers expect, every time, and you’ll amaze them with your consistency. That’s what builds trust, loyalty, and the kind of reputation that gets customers to say, “I’ll be back.”

Image Credits: Pexels

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