Please and Thank-You
I keep going back to re-read the article titled, “The Customer Experience: The Consumer’s Point of View” to try to figure out “What am I missing? What can I be doing to help my clients deliver a stronger customer experience? And what can I be doing to deliver a stronger customer experience to my clients?” Being one of the individuals who hit the streets of Toronto in search for insight on the customer experience allowed me to profoundly recognize something so simple, something which it seems to me that we in the marketing community have lost sight of: The Basics.
Marketing has taken a turn into a more technologically based and consumer propelled discipline, and many companies and agencies are getting lost in the shuffle. Technology, fragmented media, and the current economic crisis are making the efforts of marketers more complicated. With so much available information and differing theories of the best way to reach the consumer and provide them with the best possible customer experience, we are struggling now more than ever to connect on a personal level with the consumer. All of our efforts to create social forums in which people can discuss the pros and cons of their toothpaste or chocolate bar are causing a subconscious reversion in the fundamentals of ‘The Basics.’
After receiving the insightful feedback from consumers that the most valued aspect of business from the consumer’s point of view is common courtesy, I found myself searching to figure out where we went wrong and how we can right that wrong. After countless hours of research and reading white papers, I decided to head down to my local Chapter’s store and grab a few books and a soya latte to try to make sense of it all. But instead of heading to the business section as I usually do, I found my psyche gravitating towards the children’s section – a place I haven’t been in years since my son will no longer go to Chapter’s (or anywhere else!) with me.
So, here I was, sans child, in the children’s section, in search of knowledge. You see, I remembered how much I learned and re-learned about life as I was teaching my son how to become a positive member of society. And that is when I realized …
The stuff that we were taught in kindergarten and that we teach our children gets zapped out of us as we sit in a multitude of meetings trying to figure out processes, fragmented media, CRM, social marketing etc. etc. As Ken Wong points out, the most fundamental aspect to sales and therefore business profits and growth is the moment of truth. This is the moment in which the customer consciously recognizes that a company or a product holds a special place in their minds, and based on this connection they will continue to purchase the product in the future.
This begs the question: Do emails, Facebook advertising, and blogs create this moment of truth? I don’t know about you, but I am so time-starved, I triage my emails. I do not blog (OMG! Am I blogging right now? Trust me; this is not common behaviour for me). I am not and will not second life or facebook. My current life is already quite full – Thank you! And I really don’t want anyone who knew me in the 70’s when I was crazy enough to perm my hair to find me through facebook.
That is not to say that these mediums are not legitimate forms of marketing. They may be to reach “some” of our customers; but not all of our customers want us to intrude into their space. Even if people on facebook and the likes don’t mind us intruding into their space; are we wasting our advertising dollars if we are not getting the basics right?
So, back to the customer experience. How do we get it right and deliver a positive customer experience? What is the solution… please?
After a couple of hours in the children’s section, I realized - the solution is simple. The solution is cost effective. The solution is PLEASE and THANK YOU! Recent studies have found that although the amount of information given to consumers is higher than ever, customer service is declining. It’s kind of like wearing a Gucci outfit without having a shower. It is just as senseless to spend time and money on marketing a product without practicing common courtesy towards our customers.
I don’t know about you, but to keep my customers coming back, I am going to go back to what my Nana and my kindergarten teacher taught me: I am going to always say PLEASE and THANK YOU! And SORRY when I make a mistake. To make sure that I don’t lose sight of these basics, I now have Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You book on my bookshelf right next to all my business books and I downloaded Barney’s Please and Thank You.
Thank you for listening to my rant and Please let me know what you think.
