Howrah Bridge & Customer Experience

Role of a bridge is to connect between the two ends.  Role of the business enterprise is to fulfill the customers need. 

Yet Howrah Bridge built by the Britishers is beautiful. Its a monument.Its a viewers delight. However it need not be as long as it connects the two ends. Right??

Theme of my new websites www.sunilgandhi.com is Howrah Bridge which symbolizes delight of an experience while fulfilling the basic need.  

There are many bridges in India fulfilling  the basic need but Howrah bridge is considered as one of the finest bridges in the country. Likewise there are many basic need fulfilling business enterprises in every segments for every customer. But if entrepreneurs want become a legend and monumental in what they are doing adding delight flavour in the  basic element is a must. 

Its easy in case of product design but very difficult and hence competitive advantage for service providers. Welcome to my latest website. 

Business Turnaround - Step Number One

Yes CEOs across the globe is putting CUSTOMER at the center when they plan for business turnaround. 

Finding reasons for sickness is certainly a good beginning for turnaround process to begin with however for any business it is CUSTOMERs who pays for its survival - be it good business or turnaround case.

Therefore immediate focus on better customer experience can give CXOs to work out plan and strategise turnaround initiatives. Preserving customers who have not yet left the organisation is critical and first priority & making them company evangelist is next best on agenda. 

Company may be sick for any reason but the moment customers know this they may continue to do the business but search for alternative is on immediately as everyone needs dependable service providers or suppliers. Even best customer experience service providers like Kingfisher airlines started losing customers the moment they know about the financial mess the company is in.  Only hope for their survival was their customer loyalty they had created by offering great experience. 

Imagine what can happen to companies not offering not so great customer experience.

Therefore while working on other issues to  turnaround the company immediate sharp focus on the customers is the key survival tool for turnaround companies. Many a times pathetic approach towards the customers is the reason for the companies to go sick and even die.   

Point is do not wait till your enterprise go sick to focus on customer experience. Focus on customer experience to avoid sickness and even is the situation arise customer can bail your enterprise out with their loyalty and word of mouth support.  

NAMO moved the Cheese and ate it too !!

Who Moved Your Cheese is the apt book to read for all our politicians who are doing so called  introspection. 

Mr Narendra Modi has not only moved the cheese and but also comfortably ate it too. Everyone else during the campaign was denying that no cheese is not moving and they remain focused on old cheese. 

Yes , Governance and Development is the new cheese and others remain focused on caste , communal & secular politics.

Inability to see moving cheese happens when you lose touch with the ground reality and remain surrounded by YES men.   

Same rule equally applies to business enterprises. In a highly competitive market cheese is moving and those who can see is taking early advantage. 

Some will not accept till complete loss of business and some will agree after much of a loss to the business. 

New cheese is better Customer Experience (CX).  People have enough of options for goods and services.  They are looking for better customer experience.  Companies those who remain focused on all other internal competences will soon find that customer are not interested how smart you are internally.What matters to them or what count in the market place is what kind of experience your enterprise put together is delivering to its customers.

Many companies those who claim to be customer centric are only equipped with customer service department. They neither have mapped their customers journeys , nor has thought of offering scintillating rational and emotional experience (Most companies even have no clue about these aspects of designing CX).

Cheese is on the move , companies at the forefront are taking advantage. Companies in denial mode or in no clue mode or surrounded by YES men CXOs will realise the reality and learn lesson like the one learnt by most political parties after 2014 election (Most of them have not and will not learn even now).

Once again recommend the book Who Moved My Cheese.

What Farmers Can Teach Our Entrepreneurs ?

REAP WHAT YOU SOW , is a universal truth. 

If your organisation has systems , processes, targets , thinking and culture of MAKING MONEY at ANY cost. Your people are out there in the market will mis sell, over commit , indulge in unethical business practices, do all kinds of accounting jugglery , evade tax , do environmental harm, breaks laws. In the process your organisation will become anti social organisation though doing so called legal business.  You will attract and recruit people with similar culture and mindset. 

Fruits on the tree are the result of its seed, root, water , fertilizers & environmental support it consumes.

If you want Apple you need to sow seeds of Apple. This is the first and foremost requirements. Business culture percolates from the top is seed for the business. You cant expect your people to be honest when top management is indulging in all sorts of wrong doings. 

After the first step of sowing the seed, you need to nurture the tree with regular water, fertilizer and allow sun rays in right quality to get the best fruit. Even organic and inorganic fertilizers can impact the outcome. Likewise business processes, training and soft skills of the people, IT systems, leadership everything matters and impact the customer experience your company is offering to your customers. 

When you need to offer Kashmiri Apple roped with organic fertilizers , you need that kind of environment and nurturing.  You will not get the same Apple if you grow it in different environment and offers inorganic fertilizers like cosmetic culture. 

Therefore if you wish to attain SUSTAINABLE competitive advantage of offering delightful customer experience (CX), it starts with seed i.e. culture.  Only system, processes and training wont last much. Look at all companies known in CX space and you will  realise how their culture is and why they are leading in CX space.  Be it Virgin, Starbucks, Zappos or Apple. 

You can create delight factor for sometime or for some products/services or for some processes  but it wont be sustainable if it is not through culture change. Seed has to be right for delightful products or else delightful products are by chance and not by choice. 

Problem is top management expect best of the fruits - business performance but they turn blind eye on what it takes.  

Indian firms can lose 18 to 20% of the business due to lack of clear customer experience strategy.

The above report indicates possibility of loss of business internationally by Indian firms. However within India due to poor or not so delightful customer experience how much business local firms can lose to competing firms is yet not known. 

Bottom line is clear , if you want better bottom line , focus on CX and if you want better CX focus on seed i.e. culture at the top. 

Sitting is NEW Smoking then What is NEW Solvency Ratio ?

" Sitting is NEW Smoking. " Rujuta Diwekar leading diet consultant writes in her new book - 'Dont Lose Out, Work Out'.  

We all know and believe that smoking can cause serious diseases to the smoker likewise if you remain seated for longer , poorer  your health & you may die earlier, no matter how fit you are. This is a new scientific research. Physical activities through out the day is necessary to remain fitter and avoid many modern day diseases.  

Applying this research to our topic of Customer Experience (CX);

Customer Experience Index is NEW Solvency Ratio. Yes this is also true.  You may have very good EBIDTA margin , Current ratio , DSCR , ROCE, and PAT but if your CX Index if not healthy, all these robust ratios are just temporary. CX Index will indicate whether these health will be maintained , is improving or deteriorating. 

Problem is , like we don't measure how many hours we sit during the day, we even don't measure CX index of our enterprise.  Things we don't measure , we don't focus upon. But the fact remains , all our critical financial ratios are ultimately dependent upon our Customer Experience Index. 

Better CX enables more sales, quick sales TAT, lower marketing cost, better margins, better cash flow, lower debt, higher margins means better stock valuation, attracts more capital. CX Index is really critical measure of enterprise health. It can also be used as preventive measures to stop deterioration of financial health. In can tell in advance state of financial health to expect. 

You can measure CX Index by NPS , CES or combination of the two or define your own CX scorecard. You can do it in more detailed way by measuring experiences at all the touch points, different customer segments/persona, different product wise. More intense the scorecard ,  more it will be actionable. 

Before your CFO tells you state of your enterprise's health your Chief Experience Officer (CExO) {Of-course if you have one} must tell you that.

Next time before you think of smoking , think of sitting and before you think of financial solvency ratios , think of CX Index. 

How little creativity can enable better Customer Experience (CX) ?

My family doctor is familiar with many other families too. Therefore there is a problem every-time I visit him. 

- Long waiting time

- Nothing to engage me during this waiting time

Same was the scenario at one of the prominent hospitals in Mumbai. Many people standing in queues on many counters waiting for their turn to come.  

I think in most places in healthcare sector this is the scenario. 

Why I like to address issues of customer experience(CX) in healthcare the most is because this is the sector where customer i.e. patient and their relatives are in maximum pain while they are waiting to be served.

Many a times it does not require rocket science to improve customer experience. It just need a mind of the people at the top and eye on companies in other sectors to learn from.

Couple of leading private sector banks have solved these issues, even Balaji temple in Tirupati & Cream Center at Chowatty has addressed these issues.  

Long Queues / Waiting Time:

Issue token number on arrival and token number attended on display. Based on the experience of the enterprise , even enterprise can display tentative time of waiting based on numbers in queue. 

Small dispensaries atleast can have token system (issue and display) which make patients in waiting to know number of persons before them and uncertainties of waiting time will end. People don't mind waiting if they are informed time of waiting , even they can do their work and come back. It is the uncertainties that makes them restless & spoils the entire experience. 

Engaging during waiting:

If waiting cant be avoided then make it interesting. Cream Center at Chowpatty has a system to give a sheet of puzzle/games to everyone after occupying the chair. People get engaged after ordering in solving  puzzle and in the process forget waiting time even if its little longer. Our saloons also used to keep old filmy magazines. In many a places they have TV to get engaged while waiting. 

However they miss on which channel on TV they put on display. Better customer experience will come from the channel they put up on display. Cartoon Network (CN) kind of channels and not news channel or movies which further adds to the stress level. CN kind of channel will not only make them engrossed but also will make them feel happy. 

Both the above small issues and many such issues of poor CX can be easily tackled and can be converted in to better customer experience by little thinking and application of customer centric thinking.

List down all the customer issues your organisation faces and solve it with little creativity , results will be phenomenal increase in CX.

Brutal Focus on Customer Experience (CX)

Apple is known for their sharp focus on  CX. 

Perhaps they are the leaders. 

They take care of even 'box opening' experience of the customer. 

Recently I read their sharp customer focus as defined as Brutal Focus on CX. The word BRUTAL which otherwise used in negative connotation was used to define extreme positive connotation. 

There is a new book in the market titled Stuffocation. Author James Wallman explains us that in the new economy where everything is produced in plenty & costumes have variety of choices, how do marketeer / sellers differentiate in this crowded market?

In this new economy people are now fed up with stuff they have in their cupboards and homes.  New age customers want experiences. These customers are defined as eXperientialist customers. They need experiences. Experiences to immersed with, experiences to recollect, experiences to feel differently.  Even manufacturers , mall , retailers & service providers can create experiences - which are pleasantly memorable & worth sharing. Customers do not need to go on holiday or theme parks to get experiences.

There are examples of accounting firms, dentists , computer service businesses that are creating superior customer eXperiences.

Here lies a challenge and an opportunity for every enterprises. In the Stuffocation world

it is the experience economy that rules. 

Brutal Focus on CX - Apple  (Manufacturing & retailing)

Extreme Customer Orientation - Gjensidige Insurance Company (Service Provider)

There is a Book on The company's CX way of doing business - Starbucks (Retailing)

Customer Experience Co-Creation - Fidelity Mutual Funds (Service Provider)

Entertainment Business at 25000 feet above the sea level - Virgin Airlines (Travel)
__________________ - Your Company? 

Filling this blank will give direction to your enterprise and working on it will give competitive edge. 

Indian customers are eagerly waiting for a brand that can be matched with best in the world in CX creation.

Why Customer eXperiance Fails?

Why CX Fails:

I had an interaction with call rep of call center of one of the prominent DTH TV companies. 

They asked me to punch:

a) Language Option

b) Existing or New Customer Option

c) If existing customer than punch - customer ID or Mobile Number (Which is 10 digit)

d) It will check number by repeating 

e) Correction Option 

f) Ad message of the company

g) Select Services option

After so many punches I have reached the call center representative. 

When a customer calls a call center he wants to do some transaction/inquiry or solve the problem. Mainly when a company has circulated a call center number for a specific request, most calls would be of that services.

My worries & concerns were  :

- Call drop in between and again I need to start from step 1

- Why I have to do so many punches to reach to call center representative?

- Is it necessary to market the services in between when I ave approached the company for specific services?

- Their SMS was about asking the subscribers to upgrade or else certain channel wont be available. There was no mention that it is free. So I was a bit concerned too , as how can they do so in between the contract?

How they could have improved the customer experience?

1) Their SMS should state that its is a free upgrade (Most of the discomfort would have been avoided before I called).

2) Call options rearranged /deleted

a) Language Option

b) New Customer - press 1 or Existing customer press mobile or customer ID 

c)  If existing customer than punch - customer ID or Mobile Number (Which is 10 digit) (With the b reworded, this step can be avoided)

d) It will check number by repeating (No need to correct here , it is not a banking transaction, it can be confirmed by call center executive while welcoming the caller)

e) Correction Option (No need with changes in the previous step)

f) Ad message of the company (Absolutely unwanted and creating negative experience) 

g) Select Services option

Customer Experience can be redesigned with following revised steps:

(In addition to adding the word FREE in the SMS)

a) Language Option

b) New Customer - press 1 or Existing customer press mobile or customer ID 

c) Select Services option

This kind of customer focus can not only shorten the time but improves customer experience substantially. Unfortunately most companies are process, IT and internal focused and hence create negative customer experience & reasons for customer frustration. 

When was the last have you mapped the processes keeping customers in mind?  

Why Election Manifesto Should Start With Citizen Experience Statement ?

Like Companies , countries also create experience for its citizen & guests - investors & tourists. Concept of customer experience equally applies at national level. 

It is the fundamental role of every Government to create better experience for its citizen - through better governance, better infrastructure - hard & soft, better policies, better law & order , better & sensitive Government employees. 

Every Government will make or break their chances of winning back based on their performance counted on the above parameters of creating better citizen experience. 

If we analyse Government retaining the power and Government going out of power, deciding factor is track record or people perception of ability to deliver better citizen experience. Therefore election manifesto should start with Citizen Experience Statement ( like Customer Experience Statement for business enterprise ).

In the experience economy we all are living in creating better customer /citizen experience is the KEY , KPI whether its a company or Government or for that matter any enterprise - for or not for profit. 

2014 Year of Customer Journey Mapping

Most businesses do not measure customer journey maps. Recently I was talking with senior operation team member of one of the large Mutual Funds. He was explaining to me how they have pioneered in SMS based investing. 

I just asked ;

Whether investors need this kind of service? - (R) Dont know. 

How many investors use mobile as a investment making instrument?  (R) 1%

By doing this new innovation how much more investors would use mobile? (R)  1 to 2% more

After some dialogue I asked whether do you map customer journeys? He looked at me like as if he is asking me what is that ? and responded NO. 

This is the biggest problem with every organisation. They are investing so much in technology where it is going to impact 2% of the customer base but have no clue about what really customer needs , what customer are thinking and feeling while dealing with the company? No one has clue of end to end customer journeys , no one is in charge of end to end customer experience. 

Companies spend millions of dollars for BPR & IT  projects but have no clue of customer service designs & customer experience they are creating. 

I think it is a high time to REALLY focus on customers. Customer Focus must come out from mission statement & mere vocabulary to life. 

Let this year be declared as a year of Customer Journey Mapping. It will end with huge customer insights & many eye openers. 

Defective Products Vs Defective Services

Defective Products Vs Defective Services

1. Defective Products are designed and manufacturing not as per design is called defective products
2. Defects in Defective Products are visible to sellers
3. Defective Products are sold as seconds goods
4. Defective Products are rejected by customers

1. Services are not designed & therefore defective services are not easy to identify
2. Defective Services are being seen & experienced by customers
3. Apparently Defective Services are not seen & experienced by sellers
4. Even defective services are also rejected by customers , however since it is not visible to the sellers , seller wont know the reason for customer defections & complaints
5. Unlike Products , services are dynamic & made available every time customers want it. Therefore probability defective services for un-designed services is far more than defective products which are manufactured en-mass & stored for delivery. 

Therefore it is most critical for service providers to design the service & map customer journey to know the defects in service design. Its difficult & challenging but critical.

Today's Organisations - Weapons of Mass Irritation

Outbound calls , frequent SMSs to market the products, untrained callers all these are making recipient of calls irritable.

On the other hand when we call inbound call centers to solve our problems ; punching of innumerable buttons, repeating the problems to every agents, line disconnect, again repeating the process - huge irritation. 

When customers wish to approach any of the following issues, none can be handled without irritation ; 

1. Complaint Resolution
2. Goods Return
3. After Sales Service
4. Mis-Sell
5. Over-Sell
6. Over- Bill
7. Long Procedures 
8. Complicated Forms & Bills
9. Complex Features
10. Multiple & Unwanted Choices

Most of the activities rolled out by an organisation creates irritation. The main cause if lack of or no customer focus specially no end to end customer focus. No effort to step into the shoes of customer to design customer experience. No effort or mind for service design. No one in charge of end to end customer experience. 

Map the customer journey, design the service, take rigorous customer feedback , read social media reviews, put someone senior enough in charge of end to end customer experience. 

Convert your Customer Irritation quotient into Customer Happiness and you have won the customer for long, his repeat purchase, his higher pocket share, his referral contacts. 

If you are not making your customers HAPPY , you are IRRITATING them. 

Service Design - Most critical but Mostly Ignored

" Design is not HOW it looks but how it works." Steve Jobs.  

Product & service design is an integral part of over all customer experience. However it is easier to find out bad product design from its usage but equally difficult to know bad service design. 

There is a saying that if there is a physical queue / waiting for anything  , it is a bad design. If user is finding it difficult to fill a form it is bad design. 

In every product & service there is an element of design. 

You go to buy a railway ticket or buy a insurance policy, apply for insurance claim, opening a bank account or availing bank loan, buying a house from a real estate company , availing medical treatment at hospitals, buying a movie ticket and watching movie in a theater, roaming in a mall, roads & traffic flow ,  hotel booking, check in/out process everything is a design.  

Now if these intangible services are not deliberately designed keeping customer/users ease , convenience & comfort in  mind, it will happen without deliberate design and is likely to spoil customer experience. 

No part of business or enterprise activities happen automatically. It is not either it is deliberately designed or deliberately not designed but most of the time it is not designed as entrepreneur or service provider is not aware that it has to be deliberately designed. 

All physical aspects are designed by various design experts, however its final flow to the customer i.e. sales process, after sales process, actual service av-ailment process skip the design aspects. It is these gaps in service design creates bad and frustrating customer experience (CX). Hardware & tangible are designed but soft & intangible parts remain un-designed. 

Otherwise how expensive airlines , finest of hotels & hospitals , sophisticated banks & insurance companies and great home builder - real estate companies fails in customer experience miserably? 

In every aspects of intangible service design , CX designers' intervention  can improve customer experience and help solving many problems in Govt services. 

Are your products - Neighbors’ ENVY, Owners’ PRIDE ?

Ratan Tata recently acknowledged that positioning Nano as a cheap car was a mistake. It was international branding Guru Jack Trout , who 2 weeks back opined that positioning Nano as a cheap car was a mistake. 

Mr. Tata accepting this is a welcome step. Most entrepreneurs won’t accept their mistake and would try to justify their decision any how.  

Larger points are ;

- Even if price is your competitive advantage, competitive on price won’t work always and in some cases like this will spoil the brand. 

- Why to focus on price when product feature & experience can out weight price considerations

-  Irrespective of category of product or services, owners, users should feel proud of enraging with brands. In the case of NANO it was missing. 

Even in the case of low cost airlines, differentiation should happen on services, punctuality & feeling of getting associated with brands.  

Mostly companies forget this FEELING part. Owing NANO car means owner can’t afford costly car & using cheap car. This is a negative feeling for owners and will deter many others because of these negative feelings. 

Like the brand ONIDA has taught us years ago, neighbors’ ENVY, owners’ PRIDE should be the positioning for every brand. NANO is missing on both these counts. 

Focus and position on customer experience & how you make them feel & people will find out pricing of their own. 

When companies miss out on experience part or have no clue about it , they focus on price.

What is your view on positioning of affordable housing projects? 

Additional readings;  

Envy people about your CUSTOMERS. People who come to you for PRICE will leave u for PRICE

WHY & HOW of Clients Experience at Professional Firms

CX = Customer Experience = Citizen Experience = Clients Experience 

Yes principles of Customer Experience equally apply to all the entities whether for profit, not for profit, Govt entities, professional firms, B2B & B2C. It is not just B2C phenomena.  

Every product or service recipient expects better experience. There is always expectation gaps and scope for improvements which varies in degree.

In case if some enterprise is in the monopoly business orGovt entities like municipal corporation or railways, it is all the more important as bad experience will have social repercussions. Longer queues, longer time for approvals or attending application , indifferent staff attitudes everything adds up to personal  & social stress & frustrations. 

Professional firms (doctors/lawyers/accountants & the likes) mostly enjoy relationship of trust and confidentiality with their clients. There is an approach of one-up man ship by these professionals with their clients. In no other case service recipient is so vulnerable. Here again like the one in monopoly business better clients experience counts. It not only is necessary for better social impact but also counts as new and better service providers are around. 

In the absence of advertising  professional consulting is the area where most business comes through clients’ referrals & word of mouth. Creating a culture of offering delightful clients' experience is the prerequisite for these firms to grow. One may take a clue from Extreme Customer Orientation by Norwegian Insurance Company Gjensidige. Those who are keen about ROI of CX Initiatives may read this ; What CEOs should know before they ask for ROI of CX Initiatives ?

Now the most prominent question is HOW? Here is a ten step process. 

- Map the entire clients’ journey 

- Identify at all touch points

- Identify critical & good to have experience

- Check/Measure what is kind of experience is doled out at each of the touch points

- Internally discuss scope of improvements

- If require brainstorm entire new service design

- Train & retrain front facing and support staff

- Prototype the new or redefined service

- Fine tune with initial clients’ feedback

- Roll out the service 

Make clients feedback an integral part of services like billing. 

Remember HAPPY customers will refer others and unhappy will look for every opportunity to get out. Both will use social media subsequently to share their experience. 

To sum up in the words of management guru of our times Peter Drucker “The purpose of the business (incl profession) is to create customers (incl clients).  ” If this is the purpose ; HOW any forms of entity can ignore CX what will retain customers , create more customers & offers more pocket share of customers?  

Customer Feedback ? What , Why , Never !!

I am a customer of two of the largest private sector banks, one PSU bank, largest credit card company , some insurance companies, public utility companies , telecom companies and one thing is common in them ;  

NO Companies have asked me for any feedback ever or for last many years.  

I visited one recently open but popular restaurant and along-with the bill there was small crisp feedback form. Now everything happened precedent to the feedback form was almost perfect. Ambiance, food quality, customer service, attentive staff, clean & perfumed washrooms, food on display , presentation, menu card , light music & including valet parking etc.  Barring a few elements which could have made the experience delightful , everything was perfect. 

After a near perfect show when they are asking for feedback they are aware that they have done their best however still wish to know where they misused and open to improvements. They are aware they are living in times of Zomato. 

Companies those who know power of social media have stared improving their customer experience. However likes of some (no, many many) companies mentioned on top of the blog still think that they are doing good without even seeking customer feedback. 

Customer feedback is not only the MOST powerful tool but is the business critical tool. It tells you whether you are meeting the expectations for whom you are in existence. Jeff Bezos , customer experience champion CEO of Amazon.com, says " don't just listen customers, understand them." How would you do that without asking them? 

Customer feedback gives great insight, it makes customer feel you care, and acting on the feedback certainly adds value to the business. 

When the enterprise is concerned about feedback they will perform well in the first place and even if they have failed somewhere they will know from the feedback. Customers' anger will also dilute after filling the feedback form.  

When was the last time your enterprise has taken customer feedback? No excuse for B2B companies.  

9 ways to check whether you are in Obsolete Business

To continue from my previous blog Are you in the business of selling obsolete products & services?  , Usually obsolete products and services are not in demand or enjoy lesser demand. 

Look at erstwhile cinema houses and multi-screen multiplexes , look at Udipi South Indian hotels & fast food/pizza/burger chains, look at housing societies built 10/15 years back and present day housing societies,  look everywhere hospitals, retailing , banking - everything has changed and is changing. Everything is moving from being product & services to experience. 

It is the need of today. This shift happens with every new generation of consumers. With new generation of consumers comes new generation of entrepreneurs. They break the old way of thinking and create blue ocean for themselves. 

Therefore issue is to check whether you are in the business of selling obsolete products & services. Here obsolete doesn't means typewriter vs computer. Here it means old way of thinking about business. 

Yes , 

1) If CUSTOMER is not at the center of all your thinking and action , you are in obsolete business.

2) If EMPLOYEES are not considered most important asset of the business , you are in obsolete business.

3) If CRM is the only thing that is happening as far as customer services is concerned ,  you are in obsolete business.

4) If OFFLINE is the only mode of your doing business ,  you are in obsolete business.

5) If SOCIAL MEDIA and CONTENT MARKETING is not a part of your marketing plan, you are in obsolete business.

6) If your enterprise is not measuring customer experience and employee happiness along with ROI and ROCE, you are in obsolete business.

7) If your enterprise is only thinking about single bottom-line and not about social and environmental impact of your business, you are in obsolete business.

8) If your branding and advertising is not matching with actual customer experience,  

you are in obsolete business.

9) If your board is not comprising of professionals from diverse fields & Corporate Governance is only limited to compliance , you are in obsolete business.

If you escape all the above IFs , YES, you can congratulate your self , your business & its products & services are NOT obsolete. 

Even if your are selling TEA and not using any advance technology to produce  , all the above pointers will keep you out of OBSOLATION. 

Are you in the business of selling obsolete products & services ?

Customer Experience  (CX) is more and more going to hurt companies offering bad customer experience. 

Forget offering WOW !! customer experience , even to survive better and better CX is critical. 

Those who think this is not applicable to their company soon will find themselves in Oasis, deserted by customers, no customer around the company. Company will be almost out of business.  

During last few days I came to know about two incidences where companies have left public sector banks with which they had long association. In one case it was more than 30 years of association and they left the PSU bank with whom they grew and become big. 

Reason in both cases, long indecisiveness & longer decision making process. Meeting the speed expectations and exceeding the same is great customer experience. Its delightful , its wow !!. 

Bad experience is bad even without cost like long waiting at hospital and restaurants however it becomes worse when it impacts customers' pocket. When indecisiveness costs , it not only painful but it impacts bottom-line. 

This is just about PSU banks but CX by private companies across the sectors is hardly any better. Unless the customer journeys are mapped, expectation gaps are mapped, silo-ed vision is converted into overall end to end vision, someone is put in charge of CX , company cannot comprehensively design customer experience which exceeds expectations and delight customers. 

Product & Services must have built in CX & service design elements in the first place to become viable business proposition. Products & Services without CX & service design elements are obsolete & just surviving on ventilator. 

Are you in the business of selling obsolete products & services ?

Does your enterprise own these new skills?

1. You have used services of design architect to design your office promise
2. You have used services of interior designer to design your office interiors
3. You have used services of graphic designer to design your soft images , logo , stationery 
4. You have used services of industrial designer to design your manufacturing set up
5. You have used services of product designer to design your products even ; 
6. You have used services of fashion designer to design your clothes

Designers are only used by companies & individuals for self use and benefits. However in a era of customer experience where every company is in service business , unless companies uses designing skills of following two class of designers, competitive advantage wont be achieved by use of all other designers. They are ;

1. Customer Experience Designers
2. Service Designers 

To an extent their role over laps but there is a clear cut need for their skills to design what is called excellent , delightful & memorable customer experience. 

Service Designers (SD) actually design the services how that will be delivered. Its about intangible ways in which customer feels WOW !! while availing the services. 

Customer Experience (CX) Design is a large canvas which includes HOW the experience will be created , unfolded at all touch points.  

Forrester Research Consultant , Kerry Bodine has written about interplay of CS & SD in her recent article  HOW DOES SERVICE DESIGN RELATE TO CX AND UX?

CX covers entire customer journey while SD covers each of the touch points separately & how actually services are delivered. Unless proactively designed services & customer experience will be listless , plain, undifferentiated and  many a times frustrating for customers. 

Its time businesses MUST embrace CX & SD skills - In house or outsourced. 

Customer Experience in-times of Stiff Competition

Incidence:

Couple of weeks back my website vendor discontinued to host my website. I inquired about the reason & I was told by one of the employees of the company that domain renewal amount was not paid and due date is over. I told her but I confirmed over phone to renew & I will make payment in a week. She said no , we do not have power to renew without payment. 

I am their customer since 15 years, I confirmed to pay over phone, I paid all these year before the due date ,  yet the incidence took place. 

Discussions:

I took up the matter with their MD. His response; we do not authorize our employees to renew without payment. I said but my long relation and past payment record!!!. He said no in times of low margin & stiff competition we do not invest in such systems to track all these as it is costly. I said but before you people unhost any website shouldn't senior management look at the defaulters list to differentiate between habitual defaulters & onetime, big , long association based defaulters ? He said we have 50 renewals daily & we can't manually track like that. 

 CX issues: 

- All customers are treated equally - irrespective of longevity of association, past track record, size of the customer

- No value for customers' verbal communication

- No empowerment or system to monitor before discontinuance of services

- No communication on the day or after discontinuance from the company 

- No feeling of apology but all justifications for the action taken

I was told by the MD that 90% customers pay online. That means only 10% irregular customers. Management has no time even to monitor this 10% of customers also before taking such a drastic action. What a misplaced priorities !!

First of all I doubt this is happening in many companies as long term association and payment track records are the basic things to check while one decides to discontinue services or discontinue doing business. 

We all are dealing with many private & public sector vendors. Everyone offers time to pay once the services are availed. Here in this case for the want of advance payment services were discontinued. 

Big question is not about this vendor. Big Question is many such customer issues companies are either not aware of or ignoring. Lost customer is costly. As happy customers buy more & can bring more referral customers, unhappy & lost customers not only take away revenue but takes away some other customers too. 

Ask your sales team how difficult these days to get a new customer. After having one, it is up to the management to decide how to treat him. You can make him feel very special & go out of the way to help or treat him with all system, process & management shortcomings.  

In times of stiff competition when getting customer is difficult and losing can be costly , isn't it all the more IMPORTANT & CRITICAL to offer delightful customer experience ?