The Extraordinary Customer Experience: Creating a Positive Memory

Customer loyalty in any organization begins one person at a time, and it is all about creating a positive memorable customer experience. In every interaction we have with a customer, there are two levels, the Business level of meeting the customer's external objectives, but there is also the Human level which is all about how the customer FEELS in that interaction.

How often have you interacted with a frontline customer service person who simply went through the motions of taking care of your business need and did nothing to connect with you on the Human level? Did that help you develop loyalty to that organization?

We know that what creates customer loyalty is an EXPERIENCE that surprises and delights the customer and which makes some sort of human level connection with the service person and ultimately, the whole organization. The service person SEES the customer as a human being, not just as a distraction or someone to keep them from their more important paperwork or other non-customer related duties.

One of the ways to encourage service people to become aware of how they can make a difference every day is to challenge them to come up with a personal signature to add to their work – what can THEY do, whatever their job might be, to delight and surprise the customer?

This was the message Johnny the Bagger® heard me share a number of years ago when I was asked to speak to 3000 employees of a large grocery store chain. Not only was his job as a grocery bagger what some would consider not very important, but he also was a person of Down syndrome, so sadly, often his contribution was discounted.

The truth is that Johnny was one of the key people to take this message to heart and develop his own personal signature – he began finding a thought for the day each night, printing out copies on his Dad's computer, and signing his name on the back. The next day each customer was surprised and delighted to get a thought for the day from Johnny as he bagged their purchases, thus creating for them a positive memorable customer experience.

Johnny realized all the ten simple truths of service in his actions:

1. He inspired lots of STORIES. Millions of people all over the world have either watched the DVD or read his story, and they have created personal signatures of their own. Many organizations are using Johnny's story in all their customer service training to encourage their employees that, like Johnny, they can make a difference in each customer interaction.
2. Johnny used "OUTSIDE THE BOX" thinking. No one had ever done anything so creative in the store before.
3. He made the CHOICE to delight his customers. It would have been much easier for him to simply bag the groceries and be done than to go out of his way to create a positive experience by sharing his inspirational thoughts.
4. Johnny had a VISION when he and his Dad began finding inspirational thoughts each evening. He even told me that when he couldn't find one he liked, he "thought one up!"
5. After Johnny began his project and the other employees saw how excited the customers were, the VISION SPREAD throughout the store and many of them began adding their own special touches to their interactions with their customers.
6. The first time anyone came into the store and checked out in Johnny's lane, they were greatly SURPRISED with his thoughtful touch, something they had never experienced in a store before.
7. If Johnny, who had a disability and a simple frontline job, could do it, the rest of the staff realized that ANYONE could create a meaningful experience for their customers, regardless of what their job might be, and they began to have fun creating their own memorable customer experiences.
8. Johnny certainly went the EXTRA MILE, using his free time after work every night to put his idea into action.
9. The greatest result for the store was that customers began telling other people in the community, and more and more of them CAME BACK multiple times a week to get one of Johnny's thoughts. And of course when you come into a store, you always buy something……so there was a definite impact on the store's bottom line!
10. Most of all, Johnny acted from his HEART. He knew that people often were stressed and in a hurry when they came to the store, so by sharing uplifting and inspirational thoughts with them, he was adding a blessing to their day.

Many of these truths truly ARE simple, and most of the ideas Johnny helped inspire in the store cost little or no money. These, then, are ten principles that anyone can apply, whatever their job might be, to begin creating more positive memorable experiences for their customers. Thank you, Johnny, for so powerfully modeling how one person CAN make a difference!

For more on extraordinary customer service, check out The Simple Truths of Service>>