The Customer Experience is everything and everyone the Customer comes in contact with during his or her interaction with your organization is an opportunity. Each of these interactions can be consider a Customer Experience Touch Point and these touch points are the key to creating a WOW! Customer or Patient Experience. Neglect the importance of these Touch Points and you are likely to disappoint and lose Customers, making life very difficult for your organization.
We help a wide range of professional organizations from professional service firms such as consulting companies, law firms, high-end call centers, and medical organizations improve their Customer or Patient Experience.
In this post, I am going to use a restaurant as a Customer Experience Touch Point metaphor as it is a good baseline example that we can all relate to...
The first step to developing and improving the Customer or Patient Experience Touch Points in your organization is to understand the Customer Experience in its entirety. Too often we think of Customer Service and the Customer Experience as those instances where we are actively serving the Customer in an attempt to gain a sale. For example to think of Customer Service in a restaurant as the level of service a guest receives from the wait staff is a serious lack of understanding of what the customer experience actually is. In reality the Customer Experience is everything the restaurant guest encounters from the time they arrive in the parking lot to the time they leave that very parking space.
After one fully understands what the Customer Experience actually is for his or her organization, the next step is to map out your typical Customer Experience and identify all the possible touch points that could possibly take place. The following is a Touch Point Map for the example above of a restaurant guest's Customer Experience.
- Arrival in the parking lot – Are there ample parking spaces? Is the lot clean and free of debris and trash? Are restaurant team members smoking in open view of arriving guests?
- Initial greeting – Did the host or hostess promptly greet the guests and direct them to a table? Is there ample room to accommodate guests waiting for a table to open?
- Seating at the table – how are the tables arranged in the restaurant? Is it easy for guests to get in and out of their seats or are they cramped without enough room for comfort?
- Drink and food order – Is the server knowledgeable about the food and drinks the restaurant offers? Has he or she been thoroughly trained on the menu?
- Presentation of food – Did the food arrive hot and as ordered? Is the food arranged with care or was it done sloppily and with haste?
- Mid meal checkup – Are guests satisfied with their food order? Is there anything additional that a guest might need?
- Offering of desserts – Are guests finished with their entrée or was dessert offered too early?
- Delivery of the check – Did the server ask if the guests were ready for the check? Are guests finished with their food and drinks or did they plan on having another drink and socializing?
- Payment – Was the check taken care of promptly and logically? Did the server instruct the guests as to how payments will be handled – every restaurant is different!
- Departure – Are the guests thanked for their patronage as they leave? Is the parking lot still clear of debris or smoking employees?
This of course is a very basic guideline of Customer or Patient Touch Points at your average restaurant. There are numerous other Customer Experience Touch Points that could take place such as interaction with a bus boy filling water glasses for example. The important thing is that managers seriously evaluate all the instances where Customer Experience Touch Points could possibly to take place.
Having identified where these Customer Experience Touch Points can occur the next step is to carefully evaluate each touch point for possible problems that can arise and opportunities to create a powerful and moving customer experience. The questions posed above are just basic examples of things to think about when considering the Customer's experience. Each of these Touch Points should be examined in further detail.
Let's take a look at the mid-meal checkup as an example Touch Point. Typically, it seems that most servers rush by to ask you how your food is at the most inopportune time. You might be deep in a conversation or have food in your mouth; odds are the best response you can muster up quickly enough is "fine" with a nod of the head. By this time the server is already on his or her way; in fact it's almost like they've barely slowed down. This offers little opportunity for a meaningful exchange or feedback on how the food actually is.
However, understanding the importance of Customer Experience Touch Points and identifying the mid-meal check up as a key Touch Point, allows the doors of opportunity begin open wide. Here is an excellent chance to provide something that the guest rarely experiences during a mid-meal check up: sincerity and caring. Guests typically feel too bothersome to ask a server for anything additional during those rare occasions where they have the time to voice their requests. Finding an opportune time to approach the table, genuinely inquiring as to how the meal is going, and asking if there is anything that could be done to improve it is something a guest rarely expects or encounters.
This is the essence of delivering a WOW! Customer Experience – exceeding expectations. However it is not enough to simply voice to the wait staff that they need to work hard to exceed the customer's expectations. The problem with this approach is that an exceptional Customer Experience is different from one server to another. This is why it is advisable that organizations develop a standardized approach to exceeding the customer's expectations at each Touch Point and showing team members what is meant by delivering exceptional Customer Service.
This approach to providing exceptional Customer Service works well for all organizations. Spend some time and seriously evaluate all the possible Customer Experience Touch Points that might take place. Look at your organization's strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities to improve and deliver something the competition cannot. Better yet, give us a shout and let us give you a hand. Often times those outside your organization can bring a fresh new perspective to an organization and identify areas of improvement that might never been thought of before. Whatever you decide just remember that touch points are the key to delivering WOW! Customer Experience!
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
- Consistency is Key in Creating an Exceptional Customer Experience
- Every Customer Experience Touch Point Counts
- Are Your Vendors Hurting the Customer's Experience
- Cultural Change Begins with Personal Accountability
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
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