In looking at how to re-invent the customer experience at my company, I started with research, looking at some other companies who seem to already know how to deliver a consistently great customer experience: Zappos, Virgin, Southwest, Nordstrom, Apple, etc., and tried to figure out what it is that they do. Finding a lot of consistency in approach, I started to compile a list of apparent best-practices: voice of customer program, journey mapping, co-design, etc., this was going to be easy! Doubts started to form when I discovered we were already doing some of these things, a lot of them in fact. I did some more research, this time looking at some companies that don't have great experiences and came to a very unsettling conclusion: Many companies with poor experiences did exactly the same things as the great experience companies. Everything we do, or plan to do, has typically been done not just those with great experience, but also, and maybe even more so by those with lousy experience!
"Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet - thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing - consistently. This builds trust, and followers love leaders they can trust". - Lance Secretan
It is not in the specific actions that companies take that make them great experience companies, but rather the authenticity with which they do it. Authenticity cannot be faked, well not for long at least, and if your experience isn't authentic, it can never be great. If you are going to consistently and authentically deliver on brand promise with every customer interaction, well it is critical that every employee understand and believe in that brand. If the employees embrace the brand promise, then that promise will be delivered naturally to customers on each and every interaction, and never appear forced or inauthentic. In short, great companies sell their brand internally, as well as externally.
Many of the great companies have brand evangelists, often the CEO, and often larger than life: Richard Branson, Tony Hseih, Steve Jobs, etc. I wonder in some cases if these typically charismatic leaders didn't sell their brand internally as much by accident as by design. Regardless the effect is the same, a company takes on the personality of these evangelists, not only setting the tone for the existing employees, but also attracting new right-attitude employees and so creating a self-sustaining culture that embodies the brand, with a brand message that is repeated and amplified by each employee. Of course brand evangelism doesn't need to come from the CEO, and a great article from theMana.gr explores how brand evangelism can be fostered.
- Think Zappos: Tony Hsieh built his company from the beginning with a customer service culture. Customer service is an attitude as much as it is a skill, and he understood this. The focus was very deliberate, to hire people with the right attitude and weed out those with the wrong attitude. The two interview process is an example of this, you are assessed for skill and you are assess for attitude fit. You must succeed in both interviews to be hired. Zappos authentically deliver a brand, by hiring like-minded people who personify that brand.
- Think Starbucks: Again, a culture that was created from the beginning. The desire was to create a euro-style coffee bar, they did so quite convincingly, and they did so by starting with their employees. They changed the language, replacing terms like cashier with Barista (Italian name for barman) to actually change the language that people used to describe themselves. They focused aggressively on training, and put high value on the skills needed to deliver an authentic experience. The Starbuck’s brand is completely absorbed by its employees.
- Think Apple: The Apple brand is great design, and this again, like all successful experience companies is completely embedded into the internal culture. Apple’s internal processes, systems and office space are all developed at a high premium of good design.
The examples are endless,the approach the same: Consciously or unconsciously, great experience companies have sold their brand to their employees, the employees in turn make it real when interacting with customers, not just through the products, but through every interaction from accounts receiving to customer support. When you deliver on your brand promise at every interaction with the customer, from pre-sales to post, from the product to the receptionist, then you have an authentic experience. Chances are, it will be a great one too!
