Have you ever wondered what it's like to be one of your customers, have you ever tried to buy from you? Have you ever experienced the product or service you sell? If not, why not?
We have all heard of the mystery shopper, well what about the mystery experience? Here at CXY we have managed to transform many organisations through our mystery experience service.
Consider this, it’s a very difficult time in your life and you need a lawyer. You ask around your family and friends and gain a recommendation. They are not cheap they say but they are really good. You take a deep breath and pick up the phone. Eventually your call is answered, and you ask to speak with the lawyer recommended. You are told they are not in and can you please call back. You ask if you can leave a message as its quite urgent. Well it is for you, but it’s clearly not for them. You are simply another client in a difficult situation, join the queue, there are lots of you. Days go by and no call, you ring again to be told the same thing. Four calls later you finally get hold of someone who can at least arrange an appointment for you.
It’s the morning of your appointment, you haven’t slept because of your situation and the worry this is causing compounded by the fact that you are about to go and see your lawyer. You are about to set the wheels in motion on something that has possibly been the hardest decision of your life – worse still, something you have almost been backed into a corner to do and not what you really wanted at all. Looking and feeling terrible, you rummage around trying to find something semi respectable to wear. Housework hasn’t exactly been the priority recently, nothing is ironed, you are already running late, your head is spinning and you are struggling to focus on anything.
Looking a little dishevelled you drive to your appointment barely remembering the journey. You find the building, the next challenge is parking, you’re already late, it’s raining and you now have to park miles away.
You finally arrive into the building, go up the stairs and to the reception area. You’re out of breath, now soaking wet, and looking far from your best. The reception area is dark and austere, with a chesterfield and an antique table. The receptionist is immaculately dressed, busy, hardly looks you in the eye never mind giving you a warm greeting. You’re told to sit and wait, with nothing to read other than industry magazines. Cold, wet, nervous, emotional, feeling slightly nauseous, you’re not even offered a cup of tea. It feels like hours until your lawyer’s secretary arrives to take you to his office. You’re the only person sat in reception, yet they call out your name like a doctor’s waiting room. You obediently stand feeling like you are being summoned to see the headmaster and follow the secretary in silence along the corridors to your lawyer’s office. Sat behind a large solid oak desk in a suit, your lawyer peers up. “Yes, how can I help?” Every bit of you wants to turn on your heels and run but you stand your ground and nervously explain why you are here. Actually, what you really wanted to say was I need a hug!
Sadly, we witness and experience so many situations like this where businesses are oblivious to how their customers are feeling and certainly not responding to them in the right way. It’s so easy to get stuck into the job at hand and not consider all the emotional touch points your customers have with you and the roller coaster they personally are on.
All the customer surveys in the world, NPS scores and so on would never highlight the emotions your customers are having to contend with and sometimes at times when they are dealing with you. Experiencing your business as your customer is probably one of the most powerful things you can do. Now of course we recognise that’s not very practical, and that you may be a little blinkered, however if you would like to learn more and really see your business through the eyes of your customer please let us know. We would be delighted to help you as we have done so many other businesses over the years.
