Picture a plain scoop of vanilla ice cream with no topping. It’s okay, but it isn’t a favorite for most people. Now, imagine your favorite ice cream. Maybe it’s a sundae with fudge and bananas and sprinkles. A more favorable option when offered ice cream would be your favorite one, even if it may be plain vanilla.
Vanilla ice cream is regular customer service. No one is too opposed to it, but no one is excited. Your favorite ice cream in the world is the customer experience when given time and thought. When we focus on the customer experience, everything within the company improves for the customer, not just the customer service team. Every decision made is made with the customer in mind—management work to support employees who prioritize their support of the customers.
Some deliberate intention and effort are required, but turning your plain scoop into a sundae is worth it. It is not complex and unattainable, but it does need that everyone buys in, be trained, and evaluated on their ability to satisfy the customer. The great companies, compared to their comparative competitors, all likely have superior customer service.
Organizations default to the challenge of creating a customer experience and consistently executing, reviewing, adapting, and evaluating it as too complicated. Possibly a question to ask oneself is, what would the organization look like if you had more customers, or what if you had none at all? Customer experience is essential to keep your business alive, and ice cream stores do not flourish just by selling vanilla.
