The title seems a little “woo woo”. What does buying a set of tyres have anything to do with an experience? Read on and you will get the picture….
My own example of a customer experience was when buying a bed. I needed a new bedroom suite. Not rocket science really, I just wanted to find a decent product at good value for money and receive some great service. It was off to the local suppliers, which in this case there were about 4 dealers in the center to choose from. Price was a driver, look and feel was another. My visits to 3 of the 4 stores provided a great idea of what was available. I was buying something that day, no ifs or buts and was sure to tell the dealers this. I bargained a little and eventually settled with a company that was semi well known. The salesman had useful information for me, and helped in the pricing to make everyone happy. Deal done, what could go wrong really…..
Whilst sorting all the paperwork and giving delivery instructions, I noticed the sales man adding some additional charges we hadn’t spoke about. When I quizzed him about them, he was adamant they would be charged, and his whole demeanor changed. After some chatting, he dropped those charges off the bill, signed, sealed and to be delivered the next day. I went home, pulling apart the bedroom before the big delivery.
It was the afternoon of delivery day and I got a call from my wife. She told me, that the 2 delivery guys contracted by the furniture store had arrived, presumably after visiting the pub. They had a “VB” type of odor. In addition, she told me that the whole order was not there. For the next 30 minutes, I discussed the situation with the salesman over the phone. “Well, that item is out of stock, should be here in a month, the other items may be in next week…” At this point, my customer “experience” was definitely going downhill.
This whole saga carried on for around a month. Over that time, I had highlighted my concerns with the head honchos of the company, driven back twice to the store to swap or changeover items and had ongoing dealings with the salesman of the year. My customer experience was distressing. I had planned on outlaying a sum of money in return for good quality goods, and most of all I wanted to get good service. I am not even sure now if I got good quality with this purchase.
You see it’s like this. Every transaction we are involved with has the opportunity to become a good or bad experience. In this day and age, there is no excuse for a bad customer experience. Every salesperson or company need to realise that they are competing for your “experience”. If you’re laying out your hard earned casholla, you should expect good things to come from it.
I once heard a story where a friend of mine had a small car accident. No one hurt fortunately, but the car needed $2000 spent on it to get it back the pride and joy he drove daily. Now spending 2K on your car due to an accident can’t really be a joyful experience. Wrong! This friend of mine couldn’t have been happier! How? His misfortune was turned into a positive customer “experience” due the professional service he was provided from the smash repair business. They gave him a clean loan car, updated him 3 times a week on the progress of the repair – with photos, and on completion he received a small hamper of car care products!
Now don’t you think that took sting out of paying the bill?
As a consumer this is what we want, a good experience with some value included.
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