In the world of customer experience, the term easy gets bandied about quite a bit. We all want seamless experiences, from finding the right products and services to using them once we’ve made the decision. Nevertheless, we’ve all found ourselves grappling with complexities beyond our expectations—and even beyond our abilities to handle—despite the promise of easy. This all-too-common frustration should make us all reflect carefully the products and services that we sell within our own businesses. From a business’s perspective, everything makes sense because we’re all around our own products every day, and so we’re naturally experts. But that’s rarely the case for our customers, who often have different expertise and expectations.
Ease Is an Illusion
Experts make their work look easy. Have you ever watched an ice carver turn a block of frozen water into a sculpture? Or watched a pianist riff on the keys to blend a bunch of disparate notes into a harmony? Or how about your favorite quarterback throw a tight spiral and hit a receiver on a crossing route with pressure in his face? All of these examples require enormous amounts of skill, but to the untrained eye, these experts make it look effortless. Even so, we all know deep down that those people don’t get to that level of proficiency without enormous amounts of training and practice, so we have to remember that the same applies to our own businesses as well. When we assume that our processes and products are universally easy, we set ourselves up for a communication breakdown. The lesson should be clear: what’s easy for one might be tough for another, and it’s crucial that we recognize the diversity and disparity in knowledge and background experience for our customers and avoid the trap of talking down to them.
See It from Their Point-of-View
To avoid that communication breakdown, we have to make use of effective and clear communication, making sure we avoid industry acronyms and jargon. No matter how straightforward our own internal processes may seem to us, we must make sure we anticipate misunderstandings and prevent our customers from feeling disconnected. This begins with putting ourselves into their shoes. However, you don’t want to talk to them like they’re completely ignorant and offend them through unintended infantilization. The challenge therefore lies in striking a balance between avoiding assumptions while not condescending. Instead of assuming a shared understanding, your employees must actively engage, ask questions, and communicate at the customer’s level. This requires some ability to pick up on social cues, like confusion and frustration, but when in doubt, employees must ask. This proactive approach will foster a deeper connection and ultimately trust.
Outside Perspectives
Self-scouting can be difficult. As your business navigates the intricate landscape of customer interactions, it will become more and more evident that an external set of eyes will provide you with valuable insights. To truly understand and, therefore, cater to diverse expectations, you should consider seeking an outsider’s evaluation of your business. Mystery-shopping companies are particularly well-suited to this task because they specialize in approaching products and services from a neutral standpoint by offering real-world feedback through the use of actual consumers. If you embrace this opportunity to identify your business’s blind spots, to challenge your assumptions, and to ultimately enhance your customer interactions, you will find that your quest for high-level customer satisfaction will produce positive results. After all, while easy may be a matter of perspective, how your employees interact with your customers is indeed measurable, quantifiable, and critical.
And we’re here to help. At The Brandt Group, we’ve aided hundreds of businesses like yours to achieve the absolute best customer experience possible, and in so doing, they have enhanced their profits and ensured years and years of continued success and growth. Now’s the time for your business to reap the same rewards. We won’t promise the process will easy, of course, but nothing worth your time ever is. Find out how today.
