CX Musketeers: The Next Generation CX Mission Impossible Teams

Research anticipates that by 2020, Consumer Experience (CX) will be the number one key differentiator between brands, while product quality, price and brand equity will fall behind in positions 2-4.

With the great focus now on building consumer experience, it is important for organizations to strategize this one correctly, as there is almost zero tolerance of failure.. Why is that? Simply because it takes one chance to blow up a great experience and in today’s era of social media, mistakes go crazily viral, reaching thousands of customers in almost no time.. So where do organizations start?

Three simple steps:

1. List touch points in details.
2. Hire musketeers.
3. Fire sales / Service teams!

While the third step might appear shocking to some people at the first instance, it could make great sense to those thinking about the facts mentioned below ..

Touchpoints = Chance / Risk Points

The first step for any organization is to actually learn how experience is formed … A series of touchpoints will help establish a moment (short memory block), and moments form an experience (whether consistent or inconsistent, it will be marked in the back of consumers minds as a total image of what they felt happened).

Why is this important then? Because your whole consumer experience strategy might be blown away by your call center agent, your valet parking service, or even your delivery man! It is therefore extremely important for organizations to start drawing their customers’ journey, mapping in details every single touchpoint (where customers will interact with their staff or even machines), as this will be the building block for establishing a proper consumer experience strategy.

The CX Musketeers: A must have!

If you learn that your biggest competitive edge in the future will not be innovation or brand name, but your level of consumer positive experience, will you deploy anything less than the best of the best to the front-line? Definitely not, so it is important then to define what makes an employee or a team member a CX Musketeer … Here are the top 5 important attributes:

1. A real Gentleman / Lady!
2. Someone with a solid belief of human relationships.
3. Natural problem solver.
4. Composed personality, super stress-proof.
5. “Do or Die” attitude.

What about technical knowledge? experience ? CV? …etc? …… Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval wrote a nice little book “The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness“, and some of the key quotes mentioned in their book were:

““It’s a lot easier to make your client, your boss, or your husband more receptive to your ideas if you say it with a smile.”

“The beauty of focusing on other people’s concerns is that it shifts your attention away from your own worries and anxieties. And it’s a lot cheaper than therapy!”

Do customers today need therapy? (actually do we all need therapy?)

Getting rid of Sales & Service agents!

Business research shows that almost 77% of customers will read product reviews before they actually buy them, and 81% of customers will conduct online research before they decide which product to buy .. So, do we need technical experts on the floor?

Let’s reflect a bit on today’s world, on a larger scale, then we drill down to business .. Who are customers today? Aren’t they all (in the majority) one of the following 3 types:

1. Stressed employees who work 10 hours on average a day to secure a living.
2. People who are searching for work and trying to manage budgets.
3. Financially capable individuals with high expectations on service levels.

Doesn’t the above constitute maybe 95% of the customers profiles? Have you ever thought that the current market is actually composed of “Stressed consumers fighting a stressful life buying from stressed employees who are managed by stressed leaders”? How true is this, especially in today’s market conditions?

So who will win the market battle and achieve business growth? Those who will be able to flip the equation and provide a relief to the massive number of stressful conditions in today’s life .. Someone who is able to make you, as a customer, relax and make a comfortable decision.

Last thing you need when you walk into a store, is a stressed sales person who tries to sell you something in order to achieve their target, or someone who tries to convince you of an idea .. we need therapists on every sales floor and nice people at every touchpoint to heal people pains .. That’s the truth of the matter today and in the coming years ..

Hire for attitudes!

Get rid of the old gang, especially those who claim experience in selling or servicing, without showing real solid ground CX beliefs …. Selling / technical skills can be replaced by modern technology and few weeks of training …. Hire those with Musketeer beliefs and they will take you fast forward …. Never look at how long or how good is the CV of a candidate, it means nothing in tomorrow’s competitive world, shred your CV short-listing process, meet candidates personally and short-list them based on behavioral performance…. Forget about celebrities and mass media when you are trying to build your brand, build it through people and your brand will grow bigger than ever, at a much economical cost ….

In today’s competitive and stressful world, people are all looking for those who can make them feel better, and it is those companies who will understand the equation early, who will then gain the advantage on the new competitive landscape ..

Written by:

Engagement Expert, International Speaker & Pragmatic researcher