If we are going to look at your customers visit to your
establishment in movie terms, then maybe we should take a deeper look into
movies in general, and see if there’s anything else we can learn from this
medium.
There is a famous quote in Hollywood by legendary filmmaker
Howard Hawks who said that a great movie is comprised of “three good scenes
and no bad ones.” If your customers visit
is a film, and we change the term “scene” to “moment”, we now have a tangible
roadmap that will ultimately lead to a great Customer Experience.
Three Good Moments
It’s kind of easy to imagine movie moments during a Guest’s
stay in a hotel; we’ve all seen Pretty Woman. Hotels lobbies are beautifully
designed like film sets, and there’s plenty of time during their stay to
create 3 good moments, but I’m going to show you how to do this, regardless of
your place of business, or how long your customer is there.
Let’s say that you run a cheap jewelry store in the mall,
and Mary comes in and buys a pair of earrings. (I guess I should’ve prefaced
that last part with SPOILER ALERT. Yes, Mary buys the earrings).
Mary’s going out tonight and she’s looking for a specific
pair of earrings to wear. She’ll probably only be in your store for a total of
five minutes. I hear your question, “How could we possibly have time to create
three good moments in this scenario?” Let me show you.
1) Connection – When Mary met Sally
Mary enters your store, and is greeted warmly by your best
sales associate, Sally, who initiates light banter. They start talking about,
well… anything but jewelry. Through this brief conversation Mary discovers that
Sally has similar interests, or a good sense of humor, or a shared concern
about frizzy hair with regard to the humidity. The point is, they are talking about stuff that they have in common.
This moment is called a connection, and it happens when Mary
begins to feel that Sally is more then just a salesperson; she’s an actual
person. It doesn’t need to take long at all. In fact, I’ve seen it happen in 3
seconds over a sports jersey. Actually connecting with someone is a really good
moment, because it doesn’t happen all that often.
2) Listen – There’s Something About Mary
Mary tells her new friend Sally, that she’s looking for a
pair of earrings. Sally doesn’t start showing Mary anything at this point
because she’s not trying to sell Marry a pair of earrings. Sally’s job is to
try to solve Mary’s problem, and at this point she doesn’t have enough
information yet.
Sally instead asks some follow-up questions in order to
really understand what Mary’s got in mind. She lets Mary explain about the
event she’s going to, the color of dress she’s looking to coordinate with, what
her date will be wearing, and what ever else Mary is concerned about.
Once Sally feels
that she understands what Mary’s looking for, she takes Mary to the area of the
store that has earrings that match the criteria that Mary has laid out. Sally
shows her a few choices, and then leads Mary through the narrowing process
based on all the information Mary has given her.
When is the last time someone listened to you, and truly got
what you were talking about? That’s a good moment!
3) Good Value – My Fair Lady
Perceived value is sometimes a tough thing to gauge, but
Mary walked into this particular store because she anticipated that they would
have earrings in a specific price range. If the price is WAY out of line with her preconceived notion, this would not be a good moment. But for this
example…
Once Mary has selected the “right” set of earrings, she
flips over the card that they’re attached to, and she notices that the price
seems fair.
Sally then takes Mary to the register, rings her up and hands
her a small bag with her purchase inside. Mary takes the bag and as she exits
the store, she reflects back on her experience…
No she doesn’t. If everything happened like I’ve said, she’s
checked earrings off her list, and she’s on to the next thing.
Wait, what?!?
We did all this work and she isn’t even going to think about
it? That’s right, if everything goes right, there’s no need for Mary to keep
this experience in the front of her mind. The only time she'll ever need to
think about her experience at your jewelry store is if she’s reminded about it:
for example when someone comments on her earrings and asks where she got them.
Service Superheroes are working for that moment, because nothing will ever be as persuasive
as Mary telling a friend about her experience at your store. Those three good
moments will be recalled fondly, and her friend will be able to tell from her
facial expressions, the tone of her voice, and the light in her eyes, that
she’s speaking the truth.
Tune in next week for more adventures from a Service
Superhero, where we’ll look at the other side of Howard Hawks quote and
discover the 4 steps that will keep “Bad Moments” from happening.
Remember, I can transfer my abilities, or Superpowers, to
anyone who truly wants them. Let me know if you'd like to set up a training
seminar for your service team, so you can begin to deliver "Superhero
Service" to each and every one of your customers.
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