Editor's Forum: The CX Effect

BY SOLOMON DANIELS

“Wanna eat?” I said through the car’s hands-free system.

“Of course!” came the response in her typical musical tone. My mother-in-law loves a good meal.

So I pick her up and we do our usual place: Foxy’s in Glendale. It’s an allday joint that reminds you of a house you’d see if you hung out with Hansel and Gretel. Waiters and waitresses are dressed old-school with crisp white tops and black bottoms, and look like they grew up and went to school just to do this job.

As we sat at the bar with identical plates of carne asada in front of us, her telling me how she’s coping with her recent retirement and me telling her how to avoid elderly-targeted “Microsoft tech support” scams, I took a good look around.

Why do we always come back here? I mean, the food is good, but this is L.A. There’s good food everywhere. And then I knew.

Walking into Foxy’s is like taking a step into a world of their own creation. From the people to the décor and the service, you literally feel like you are somewhere else. You don’t hear personal conversations between staff members or see signs about making sure to count the register before ending your shift. Everything is focused on creating and maintaining the customer experience they want you to have.

I realized I place a value on that as a consumer, and I’m willing to pay for it. And based on the continual crowd of regulars, I’m not alone.

Disney is the shining jewel when it comes to delivering an extraordinary customer experience. Thousands of amusement parks have rides, but none of them transport you to another world like Disneyland. Foxy’s success with this same concept is proof that you don’t need to be big to do the same.

Customer experience has become so vital in competitive markets that it now has its own acronym: CX. It works as a selling tool for one reason: Selling has very little to do with money; every buyer has money. It has more to do with influencing a buyer to place a higher priority on what you’re offering. Controlling the experience gives you more control over that influencing process. It moves your business outside the dimension of competitors and introduces a new value system that goes beyond product price. Can you buy into this? Or do you believe your customers only value price and can’t afford your better products? Take a look outside and see what your customer is driving. Unless it’s a mountain bike, it’s a purchase that represents several thousands of dollars and lots of hard work. Another business created and delivered an experience that influenced them to buy better. If someone else can create that experience for them, so can you.

How do you move your store from ordinary to extraordinary? It starts with a philosophy. For most of us, we want to create “World of Enhancement Possibilities Land” (anyplace that ends with “land” is cool). We want to remove preset notions for “this brand at this price” and start them thinking about all the ways their drive can be better. Fulfillment of that philosophy starts in the parking lot. The storefront should stand out by first being clean, then promise a new experience inside by being vibrant and inviting. The more unique we can make this first impression, the better.

Inside, the showroom needs to live up to its name: show. Whether you use POP, kiosk displays, a demo car, sound board or combination, customers should be able to walk a tastefully-designed path through your store to experience audio, security, safety, convenience, video, customization and integration. Signage should focus on consumer benefit, using images of happy people. Any signage meant for staff should be moved to staffonly locations.

Next: your people. Uniforms are essential to an immersive customer experience. Staff are like actors. They play a role in representing the store, not themselves—one in which they are neat, polite, informative, personable, helpful and experienced. Uniforms reinforce this role and create a visual of consistency. In addition, personal interaction should take place outside the customer’s sight and sound range. Everything customers hear and see should be related to the task of representing the business.

For our customers, interaction needs to start with something we want to show them, rather than asking what they want us to show them. We can’t control the experience if the customer has the lead. Introduce a just-received product, offer a quick tour, show off a recently completed installation. The proactive approach transfers control of the experience from them to you.

Finally, our work needs to deliver. Just like Foxy’s has great food and The Magic Kingdom has great rides, customers should be able to recount their extraordinary experience every time they use what we installed. For some reason, they will want to come back. They might not know why, but you will.