{"id":1417,"date":"2009-09-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bp.rajeshkurikayar.co.uk\/?page_id=1417"},"modified":"2019-11-26T07:17:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T12:17:45","slug":"dare-i-say-it-customers-are-not-transactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/dare-i-say-it-customers-are-not-transactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Dare I Say It? Customers are not Transactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Scene<\/strong>
\nThink through your last purchase, the typical check out experience. You put your purchases on the counter. Your purchases are scanned. You swipe your credit or debit card while your purchases are bagged. The cashier hands you the receipt. In most cases, this transaction is handled efficiently and quickly.<\/p>\n

But Something Is Missing <\/strong>
\nIn the case of this common scene, if the company measures employee performance on speed and economy of interaction, then most likely the company\u2019s metrics are met and the cashier is perceived as performing their job well. However, the customer and the company are losing out.<\/p>\n

Interacting with customers,<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 in this common purchasing scenario:
\n\u2022If done well, can provide an experience around products and services, and can
\n\u2022Provide a wealth of information about the customer (their needs, wishes, and wants).<\/p>\n

Does That Purchase Come with a Smile, Eye Contact, Anything?<\/strong>
\nThe usual response to adding customer interaction to the purchase transaction is that it will cost money or reduce efficiency. And our reply is: how much does it cost to have an employee speak with your customer or at very least give them a smile and thank them for their business?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stay with the scene described above and put it in the context of a regular trip to the grocery store. \u201cGrocery retailers, focused on lowering costs and increasing convenience, do little to reduce the drudgery<\/strong> associated with the weekly food shopping. Some companies have discovered the competitive advantage of injecting fun<\/strong> into traditionally neutral consumer environments<\/strong>.\u201d Source: \u201cMaking Routine Customer Experiences Fun\u201d by Ivor Morgan and Jay Reno, Mt Sloan Management Review.<\/p>\n

What Do We Mean By Transactional?<\/strong>
\nA \u201ctraditionally neutral consumer experience\u201d can be a non-experience <\/strong>in that it is only about a point-in-time process versus an interaction intended to establish an on-going relationship. Scanning, bagging, and taking payment is considered a transaction. A call to a customer service number regarding a problem is termed a transaction. Companies look at these transactions as disconnected, siloed, and isolated actions with customers. Companies that excel in moving past the transactional level with their customers deliberately gather, absorb and utilize customer preferences and feedback. They apply that knowledge in designing and delivering a customer-personalized interaction or experience that builds an on-going relationship.<\/p>\n

Ritz Carlton is a prime example of a company that learns about its customers through interaction, and careful observation and application of that knowledge. Check in once and your preferences for pillow type, for example, are noted. Check in another time and your favorite type of pillow is miraculously on the bed in your room. In addition, the front desk staff recognizes and acknowledges you as a valued \u201cguest\u201d. There\u2019s nothing like being known by name and thanked for your patronage.<\/p>\n

Customer Service Champs List<\/strong><\/p>\n

You may be saying, well that\u2019s fine for an upscale hotelier. Well, let\u2019s get back to our example of shopping for groceries. Trader Joe\u2019s has built an absolutely devoted customer base by taking what is normally a dull chore and making it a fun experience<\/strong>. How do they do it? It is based on the simple fact that they hire people who want to, and are good at, interacting with customers. Your purchase \u201ctransaction\u201d is altered to a lively (yet still efficient) and engaging conversation about the products you\u2019re purchasing, perhaps giving you a menu suggestion, and asking what else you might be looking for that they could carry in future.<\/p>\n

BusinessWeek\u2019s second annual ranking of Customer Service Champs concludes companies who make the list \u201cknow how to keep employees happy, make tech investments that help rather than hinder consumers, and elevate leaders who make service their mantra.\u201d Source: BusinessWeek Special Report, March 3, 2008.<\/p>\n

Trader Joe\u2019s ranks an admirable number 5 on the BusinessWeek Customer Service Champs list. \u201cCEO Dan Bain pokes fun at supermarkets that have flat-screen TVs at checkouts. His customers can entertain themselves by \u2018actually talking\u2019 to employees.\u201d This not only meets customers\u2019 expectations of developing a relationship with the company and its employees. Trader Joe\u2019s has evolved and profited by learning about, and catering to, their customer\u2019s preferences. Building devoted, raving fans as it does so.<\/p>\n

To give you some food for thought: most commonly we see company metrics that are so inwardly-focused that the customer is completely left out of any company priorities. Even in the best companies, metrics can continually hold the customer at the transactional level.<\/p>\n

Sue Morgan
\nSenior Consultant for Beyond Philosophy<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Sue Morgan | Published: September 17, 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Steven Walden<\/strong>\u00a0is VP Consulting and Thought-Leadership for Beyond Philosophy. Steven has 17 years\u00a0Strategy Consultancy<\/a>\u00a0experience directing and designing strategies for major B2C & B2B firms. At Beyond Philosophy, the Global\u00a0Customer Experience Consultancy<\/a>, he is a Thought Leader and Innovator, directing engagements to assist leading firms to transform through Customer Experience<\/a>. A world-leader in\u00a0emotional experience<\/a>\u00a0his skills lie in innovation, thought-leadership, strategy consultancy and Qual\/ Quant research. He is a regular speaker at conferences, blog writer, CE Trainer and international author.
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Qaalfa<\/span>\u00a0Dibeehi<\/a>\u00a0is Chief Operating and Consulting Officer\u00a0at<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0Beyond Philosophy<\/a>\u00a0one of the world\u2019s first organizations devoted to\u00a0customer experience<\/a>.\u00a0Qaalfa<\/span>\u00a0is an international co-author of Customer Experience: Future Trends and Insights. Beyond Philosophy provide consulting,\u00a0specialised<\/span>\u00a0research & training from offices in Atlanta, Georgia and London, England.
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The Scene Think through your last purchase, the typical check out experience. You put your purchases on the counter. Your purchases are scanned. You swipe your credit or debit card while your purchases are bagged. The cashier hands you the receipt. In most cases, this transaction is handled efficiently and quickly. But Something Is Missing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-customer-experience-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}