Expectations (missed and misunderstood), communication and lack of sleep created a rough go of things.  We figured out what the problem was and fixed it, no worries there, but it reminded me about how critical it is to understand expectations well and thoroughly at the outset of a project.  All the key stakeholders need to have 1:1 interviews by the project leader.  It’s time consuming but critical.  Understanding what they need and want out of the project and what they think the output will be like are so important.  Getting a sense for their level of engagement and support will come out of these interviews as well.

Often we are eager to “get down to work” but this is a big part of the project work as well and if left undone, I think it can cause the whole project to fail or at the least cause it to miss the mark of true success.  What do you think?  Do you encounter this in your work (or personal life) as well?

One – it’s a pleasure to see how the people at the park (the heart of the Disney customer experience) respond when they see someone with the Happy Birthday button.  They could simply wish you a Happy Birthday but they take care to use your name as well.  It’s a delight, just as they intend.  And I equally appreciate that this is not an easy thing for them to do, day after day.

Two – I came out of a restroom in the park and found a little bird that seemed to be having a problem.  It was huddled against the wall and kept stretching its wings.  I kept watching the bird for a couple of minutes, trying to decide if it was okay.  Close by were two cast members who noticed my concern about the bird.  They assured me that they were there to watch over the bird until the staff vet got there to check the bird out.  That was impressive, even for Disney.  Caring for the birds that also enjoy the park is special and as an animal lover, I appreciate that even more.

Three – it’s construction time at Disney.  Main Street is getting some love, the under the sea stuff is going up, the new entrance to California Adventure is under way and Tron is under development, to name a few.  But even during all this construction, Disney takes care to ensure that you are looking at something interesting.

That is attention to detail along the entire customer journey.  Fascinating.  That dedication and focus is what makes them great at what they do.  I want the same thing for my program.  How about you?  What great customer experience’s do you want to share?

One of the things I’m obsessing about lately is what comes next.  I love dreaming big, gaining traction, getting engagement and building something great with others.  It’s part of my passion and the thing that gets me going each day. 

Here I am – I have a great team and we are rounding out the foundation laying phase for our Customer Insights program.  Phase two is coming and the design is starting to take shape.  I’m at the interviewing stakeholders stage once again and ready to geek out on ideas and concepts so we can shape that into a next level roadmap.

So forgive me for my distraction, my dreamy eyed distance stare and my lack of posting.  I think that I’m going to share more of what’s going on in my head this year rather than what I have learned put into practice.  Some of it might be more about growing me than about customer experience specifics.  I hope you are along for the ride and I can learn about you too.

So my side note of the moment – why do I get stuck inside my own head sometimes and why do I let it lead me astray?  Here’s the thing – I’m on a journey to become more healthy, sustainably healthy.  Not a diet, not a workout now and drop it later but real change.  As a result, I want to feel better, more energized, lose some weight, be stronger and set a good example of a healthy lifestyle for my daughter.  Be the change I wish to see in the world (and in her).  Thank you, Ghandi. 

I’ve made progress (lost 12 inches, given up fast food and soda, very limited food in that comes from boxes or cans – start fresh, dropped a size and working out on a very regular basis).  Turns out that I am loving the change but somehow, I’m still not happy enough with my progress.  Crazy right?  I think it is the evil scale in the corner of my bathroom.  It haunts me with it’s mocking digital readout that states that for all the change, I still have only managed seven pounds. 

I’d like to do the sane thing and chuck the scale, truly I would.  But, I am number kind of gal and while the measurements are great, some part of me still thinks the scale is a key metric I can’t do away with.  So, sad to say but it is not the scale, it is me, standing in my way in my head.  I can’t revel in how much good I’ve done so far because all I can see is what I haven’t done.  Thoughts? Comments?  Stories?  Cheery support?  Let me know what you think.  And thanks for joining me on my Side Note!

Let’s start with Customer Satisfaction vs. Customer Loyalty (including NPS) – what are you going to use it for? 

• Customer satisfaction is all about us – the company/product/service/employees – how did we do? 
• Customer loyalty is all about your customers and their behavior – what stories will they tell about you?  What will they say when someone asks them what they think about a company/product/service?

Picking one or the other (or using both) starts with knowing how you will use the data once you get it. 

• Customer satisfaction – great for repeatable events (like customer support or field service) that need a customer based metric on the scorecard and to drive repeatable excellence in the customer experience. 
• Customer loyalty – great for determining what stories customer’s are telling about you.  Good at showing (or even predicting) customer lifetime value.  Excellent source of customer feedback for product or brand improvement suggestions.

Once you’ve decided how you want customer feedback to apply to your business, it becomes easier to answer questions like “how often do I ask?” and “what method do I use to get the customer’s feedback?” or even “at what level do I ask the question (brand/product/service)?”  **We’ll get to these questions in my next post in this series.**

I’m big on actionable information.  I like to know what business questions customer feedback will answer or what business problems customer feedback will resolve.  It helps me find the right focus for applying customer metrics.  My program team is service oriented – we are here to help our business partners across the company and improve the customer experience at the same time.  This is important because it is feedback from the customers and my business partners that help fuel how I design a program.

These are my thoughts.  What do you think?  Share your experience with me.

Here are the areas we will cover together in the next couple of weeks:

• Strategy:
  • Appetite for risk
  • Customer focus
  • Embracing innovation
• People:
  • Executive buy-in
  • Employee engagement
  • Company culture
• Metrics:
  • Satisfaction and loyalty
  • Customer retention
  • Customer lifetime value

I look forward to hearing what you think as we go through these topics.

I recently finished Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard and I found the stories fascinating.  Change is a big part of what a customer experience professional does – some would argue that this is all we do – so that is why I picked it up to begin with.

It’s a good read, not full of new concepts from my perspective but the examples were definitely memorable.  I like the reminder to “look for the bright spots” and find what is working well, so you can replicate that. 

And what about finding the right lever to drive the change in others?  Sometimes we are in such a hurry to get to the end goal of the change, we don’t always realize that driving straight ahead gives you the wrong results.  So keep that lateral thinking in mind when designing the solution and the change adoption plan.

At it’s heart, the book felt like a reminder that change isn’t all about the logical choice, that emotion plays a part and you have to consider both when driving change. 

I wish I had this book years ago, before I learned most of this the hard way

The last step is the hardest for me – getting in shape and losing the weight.  Here’s we head back to the patience thing.  See, when I have worked out in the past, I’ve often either gained or stayed the same in the weight category.  So I quit.  Wow, that is uglier in print than in my head. 

I made a commitment to myself that this time, I won’t quit.  I will stay the course.  So, three weeks ago, I chose a Christmas present for myself.  45 pounds in 31 weeks.  45 pounds will put me at my ideal weight.  It’s a big goal and the timeline a bit aggressive but it’s better to challenge myself on this. 

No matter the results, I’m staying at it until the end of 31 weeks.  

I’m up to an hour of cardio and strength training six days a week.  I’m working my way up to 90 minutes per day.  So here I am at week three – not much in the way of weight loss so far (3 pounds) but I have lost some inches.  Frustrating but some progress is better than nothing, right?  Patience, I remind myself.   But I wish I were better at this whole patience thing.  Any words of advice for me?

This concept… to me, it’s more than just delivering information when asked.  It’s understanding when key stakeholders meet, what they discuss when they meet and what information they don’t think to ask for outside of meetings.  This forms a rhythm when you map it whole.

By doing this, we integrate our customers into the discussions and decisions of the business.  It’s rewarding to see how this can lead to a customer-centric business model.  How much do you understand of the rhythm of your business?

I think this is the reason why so many companies don’t make the effort to do it.  Because it’s hard to quantify up front.  Because some people have that little voice sing-songing “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, never realizing that we might not think it is broken, but our customers might.

Having done these types of projects before, I know they can have tremendous positive impact (increase revenue, improve cusotmer loyalty, even attract more customers).  But the patience and willingness to invest (time, resources and money) for the currently unquantifiable gain, that’s hard to find.  What do you think holds companies back from doing these types of projects?