How to Operationalize WOW Experiences with Eric D. Stone

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This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions and more:   

1. What is a ‘wow moment’ in customer interactions? 
2. How can organizations operationalize positive customer feedback? 
3. How can an organization create a workplace culture focused on providing an amazing customer experience? 
4. Why is it important for employees to have clear goals and expectations? 
5. How can employees’ personal and professional growth impact the overall customer service experience? 

Top Takeaways

• Creating a strong workplace culture is crucial for providing excellent customer service and experience. What is felt by the employees inside a company will be felt outside by the customers. That’s why empowering employees and focusing on customer satisfaction should be built into every part of the company’s culture. 

• It is impossible to go above and beyond in every interaction with a customer. However, simple gestures like writing a note or responding to a customer’s email quickly can create lasting impressions on customers. These WOW moments may be small, but they can become part of the culture when encouraged consistently throughout the organization. 

• Eric also shares the five key factors for employee engagement. 
  • Strong relationships: Connection matters. When employees have strong relationships with each other, they’re more likely to build great connections with customers. 
  • Clear expectations: When goals and expectations are clearly communicated, they create a consistent customer experience. 
  • The right tools: Employees must be equipped with tools and information to achieve the desired outcome. 
  • Opportunities for growth: How does the organization help employees grow personally and professionally?  
  • Recognition: Recognize and reward excellence. 
• While many organizations focus on mitigating negative feedback, it’s also important to celebrate positive interactions and find a way to operationalize them so that they become a part of the culture. 

• An important part of addressing customer complaints is understanding the employee’s viewpoint before making assumptions or taking corrective actions. This prevents employee frustration and promotes a supportive work environment where they feel valued and heard.   

• While the phrase “the customer is always right” is well-known, the customer is not always right, but they’re always the customer. Let them be wrong with dignity and respect. However, there are customers whom you can fire if they are abusive toward employees. 

• Did we live up to our promise? This is an important question because we make a commitment to our customers at the beginning of their journey with us. This commitment is the reason why they choose to do business with us instead of our competitors. This promise must be clear to our employees across the organization to ensure we deliver what our customers expect from us.  

• Plus, Eric D. Stone shares the story of Johnny the Bagger and how his WOW moments can be operationalized into the company culture. Tune in! 

Quotes:

“Be mindful of how you handle negative feedback. Track those moments, watch for patterns, and bring your team together before small issues become bigger problems.”  

“Customers can be unreasonable, unrealistic, and demanding, but you must always make them feel they are being treated fairly, with respect, and dignity.” 

“What are you doing to create a continuous learning cycle in your organization? Does your training align with your key initiatives, allow people to be at their best, and foster a show, observe, and shape mentality?” 

“Employees sometimes confuse effort with execution. They need to understand what promises we make to our customers and live up to them consistently. Our delivery needs to match our customers’ expectations.” 

About:

Eric D. Stone is the author of the award-winning book Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture. Before founding Clear Path Ventures, he had a successful twenty-six-year career at Enterprise Holdings.  

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.