There’s lots of talk lately about the “consumer experience”—about making that experience part of a brand’s promise to the customer. We cannot ever forget how inextricably linked that experience is to, well, the HUMAN element. All too often it is easiest to hide behind technology or say we are too “busy” to be friendly and helpful. In our world of frazzled, hurried, increasingly distracted folks, we need to bring back humanity. Increasingly, the brands that are able to do so are the ones that have a competitive advantage.
At the “Digital Branding Analytics Miami 2019 Conference” on May 11, 2019, author and speaker Evan Carroll spoke about the customer connection. He gave an astonishing example: one evening, upon spilling water on his laptop, he ran to the nearest Apple store and pled for help. Low and behold, the store was nearing its closing time. The first two employees to whom he spoke informed him that there were no available appointments!
These employees were ignoring the fact that this was a genuine person in front of them who needed help. Not seeing it from the customer’s perspective of utter urgency, they were unable to process this fact. As Evan said, “they were there to follow the process.” Thankfully a third employee picked up on this and truly wanted to help. No appointment needed!
Surprising, right? Apple is known as one of the best, hands down. But those first two employees were unable to reach that level of excellence in humanity. The “best” fell away here.
Food for thought.
#DBAmiami
Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAQPN-ZOx24&feature=youtu.be