Customer Experience Matters - Again

During a recent breakfast meeting with my friend, Abdulahi Ahmed, we spent talking about the taste of the Cappuccino, which this time was made with Cadamine. Abdulahi felt that taste of the Cappuccino was unusual, It tasted like the espresso to milk ratio was imbalanced, not to mention the delicate addition of Cadamine.

Experts on this advise that It is essential that you establish how to make the perfect espresso before moving on to other drinks such as cappuccino, as this is the base of the whole drink. If your espresso is bad it doesn’t matter how well you froth or pour your milk, it will never make a good cappuccino.

At about the same time the senior manager in charge came and quickly ordered another cup for our Abdulahi. And this time, the Barrister got the proportions right.

Now, you may wonder why the fuss over a cup of Cappuccino, after all its just coffee and milk right?. Wrong. The quality of that Cappuccino could be the difference between a satisfied or dissatisfied customer. What we now know is that the attention we pay to the customer experience – from check in to check out is the single most important predictor of customer loyalty, which in turn drives profitable growth. And when customers are loyal they become an extension of your marketing department.

And that is why people go to great lengths to get the customer experience right. Take for example, the experience of the late Joel Kuztman, former Editor of the Harvard Business Review as well as Strategy and Business Magazines. He was invited by his clients to visit an Italian restaurant in Kyoto, Japan. Joel Kuztman tells the story in his latest book, ‘’Common Purpose – How Great Leaders Get the Organization to Achieve the Extraordinary’’, “Once a year, the owner of this restaurant closes his doors for ten days and takes all of his employees on a trip to Italy. They go to a different region each year. The waiters go, the chefs go, even the dishwashers go. As they travel the country, they of course pay attention to the food. But they also pay attention to the ambiance, to the way the plates are prepared, to the service, and to the way each different food is served. They go to Italy for the experience, and when they return, they recreate that experience in this restaurant.”

“Isn’t that quite expensive?” Joel Kurtzman asked, “Yes,” his host replied. “But when the owner and the restaurant staff return, everyone in town is excited about what they learned and about the new dishes they will soon be serving. Business always picks up,” Kurtzman's host noted. Additionally,  these visits to Italy rebuild the restaurant’s esprit de corps. Everyone who works there feels special — as if they are on a mission on behalf of their clients to discover what will delight them. ''The restaurant’s owner is not a wealthy man. Closing his doors for almost two weeks comes at a price. But he decided when he opened his restaurant that he wanted it to be the best and most authentic Italian restaurant in Kyoto — perhaps in all of Japan. He wanted his restaurant to be authentic not just with regard to cuisine, but also with regard to the experience he provided to his guests. As a leader, it was explained to me, the owner did not really care that his restaurant cost more to run than other restaurants that got their recipes from books. He knew that by making a regular pilgrimage to Italy, he was creating a mystique for his endeavour and that customers would pay more for the experience of tasting something novel and good.’’

Wow now that is something – maybe that is the point Abdulahi made by highlighting the difference in taste between the two cups of Cappuccino. Customers who go to a coffee shop want more that the Coffee, if it was just coffee, we will brew in our offices and add milk, and we will be done. But when we go to the local coffee shop, we expect everything about the Cappuccino or meal to be perfect – in taste and in experience.

We expect knowledgeable waiters and waitresses, who know the menu and wine pairings. We expect prompt, courteous and accurate service. Not the waiter who spends ten minutes taking and reciting the order, only to serve the Spanish omelette with yoke instead of egg whites.

To quote Mike Maddock , Forbes Magazine blogger on innovation and problem solving, ‘’Customer experience experts understand that a “love affair” with your consumers is the ultimate brand advantage because in life and business, love conquers all.’’