I knew it was going to be a long, winding road when the salesperson at the dealership called me to ask if I was trying to sell him something. Huh? I’m trying to buy a car. It was clear to me at that moment, and for the four months that followed, that this was going to be a different buying experience. I also realized that I needed to keep a journal about my experience so that I can apply the lessons to my customers. I won’t bore you with all the gnarly details, but I will briefly share some of the lessons I learned about #customerexperience that apply to all of us as we offer products and services to businesses and individuals.

Customer Experience – My Definition

There is probably no shortage of definitions on the web for the phrase “Customer Experience”. I did not look any of them up. Most of us don’t have to either. It’s like being in love. You know it when it’s happening and require no dictionary.

I will give you my definition: “Every interaction in the buying process makes me feel loved, respected and cared for because the seller understands my journey and wants this to be the absolute best experience I have ever had.” I should feel like the process was so well designed that they really cared about my happiness and take pride in creating a raving fan. The experience should be crafted and finely tuned, with craftsman-like pride. It is meant to be remarkable and to produce joy.

It’s Not about the Car

This post is not about the #MustangMachE, its manufacturer #Ford or the dealership (who will remain anonymous). It’s about how I feel right now after plunking down real money. Money that I worked hard to earn. It’s about about how the combination of product, people and process made me feel throughout the buying process. Ironically, the car itself is substantially better than the experience and that is my first lesson.

Lesson #1 – Great Products, Services and Solutions are Table Stakes

Nobody cares if your product, service or solution is a technical marvel, best in class or an innovative game-changer. That’s the price of admission. Let’s face it, the market is crowded and competitive. If you don’t come with you’re A-game, you might as well stay in bed. As it turns out, my Mustang is a shamefully amazing product. Period. However, this experience has taught me that great products, services and solutions are not enough. They can only hope to deliver half of the joy. You need people and process to deliver the rest.

Lesson #2 – People and Process are as Important as Product

My buying experience was a series of disconnected, fumbled handoffs between uninformed people and uncaring systems – an unchoreographed ballet of the absurd. Ford’s systems proclaimed one thing, the dealer said another and what actually happened was something different. I kept asking myself, “Who sells stuff like this?” and “Where am I in the process?” “How do I know for sure what is the truth about things like schedule and delivery?” For the most part I was left guessing. It was frustrating and stole my joy. I was left asking myself, “How good could the product be if their people, processes and systems are so disconnected?”

Ask yourself:  Do your front-line people have all the information and resources they need? Do processes and systems consistently engage and inform your customers? Does your customer understand the map their buying journey and where they are in it? Is this journey designed to be “Good Enough” or “BEST.EXPERIENCE.EVER”? What emotions am I intentionally or unintentionally creating in my customer during this process?

Lesson #3 – The Buying Journey is the Time to Build Joy

I know that I have used the word “Joy” a bunch in this post. It is intentional. What are we doing here? Are we actively seeking mediocrity? I want my customers to spend their journey excited and suspended in a state of delight when they buy from me. They should feel taken care of. They are now friends of the family and should feel like they are part of our team. They should feel like we designed the experience personally for them.

For my Mustang, I put a $500 deposit down on a vanilla Ford website that provided pretty pictures, great fonts and very little information. It left me feeling that I was just given the opportunity to pay and several hundred dollars to give up my personal information for the opportunity to buy something. A transaction, but no joy. I just bought a car! Shouldn’t there be a bit more to it? Some confetti, a marching band maybe even a celebratory email to build my excitement? No.

I put my deposit down in March. What an incredible opportunity for Ford to get me design, create and accelerate my excitement, curiosity and anticipation for the car. Perhaps there could have been a weekly email – “Hey Mike, you are gonna love this cool One-Pedal driving feature, here’s a quick video on it… or “Here’s what to expect, when you pick up the car at the dealership…”.  It was an amazing lost opportunity to build anticipation, loyalty and yes… joy.

What are you doing after a customer places an order? How are you building your brand while they are waiting for delivery? How are you using the journey to build anticipation, excitement and transparency along the way? Are you designing it at all?

Lesson #4 – Customer Experience is about Listening

During my buying journey, when I knew things were going badly, I thought I would reach out. Of course, I looked to LinkedIn and thought I would reach out to Elena Ford, the Chief Customer Experience Officer at Ford. I was sure that she would want to hear about my experience and opportunities to help future buyers benefit from my tough road. I jumped on LinkedIn’s Sale Navigator to send her a message and got this message:

“Sorry, you can’t send a reply because the recipient has disabled all communications”

Ouch! That hurt. However, it beautifully encapsulated my experience and another key lesson. If you care, you have to be listen. You must create multiple means for quick feedback loops.

How are you inviting customer feedback? How easy is it for customers to contact you? Do you really want to hear the complaints? Are you willing to listen with an ear to improve the next customer’s journey?

Unfortunately, there is much more in my Form Mustang Customer Experience journal. Perhaps more lessons are yet to unfold for future posts.

I welcome your feedback on your Customer Experience with BRYJ, our solutions or this post.  Please feel free to contact me via LinkedIn, Twitter or email.  Thanks for reading.

#CustomerExperience #Ford #MustangMache #ElectricVehicles #Joy