Here Comes the Customer Express

It may not be an Amtrak Experience, but how you recover from the last three years in terms of addressing your customers will be critical. They will no longer be herded, dumbed-down, cowed or curtailed. They have learned, just as we have (?), and they are in the driver’s seat. So, for our Marketing and Operations strategies, we must stop, look and listen, if we want to spend those budgeted monies smartly and optimize the Customer Experience.

Well, we have been stopped for several years now, really just trying to survive. And, we have probably looked around us, seeing quite a changed, traumatized marketplace – shops shuttered, chains in default, hotels devalued, restaurants closed – the Retail Industry beaten up. We have shaken off the dread. But, have we listened? Probably not as well as we could have. As we retrenched earlier, we also deferred our training and development efforts, dismissed any further emphasis on Quality Assurance, and curtailed any enhancements to our Customer Feedback vehicles – we not only stayed still, we regressed. It is time to listen again.

It will not be Business as Usual, for your Customer has changed, and you must adapt to that new profile and expectations. Of course, you will gradually revisit your standards (and upgrade, hopefully) and reengage your staff through enculturation processes (they are beaten up, too). But, are you ready to tap into that Voice of the Customer? That is your challenge, which will dictate your performance and success. Prepare to listen!

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