Defining Moments, Creating Your Own Customer Service Course, Part 3

This is part 3 of a series of posts about building a customer service course. In our last post, I blogged about the business case. In the course we built we then transitioned from the business case to identifying exactly what our constituents’ expectations might be.

We separated these needs into two categories: practical needs which are the specific product or service the customer is looking for, and personal needs, which is the customer’s need to be respected, valued, and allowed to participate in the decision-making process.

Next we discussed creating defining moments, the one or two points during the interaction when the customer may go, “Aha!” or “Wow!”

Even if you’re not building a course, think of ways you can create discussions with your employees around the creation of defining moments. For example, recently I went to a restaurant with six other friends and family members. The defining moment came when I was walking out of the restaurant and realized that I had enjoyed food better than I expected, prompt and courteous service, reasonable prices, and good conversation. I realized that I wanted to come back.

A defining moment can also be negative. Let’s take the same situation above. What if the food had arrived late or cold? The wait staff surly?

For a restaurateur, a defining moment might include the following components:

• Ambience
• Time it takes to get a table
• Food quality, selection, presentation
• Length of time it takes to deliver the food
• Wait and host staff courtesy, follow up after food has been delivered
• Price and delivering the bill in a timely fashion
• Cleanliness of restaurant 

If you break down the defining moment into the above components, then it’s easier to work to strengthen each one. But also note how many I’ve listed (and I’m sure I missed a couple). It’s so easy to just screw up one, risking changing a positive into a negative.

What are the components that create defining moments for your customers?

Regards,

Glenn

Follow me on Twitter. I’m txglennross 

Update: My apologies. This post was published out of sequence. Part 2 will be published on 10/21.