Ten Unexpected Quotes about Customer Experience
- Gary Stein
We’re going to go ahead and figure you’ve heard the big quotes about how important customer service is. The ones from Steve Jobs and everyone who wishes they were a little like them. We love those too. We get up every day to create great customer experiences, and—every now and then—we come across a few words that resonate with us and the work we do.
Below are a few of the ones we’ve gathered up that have inspired us.
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care
Roosevelt was probably not talking specifically about business here, but we see the parallel. In a landscape filled with individuals and companies claiming to provide exactly what customers need, the decisive factor is a brand that not only demonstrates they know but, more importantly, genuinely cares about understanding and meeting customer needs.
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
There’s probably a point in here about trying to format dates in Excel. While we all tend to think of Apple and Google as the tech innovators, there is no denying how far Microsoft has taken the world. And Mr. Gates makes a great point here. If you only pay attention to the favourable feedback, you’ll never know what to fix, evolve or create. This is a great endorsement of a core principle of great CX: always be listening.
The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.
One of the most dangerous phrases in business is “that’s the way we always do it”. Creating great customer experience requires companies to always listen, always respond and always be open to something new. It’s hard to break habits. But some of those habits are just habits and they either don’t make the customer’s life any better, or don’t seem to generate any value at all. Get rid of those things.
The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer.
Trust is the atomic unit of your business. Much of this is tied to your product and the promise you made about it. But trust is dynamic in nature – it grows, shifts, and evolves. The best way to keep it strong and growing is consistent engagement, with every moment focused on the customer, their needs, and making their life better. And never forget that they are you. Treat them as well as you want to be treated.
To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.
The author of some very funny (and insightful) books makes an excellent point here. We who live and breathe customer experience know that we are performing a business function. But it is a business function that needs to transcend the traditional economic measures and get to the real heart of what we’re doing: creating real, authentic connections between our company and our customers. We need to measure it, of course; however, we must also understand where the true value lies.
My definition of a good hotel is a place I’d stay at.
Ok, we would *most likely* also like to stay at a hotel Robert De Niro stays at. If only he’d call.
That said, there are two things about this that resonate with us. The first is that it is about hospitality, an industry we pay close attention to. In fact, we often recruit people from the hospitality sector because we figure we can teach them about homes, but what we truly seek is their innate passion for helping people.
The other is that we should always remember that there’s no such thing as a single, great experience. Find out what someone likes first. And then give them that. Amazingly.
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
This is the sort of quote our team loves. Yes, we all want to be successful. But we don’t strive for it. Companies that have adopted a customer-centric mindset find greater motivation from the value they generate through delivering memorable customer outcomes.
If you are customer-obsessed, just be valuable. The success will follow.
Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.
Absolutely. This is the very definition of an inspirational quote. The customer experiences worth talking about are the big ones. The ones that the customer did not expect, or did not expect to be so good. Always aim for those moments when you are given the opportunity to do something truly memorable.
Getting your product known isn’t the answer. Getting it WANTED is the answer.
This one speaks directly to the idea that people buy experiences rather than goods. But how do you get potential customers to want the experience YOU deliver, and create that FOMO effect for your brand? By delivering positive experiences that drive loyalty and advocacy. Consumers who have an emotional connection with your brand are more likely to share their experience with others, through social media and word-of-mouth. Harnessing the power of customer advocacy helps businesses increase brand awareness, build trust, and drive growth.
Phish and Dave Matthews really know their audiences and really treat them well.
Jimmy Buffett was so much more than a singer and his shoutout to two other artists was really game recognizing game. Buffett extended his influence far beyond entertainment to embody a unique and immersive customer experience, allowing his fans to actively participate in the larger narrative he crafted. He cultivated an authentic and enduring brand that deeply resonated with his loyal followers, or “Parrotheads“, and created a sense of community, connection, and shared identity. While Jimmy Buffett may no longer be with us, his iconic lifestyle brand will persist.
Virtuo works with home builders, realtors, financial institutions, and insurance providers to deliver exceptional experiences for their customers. Learn more.
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