What does it take...

to bring your customers into the NOW?

A question posed at my last presentation for a local American Marketing Association event.

For those not able to attend, I presented the concepts of the past, present, and future. And tried to connect the dots of how they relate to experience. Here are a couple tidbits:

1. To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only past and future are considered important… It is always concerned with keeping the past alive, because with out it who are you? EKHART TOLLE

2. Our daily lives condition us into believing that we have no control of our reality

3. Quantum mechanics is the physics of possibility - all possibilities exist side-by-side. And, therein, all experiences exist side-by-side as a possibilities for your customers.

4. Customers allow companies, products, and services to exist in their world for brief moment in time.

5. Do our minds or does our brain see? We collect more information per second from our 5 senses than we are aware of. Our brain cannot distinguish between what is stored and what occurring at the moment - the image is the same.

6. Customers are so absorbed in their own drama that they have little to no time to try to understand yours.

While there is not a simple answer, there is an obvious answer. Keep in the NOW. Remain ever diligent about your customersrs NOW - they don't care about your 5 year strategic plan, they care about what you are doing for them right NOW. Also, there is a need to pull them into the NOW - remember, they are living either in the past or the future of their own little world. In order to get their attention you need to disrupt that thought pattern in a pleasant way.

Experience + word of mouth + transformation

= possibility!

I just completed a completely inspiring conversation with two incredibly bright people. Jodee Bock, transformational coach, and Tim Sullivan, word of mouth uber guru. If you don't know them, you need to.

As I continue down this path of customer experience design, I am increasingly becoming aware of collapsing theories - one theory that combines with another to create yet a third possibility. There is clearly a shift occurring in my life time that is more than a business management fad, or even a temporary blip. A new awareness for company and customer alike is emerging.

Thanks Tim and Jodee for expanding my awareness, and for the shared pioneering passion!

Can I help you?

On a recent trip I stopped into the restaurant in my hotel. The menu looked decent, and I was tired and looking for a quiet and abbreviated dinner. Upon my arrival there was less than a third of the tables occupied - great, I think to myself, this will be perfect.

Well, this dream was short lived. After the hostess walked by 3 times asking if anyone has been there to help me. The hostess never asked if she could get me a drink while waiting. So, when my server finally arrived about 10 minutes later, the first on my list was a drink (Coke of course). Big mistake, because my server returned to his hiding spot, and again I was asked if anyone had helped me at least 3 times.

Slightly amused, I turned into the observer and looked around. What I immediately notice was a broad expanse of chaos. Every server was cross-checking with other tables, while briskly passing their own tables. While listening to the conversations I realized that a couple new servers were working - and yes, I was one of the chosen who was part of the experiment.

At last my server returns with my drink from obviously some distant location, to only set it down and start to walk away. I was not about to let this slippery fellow sneak away again, so I got his attention (and a couple of other folks at the table next to mine), and placed my order.

The food was delivered as you might expect by another server. Thrilled to have my food, I requested another drink. As I was finishing my meal, I was approached again by the hostess to see if I need something, I said I was waiting on a drink, to which she replied "great, let me know if you need anything else" and off she scurried away. Finally, my precious Coke arrived.

The finishing act of this evening was my insane thought of ordering a desert to go, and pay my bill with my credit card. This was handled by 2 additional servers that had just stopped by to see if they could help. Well, another 10 additional minutes go by and the manager stops by, "can I help you with anything?". By now I am near tears of laughter and exhaustion... My response, can you just find out where my desert and credit card are?

After it was all said and done, I counted 6 people in all delivered on the most pathetic experiences of my carnivorous life...! However, the side-show was quite amusing.

A couple things to note:
1. "Can I help you" is not a phrase to be used for ideal conversation - it implies and requires action.

2. Stay in your position - something football players always talk about, and for good reason. When everyone starts covering for everyone, the whole system breaks down. The experience is completely compromised.

3. Always provide new hires with training before they start their individual experiments in customer experience triage .

4. Don't make excuses for delivery really a bad experience - just acknowledge it, and offer a remedy to your customer. In this case, I spoke with the manager who replied "yeah, they are still learning". Clearly at my expense!

This is one for the record books - maybe a tie with my Office Max experience.