What makes an experience memorable? In a good way, I mean. We all know plenty of examples of experiences that stay in our memories for the wrong reasons. But, at a time when customer tolerances are low and tensions are high, what is the critical element that causes an otherwise everyday transaction or event to stand out? More to the point: What makes an experience with YOUR financial institution so special that your customers want to share it with others – and look forward to their next experience with you?
To illustrate what makes a truly memorable experience, I’d like to share one of mine. It was outside of the financial services setting, but the CX takeaway is a lesson that works for banking just as well.
Washed Isn’t Cleaned
I had a routine doctor appointment at the local hospital. Of all the people I could meet in such a busy place, who provided the most memorable experience for me as a customer of the hospital? It was the window washer – I mean, the window cleaner. Let me explain.
I was waiting for the elevator. The uniform and gear of the man waiting near me left no doubt he was a window washer. He looked over and said, kindly, “Are you doing okay?” I replied, “Why, yes, thank you. Looks like you’re about to wash some windows.” (Small Talk 101: Go for the obvious.)
“I don’t wash them,” he said with a slight grin. “I clean them. There’s a difference between washing windows and really getting them clean, and that’s what I do. Not just wash them, but get them clean.”
Then at the end of our elevator ride he had the last word that put a bow on the experience: “You take care now, okay?”
“There IS a way to strengthen that head-heart connection.”
THIS was my most memorable interaction that day, including the receptionist who checked me in, the attendant at the main door, and just about everyone else who was either indifferent, distracted or just doing their job.
Not to blame them – it’s all too easy to focus on the task level to such an extent that you are just going through the motions. Financial services has any number of transactions and interactions that can quickly become routine, such as processing the unending frontline flow of customers. Sometimes it takes conscious effort to see the next customer as a person, and treat them accordingly.
Certainly one of the reasons this brief conversation with the window cleaner was the most memorable experience in a hospital full of healthcare service providers was because it was so unexpected. It says something about our culture when we are actually surprised when someone asks, sincerely, how we are doing. What also struck me was this employee’s overt pride in his job. He was clearly aware of how his performance of everyday duties impacted visitors at the same time it reflected and contributed to the culture of the hospital.
A Culture of Heart
In a time when civility is suffering in the culture, and customer service is increasingly failing to meet standards and expectations, there is opportunity to easily rise to the top – to stand out through your quality of service.
What do you need to do this? The most essential characteristic – the HEART, so to speak – of a positive memorable experience like mine is someone demonstrating, through genuine words or actions: I care.
Not just because they’re paid to or directed to. But genuinely. Authentically. It must be real. Culture must create an environment conducive to this – intentionally, strategically, tactically. Unfortunately, the window cleaner’s evident pride in his job did not extend to the entire hospital culture – and it actually made those shortcomings stand out in contrast. Everyone else, functioning on auto-pilot, may have avoided mistakes and checked all the boxes. But they didn’t connect the “heart” with the “head.”
There IS a way to strengthen that head-heart connection: caring, attentive, memorable experiences can be systematically captured and measured. They can be analyzed to identify the specific behaviors that make up a memorable experience – behaviors that show Empathy, Responsiveness, Assurance and Reliability. These behaviors can be learned, practiced and mastered so that they can become part of MORE experiences, throughout every role and every level in the organization. So that they become part of the very culture.
“Sometimes it takes conscious effort to see the next customer as a person.“
A culture built on visible, genuine, from-the-heart care is somewhere customers want to return for new memorable experiences. Even more, they trust such an organization to handle more of their business, and they want to talk about it to others, just like I’m telling you about this window cleaner. On this day, in this moment, by simply showing I care, he made an otherwise routine appointment truly memorable.
Get some fresh insight into your own culture by measuring the customer experience. Then we’ll help you take action to create truly memorable experiences that build lifelong loyalty!
