How to Consciously Create an Emotional Response and a Great Customer Experience

OK – so now you know that you want to create an emotional response from your customer.  But how do you even begin such a thing.

No worries.  Here’s the recipe and some examples.  I’d love to learn about the examples you’ve experience or created as well.

1. A huge dose of owner passion. Perhaps the best example of this comes from companies we know and love (or love to hate)  Southwest Airlines, FedEx and L.L. Bean and countless others.  What they have in common is the fact that they started with the founder’s peeve or  passion.  When Herb Gelleher started Southwest his feeling was that EVERYONE should be able to fly.  Not just the wealthy and business people. His airline is focused on "the rest of us" and every bit of your experience on Southwest reflects that.  FedEx builds HUGE value on the most emotional trigger there is – the pit in your gut when you’ve promised something and waited too long to deliver.  And L.L. Bean on down-home high quality.  The warm fuzzy feeling of winter.  These are all well entrenched brands based on emotional triggers that came from the owners own belief system.  The key here is to be AUTHENTIC because customers will only flock to what’s real.  And they know the difference.
2. Diligent observation of customers and how they think. I wrote last week about my trip to Chicago to visit Law Elder Law.  Rick Law is a terrific example of taking the time out to observe his clients and his target market.  How do they feel when they have to work with an attorney?  What life event triggers them to come and talk to you?  How do they most likely feel when they have to interact with you? What is the little voice inside their head saying or thinking about you?
3. Realistic analysis of what your customer thinks about you. One thing that our Lawyer Rick realized was the customers were about as happy to visit his law office as going for a root canal.  It wasn’t his fault, that was just the NATURE of the business.  Most people don’t like or trust lawyers, and they aren’t happy to have to put mom or dad in a nursing home or to deal with Alzheimers, so his customers were already in a bad emotional state when they knew they were coming.  His job was to face that and understand that and start from there.  He chose to make his office warm and cozy.  His environment is casual – no one "looks" like an evil, greedy lawyer – because they are not.  So you get the picture.
4. Create a "mantra" about the experience your business vows to create for your customer.  I use the word mantra because it should be a prayer and a meditation.  This mission of experience that you want your customer to have.  The facy marketing word for that is a tag line or a positioning statement.  I like mantra best because it’s a focused meditation on HOW you will do what you do.  Fed Ex has a mantra that sticks "Absoloutely, Positively overnight" no excuses.  Everyone knows what their job and mission is and goes from there.
5. Develop procedures around that mantra.  If you’ve read the E-Myth by Michael Gerber, then you understand this.  The success behind most franchises is the ability of the entrepreneur or creator of that organization to translate the experience he or she wants into policies and procedures.  So, if you want to put your clients at ease when they walk in, you create a warm and cozy lobby.  You make sure there is always someone there to greet clients, etc.  That’s part of how you manufacture your "offering."
6. Train your people to do it – everyday.  When you start looking at "customer emotional response management" as a critical component of what you offer, it’s obvious that you need to train everyone on what a high-quality experience is.  Again franchisers are a great example of that.  It’s critical that you have the desired experience no matter where you are in the country or the world.
7. Evaluate and change as needed.  One of the great things about focusing on creating an emotional response for your client is that you are never done coming up with great ideas to create that response.  Have fun with this.