Meeting customer needs is hard, compared to creating a particular customer experience.
Unfortunately, human nature is such that when customer needs are met, but the experience is one that is negative, what is remembered is only the experience. Emotion trumps reason every single time.
In fact, a skilled listener can tell a customer no, and still leave them with an experience that is positive, warm and caring.
Here in the Caribbean, this is a rare skill.
In fact, there seem to be many more who meet the customer’s need, but leave a negative experience — and this I have seen across the region, with some countries much worse than others.
At the same time, it seems that the company that is able to provide a good customer experience should do well, and it’s not because our local service is so bad region-wide.
Instead, the reason is that we take service personally. After a positive interaction, we talk about “how nice that lady was”. After a poor experience, we talk about “disrespect”.
In other parts of the world, they talk about the service that the company provides, but here it’s about the individual and what they did to us that was good or bad.
It’s personal.