Creating a spontaneous and personalised customer experience is a key ingredient of customer delight – it’s something I regularly encourage bosses to do in my seminars and presentations. It’s brilliant when you see examples of other bosses doing it – it’s even better when THE BOSS does it!
Bruce Springsteen created customer delight last week in Glasgow by responding to a request from one of his customers, Stephanie Dunn, to dance with his saxophonist Jake Clemons during his song ‘Dancing In The Dark’.
He actually invited her up and let her do it! Not only did he do that, he spotted she could play guitar, gave her one to play and even took a photo of her doing it! I’d say that was a great example of exceeding customer expectations!
Unlike that young upstart Justin Bieber (who I highlighted recently as a very poor example of customer service) Bruce did all the things a real customer focused business should:
- He spotted his customer’s request – and responded spontaneously!
- He went the ‘extra mile’ when he didn’t really have to!
- He ‘personalised’ the customer experience – as well as letting her play, he made her take a bow, kissed her and gave her two of his plectrums – he even took a photo of her!
The result demonstrated the benefits of customer delight:
- It made his ‘customer’ feel valued!
- It created a talking point – She told lots of other people via the press and social media
- The news spread – the video went ‘viral’!
Now, I don’t suspect that Stephanie went out and bought lots more Bruce Springsteen records or tickets (she has already seen him 26 times – a really ‘devoted’ customer obviously), but it certainly made her feel special and if you can’t do that for one of your ‘best’ customers who can you do it for?
So, what happens in your business?
- Do you and your people spot and react to customer requests?
- Have they got ‘permission’ to deal with those requests?
- Do they go ‘the extra mile’ to delight those customers?
- Have they got the skills and knowhow to do so?
Interestingly, I actually highlighted Bruce Springsteen as a great example of maximising customer relationships previously – might see if I can get an interview with him for my 3D Thoughts when we go and see him in Leeds in July!
If you fancy watching the video of Bruce and Danielle in action, watch below…
