Thrilled patient of Brentford Hospital. Photo by Getty.
"When you felt really good about your work, what was going on?" That question was the key query that unlocked the secret to the motivation to work. It was a question used by industrial psychology professor Dr. Fred Herzberg, author of the landmark book, The Motivation to Work. His article: "One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees" is one of the most reprinted articles ever to appear in Harvard Business Review.
Herzberg learned from the answers that the features leading to worker motivation were not the extreme opposites of those leading to worker dissatisfaction. They were completely different features. For example, a poor salary or lousy supervision were clearly worker dissatisfiers. But, while removing a source of dissatisfaction, paying people more money or providing them better relationships with their bosses did not result in motivated workers. Motivation came from features like achievement, growth, recognition and the work itself.
What if that same research approach was used with customers? Customer loyalty comes in many forms. Loyal customers return, return more often, buy more and forgive more when a mistake is made. Some show their loyalty by wearing the brand—like a Harley-Davidson jacket or a Bass Pro Shop cap. But the pinnacle of customer loyalty is advocacy—remarking favorably to another person face-to-face, ear-to-ear or click-to-click. So, what insights would you gain if you asked your customers, "When you felt so good about a service experience that you told a story about to others, what exactly was going on?"
The Anatomy of Profoundly Remarkable Service
Think back over the most extraordinary service experiences of your life—the ones that so profoundly impacted you that you still enjoy remarking about them today. Not those experiences you enjoyed and then forgot after a week or so. Instead, those you will likely remember the rest of your life—the experiences that touched you in a deeply compelling way. What were the features of these profoundly remarkable experiences? What made them implant so deeply they can be easily recalled; so influential they are enthusiastically shared?
For the last few years, my colleagues and I have been asking clients and workshop audiences these Herzberg-like questions. We were not particularly interested in customer delight. Instead, we sought incidents that became an integral and permanent part of a customer's collection of life stories. The hundreds of stories shared with us by customers were organized around five consistent themes.
Enchant: Turning Value-added into Value-Unique
Customers reported some experiences that seemed enchanting and magical. These reported experiences all contained an element of surprise. They were more than the typical exceed-your-expectations, value-added experiences; they were value-unique. While a few experiences could be labeled service heroics, most were simple yet ingenious. When customers witness unpretentious inventiveness, it signaled an authenticity they could trust. Symbolically, it is the difference between store-bought and homemade. There is a piece of the server in their captivating gesture.
The elegantly industrial Craddick Terry Hotel in Lynchburg, Virginia, is a renovated 1905 shoe factory that uses its shoe history to enchant its guests. Guests find a shoeshine kit in their guest room. Fill out the provided fun form, place the kit outside your door when you retire, and the following morning it is filled with a bran muffin, fruit juice, yogurt, and fruit. Their dog concierge in the lobby is Miss Penny Loafer.
Enlist: Customers Care When They Share
Granddaughters light up the room when asked by a grandparent to help make pancakes for breakfast, especially when that task involves allowing some risk-taking and not just performing a chore. That sentiment of meaningful inclusion characterized some customers' profoundly remarkable stories. The gesture of collaboration made them feel like an insider with special privileges. It signaled a recognition and respect for the fact that all service experiences are co-created, not "factory-made." And it surfaced for them the timeless protocols of effective partnering.
World-famous Bern's Steak House in Tampa not only invites dining guests to tour their 100,000+ wine cellar but guests are also encouraged to tour the kitchen as gourmet meals are being prepared. Threadless.com invites its website community to vote on the coolest t-shirts designed by fellow amateurs. The winning entries become their product offerings, providing great exposure for budding designers. Customers care when they share.
Enlighten: Creating a Customer Mentor Relationship
Customers today enjoy a sense of accomplishment that comes with the capacity to demonstrate confident competence in aspects of their lives. Learning and the quest for mastery today are potent motivators of customer loyalty. For example, research in the retail sector indicates that providing customers new and helpful learning increases by 32% the likelihood of their repurchasing. Experiences that enlighten are more than capturing a "teachable moment," they include inviting customers into a service context of curiosity, judgment-free acceptance, and collective learning. Creatively providing opportunities for reciprocal learning—much like "learning together" mentoring—nurture a long-term partnership.
Jack Daniels not only provides charming website stories about the history of their sour mash charcoal-filtered Tennessee whiskey, but also gives colorful details on how their special brew is made along with unique drink recipes, many contributed by their loyal fans.
Ease: Pursuing an Unconstrained Customer Solutions
Flow is a word we don't hear much about in the service world. It is very prominent when discussing athletic or artistic performances. And service is truly a performing art. Instead of flow, we talk about effortlessness, simplicity, and easy-to-do-business-with. Unfortunately, none of these words capture what customers desire. Most customers are just fine with complex and even difficult processes. They seek to eliminate all arbitrary, illogical, and stupid constraints that prevent service providers and customers from "flowing" to a solution, not just a task. They care as much about eliminating angst and worry as they do about quashing bureaucracy and wait.
Hampton Inns spotted a guest hiccup waiting to happen. Guest rooms have a make-your-own coffee pot along with a couple of paper coffee cups. So if the room is occupied by two guests who happened to prepare their coffee the same way, the "Is this my cup or yours" dilemma is evaded by making the cups cleverly different.
Engrave: The Soul of Profoundly Remarkable Service
When we examined the brand names of the popular service providers frequently cited as deliverers of profoundly remarkable service, most had a well-known brand promise and mission. "They know who they are," said one customer, "and it is reflected in how they do what they do." The takeaway was that most customers today value substance over superficial, character over cosmetic. While they may enjoy service providers with charm, they trust those with soul.
Apple products, for example, are famous for their design elegance. Their mission is to "bring the best user experience to customers." Congruent with that mission, founder Steve Jobs spent countless resources designing the box in which products were packaged, even ensuring it had a distinctive sound when opened. Likewise, arranging a young guest's stuffed toy in "come alive" positions in a Disney theme park hotel room is the housekeeper's way to ensure Disney's "magic kingdom" soul is in every simple moment.
Just like worker motivation, customer motivation is not a commanded or directed feature. It is unleashed! Wise organizations are story-hunters, encouraging their frontline ambassadors to constantly seek ways to turn customer experiences into "your-not-gonna-believe-what-happened-to-me" antidotes. They know customers' eagerness to relate a story of an ingenious experience is always told in the language of loyalty.
