Mastering Exceptional Customer Service: How To Seduce Your Customers

Twenty-eight years ago, John Boccuzzi Jr. walked into 10/10 Optics, a small boutique optical store that sells glasses. Boccuzzi was looking for new frames, and Ruth, the owner, started to build rapport, showing him several frames and eventually convincing him to buy a pair of glasses that was not like anything he had purchased before. He wondered if he could carry off the look, and started to realize he made the right decision when he received five compliments on the glasses that afternoon. In his words, “I was seduced by the customer experience.”

Twenty-three years later Boccuzzi told his story in a TEDx talk titled, I Was Seduced by Exceptional Customer Service.

Boccuzzi currently serves as president of ISG Research and previously was vice president of sales at Edible Arrangements as well as CEO of Kenosia, a software company ranked No. 1 for customer experience four years in a row by Consumer Goods Magazine. This history is important as it gives credibility to his TEDx talk and a book he recently wrote titled The Art of Seducing Your Customers.

I had a chance to interview Boccuzzi on Amazing Business Radio, and he shared his S.E.D.U.C.E formula, which is:

· Step Up and Pay Attention: Boccuzzi uses Sears as an example. At one time, Sears Roebuck had 2,300 locations. Today there are 22. Bacuzzi said, “They were the Amazon of their time.” They sent catalogs to homes. They were a force in retail. But today, they are virtually non-existent. Blockbuster Video has a similar story. These companies didn’t pay attention to the marketplace and what customers were telling them.

· Employees: The company must deliver an excellent employee experience before it can deliver an excellent customer experience. I’ve preached for years that what happens on the inside of a company will be felt on the outside by its customers.

· Design: This is about designing an experience that helps acquire new customers and retain existing customers. What do you do to get customers to your business, be it a website or traditional advertising and everything in between? And then, what do you do to get them to come back? Design the experience with both acquisition and retention in mind.

· Uncover: Find ways to uncover friction in the customer experience. CX research shows that friction drives customers away from a business. It also shows that customers will pay more for an easy, frictionless experience.

· Connect the Dots: You may have an intention and expectations. You may intend to create an experience, but does it resonate with the customer? In other words, what you think is great may not be in your customers’ eyes (or even your employees’ eyes).

· Expect: You must expect competition and technology to continually change the market. Consider how Amazon changed the retail marketplace, Uber changed the taxi industry and Airbnb disrupted the hotel and hospitality industry.

From the visit to 10/10 Optics to the insights he shared on the TEDx stage, and now the S.E.D.U.C.E. formula in his book, Boccuzzi gives us a common sense framework that points out opportunities for any company to consider as they focus on customer service and CX. From paying attention to recognizing the power of engaged employees delivering service, to uncovering friction and more, there is plenty to think about. My suggestion is to sit down with your team and treat each of these concepts in the formula as discussion topics. In other words, don’t just read this article. Take action on it!