Is Empathy An Unexpected Element Of Luxury Today?
Your customers walk through your store looking for what they want to purchase. They find what they want but not the color they want. Your customer asks you about the item and asks you if you have it in blue and not the orange they show you. Instead of telling your customer “No” or having them do the work of driving to another store, your employees make the decision to call another store who has the item in blue. The employee tells the customer that someone can deliver it right to their home at no extra charge. When the customer receives the item they notice that a discount was placed on the item and is surprised about this. The store knows this is how customer loyalty is gained.
“Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.” -Daniel H. Pink
“It’s not about price. It’s about creating this moment for the customers… where it’s personalized, it’s theirs, it’s comfortable, it’s home – it’s real.”
Empathy is a much misunderstood trait. Start by asking yourself if you even know what empathy is. In today’s business world, the word empathy is more along the lines of how products and services are designed for the consumer in mind. Asking consumers what you want is
More companies are embracing a human centered strategy to innovate their legacy products and services. In general, empathy is the ability to see the world around you through other people’s eyes. Essentially, you see what they see, feel what they feel, and experience things how they do. In designing a product or service for a customer you need to ask them what their experiences are and what difficulties they have with the product and or service. Improving these in what you can do for a customer gives them a better way to see you. This also helps with repeat business of other products and services you offer.
“We see our customers as invited guest to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” – Jeff Bezos, Amazon
The shift has already begun in various products and services in the marketplace. The world in general is shifting more along these lines. As the beginning of this article started with some stores doing extra for customers and clients, these same stores flipped or inverted their leadership organizational chart upside down. In turn this provides for greater productivity and repeat business for you. (A future article will appear regarding Flipping or Inverting Your Leadership Organizational Charting).
“Customer service should not be a department. It should be the entire company.”
– Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
To make things happen contact nburgis@successful-solutions.com