Do You Think About the ‘Customer Experience’?

Leonard Hall Headshot

Auto dealers work hard at it, resorts and hotel chains do it well, and cruise lines do it VERY well. What are we talking about?

I'm speaking of "the customer experience.”

So much time can be spent in our industry honing our technical skills … Being the fastest nailer. Leaving the floors absolutely glass-flat. Putting finish on without even a blemish. But one of the missing ingredients we as wood floor guys and gals don’t focus on enough is the “customer experience.” Ask yourself, “What does the customer experience when we go about doing what we do?”

This is very closely related to customer service but I believe that the concept of “customer service” really eludes us because it is generally not well defined. But speak about the “experience” and now the attention is about the feelings and emotions the customer will have and share, rather than the actual work being done for them. That is much simpler to define and relate to your team.

We do wood floors. That’s straightforward for most of us. That’s what we do. But how does the customer “feel” about what we are doing? The most competent of wood floor people can upset the apple cart by being insensitive, or unaware, of the customer’s experience.It must be understood: Every customer will have an experience. Good, bad or ugly.

The most competent of wood floor people can upset the apple cart by being insensitive, or unaware, of the customer’s experience.

The question is: What are their experiences with your company, your people, or even you?

We have to agree the customer is already stressed because their room or house is being turned upside down. They might be stressed from all the work of moving from their old house to a new one, where you are already there doing the floor (and you are two weeks behind!). They could even be stressed from family or work, for all we know. Those things happen to us, too!

Putting the focus on the customer experience should be the cornerstone of your business culture. That idea alone will direct you and your team to take appropriate and immediate actions that will lead to a very successful customer experience. It translates directly to great word-of-mouth advertising, increased profits and a continuing source of future work, guaranteed.

During a restoration project, one of my crew leaders uncovered a red oak plainsawn repair in a white oak rift floor from 1928. This room had been covered since the day I did the estimate and I was not aware it existed. Knowing our customer experience culture, the tech sent me pictures, which led to a conversation with the owner and a very hefty change order to give her the floor she wanted. The guys did not just plod along because the job deadline was three days away and coating was the only target they had. They saw the bigger picture, knowing the customer was going to be happy for years to come due to their immediate actions.

With a newer guy who didn’t get it yet, the story was a little different. He had installed a new wood floor and, by chance, one of the planks had a slender chip missing in the hallway, but he didn’t see it. It caught my eye during a site visit on the day he was leaving, with the sanders just starting. I asked him to change the board. Mind you, he had just put away all his tools in the truck and was done for the day, or so he thought.

They saw the bigger picture, knowing the customer was going to be happy for years to come due to their immediate actions.

He proceeded to tell me that the board can be filled and be decently acceptable. My response to him was, “So, you are unwilling to invest in 30 minutes of your time to ensure 20 years of happiness for the client?! Really??

“Each time she walks through this room, her eye will likely catch it since it will not be covered by anything, but that isn’t the point. It should not be there to begin with. If it is left, we take the chance she may not like it, decide to tell her friends about it and how unhappy she is, and how it’s not worth the aggravation of dealing with it after all she has gone through already with all the workers over the last few months. That situation becomes a future jobs killer. So, do you still think you shouldn’t invest in her long-term happiness?” He agreed and changed the board, with a new perspective of why we do what we do, and why we are so highly regarded in the area.

So take a look at how you and your team create the customer experience. Find ways to make their experience pleasant, exciting, out-of-this-world awesome!

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