Tiny Noticeable Things

1Customer

A customer's interpretation of any experience they have had will be based largely on whatever TNTs they at the time observed and how those TNTs added up and made them feel. We humans may struggle to take on board big things but what we are really good at doing is observing lots of little things, cumulative things that build impressions or corroborate our preconceived expectations.

Like most people, I live a fairly hectic life. Weekdays in particular are spent running around, juggling work and family, giving everything my best shot, most of the time remaining below radar, pretty much unnoticed. The level of customer service I receive tends to fluctuate between nondescript and okay, with the disappointing experiences sadly being, for the most part, the most memorable. The occasional, really good TNT experiences that I do have are few and far between and are the much-cherished exceptions that I can count on one hand over the space of a year. The reality being that, for the majority of the time, I am made to feel invisible, frequently getting the distinct sense that I am merely being robotically ‘dealt with’ or ‘processed’, rather than being ‘served’. But, being so busy and just wanting to move on, I tolerate it, and having been exposed to so much of it for so long, I've got used to it, I've become immune. Mediocre service has become the norm, it is what I expect.

For those of us trying to differentiate ourselves by putting customers at the heart of everything we do and ...