UnSelling: The New Customer Experience

Chapter 9Taking the Customer Pulse

In UnMarketing, we talked about a system to check in on customer sentiment called Stop, Start, Continue. We asked our current customers three questions: What would you like us to stop doing? What would you like us to start doing? What would you like us to continue doing? The answers to these three simple questions give us a good picture of where we're sitting with our market and how we can improve. We need to be asking these questions and listening to the answers. This is the real brand statement for our business, more than any fancy framed motto we hang on our office wall.

We need to be taking the pulse of our customers, paying attention to how our actions are affecting their choices and the way our brand is being represented in the sales cloud. We can do this by looking at external pulse factors—the push and pull on the pulse line—taking customers from vulnerable to static and ecstatic and back down again.

External factors affect the pulse from the outside in. They pull the line up or push it down, taking the customer on what can be a bumpy brand ride. These are controlled by the brand; product quality, customer service, and public relations are all external factors affecting customer experience.

When customers come to us with an issue they're having with our product or service, there are two possible reactions we can have: It's our problem, or it's not our problem. All too often, issues are met with each and every attempt at dismissal. You've ...