You Say You Want a (Customer Experience) Revolution
- by Christie Flanagan
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rev-o-lu-tion [rev-uh-loo-shuhn]
noun
1. a sudden, radical or complete change
2. fundamental change in the way
of thinking about or visualizing something; a change of paradigm
3. a changeover in use or preference especially in technology <the
computer revolution>
Lately, I've been hearing an awful lot about the customer experience revolution. Tonight Oracle will be hosting The Experience
Revolution, an evening of exploration and networking with customer
experience executives in New York City where Oracle President Mark Hurd will introduce Oracle Customer Experience, a cross-stack suite of customer experience products that includes Oracle WebCenter and a number of other Oracle technologies. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Forrester Customer Experience Forum East also kicks off in New York City where they'll examine how businesses can "reap the full business benefits of the customer experience revolution."
So, are we in the midst of a customer experience revolution? As a consumer, I
can answer that question with a definitive “yes.” When I bought my very first
car, I had a lot of questions. How do I know if I’m paying a fair price? How do
I know if this dealer is honest? Why do I have to sit through these good cop,
bad cop shenanigans between sales and sales management at the dealership? Why
do I feel like I’m doing these people a favor by giving them my business? In
the end the whole experience left me feeling deeply unsatisfied. I didn’t feel
that I held all that much power over the experience and the only real
negotiating trick I had was to walk out, which I did, many times before
actually making a purchase.
Fast forward to a year ago and I found myself back in the market for a
new car. The very first car that I bought had finally kicked the bucket after
many years, many repair bills, and much wear and tear. Man, I had loved that
car. It was time to move on, but I had a knot in my stomach when I reflected back
on my last car purchase experience and dreaded the thought of going through
that again. Could that have been the reason why I drove my old car for so long?
But as I started the process of researching new cars, I started to feel really
confident. I had a wealth of online information that helped me in my search. I
went to Edmunds and plugged in some information on my preferences and left with
a short list of vehicles. After an afternoon spent test driving the cars my
short list, I had determined my favorite – it was a model I didn’t even know
about until my research on Edmunds! But I didn’t want to go back to the
dealership where I test drove it. They were clearly old school and wanted me to
buy the way that they wanted to sell. No thanks!
After that I went back online. I figured out exactly what people had paid
for this car in my area. I found out what kind of discount others were able to
negotiate from an online community forum dedicated to the make and model. I
found out how the sales people were being incentivized by the manufacturer that
month. I learned which dealers had the best ratings and reviews. This was
actually getting exciting. I was feeling really empowered. My next step was to
request online quotes from the some of the highest rated dealers but I already
knew exactly how much I was going to pay. This was really a test for the
dealers. My new mantra was “let he who delivers the best customer experience
win.”
An inside sales rep from one dealer responded to my quote request within
a couple of hours. I told him I had already decided on the make and model and it
was just a matter of figuring out who I would buy it from. I also told them
that I was really busy and wouldn’t set foot in the dealership unless we had
come to terms beforehand. Lastly, I let him know that I’d prefer to work out
the details via email. He promised to get back to me shortly with a detailed
quote.
Over the next few days I received calls from other dealers. One asked me
a host of questions that I had already answered in their lengthy online form.
Another blamed their website performance issues for their delay in responding
to my request. But by then it didn’t really matter because I’d already bought
the car days before from the dealer who responded to me first and who was willing to adjust
their sales process to accommodate my buying one.
So, yes, I really do believe we are in the midst of a customer experience
revolution. And every revolution leaves some victorious and other vanquished.
Which side do you want to be on when it comes to the customer experience
revolution?
