Although leaders connect with customers internally and externally daily, not all customer experiences are equal. In fact, there can be a large disparity in the way our customers feel after they interact with us. Sometimes our customers can walk away sensing that we do not really care about their concerns and we are just going through the motion of providing service or they are elated with how we delight them. It is up to each leader to decide if they will extend themselves or merely meet the basic needs of the most critical people in their professional lives.

The choice is yours.

In a recent visit to a place to escape I was the customer on the receiving end. I was hoping for a magical customer experience but ended up with a bunch of missed touch points. What is a touch point? Simply put, a touch point is a connection with a customer where an opportunity to provide exceptional customer service is critical. It is a moment of truth of whether a customer will walk away feeling delighted or unhappy. The choice is yours.

Here are five leadership touch points for magical customer experiences:

1. Stop To Ask How They Are Doing

Whether we are speaking on the phone, in a video chat, writing an email or having a face-to-face it is so important to begin a customer interaction with some thoughtful words. Leaders should never just walk by a customer and not stop to say a few words. When we reach out to our colleagues (our internal customers) or clients we are working with, don’t forget to say “hello” and ask how things are going. That initial touch point can deepen any relationship and connection.

2. Offer Assistance And Mean It

Let’s make sure we are genuine when we reach out to our customers by smiling and sounding like we really want to help. There is a great exercise I use in my leadership workshops where I ask the participants to say “May I help you?” as someone:

• Bored
• Angry
• Rushed
• Happy

These four simple words can sound very different depending on a leader’s tone, attitude and body language.

3. Listen To Hear How You Are Needed

If we want to have an accurate read on what our customers truly need then lead with active listening. Take the time to focus on what the customer is saying without jumping to an answer. Your assumptions of what they are asking may be very “off”. Sometimes our customers just want to share a small concern while other times they are deeply upset. Making an effort for a listening touch point is important to understand how to delight our customers. Just listen. The choice is yours.

4. Put On Your EQ Hat

A magical customer experience involves a leader having a strong level of emotional intelligence. Being self-aware of how we are coming across and being able to key into our customer’s feelings will lead us to a road of successful customer interactions.

• Think about how you are feeling in the moment as it may impact the customer interaction.
• Decide quickly how the customer is feeling based on their body language, words and tone. Validate their concerns.
• Never lose your calmness but remain professional.

5. Become A Fixer

A final touch point in our interactions with our customers is resolving their challenges. When our team members or colleagues from other departments can depend upon us to help them overcome obstacles we are providing magical customer experiences. When our outside customers can rely on us to fix their issues we are cultivating trust with them. When leaders become fixers they create magical customer experiences.

How do you provide magical customer experiences?