Happy New Year!

Like many of you, I traveled over Christmas period to spend time with family: Three generations brought together in one house for several days of celebration.

As a member of the middle generation who grew up with time in both camps, I smugly enjoyed watching everyone else struggling with––and often distrusting––the things we understand and take for granted, such as:

• Streaming video and audio vs. broadcast television and CDs
• In person banking and paying by check vs online banking and paying by a phone app
• Screens instead of buttons on appliances
• Landlines and answering machines

You get the idea. And I’m sure you have plenty of examples from your own family that come to mind.

Here’s the thing… no matter how much we want to deny it, customers change over time and, as business owners, our relationship with them also has to change to match their expectations.

As the new year begins you might want to take a look at your customers to see how closely your business processes actually line up with their expectations.

Matching a business’ procedures to align with, or even exceed, customer expectations is called customer experience design. It’s a big part of why some companies like Apple and Starbucks have dedicated fans, even when the products they are delivering, computers and coffee, are commodities available elsewhere often for much less.

After you do that, ask yourself what are you thinking about changing in 2023 to more closely align with your customers?

Antoni
Flight Republic