Feeling Commoditized? Create an Unforgettable Experience

Business printing isn’t necessarily a hip industry. It’s really just paper and ink.

Think printing, think commodity. Right?

Even worse, ever since Al Gore invented the Internet, pundits have been pointing to the death of the printing industry. (We all have digital screens. Who needs paper anyway?) Combine this with increased global competition and skinny margins and you’ve got an old, declining, boring industry.

Who’d jump into that?

Someone did: MOO.com . And, if you ask me, they’re really not printers. They’re customer experience masters. They’re a serious disruptor to that old, declining, boring industry. Their materials are impeccably printed, their website is bright and helpful, and much like some of the high-tech toys folks, they’ve made packaging part of the whole experience. It’s evident they love what they do.

One of my favorite keynote sessions I deliver is Your Brand. Your Business. Your Bottom Line . During that talk, I hand out superpower cards: mini cards with a well-Googled superpower such as invincibility, elasticity, force field, etc. Superpowers are handed out by the hundreds each time I speak, several thousand over the past year. All printed by MOO.

All of this got me thinking about how advisors can take a cue from MOO and improve their customer experience game, too. Are you making customer experience an important part of your business model?

Related: Harness the Power of Consistency

The best way to set your firm apart in the financial services industry is to create a culture of intentional customer experience. Start with the moment you pick up the phone and list out all the little ways you could up the ante on that experience. Some examples:

Is your voicemail the standard your-message-is-important-to-me bologna? Why sound like everyone else?

When you welcome someone as a new client, can you add in creative packaging?

Are there particular ways you celebrate key milestones in your clients’ lives or the lives of their families?

Walker suggests there are three components of excelling in the experience economy: personalization, ease and speed. Pick one area of focus when reviewing your practice. How easy do you make things for your clients?

Need more? Read The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. Tons of inspiration and ideas about conscientiously creating remarkable moments.

Feeling commoditized? No problem! Just love your clients and create an unforgettable experience. Then do it over and over again. You’ll be fine.