By WALE AKINYEMI

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In the early days of my work as a consultant, just like with any start-up, I never had enough money. I had completed a particular job but the money was not forthcoming. I went to the bank a desperate man. Grace, a worker at the bank, must have sensed my desperation and probed.

She told me not to worry as the bank would work out something for me. Quite unusual to go to a bank and find someone ready to listen to you and actually share your pain. Empathy is not just what you say, it is what is felt. It is an emotion that is transmitted and transferred. When someone has empathy for you, you can feel it and I felt it that day.

I mailed her the invoice and within an hour, she called to say I could go to the bank and pick what I needed because, based on the invoice I was able to get an advance since the client was reputable.

This — invoice discounting — was a breakthrough then and totally out of the box. Grace empathised with me, saw my need and created a solution I was not aware was possible. She had stepped out of the box of conventional banking thinking at the time. She had put people above process. This is different from putting people above the law. She did not break any law to serve me.

Customer experience is built from the position of putting the customer’s needs first. Think of a boxing ring. All fighting must happen within the confines of the ring. No matter how creative you are, your creativity must not go beyond the ring. If we want more flexibility then we must simply find ways to expand the diameter of the ring. That ring is what we call the process. Many people in a boxing ring stand rooted to one spot, paralysed by fear.

Be rest assured, you can move around the ring. Be flexible around your ring with customers. That is where the experience happens. Not at the point of rigidity. The question that should be on the lips of everyone is, “How can I make my customer’s day today?”

Business master key

Why is this so important? In a world where so many people are offering the same products or services, in a world where I can outsource virtually anything I want online, the master key to business growth is the experience you give the customer. Research shows that people are more after the experience than anything else. Experience is what gets the attention of the customer.

You cannot fake it (customer experience) till you make it. If you are going to offer great experiences to your customer, you must express it from the heart. You need to declutter yourself before you can give a great experience to people. This is about creating memories for and with people. Actually, another word for experience is memory. What memories are you creating for your customers?

In time to come, those memories can be recalled and memories never travel alone. They are accompanied with all the emotions that existed at the time the memories were created.

Creating a great experience or memory for customers is the most powerful growth tool for businesses today. If you get it right, any time they think about you, they experience the same emotions that were present when you created the memory and because emotions are contagious, they can pass the brand love from one person to another.

Indeed, with great products, customers are made but with great experiences, ambassadors are made.

Wale Akinyemi is the chief transformation officer at PowerTalks and convenor of the Street University (www.thestreetuniversity.com); [email protected]