){kind=link}
This article is part of our Customer Experience Hub — a collection of articles that explore the architecture, practices, and mindset behind great CX, all grounded in real-world teaching and consulting experience.
“The last mile always happens in Customers’ heads.” — Dr. Maxie Schmidt
What Do You Make?
When I train frontline Customer Service folks, I like to ask a simple question:
What do you make?
Sometimes I reference the BMW factory in Munich or a computer chip plant in Malaysia — places where people make tangible things.
But the question applies just as much to Customer Service professionals.
We all make something.
What the Answers Sound Like
When I ask this question, the answers I get are almost always the same:
- “We deliver the Customer experience.”
- “We make experiences.”
- “We produce Customer satisfaction.”
But none of those answers is quite right. Because in Customer Service, what we really make are:
Conversations.
By phone, email, chat, and face-to-face.
Through our words, skills, and attitudes, we create interactions that Customers interpret, internalize, and feel.
The experience isn’t something we hand over.
It’s something the Customer has.
The Last Mile
Dr. Maxie Schmidt — one of the smartest voices in CX — wrote recently about how the word experience has been stretched so far that it’s lost its meaning.
“The mainstream use of the word ‘experience’ ceases to be about what Customers feel. Instead, most now use it as a synonym for channel or interaction (“the digital experiences we are building”) or as a spin (“we are doing something we think is cool and we’ll call it experience, so it sounds cool”).” — Dr. Maxie Schmidt
Her point is powerful.
Because the Customer experience happens in the Customer’s head.
We don’t control their feeling.
We create the inputs that ideally shape it.
When People Understand What They Make, Something Shifts
Once Customer Service folks see that they are conversation makers, their thinking changes:
How do I make conversations more meaningful?
How can I be clearer?
What would make this more helpful?
How do I earn trust in my solution?
Everything becomes more intentional. Because their work isn’t about “delivering” the Customer Experience.
It’s about shaping the moments that influence it.
Leaders — Mind Your Language
Leaders have a role in this too.
When we tell our teams, “We deliver the Customer experience,” we skip over an important truth:
The Customer experience happens in the Customer’s head. On our side, we create the processes, approaches, and inputs that shape it:
the conversation
the journey
the clarity
the tone
the product
And then we watch and learn how well it all works, by observing and listening to our Customer’s response.
That’s where the real craft — and influence — of CX lives.
“Then the Customer Will Have To…” — Where CX Dies
Thank You for Reading
I regularly share stories, strategies, and insights from our work across Contact Centers, Customer Service, and Customer Experience. If this resonates, I’d love to stay connected.
You can drop me a line anytime, or subscribe via our website.
Daniel Ord
[email protected]
www.omnitouchinternational.com
