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Touch Points

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If it doesn’t show on the screen, it doesn’t exist.

I spent many years in television production. Many decisions were made related to project costs and value add. Our mantra was, “if it doesn’t show on the screen, it doesn’t exist.”

Your company has the same dilemma. Where do we place our precious resources related to the customer experience?

Step one is to map out all of your customer touchpoints, that’s your exposure. Those touch points are where you can break a customer relationship or cement it.

  • That first incoming telephone call to your call center.
  • A casual inquiry or clarifying customer question.
  • The exterior of a service truck.
  • An outbound email as part of a customer campaign.
  • How a customer opens the box containing your product.
  • What happens when (if) your product breaks.
  • A hundred more.

If an element of your product or service offering is critical but invisible, how do you get credit for it as your competitive advantage?

Time to Re-think is Over

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The time to re-think is over. The time to adapt is now. Actually, never too late to re-think.

  • Employee shuttle buses will have spaced seating, one person for every six seats.
  • Employees will wear face masks, take the stairs and walk one-way around the office.
  • Lunchrooms will have only 25 percent seating capacity.
  • In-office meetings will still be virtual.
  • Larger conferences are canceled through 2021.
  • New budget lines for PPE.
  • Building admittance will see temp screening and self-declared wellness protocols.
  • Flying will be more rigorous than entering a building.
  • Shopping inside a store will see a transformed retail experience.
  • Cash and checks will disappear, in favor of touch-less (NFC) digital transactions.
  • Drive-thru shopping will see re-marked traffic lanes around stores.
  • Restaurants will shift from dining rooms to take-out and delivery.
  • Arena sports will yield to open-space sports.
  • Movie theaters may never re-open, throwing film distribution a curve-ball.

All of these things will impact your business model, the way your customers interact with you, the way team members interact with each other. Intrinsically, we are social animals who want to be together.

These permanent adaptations will seem clumsy at first, but permanent nonetheless. And the clumsiness will become practiced, and those among us who practice will become competent at a new way. And the new way will improve on par with the old way. And, we will wonder what took us so long to get over our resistance.