The Art of Service Storytelling [Infographic]

American lawyer John E. Jones III is credited with saying, “What gets measured gets done, what gets measured and fed back gets done well, what gets rewarded gets repeated.”

From my perspective, when it comes to customer experience excellence, what gets rewarded gets done and what gets talked about also gets done. After 25 years of consulting in what used to be called customer service and now is called customer experience, I have seen the power of well-designed customer experience reward and recognition programs as well as the effectiveness of leaders who tell stories of optimal customer experience delivery.

My favorite example of leadership storytelling involves David Feinberg, M.D. and the way he used stories to (in David’s words) “lead a revolution to put care back into healthcare.”

For most of my career, I have sought to talk about leaders like David and tell their stories and the stories of their people. That was certainly the case in my book about UCLA Health System titled Prescription for Excellence. It’s also the case for my new book about the founders of Airbnb and the countless hosts we met who are delivering outstanding experiences in The Airbnb Way. I heard more than my share of inspiring host stories about how hosts went out of their way (in small gestures and heroic acts) to care for travelers who relied on them.

I believe most of us (including your team members) want to hear more of those stories as sources of encouragement and inspiration. This past Halloween, I was struck by how much a simple video was shared on social media. That video was captured by a homeowner’s doorbell camera when the homeowner was out trick-or-treating with his family. It is you see a bowl of candy that had been left out by the homeowner and a school-age boy approaching. That boy noticed that those who came before him had emptied the bowl and he (without prompting) chose to place candy in the bowel so those that followed him would find candy there. That video can be found here.

The world needs more of these videos and our teams need to hear more stories of their colleagues who are delivering amazing customer experiences in your business.

I would love to talk to you about your storytelling culture and look for ways to capture your naturally occurring customer experience greatness. Let’s find a time to talk. Simply contact me here.