The Invisible Mentor

Two Approaches, Two Very Different Customer Experience

October 6th, 2009 |

Barbados

As a writer and researcher, industrial and graphic design are not my areas of expertise, therefore I don’t know what I don’t know so I defer to the designers, and place the onus on them to deliver what I need. I am on about the fifth iteration of my website. I had a website before most large companies had websites, over 10 years ago. The last two graphic designers I worked with had two very different approaches which impacted the customer service experience for me.

One graphic designer followed the route that most graphic designers take. They meet with you, ask some preliminary questions, go away and work, then they return with a few designs, and you choose one, or elements of a few to create a new design then they finalize it for you.

The other designer involved me a lot more in the project, yet did not place too much demand on my time. Yes she did all the typical things that the other graphic designer did. But she asked me about my colour preferences, the image I wanted to present on the website, and delved into the psychology of colour. She showed me the colours that were “hot.” She also took the time to get to know me as a person not just a client. She cared about my likes and dislikes. She built a relationship with me. With each encounter, I felt like she truly valued my business, and valued me as a person. At the end of the project I was a much more informed consumer.

The designer who took the route most traveled was also unwilling to learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so I had to hire another person to search engine optimize my site after he built it. It is my belief, that it is an expectation that graphic designers today are knowledgeable about SEO. And I also got the sense that he had no intention of taking a course, even though he recognized the benefits to his clients.

I am grateful for $1000+ Industrial Design Group Writing Project, the group writing project that I am writing this post for, because it forced me to make a connection that I hadn’t made before. I had to compare two experiences that I had not thought of before, even though they are related. And, as I write this blog post, I realize that there are some potent lessons here for my readers, graphic and industrial designers and for myself:

To be remarkable you have to travel the path of least resistance
Because everyone does it a certain way, does not mean it is the only way, or even the best way
Keep up-to-date on what’s going on in your field because expectations changes and customers are demanding more
Update your skills to better serve your clients
Your clients are people and not companies, it is a person who authorizes payment, so treat your “clients” well
Your experiences shape who you are, whenever you see someone doing something badly, take note and use the information to improve yourself, your product and your service

How might you use this experience to give your clients a better customer service experience? Do you take the time to build relationships with your clients? What other tips do you have that you can share with us? Let’s keep the conversation going, please leave your comments.