Do you remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? Here’s a quick refresher: a tortoise and a hare were having a race, which, you assume, would be pretty lopsided in favor of the hare. But the hare was so focused on showing off that he lost sight of the ultimate goal: winning the race. 

Why do I bring that up? Well, because it reminds me of a phrase you may have heard in the business world, that “marketing is meant to be remarkable.” You may have also heard that companies are always aiming to “surprise and delight.” The crux of what both of these phrases are talking about is really that companies are focused on creating experiences for consumers that they will remember forever. According to Simon Harrison, CMO of Avaya, that’s also the completely wrong way to be operating your business.

Avaya is a software solutions company that many people may not have on their radar, but it is steadily bringing software solutions to 90% of Fortune 500 companies, has a presence in 190 countries, and it is effortlessly improving customer experiences. How is Avaya succeeding? Simon tells us on this episode of Business X factors.

Main Takeaways: 

• Effortless Trumps Delight: Customers may be delighted to be offered a freebie like chocolates on their pillows at a hotel, but loyalty or repeat business does not come from these ‘feel good’ moments. Customers have a preference for organizations who make life easy for them, solve their problems and create an effortless experience and will return to them over and over before they go back to a company that did one nice thing for them one time.   
• Everybody Loves a Story: A powerful way of persuading people is to unite an idea with an emotion and the best way to do that is by telling a story. People connect with stories and it builds familiarity. Ditch the PowerPoint slides and the charts and tell stories that engage and are remembered.   
• Design/ Reach for Utopia:  Joseph Pine and James Gilmore coined the phrase ‘Experience Economy’ way back in 1998 and they have since made an even stronger case for experiences as the critical link between a company and its customers. To design solutions to create the ultimate customer experience in a booming customer experience economy, imagine a utopia, a moment or experience when there is a perfect match between what a customer wants and what a business offers. And then empower staff to come up with transformational customer experiences. 

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