Customer service is in the air.
It is felt in the welcome, the smile, and the gestures that people extend without thinking too much about them. It flows through tone, voice, and interpersonal behaviour—the small intangibles that quietly influence how customers feel.
Customer experience is not always visible. It exists on both visible and invisible planes. Like a mute orchestra playing in the background, it surrounds the customer. Slowly, without effort, one begins to move in rhythm with it. When everything aligns, the experience creates a quiet high—subtle, yet memorable.
Creating the “Right Air” Around Your Brand
The real challenge for organisations today is not delivering service, but creating the right environment in which service is experienced.
This air is not limited to products or promotions. It involves the entire marketing mix and much more. It begins with choosing the right people. Wrong people, no matter how efficient the system, cannot deliver the right service. Attitude is a critical ingredient.
Imagine walking into a retail store where the salesperson is busy on her mobile phone. That, by itself, is not the issue. What matters is what happens next. Does she immediately pay attention? Does she offer a welcoming gesture? Does she express a subtle apology? Does she show genuine interest and begin positively by helping you buy?
Customer experience is built in these moments.
Putting Passion Into the 7Ps of Marketing
Is it possible to embed passion into your offering?
It should be. Every element of the 7 Ps must carry a halo of passion. Consider a process designed in a truly customer-centric manner. Imagine visiting a museum where the audio guide does more than provide information. It traces your movement, adapts to your pace, and narrates history through stories. You feel guided, almost accompanied, as if someone is holding your hand through time.
At that point, the experience becomes inseparable from you. You are no longer just a visitor, you are part of the story. Passion delivers, and passion propagates.
Being Creatively and Meaningfully Different
It is important to find meaning in what you offer and discover ways to be meaningfully different, not just different for the sake of it.
Consider a business traveller who regularly visits a city and always chooses the same hotel. Her reasons are simple yet powerful:
She almost always gets one of her preferred rooms.
She is welcomed at reception, sometimes even by name.
Her strong coffee arrives without any reminder.
Her favourite newspaper and weekly magazine are already placed in her room.
She receives special discounts on rooms, food, and even transport.
Occasionally, a deep red rose, her favourite – awaits her as a surprise.
The staff, from reception to room service, are consistently courteous and respectful.
She knows that technology enables this level of personalisation. What impresses her is that the hotel not only remembers her preferences but continues to update and use that information meaningfully.
She is a businesswoman who values professionalism combined with personal touch. There is little reason for her to ever break this bond.
When Things Go Wrong
Even organisations that excel at customer experience will face failures at times.
What matters is how those moments are handled.
Avoiding or ignoring the issue only worsens the damage. A mature response involves taking ownership, listening carefully, empathising with the customer, apologising sincerely, escalating when required, resolving the issue, and communicating clearly. Most importantly, the customer must be welcomed back.
Service recovery plays a critical role here. Offering something extra – beyond routine compensation, helps rebuild trust, provided it is relevant and meaningful to the context and the customer.
Earning Word of Mouth (WOM)
When businesses consistently do the right things, they earn word of mouth.
This is the most powerful form of marketing. It often comes without asking, when a satisfied client sends a testimonial along with a payment, follows up with a reference, or personally connects you with someone who may benefit from your offering.
Customers, too, like to reciprocate when they feel genuinely valued.
Customers want to give back, when the experience deserves it.
Customer Experience Is an Orchestra, Not a Solo
Customer experience is not the responsibility of one department. It is an orchestra.
Every instrument must be tuned. Every performer must be in sync. The acoustics must be right, and the audience must feel involved.
When everyone is in sync, the music flows.
And when the orchestra plays well, customers don’t just hear it, they feel it in the air.
Customer experience is no longer “nice to have”.
Today, it is:
A loyalty driver, A brand builder, A business differentiator
Play your orchestra well.
Tune every instrument.
Respect your audience.
The applause will follow.